Sutyagin completed 54 flights in the MiG-15 before the division was ordered on a "secret tour" and reassigned to the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps at Mukden in Manchuria, with its regiments forward deployed to Myaogao and Antung airfields on the Korean border, in order to counter UN airpower over Korea.

Sutyagin was awarded the Gold Star and the title Hero of the Soviet Union, and was soon promoted to Major.

Due to his failing vision Sutyagin was removed from flight status and relegated to either trainers or transports.

Sutyagin's Korean War record was 149 combat missions, 66 aerial engagements and 22 enemy aircraft shot down.

[3] Russian pilots were under strict ground-controlled interception control at all times, and were expressly forbidden from leaving the North Korean airspace, and flying over either ocean area, or the UN controlled South Korean airspace, lest a downed aircraft with a Russian speaking pilot be captured and the subsequent involvement of the Soviet combat forces in the war exposed.

As a result of the requirements to physically confirm victories thru collection of pieces of the actual wreckage, Soviet ground units were created and issued trucks and radio operators, for liaison with North Korean ground forces, whose specific function was to seek out and locate the wreckage of UN aircraft that had been downed over the North Korean controlled lands.