Forgotten heroes. Legendary sniper of the Chechen war
On August 31, 1996, the Khasavyurt Agreements were signed, ending the First Chechen War. Journalist Olesya Emelyanova found participants in the First Chechen Campaign and talked with them about the war, their life after the war, Akhmat Kadyrov and much more.
Dmitry Belousov, St. Petersburg, senior warrant officer of the riot police
In Chechnya there was always a feeling: “What am I doing here? Why is all this needed?”, but there was no other work in the 90s. My first wife told me after my first business trip: “It’s either me or the war.” Where will I go? We tried not to leave our business trips; at least we paid our salaries on time - 314 thousand. There were benefits, “combat” pay - it was pennies, I don’t remember exactly how much. And they gave me a bottle of vodka, without it I felt nauseous, in such situations it doesn’t make you drunk, but it helped me cope with stress. I fought for wages. We have a family at home, we had to feed them something. I didn’t know any background to the conflict, I didn’t read anything.
Young conscripts had to be slowly soldered off with alcohol. They are just after training, it is easier for them to die than to fight. Their eyes run wide, their heads are pulled out, they don’t understand anything. They see the blood, they see the dead - they cannot sleep.
Murder is unnatural for a person, although he gets used to everything. When the head doesn’t think, the body does everything on autopilot. It was not as scary to fight with the Chechens as with the Arab mercenaries. They are much more dangerous, they know how to fight very well.
We were prepared for the assault on Grozny for about a week. We - 80 riot police - were supposed to storm the village of Katayama. Later we learned that there were 240 militants there. Our tasks included reconnaissance in force, and then the internal troops were supposed to replace us. But nothing worked out. Ours also hit us. There was no connection. We have our own police radio, the tankers have their own wave, and the helicopter pilots have their own. We are passing the line, the artillery is hitting, the aviation is hitting. The Chechens were scared and thought they were some kind of fools. According to rumors, the Novosibirsk riot police were initially supposed to storm Katayama, but their commander refused. That's why they sent us from reserve to the assault.
I had friends among Chechens in opposition areas. In Shali, for example, in Urus-Martan.
After the fighting, some people drank themselves to death, others ended up in a mental hospital - some were taken straight from Chechnya to a mental hospital. There was no adaptation. The wife left immediately. I can't remember anything good. Sometimes it seems that it is better to erase all this from memory in order to live on and move forward. And sometimes you want to speak out.
There seem to be benefits, but everything is only on paper. There are no levers on how to get them. I still live in the city, it’s easier for me, but for rural residents it’s completely impossible. There are arms and legs - and that’s good. The main trouble is that you rely on the state, which promises you everything, and then it turns out that no one needs you. I felt like a hero and received the Order of Courage. It was my pride. Now I look at everything differently.
If they offered to go and fight now, I would probably go. It's easier there. There is an enemy and there is a friend, black and white - you stop seeing the shades. But in peaceful life you have to twist and bend. It's tiring. When Ukraine began, I wanted to go, but my current wife dissuaded me.
Vladimir Bykov, Moscow, infantry sergeant
When I came to Chechnya, I was 20 years old. It was a conscious choice; I applied to the military registration and enlistment office and left as a contract soldier in May 1996. Before that, I studied at a military school for two years, and at school I studied bullet shooting.
In Mozdok we were loaded into a Mi-26 helicopter. It felt like you were seeing footage from an American movie. When we arrived in Khankala, the soldiers who had already served for some time offered me a drink. They gave me a glass of water. I took a sip, and my first thought was: “Where should I throw this out?” The taste of “war water” with bleach and pantocides is a kind of point of no return and the understanding that there is no turning back.
I didn’t and don’t feel like a hero. To become a hero in war, you must either die, commit an act that becomes public knowledge, or be close to the commander. And commanders, as a rule, are far away.
My goal in the war was minimal losses. I didn’t fight for the Reds or the Whites, I fought for my guys. In war, a reassessment of values occurs; you begin to look at life differently.
The feeling of fear begins to disappear after about a month, and this is very bad; indifference to everything appears. Each of them came out differently. Some smoked, some drank. I wrote letters. He described the mountains, the weather, the local people and their customs. Then he tore up these letters. It was still not possible to send.
It was psychologically difficult, because it is often not clear whether you are a friend or an enemy. It seems that during the day a person calmly goes to work, and at night he goes out with a machine gun and fires at checkpoints. During the day you are on normal terms with him, and in the evening he shoots at you.
For ourselves, we divided the Chechens into lowland and mountainous. Lowlanders are more intelligent people, more integrated into our society. But those living in the mountains have a completely different mentality; a woman is nothing to them. If you ask a lady for documents for verification, this may be perceived as a personal insult to her husband. We came across women from mountain villages who didn’t even have passports.
One day, at a checkpoint at the intersection with Serzhen-Yurt, we stopped a car. A man came out with a yellow ID card in English and Arabic. It turned out to be Mufti Akhmat Kadyrov. We talked quite peacefully about everyday topics. He asked if there was anything he could do to help. At that time we had difficulties with food; there was no bread. Then he brought us two trays of loaves of bread to the checkpoint. They wanted to give him money, but he didn’t take it.
I think that we could end the war in such a way that there would not be a second Chechen one. It was necessary to go to the end, and not conclude a peace agreement on shameful terms. Many soldiers and officers then felt that the state had betrayed them.
When I returned home, I threw myself into my studies. I studied at one institute, at the same time in another, and also worked to keep my brain occupied. Then he defended his Ph.D. dissertation.
When I was a student, I was sent to a course in psychosocial support for survivors of hot spots, organized by a Dutch university. I then thought that Holland did not fight with anyone in Lately. But they answered me that Holland took part in the Indonesian war in the late 40s - as many as two thousand people. I offered to show them in quality educational material videotape from Chechnya. But their psychologists turned out to be morally unprepared and asked not to show the recording to the audience.
Andrey Amosov, St. Petersburg, SOBR major
I knew that I would be an officer from the third or fourth grade. My dad is a policeman, now retired, my grandfather is an officer, my brother is also an officer, my great-grandfather died in Finnish war. At the genetic level, this bore fruit. At school I went in for sports, then I was in the army, a special forces group. I have always had a desire to give back to my homeland, and when I was offered to go to special squad quick response, I agreed. There was no doubt whether to go or not, I took the oath. During my military service I was in Ingushetia, it was clear to me what kind of mentality awaited me. I understood where I was going.
When you go to SOBR, it’s stupid not to think that you could lose your life. But my choice was conscious. I am ready to give my life for my homeland and for my friends. What doubts are there? Politics should be handled by politicians, and military structures should carry out orders. I believe that the introduction of troops into Chechnya both under Yeltsin and under Putin was correct, so that the radical theme would not spread further on Russian territory.
For me, the Chechens have never been enemies. My first friend at the technical school was a Chechen, his name was Khamzat. In Chechnya, we gave them rice and buckwheat; we had good food, but they were in need.
We worked on the leaders of gangs. We captured one of them in battle at four o'clock in the morning and destroyed it. For this I received a medal “For Courage”.
On special missions we acted coherently, as a single team. The tasks were set different, sometimes difficult to achieve. And these are not only combat missions. It was necessary to survive in the mountains, to freeze, to take turns sleeping near the stove and to warm each other with hugs when there was no firewood. All boys are heroes to me. The team helped overcome fear when the militants were 50 meters away and shouted “Surrender!” When I remember Chechnya, I more imagine the faces of my friends, how we joked, our unity. The humor was specific, on the verge of sarcasm. I think I underestimated this before.
It was easier for us to adapt because we worked in the same department and went on business trips together. Time passed, and we ourselves expressed a desire to go to North Caucasus. Physical factor worked. The feeling of fear that adrenaline gives had a strong influence. I regarded combat missions as both duty and relaxation.
It would be interesting to look at modern Grozny. When I saw it, it looked like Stalingrad. Nowadays I periodically dream about the war and have disturbing dreams.
Alexander Podskrebaev, Moscow, GRU special forces sergeant
I came to Chechnya in 1996. We didn’t have a single conscript, only officers and contract soldiers. I went because adults should defend the Motherland, not young puppies. In our battalion we had no travel allowances, only combat allowances; we received $100 a month. I didn’t go for money, but to fight for my country. “If the homeland is in danger, then everyone should go to the front,” Vysotsky also sang.
The war in Chechnya did not appear out of the blue; it was Yeltsin’s fault. He himself armed Dudayev - when our units were withdrawn from there, all the warehouses of the North Caucasus Military District were left to him. I talked to ordinary Chechens; they saw this war in their graves. They lived normally, everyone was satisfied with life. It was not the Chechens who started the war and not Dudayev, but Yeltsin. One complete setup.
The Chechens fought, some for money, some for their homeland. They had their own truth. I didn't have the feeling that they were completely evil. But there is no truth in war.
In war you are obliged to follow orders, there’s no escape, even criminal orders. Afterwards you have the right to appeal them, but first you must comply. And we carried out criminal orders. That's when, for example, they brought the Maikop brigade into Grozny under New Year. The scouts knew that this could not be done, but the order was from above. How many boys were driven to their death? This was betrayal in its purest form.
Take, for example, the cash-in-transit KamAZ with money, which was standing near the headquarters of the 205th brigade when the Khasavyurt agreements were signed. Bearded guys came and loaded bags of money. The FSB allegedly gave money to the militants for the restoration of Chechnya. But we weren’t paid wages, but Yeltsin gave us Zippo lighters gave.
For me, the real heroes are Budanov and Shamanov. My chief of staff is a hero. While in Chechnya, he managed to write scientific work about the rupture of an artillery barrel. This is a person through whom the power of Russian weapons will become stronger. The Chechens also had heroism. They were characterized by both fearlessness and self-sacrifice. They defended their land, they were told that they were attacked.
I believe that the occurrence of PTSD greatly depends on the attitude of society. If they constantly say to your face, “You’re a murderer!”, this can traumatize someone. There were no syndromes during the Great Patriotic War, because the homeland of the heroes greeted us.
We need to talk about the war from a certain angle so that people don’t do stupid things. There will still be peace, only part of the people will be killed. And not the most the worst part. This makes no sense.
Alexander Chernov, Moscow, retired colonel, internal troops
In Chechnya, I worked as the head of a computer center. We left on July 25, 1995. There were four of us traveling: me as the head of the computer center and three of my employees. We arrived in Mozdok and got off the plane. The first impression is wild heat. We were taken by helicopter to Khankala. By tradition, in all hot spots the first day is a non-working day. I brought with me two liter bottles of White Eagle vodka and two loaves of Finnish sausage. The men put out Kizlyar cognac and sturgeon.
The internal troops camp in Khankala was a quadrangle surrounded by barbed wire. At the entrance there was a rail in case of artillery attacks to raise the alarm. The four of us lived in a trailer. It was quite convenient, we even had a refrigerator. The freezer was filled with bottles of water because the heat was unbearable.
Our computer center was engaged in collecting and processing all information, primarily operational information. Previously, all information was transmitted via ZAS (classified communication equipment). And six months before Chechnya, we got a device called RAMS - I don’t know how it stands for. This device made it possible to connect a computer with the ZAS, and we could transmit secret information to Moscow. Besides internal work like all kinds of information, twice a day - at 6 am and 12 am - we transmitted operational reports to Moscow. Despite the fact that the volume of files was small, the connection was sometimes poor, and the process took a long time.
We had a video camera and filmed everything. The most important footage is the negotiations of Romanov (Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia, Commander of the Internal Troops Anatoly Romanov) with Maskhadov (one of the separatist leaders Aslan Maskhadov). There were two operators at the negotiations: from their side and from ours. The secretaries took the tape from us, and I don’t know its further fate. Or, for example, a new howitzer appeared. Romanov told us: “Go and film how it works.” Our cameraman also filmed the story of how the heads of three foreign journalists were found. We sent the film to Moscow, they processed it there and showed the story on television.
May 1996, airfield of the military base in Khankala
The war was very unprepared. Drunk Grachev and Yegorov sent the tankers to Grozny on New Year’s Eve, and they were all burned there. Sending tanks to the city is not quite correct solution. And the personnel were not prepared. It got to the point that the Marines were removed from Far East and they threw it there. People need to be trained, but here the boys were almost straight out of training and thrown into battle. The losses could have been avoided; in the second campaign there were an order of magnitude fewer of them. The truce provided a short respite.
I am sure that the first Chechen war could have been avoided. I believe that the main culprits of this war are Yeltsin, Grachev and Yegorov, they unleashed it. If Yeltsin had appointed Dudayev deputy minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and entrusted him with the North Caucasus, he would have restored order there. The civilian population suffered from the militants. But when we bombed their villages, they rose up against us. Intelligence during the first Chechen war worked very poorly. There were no agents, they lost all the agents. Whether there were militants in the destroyed villages or not, it is impossible to say for sure.
My friend, a military officer, with orders all over his chest, took off his shoulder straps and refused to go to Chechnya. He said that this is the wrong war. He even refused to apply for a pension. Proud.
My illnesses have worsened in Chechnya. It got to such a point that I couldn't work on the computer. Another mode of operation was that I slept only four hours plus a glass of cognac at night to fall asleep.
Ruslan Savitsky, St. Petersburg, private of internal troops
I came to Chechnya in December 1995 from the Perm region, where I had training in an operational battalion. We studied for six months and went to Grozny by train. We all wrote petitions so that we would be sent to the combat area and not be forced. If there is only one child in the family, then he could easily refuse.
WITH officers we were lucky. These were young guys, only two or three years older than us. They always ran ahead of us and felt responsible. Of the entire battalion, we only had one officer with combat experience who had served in Afghanistan. Only riot police were directly involved in the clean-up operations; we, as a rule, held the perimeter.
In Grozny, we lived in a school building for six months. Part of it was occupied by a riot police unit, about two floors were occupied by us. There were cars parked around and the windows were covered with bricks. In the classroom where we lived there were potbelly stoves and they were heated with wood. We washed ourselves once a month and lived with lice. It was undesirable to go beyond the perimeter. I was taken out of there two weeks earlier than the others for disciplinary violations.
It was boring hanging around at school, although the food was normal. Over time, out of boredom, we started drinking. There were no shops, we bought vodka from the Chechens. It was necessary to go outside the perimeter, walk about a kilometer around the city, come to the usual a private house and say that you need alcohol. There was a high probability that you would not return. I walked around without a weapon. Just one machine gun could get you killed.
Destroyed Grozny, 1995
Local banditry is a strange thing. It seemed like a normal person during the day, but in the evening he dug out a machine gun and went to shoot. In the morning I buried the weapon and was back to normal.
The first contact with death was when our sniper was killed. He shot back, he wanted to take the weapon from the dead man, he stepped on a tripwire and blew himself up. In my opinion, this is a complete lack of brains. I had no sense of the value of my own life. I wasn't afraid of death, I was afraid of stupidity. There were a lot of idiots around.
When I returned, I went to get a job in the police, but I did not have a secondary education. I passed the exams as an external student and came back again, but they gave me a ride again because I developed tuberculosis in Chechnya. Also because I drank a lot. I can’t say that the army is to blame for my alcoholism. Alcohol was present in my life before. When the second Chechen war began, I wanted to go. I came to the military registration and enlistment office, they gave me a bunch of documents, this discouraged me a little. Then a criminal record appeared for some bullshit, and my service in the army ended. I wanted courage and excitement, but it didn’t work out.
Daniil Gvozdev, Helsinki, special forces
I ended up in Chechnya by conscription. When the time came to join the army, I asked my coach to place me in good troops - we had a special purpose company in Petrozavodsk. But at the assembly point, my name was heard with those who are going to Sertolovo to become grenade launchers. It turned out that the day before, my coach had left for Chechnya as part of a combined special forces detachment. I, along with the whole “herd,” got up, went to the train, and was in the training unit for three months. Nearby there was part of the paratroopers in Pesochny, I wrote applications there several times to be accepted, and came. Then I realized that everything was useless, I passed the exams to become a radio operator of the 142nd command and staff vehicle. At night, our captain and officers raised us. One walked around in tears, saying how much he respects and loves us all, the second tried to warn. They said that we were all leaving tomorrow. The next night it was so interesting to look at this officer, I still didn’t understand why he shed tears in front of us, he was younger than I am now. He cried: “Guys, I’m going to worry about you so much!” One of the guys told him: “So get ready and come with us.”
We flew to Vladikavkaz via Mozdok. We had three months of active training, and they gave me the 159th radio station on my back. Then I was sent to Chechnya. I stayed there for nine months, I was the only signalman in our company who more or less understood something about communications. After six months, I managed to knock out an assistant - a guy from Stavropol who did not understand anything, but smoked a lot, and for him Chechnya was a paradise in general.
We performed different tasks there. One of the simple ones - they can dig up oil there with a shovel and they installed the following devices: a barrel, under it there is a gas or diesel heater, they drive the oil to a state where in the end gasoline is obtained. They sell gasoline. Huge convoys of trucks were driving. ISIS, banned in Russia, is doing the same thing in Syria. Some won't come to an agreement, they hand him over to their own people - and his barrels will burn, but some will calmly do what is needed. There was also constant work - we guarded the entire leadership of the North Caucasus Military District headquarters, we guarded Shamanov. Well, reconnaissance missions.
We had a task to capture a militant of some kind. We went out into the night to search on the outskirts of the village, and saw that cars were approaching there and draining gasoline. We noticed one comrade there, he was constantly walking around, changing the heating under the barrels, he had a machine gun, well, since a machine gun means an action movie. He had a bottle, he would come over, take a sip and hide it, well, we were lying there, watching with a friend, he said: “He has vodka, they are Muslims, you can’t drink it, so he comes here, drinks it and hides it.” The task of capturing the tongue has faded into the background; we must first grab the vodka. We crawled around, found a bottle, and there was water! This angered us and took him prisoner. This militant guy, so thin, was sent back to us after interrogation by the intelligence department. He said that he used to do Greco-Roman wrestling and did a handstand with a broken rib, I respected him greatly for that. He turned out to be the field commander’s cousin, so he was exchanged for two of our soldiers. You should have seen these soldiers: 18-year-old boys, I don’t know, their psyche is clearly broken. We wrote to this guy on a green scarf: “Nothing personal, we don’t want war.”
He asks: “Why didn’t you kill me?” We explained that we were wondering what he was drinking. And he said that they had only one Russian left in the village, they didn’t touch her, because she was a witch, everyone went to her. Two months ago she gave him a bottle of water and said: “They can kill you, drink this water and you will live.”
We were permanently located in Khankala and worked everywhere. The last time we had a demobilization chord was when Bamut was liberated. Have you seen Nevzorov’s film “Mad Company”? So we walked with them, we were on one side along the pass, they were on the other. They had one conscript in the company and it was he who was killed, but all the contract soldiers are alive. One day I was looking through binoculars, and there were some bearded people running around. The company commander says: “Let’s give them a couple of cucumbers.” They asked on the radio station, they told me the coordinates, I looked - they were running around, waving their hands. Then they show a beluga whale - what they wore under camouflage. And we realized that they were ours. It turned out that their batteries did not work for transmission and he could not transmit, but he heard me, so they started waving.
You don't remember anything in battle. Someone says: “When I saw this man’s eyes...” But I don’t remember this. The battle is over, I see that everything is fine, everyone is alive. There was a situation when we got into the ring and caused fire on ourselves, it turns out that if I lie down, there is no connection, and I need to adjust so that we don’t get hit. I wake up. The guys shout: “Good! Lie down." And I understand that if there is no connection, they will shut down their own people.
Who came up with the idea of giving children weapons at the age of 18, giving them the right to kill? If you give it, do it so that when people return they will be heroes, but now it’s Kadyrov’s bridges. I understand that they want to reconcile the two nations, everything will be erased in a few generations, but how can these generations live?
When I returned, it was the wild nineties, and almost all my friends were busy with something illegal. I found myself under investigation, a criminal record... At some point, when my head began to clear of the war fog, I waved my hand at this romance. Together with the veteran guys, we opened a public organization to support combat veterans. We work, help ourselves and others. I also paint icons.
KONSTANTINOV
LEONID SERGEEVICHOver the territory of the Republic of Ingushetia in the area of the village of Nesterovskaya, the helicopter was suddenly fired from the ground from a heavy machine gun. Lieutenant Colonel Konstantinov received six bullet wounds in the stomach, chest and head, but managed to maintain control of the helicopter and took it out of the fire zone. With his courageous actions, he saved the lives of all those on board. When the helicopter commander lost consciousness from severe injuries, he was replaced by the rest of the crew, who landed the damaged helicopter in a field. However, Leonid Konstantinov died from severe wounds and large loss of blood before being evacuated to the hospital...
KOSTIN
SERGEY VYACHESLAVOVYCH
...The unequal battle lasted over seven and a half hours. When there was almost no ammunition left, and the enemy was already close to the positions of the paratroopers, Kostin began to organize and lead daring counterattacks that turned into hand-to-hand combat. He personally killed twelve militants. While repelling one of the attacks, Major Sergei Kostin died the death of a hero... The militants lost over 100 people killed in that battle. Defeat on Donkey Ear came as a complete surprise to the enemy and turning point in battles in the Botlikh region. A few days later, the remnants of the gangs fled from there...
PEASANTS
ANDREW VLADIMIROVICH
...Fighting professionally, using ammunition wisely, it was Krestyaninov’s detachment that, having knocked out Dudayev’s men from their front line of defense, was the first of the Sobrov men to break into the village. At 10:30 a.m., Andrei Krestyaninov, being at the forward command post, was preparing to fire a grenade launcher. First, he ordered his subordinate to do this, and then, following the military habit of “not exposing the young,” he himself took the weapon. He just looked around the corner of the house when a sniper hit him in the neck. The wound turned out to be fatal...
KROPOCHEV
IVAN ALEXEEVICH...Junior Sergeant Kropochev I.A. entered into an unequal battle with the bandits. From a burning car, he directed targeted fire at the militants, destroying them one by one and giving his wounded comrades the opportunity to retreat to a safe distance. When the ammunition ran out, junior sergeant I.A. Kropochev pulled the pin from the grenade, deciding not to surrender. Having let the bandits get close to the armored personnel carrier, he detonated a grenade and, at the cost of his life, saved his comrades and prevented the militants from seizing weapons and military equipment...
KRUPINOV
ANATOLY ALEXANDROVICH
...On August 14, 2002, near the village of Akhkinchu-Borzoi in one of the southern regions of Chechnya, a group of 4 FSB officers was ambushed by militants. When the landmine exploded, three soldiers were injured, but Krupinov remained unharmed. He immediately returned fire, ordering the wounded to retreat deeper into the forest, while he himself covered their retreat with fire. In the battle he was seriously wounded in the head, however, overcoming the pain, he pulled his seriously wounded comrade out of the burning car. While leaving I lost consciousness. Having woken up, Anatoly Krupinov saw that they were overtaken by militants who killed the wounded soldier. He shot one of the militants, and when the others rushed towards him, he blew himself up with a grenade along with them...
KUZMIN
FEDOR VASILIEVICH
...The operator-gunner Kuzmin was wounded, but refused to leave the vehicle. He shouted: “Go to the basement, I’ll cover you!” – although he could have jumped out of a burning car. Using turret machine gun fire, he calmly destroyed the militants' points. They suffered significant losses. But most importantly, by diverting the fire to himself, he gave the paratroopers the opportunity to pick up their wounded comrades and retreat to residential building and continue the battle from more advantageous positions. Meanwhile, the bandits concentrated all their firepower on Kuzmin’s car. She flared up with a torch. But Kuzmin continued to fire at the enemy. Until I burned myself...
Based on materials from the site http://verdysh.narod.ru/geroi.html
My father’s heart sank with a sense of foreboding when he went out into the courtyard of the helicopter factory where he worked to have a smoke break. Suddenly he saw two white swans flying in the sky with a plaintive purr. He thought about Dima. I felt bad from a bad feeling. His son Dmitry Petrov at that moment, together with his comrades, repelled the attacks of bandits under the leadership of Khattab and Shamil Basayev near the foot of height 776 near Ulus-Kert.
White swans in the March sky are harbingers of the death of Pskov paratroopers
On the day when the detachment of paratroopers advanced to the combat mission area, wet sticky snow began to fall and the weather was unflyable. And the terrain - continuous gullies, ravines, the mountain river Abazulgol and beech forest - prevented the landing of helicopters. Therefore, the detachment moved on foot. They did not have time to reach the height when they were discovered by bandits. The battle has begun. The paratroopers died one after another. They didn't get help. The commanders of the troops, Shamanov, have already reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the war in Chechnya is over, all large gangs have been destroyed. The general hurried. The parents of the dead 84 Pskov paratroopers urgently demanded an independent investigation and punishment of those responsible who failed to come to the aid of the dying company during the three days of battle, from February 29 to March 1, 2000. 90 paratroopers fought against 2,500 thousand bandits.
For this battle, 21 paratroopers received the Hero Star posthumously. Dima Petrov is among them. The parents cherished the star like the apple of their eye. But they didn’t save it. Apartment thieves stole the relic. Local newspapers wrote about this. And a miracle happened. Even thieves, it turns out, have hearts. They tossed the reward around front door to the apartment.
A school in the city of Rostov-on-Don is named after the hero of Russia. In 2016, a memorial plaque was installed on the house where Dima studied at the Young Pilot club. There is no monument to the hero in the city.
Feat of the Orthodox spirit without official awards
In the narrow, dead Khanchelak gorge, during the first Chechen war in 1995, Chechen militants ambushed. Time for rescue is only 25 minutes or less. Russian helicopter pilots succeeded. But after a short battle, the comrades were missing Alexander Voronov. He was sitting on an armored vehicle and was apparently hit by a shock wave. They were looking for him. To no avail. Only blood on the stones. Sasha was captured. They searched for him in the surrounding villages for another three days. Not found. Five years have passed. The second Chechen war began in 2000. After the assault on the village of Utam-Kala, local residents told the special forces what they had backyard there is a special pit (zindan). There is a Russian man sitting there.
A miracle happened. When wooden stairs The fighters descended into a seven-meter hole; they hardly recognized the bearded man in decaying camouflage, dressed in burlap, as their lost friend. He was staggering. He was very weak. Special forces soldier Sasha Voronov was alive. He fell to his knees, cried and kissed the free ground. He was saved by his indestructible will to live and orthodox cross. He took it in his hands, kissed it, rolled pellets of clay and ate it. His hands were cut by bandits' knives. They practiced techniques on him hand-to-hand combat. Not everyone gets to experience such challenges. This is a real feat. A feat of the human spirit. Even without official awards.
Zhukov walked through a minefield
In the Argun Gorge, a reconnaissance group was ambushed while carrying out a mission. She could not tear herself away, having two seriously wounded people in her arms. Lieutenant Colonel of the North Caucasus Military Headquarters District Alexander Zhukov receives an order to rescue his comrades. It is not possible to land helicopters in dense forests. The winch lifts the fighters. To help evacuate the remaining wounded, Zhukov winches down. Mi-24s, which are designed to provide fire support, cannot fire - a salvo can destroy their own.
Zhukov lowers the helicopter. It turns out. 100 meters away, militants surround him and the remaining two fighters on three sides. Heavy fire. And - captivity. The militants did not kill the fighters. After all, a captured district headquarters officer can be ransomed at a profit. The tractor driver, the leader of the militants, orders the prisoners not to be fed and to be methodically beaten. He sells Colonel Zhukov to field commander Gelayev. The gang of which is surrounded near the village of Komsomolskoye. The area is mined. Gelayev orders the prisoners to walk through the minefield. Alexander Zhukov was blown up by a mine, was seriously wounded and received the star of the Hero of Russia. Alive.
I didn’t attach the Hero’s Star to my ceremonial jacket.
In 1995, in the area of Minutka Square, Chechen militants dressed in airborne uniforms with short haircuts characteristic of paratroopers killed the local population. The alleged atrocities of Russian soldiers were filmed on camera. A report was received about this to Ivan Babichev, the general of the united group “West”. He gives the order to Colonel Vasily Nuzhny to neutralize the militants.
The necessary one has been to Afghanistan twice, had military awards. A proposal to confer the title of Hero of Russia has already been sent to him.
He and the soldiers began clearing the ruins of houses. Four militants were found. Surrounded. They ordered to surrender. Suddenly, from the forks, shots were heard from other bandits sitting in ambush. Vasily Nuzhny was wounded. Blood instantly appeared in the place on the chest where the golden star should have hung. He died almost immediately.
Tanya and 17 children were rescued by scouts
In the village of Bamut, 18 children were rescued by a reconnaissance platoon under the command of Sergeant Danila Blarneysky. The militants held children hostage in order to use them as human shields. Our scouts suddenly burst into the house and began carrying out the children. The bandits went wild. They shot at their defenseless backs. The soldiers fell, but under heavy fire they grabbed the children and ran to hide them under saving stones. 27 soldiers died. The last girl rescued, Tanya Blank, was wounded in the leg. All other children survived. Danil was seriously wounded and did not receive the Hero of Russia star because he was discharged from the army. Instead of this well-deserved award, he puts the Order of Courage on his jacket.
“Komsomolskaya Pravda” remembered the exploits of those who live next to us and, it seems, are no different from the majority - [KP exclusive]
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Alexander Suponinsky. 6th company: “Hope saved me from a bullet to the temple”
On December 9, Russia celebrates the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland. Today, three Heroes of Russia and one Hero live in Tatarstan Soviet Union. “KP” recalls the feat of each of them.
The Hero of Russia star for Alexander Suponinsky from Almetyevsk is not just an award. This is the memory of those 84 fighters who remained lying in the Shatoi region. Then, in a few hours, trained militants, including Arab mercenaries, mowed down an entire company. Only six, including the Tatarstan resident, miraculously survived.
HEIGHT 776.0
Alexander does not like to remember that Hell, where almost all of his comrades died - in 15 years, too much truth and fiction about the 6th company has been said, written, and filmed.
But then - back in 2000, having served only three months, Suponinsky himself asked to go to Chechnya with his friends - he persuaded the commander. And already in early February he went there as part of the 6th company of the 2nd parachute battalion of the 104th Guards Red Banner Parachute Regiment of the 76th Guards Chernigov Red Banner Airborne Division.
On February 8, the first serious clash with militants. And on February 29, the company was sent to height 776.0, near the village of Ulus-Kert, to block the passage through the Argun Gorge for a large group of militants led by the famous field commander Khattab. According to some reports, the number of Wahhabis was from one and a half to two thousand people, that is, 15-20 times (!) greater than the number of paratroopers from the “human shield”.
The militants tried to fight their way forward by hook or by crook in order to escape from the “cauldron” into which the federal troops had driven them. Khattab gave the order to destroy all defenders of height 776.0. Russian soldiers covered with heavy fire.
HELL ON EARTH
What happened after is difficult to describe in words. The “spirits” came in “waves” of about 50 people, while our guys had no reinforcements. Rare half-hour breaks were all the paratroopers received for almost a day.
They came at us with bulging eyes, shouting “Allahu Akbar”... - the survivors of that terrible battle recall.
His comrades in arms fell dead nearby, and Alexander more than once had the idea of shooting a bullet into his temple.
But every time there was some hope. Saved. “I kept shooting,” recalls Alexander Suponinsky.
It came down to hand-to-hand combat. The soldiers of the 6th company defeated several gangs, but there were fewer and fewer defenders of the heights - the ranks were thinning. At night, towards morning, the assault on the Wahhabis intensified. The militants went to full height, without hiding. Later, during the inspection of the battle site by the Wahhabis, a lot of strong drugs will be found here.
Neither artillery nor air support would have been able to help our people then - the gorge was shrouded in dense fog, and the forest itself stood as a thick wall. In such conditions, you can’t tell where your friends are and where they are strangers.
Early in the morning of March 1, the battalion commander, in order to save the surviving guys, called fire on himself. After some time, communication with the 6th company was interrupted forever.
22 HEROES OF RUSSIA. 21 POSTHEATH
In that battle, Alexander Suponinsky received a shrapnel wound in the leg. And the officer with broken legs remained to cover the retreat of the guys: “Someone must tell the truth.” He died there, at an inaccessible height.
After some time, Alexander is demobilized. A new, peaceful life will begin for him, but he often sees the faces of his comrades in arms and that very battle for height 776.0 in his dreams.
“For courage and bravery shown during the liquidation of illegal armed groups in the North Caucasus region” by Presidential Decree Russian Federation On March 12, 2000, Guard Senior Sergeant Alexander Anatolyevich Suponinsky was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. Another 21 paratroopers from the 6th company received the same rank. Everything is posthumous.
Now Alexander lives and works with his wife in Almetyevsk, raising three children - two daughters and a son.
I tell my son that you need to serve in the army, you shouldn’t be afraid. And serve conscientiously, always remain human and, of course, love your Motherland,” the paratrooper told KP.
And although the boy is only 5 years old, he is making very serious plans for the future: to celebrate his father’s 50th birthday in the air - to jump with a parachute.
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Suponinsky Alexander Anatolievich. Born on April 3, 1978 in the village of Sheshminka, Cheremshansky district of Tatarstan.
Paratrooper, Hero of Russia since 2000.
To answer the question: what actually happened at an altitude of 776.0? many have tried. Based on those events, several feature films have been made, including “Breakthrough”, “Russian Sacrifice”, “Storm Gates”... But each of them, according to the survivors, is a work of fiction. However, even the most wonderful movie is unlikely to be able to convey all the horror that the soldiers of the 6th company experienced.
Alexey Korablev: “I was already considered dead. And I'm back"
A 20-year-old conscript soldier from Tatarstan is one of the few survivors today. He received his “Star” for single-handedly covering the retreat of his reconnaissance group from encirclement. If not for him, most likely everyone would have died.
ONE FOR ALL
Alexey Korablev, shortly before his mobilization, together with several comrades in arms, found himself in the midst of hostilities during the second Chechen war.
The turning point for the conscript from Tatarstan was January 14, 2000. The motorized rifle platoon of the 503rd regiment, in which Private Korablev, a conscript from Tatarstan, served, together with the reconnaissance group of the 160th regiment were surrounded and blocked at an altitude of 950.8 near the village of Duba-Yurt, Shalinsky district of Chechnya.
Several hours passed and the ammunition of the soldiers and officers of the reconnaissance company began to come to an end - the “spirits” came towards our guys like a dense wall. To save the guys, the commander was forced to order a retreat. But where to go? The only path under the guns of militants.
A powerful cover was needed. It was the machine gun fire of Private Alexei Korablev.
I'm the only one left. Of course I was scared. It is impossible to convey in words what was happening to me at that moment. Adrenaline was off the charts. Some kind of state of madness. And you no longer think about your life. Some kind of anger comes over me,” Alexey told KP.
He shot everything, as they say, “down to the pieces.” Night has come. Under the cover of darkness, the private began to slowly make his way to his own.
THE MACHINE GUN IS SILENCED, SO THE FIGHTER IS DEAD?
On the way, Korablev discovered a wounded comrade.
I jumped into a cliff, and there Stas, the gunner, was lying there, seriously wounded,” says Alexey.
It’s scary to even remember how he dragged the bleeding soldier to the location of the unit: now Alexey is a large, respectable man, and then he was a “green” thin boy, but the wounded man was an adult big man twice as heavy as him.
I arrived at the unit only the next day. After lunch already. I had a wounded man in my arms. Until you get there with him... - the fighter recalls. – And the commander, it turns out, has already started writing a nomination for an award for me... posthumously. They decided: since my machine gun fell silent, it means I’m no longer alive.
Of course, Korablev’s comrades were delighted with their savior: everyone wanted to hug the guy, shake his hand - after all, he helped the guys from the environment leave and left himself - he deceived the “spirits”!
LIFE WITHOUT WAR
The guy served in Chechnya for another 4 months, and six months later he was completely mobilized - he returned to his native Chistopol. And he never picked up a machine gun again - he chose a completely peaceful profession as a driver.
And for the courage and heroism shown during the counter-terrorism operation on the territory of the North Caucasus region, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of June 28, 2000, Guard Private Korablev Alexey Mikhailovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.
Until recently he was President Public organization veterans of the Afghan and Chechen wars of the Chistopol region, but combine social activities and the work turned out to be rather difficult. Moreover, Alexey has a large family - four children need to be raised.
Now for him, as a participant in bloody battles, the most important thing is: “So that there is no war!”
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Korablev Alexey Mikhailovich. Born on March 21, 1979 in the village of Galaktionovo, Chistopol district of Tatarstan.
Private, Hero of Russia since 2000.
No films have been made or books written about his feat. However, in any domestic movie about the war there are such “Korablevs” who, at the cost of their own lives, save their own from their enemies.
Of course, he would really like the directors of the “military war” to pay attention to their feat. But not for the sake of boasting:
I would like the memory of the dead guys to remain. I am alive and well, and at the age of 18 they are in the grave.
“Kandagarovian” Gazinur Khairullin: “If there had been even one attempt to escape, we would have been shot immediately”
On December 9, Russia celebrates the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland. Today, three Heroes of Russia and one Hero of the Soviet Union live in Tatarstan. “KP” remembers the feat of each of them.
The story of the Il-76 crew, of which Gazinur Khairullin was the co-pilot, has become more than just a legend - a Russian blockbuster was made based on it, and the pilots were awarded the Hero’s Star: 378 days of Kandahar captivity and an impossible take-off, which the participants themselves still call a miracle.
FATAL VOYAGE
August 3, 1995. An Il-76 aircraft of the Kazan Aerostan airline flies on a regular “charter” from Tirana (Albania) to Kabul (Afghanistan). On board is a shipment of small arms and ammunition, including more than a thousand boxes of cartridges for a Kalashnikov assault rifle. The flight and cargo are consistent with all rules of international transportation.
The plane enters Afghan airspace and is a 30-minute flight to its destination. At this time, the radio operator receives the fatal: “Flight 76842, you are landing in Kandahar.” And a second later a Mig-21 fighter lands on the transporter’s tail. And a new order: “Land in or open fire.” It was not possible to delay time and evade pursuit: at that time, another fighter was preparing to take off on the ground.
The pilots landed the plane in Kandahar. On the runway he was surrounded by heavily armed Taliban who declared the cargo prohibited without even looking at the documents. All seven crew members: commander Vladimir Sharpatov, co-pilot Gazinur Khairullin, navigator Alexander Zdor, flight engineer Askhat Abbyazov, radio operator Yuri Vshivtsev, engineers Viktor Ryazanov and Sergei Butuzov became prisoners for a long 13 months.
LIFE AT SIGHT
378 days at gunpoint and constant control, exhausting the nerves, but not breaking the spirit of the Kazan pilots... 378 days of hope for salvation... 378 days spent in small house where they slept naked concrete floor, and ate four potatoes and a small piece of lamb fat on the bone for seven.
The fate of the Kazan crew was reported to the Russian government. Negotiations began. Then, for the first time, doctors came to the pilots, albeit at gunpoint. But with long-awaited news from home. Plus food and medicine. And one day they brought a satellite phone of the President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev.
Half a minute each. But everyone got through to the house - even the memory of this significant event for the prisoners years later causes a spasm in the throat. And then – 20 years ago – there were tears for the first time. Neither humiliation, nor inhuman conditions of existence, nor the constant expectation of death could do what a few seconds of a loved one’s own voice were capable of.
In order not to go crazy and not give up, the crew went for a morning run around the courtyard every day, and taught in the evenings English language– the role of “teacher” was performed by the radio operator.
A LONG AWAITED CHANCE
The people of Kazan never lost hope of salvation, and only after telephone conversation with their wives, their faith grew into determination: since the Taliban didn’t shoot them right away, then for some reason they need pilots.
For what exactly, it became clear a little later, when the crew commander and both engineers were taken to the airfield to their home Il-76. The Taliban forced us to inspect the plane completely and start the engines.
The guys decided to cheat, deciding: here it is - a chance for salvation. They persuaded the invaders that this was impossible, saying that the entire crew was needed to start the engine.
We thought over every detail of the future escape.
A week later, the entire crew was taken to the airfield. But under the supervision of five machine gunners.
If we had made even an attempt, we would have been shot immediately,” Gazinur Khairullin told KP. “We definitely wouldn’t be able to cope with five guards.”
The pilots were “saved” by a burst tire on the plane - what’s not a reason to ask to board again? On August 16, the guards woke up the crew and took them to the airfield. Luckily for Kazan residents, it was Friday – a day off for Muslims dedicated to prayers. So, to protect the crew on board, only two machine gunners were allocated and a third in addition for “reinforcement”. The wheel was replaced and the Kazan residents persuaded the chief of the guard to carry out other engineering works by plane. The pilots sat at the controls of the Il-76. Three guards boarded with them.
The next few seconds turned into an eternity for the crew members. But every maneuver has long been thought out: start the engines, check the readiness of all instruments, acceleration...
The security did not react immediately, apparently deciding that, like last time, the crew would simply make a circle around the airfield... They took off from the middle of the runway, and a bus with armed Taliban was rushing across the plane. The guards on board also woke up. While the commander lifted Il into the air, the crew, including the co-pilot, went hand-to-hand. The machine gunners were subdued at the cost of superhuman efforts. But the chances of salvation, increasing every minute, gave the exhausted prisoners confidence.
We walked at extremely low altitudes (up to 50-100 meters) and this was in mountainous areas! If it weren't for the skill of the pilots, the guys could have simply crashed. But they didn’t risk climbing higher before crossing the border and getting in touch with ground services, lest they be detected by air defense systems.
The route was thought out in advance: instead of the desired homeland, we flew to the border with Iran, and from there across the Persian Gulf UAE Gazinur Khairullin (third from right) with friends.
The pilots received a star, the rest received the Order of Courage
On August 22, 1996, the President of Russia signed a Decree awarding Khairullin Gazinur Garifzyanovich the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.
The commander, Vladimir Sharpatov, also received a gold star and a personalized watch. The remaining crew members were awarded the Order of Courage.
“I began to look at life differently - we were on the verge of death,” Gazinur Khairullin admitted to KP much later. He still continues to fly - he works as a crew commander at Volga-Dnepr Airlines and still on the Il-76. But
Now before each flight he turns to God:
Before the flight starts, I say to myself: “Bismillah rahman rahim” (“In the name of Allah, the merciful and merciful” - surah from the Koran. - Author), - Gazinur Khairullin smiles.
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Gazinur Garifzyanovich Khairullin. Born on September 10, 1961, in the village of Staroye Drozhzhanoe.
Pilot, Hero of Russia since 1996.
In 2010, the film “Kandahar” was released, based on the story of the captivity of the Il-76 crew in 1995. The second pilot was played by actor Vladimir Mashkov. The artist's choice was approved by his real prototype.