The title is awarded to persons for "service to the Russian state and nation, usually connected with a heroic feat of valour".

The pro-Moscow leader was killed in a bomb attack during the 2004 Victory Day parade in the Chechen capital of Grozny.

Notable examples include: On 16 August 2009, the Russian Air Force's aerobatics demonstration team, Russian Knights' commander, Guard Colonel Igor Tkachenko was killed when his Sukhoi Su-27 collided in mid-air with another Sukhoi Su-27 whilst practicing for the 2009 MAKS Airshow.

In 2010 a posthumous award was made by President Dmitry Medvedev to Evgeny Chernyshov, the chief of the Moscow fire department on 24 March 2010.

On 28 March 2012, during a training exercise at a Far Eastern military base near the town of Belogorsk, Major Sergei Solnechnikov pushed a soldier away from an unsuccessfully thrown grenade and covered the grenade with his own body after it bounced back into the trench they were in with dozens of soldiers standing nearby.

[25] On 17 March 2016, Senior Lieutenant Alexander Prokhorenko was the pilot of a Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack aircraft shot down during Palmyra offensive of the Syrian Civil War.

With the whole incident videotaped by the militants, they demanded that Nurbagandov and his colleagues resign from the police force, but he defied them and said to the camera "Keep on working, brothers!"

On 22 September 2016, President Putin praised the officer as a model for others and awarded the Hero of Russia posthumously to Nurbagandov which was handed to his parents.

[27] On 10 May 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin personally awarded medals to four officers of the Special Operations Forces for showing extraordinary courage combating terrorists in Syria.

They were part of a 16-man special forces detachment unit which managed to successfully repulse attacks conducted by over 300 jihadists without any losses.

The commander of the unit, Lieutenant Colonel Danilo was awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Russian Federation.

[28] On 3 February 2018, Major Roman Filipov was the pilot of a Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack aircraft shot down by Syrian militants belonging to Tahrir al-Sham using a portable air-defence (MANPAD) system.

Major Filipov successfully ejected but landed in a rebel-controlled area and fought a gun battle against militants.

Images posted online show that he emptied both his pistol magazines and just as the militants surrounded him, he set off a hand grenade shouting “This is for the boys!”[citation needed] On 6 February 2018, President Vladimir Putin signed an executive order awarding Major Roman Filipov the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.

[33] On 5 June 2022, Roman Kutuzov was killed in the village of Mykolaivka, during the battle for Sievierodonetsk–Lysychansk near Lysychansk, Ukraine, while commanding the 1st Army Corps of the Donetsk People's Republic.