The criminal case about the death of tourists was written to order. Proshkin Leonid Georgievich Proshkin Leonid Georgievich
Criminal case No. 18/6214-91
– Raisa Maksimovna, you are being questioned as a witness. In accordance with the law, I warn you of liability for refusal to testify and for giving false testimony. You, as a witness to everything that happened in Foros from August 18 to 21, tell us what happened there during this period.
– For us, the events in Foros began on August 18, at 17.00, when a group of unknown persons appeared on the territory of the president’s residence. Without warning, without invitation, cars enter the territory, a group of people comes out and demands a meeting with the president. Mikhail Sergeevich was in his office. He always worked in the afternoon. I was in my room. And Mikhail Sergeevich later told me that when Medvedev came to him and reported that a group of people had arrived and demanded a meeting, the president tried to find out by phone who invited them, why, and so on. All his numerous telephones turned out to be disconnected - from strategic government ones to city and internal ones... We realized that something terrible had happened... Then the arrival of the Russian delegation, the arrival of the conspirators, our very night departure from Foros and the flight... This is very it will be long. What should I concentrate on?
– Let there be main milestones of these 73 hours...
- For me? How I perceived them...
- Yes.
– The first, most important shock for me was when Mikhail Sergeevich came in and said that we were isolated, arrested, that now he would accept this group of people who had appeared and the family must decide, since our children and grandchildren were isolated with us. We had to decide what to do. This moment was difficult.
Then, when Mikhail Sergeevich said that he would not agree to any adventures or any blackmail, the children and I decided - you and I. Then he went to negotiate with the arriving persons. Realizing that everything was so serious and what it could lead to... I even had the idea that he would be arrested now. I took my children, Anatoly and Ira, and we went to the office to see what would happen next to him. I sat down in a chair by the wall, the guys stood next to me. So we waited. Whether it was forty minutes or an hour... We sat in silence.
Then they left. Varennikov came out first, did not pay attention to us, and went down the stairs. Boldin was the second, he stopped at the stairs in the distance and did not approach us. Baklanov and Sheinin came up to me. We said hello. Baklanov extended his hand to me! Sheinin also made an attempt. But I didn't answer. She didn't shake hands. Didn't get up. She asked: “Did you come with good intentions?” Baklanov answered me something, I remembered one phrase: “Forced circumstances.” They turned and left.
Then Mikhail Sergeevich left the office. And here is this piece of paper in his hands, torn from the notebook. He handed it to me... He said that the State Emergency Committee had been created. And here is the list. What he assumed was confirmed – the worst. Those who arrived named those who joined the State Emergency Committee. As they said, he wrote it all down. Excitedly, with a blue marker. Starodubtsev was not on this list. Tizyakov was not there. There was Pugo. The last name was misspelled: "Bugo". Someone's last name was left unfinished, I don't remember whose. Lukyanov's last name was written in small letters, opposite was the seventh number and next to it there was a question mark. Apparently they didn’t tell him exactly, I don’t know. Entered - did not enter, some hesitation.
And then Mikhail Sergeevich began to tell what they presented to him, what position he took. I noticed that when he spoke with indignation, he nevertheless noted the unceremoniousness of their behavior, in addition to the fact that they presented an ultimatum, they behaved unceremoniously...
- How are the owners?
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And then night came. I didn’t sleep that night from August 18 to 19, I was in pain. Has Plekhanov left or been arrested? All the people who worked at the dacha were not released. The hostess sister, the maids, the gardeners in the park... No one was allowed out. And everyone has families. This means they were arrested... Additional guards were placed at the gates and the cars were taken away... I was terribly tormented by the question: why did the guards remain? Or will she protect, or will she carry out someone’s orders?..
On the evening of the 18th, our TV and radio were turned off at the same time. On the morning of the 19th, the newspapers did not arrive... We had to go get tickets, the children were supposed to fly out on the 26th. Tolya had to go to work on the 27th. They wanted to buy tickets at the city ticket office in Sevastopol. The car was not released to pick up the tickets. We are discussing this, and the guys say: we are not going anywhere, we will be with you.
On the 19th, the security guard Oleg Klimov came and said that he would be with us until the last. Generalov remained among the authorities, but he stays away from us, on the economic territory. Everyone started looking for a connection. The guys found an old pocket transistor. Mikhail Sergeevich always listened to “Mayak” on it... In the evening they turned on our television. Press conference. Such a lie for the whole world! Mikhail Sergeevich demanded to turn on communications, send a plane...
On the 15th, Mikhail Sergeevich had an acute attack of radiculitis. They made a drug blockade. On the 18th everything was fine. And on the 19th they declare to the whole world that he is incompetent. I decided: they will do something. But as? First lie to the whole world, and that means you need to confirm it, that he is incompetent. We specifically went for walks so that people could see that we were alive and well. So that they can see that HE is healthy!
On the night of August 19-20, we decided to make video recordings. They closed their doors, curtained them so that they couldn’t be seen from the sea or from the rocks... We made four entries. The guys cut them into pieces. And on the morning of the 20th we began to figure out how to transport them. How to do it? No one was allowed out of the dacha. I'm going to the security guard Oleg. Maybe Generalov will help us release the recordings? No... We had two motor boats, pleasure boats. On the 19th they were removed, blocking us from the sea as well. And on land you can’t even crawl... Doctor Yuri Sergeevich was asked to write a statement that Mikhail Sergeevich was healthy. The films, the doctor’s statement, the political statement of Mikhail Sergeevich - all this was distributed among six people in order to be released. What else happened on the 20th? The thought was constantly - to break through, to get out. Information was already coming in, we knew what was happening in Moscow... They were suffering some kind of defeat. Oleg said that Raisa Maksimovna, there is no need to go into the territory, because a shootout could be provoked. In this case, we will put Mikhail Sergeevich at risk. We settled into the house.
On the 21st at 14.00 we have lunch. Guys come to me with this transistor. The BBC reports that Kryuchkov allowed the commission to fly to Foros so that everyone would be convinced of the president’s incapacity. When I heard this, and the sleepless nights also took their toll, my first feeling was that they were flying to... finally realize what they had in mind.
On the 19th we decided on food - we ate what we had at the dacha. There were vegetables, meat, and something else. We collected all our medications, pills, and decided not to drink what they would give us, but to make do with our own medications. Take the new, but do not accept anything, use only the old. When they found out that they were flying, we thought: what can they do to us? Injections? Or just go for a shootout? And at that moment I became very worried. Where to go? There are rocks all around, you’ll go out and it’s clear... Hide in the house? This caused me to have a hypertensive crisis... I lost speech, which turned out to be fortunate, since it allowed us to stay in the house with doctors and armed guards. Me on the sofa, pills...
On the 21st I was in bed. Oleg came in and said: “Guests have arrived.” Kryuchkov's team. They demand to accept. Mikhail Sergeevich said that he would not receive anyone until the connection was turned on... Oleg returned with the words: “The connection is on.” Only then did Mikhail Sergeevich go up to his office. And I stayed with the children... Then I found out that Kryuchkov and Ivashko tried to talk to Mikhail Sergeevich on the phone. But he didn't. Lukyanov sent a note to Mikhail Sergeevich: “Please see me with Ivashko. We urgently need to talk before accepting THESE.” Mikhail Sergeevich refused, and if he accepted someone, he said, then only after the Russian delegation. Then the guys told me that Ivashko and Plekhanov were walking towards the house. Security guard Boris Ivanovich Golentsov warned them: “We will shoot!” Plekhanov said: “I knew it.” They turned and left.
At about 21.00 the Russian delegation arrived, a lot of people. Mikhail Sergeevich received them on the first floor. Lukyanov and Ivashko were there, but together with the Russian delegation. I was at the top and came down when the guys told me that we were supposed to be flying away with the Russian delegation, we just needed to get dressed and take the essentials... At about 11 p.m. we left Foros. We stopped at the airport near the presidential plane... I only remember that my frightened granddaughter told me: “Granny, I’m so tired and I want to sleep...”
– Before the evening of August 18, was there anything unusual in the organization of rest, food, and treatment for the president? Or was everything as usual?
– Maybe there were some deviations, but when you don’t attach importance to them, you don’t notice. Doctor Yuri told us that some scuba divers were added to the sea. But then I didn’t attach any importance to it. In general, I must tell you that 1991 was a particularly tense year in our lives with Mikhail Sergeevich. This split in society, confrontation. Frantic speeches at plenums, when Mikhail Sergeevich was thrown mud, rallies with demands to disperse the Supreme Council and dismiss the president, miners' strikes... An alarming general state, conversations among people - all this happened. But I didn’t notice any specific harbingers of a coup. I always trusted the people who were nearby... And I never thought... My God!
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– This is what torments me... I expected the worst when we were isolated in Foros. The worst. I am sure that if events had dragged on, the issue of our lives would have been resolved unequivocally. I don't know in what form...
– Besides radiculitis, did the president have any illnesses during this period?
- No. Drug blockade always helped. They gave ten to twenty injections, got up and went...
– After all this happened, the president’s condition did not worsen?
“It didn’t pass without a trace for anyone.” Not for me, not for the children, not for Mikhail Sergeevich. But he holds on and works. Unlike me...
– What do you usually see in the sea from the side of the dacha? What ships? And what did you see in those August days?
– A typical picture - one patrolman is laid up. Usually passenger ships and dry cargo ships passed by. But during these three days they were not there. I saw three watchdogs - more than usual. On the night of August 18-19, more warships approached. The son-in-law saw them; the children's bedroom windows looked out onto the sea. At 4.30 am. And on the second day, they also came straight to the shore and stood for about forty minutes. Air-cushion landing craft. What it was - psychological pressure or an attempt to seize, I don’t know...
P.S. Leonid Georgievich Proshkin is working on a series of publications for “Top Secret” about the events of August 1991 and October 1993, which will form the basis of his autobiographical book.
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Russia is rocked by corruption scandals. At the end of 2012, an investigation into the economic activities of the Ministry of Defense led to the resignation of the Minister of War, and several employees of the higher apparatus of the Ministry of Defense, nicknamed “Serdyukov’s Amazons,” became accused in criminal cases. According to investigators, swindlers from Oboronservis relieved the state treasury by more than 13 billion rubles.
The Winter Olympics in the Sochi region, which is just under a year away, has become famous for its prohibitively expensive facilities. What is the value of the “golden” route Adler - Krasnaya Polyana? And it costs 7.5 billion US dollars (for comparison: a NASA flight to Mars cost three times less). The Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation identified cost overruns of 15.5 billion rubles in the Olimpstroy state corporation. In April, a criminal case was opened against the former head of the board of directors of the North Caucasus Resorts company, Akhmed Bilalov, for abuse of power.
And just the other day, the chairman of the board of Rosbank, Vladimir Golubkov, accused of commercial bribery, was placed under house arrest.
Corruption permeates all floors and levels of Russian government, all spheres of the economy. We talk about the roots of corruption and possible ways to overcome this social ill with the famous lawyer, vice-president of the Interregional Social Security Fund “Pravoporyadok-Shield” Leonid Proshkin.
Even our great classics - Radishchev, Nekrasov, Gogol, Saltykov-Shchedrin, denounced bribe-takers, but officials still steal, extort, “roll back”, “saw” the state budget, hoard loot... Sending it to foreign banks (is that why We got so hysterical when the financial crisis happened in Cyprus?). Of course, not all officials are like this, not all of them, but, as investigators find out, very many are. What is the reason for the spread of corruption? Is it mentality to blame? Or, perhaps, the imperfection of the legislative framework, which we have not been able to regulate for centuries? How to cut off the tentacles of corruption?
If you compare the country with a living person, it becomes clear that the whole body, all its systems, are sick. In the traditional sense, a corrupt official is an official who takes a bribe. And if an official does not take bribes at all, but helps his relatives do business, using his official position, is he a corrupt official or not?
- Of course, this is also one of the types of corruption, and a very widespread one. Our country has ratified the UN Convention against Corruption, but our crafty legislators considered Article 20 on illicit enrichment unnecessary: “Subject to its constitution and the fundamental principles of its legal system, each State Party shall consider taking such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish as a criminal offence, when committed intentionally, illicit enrichment, i.e. . a significant increase in the assets of a public official in excess of his lawful income, which he cannot reasonably justify.” This article was not accepted by us because it directly threatens the well-being of officials made from corrupt deals.
But what about numerous reports and income declarations? If, God forbid, I, some major official, earn a million rubles a year, and I bought something worth five million not abroad, but here in Russia, they will ask me where I got another four million. This is what struggle is. That is, in essence, without accepting this article, we are moving towards the fact that we are doing without permission everything that is provided for there.
What can you say about the proposed ban on the ownership of foreign property for government employees and their immediate family?
This measure is not unnecessary, I’m just afraid that it will be implemented like everything else, that is, poorly. I think it is not very difficult to own property abroad for someone else. For a cousin's nephew. Or for a person with whom we studied in the same class, in the same group, or worked together once. This is already a question of technology.
I worked for 27 years in investigations. Over the years, I was offered a bribe twice. One time they offered the twenty-fourth Volga, and another time they offered two packages of lids for rolling up cans.
I worked in Kemerovo at the prosecutor's office of the Kirov district, and there they wrote a statement against one student that he had raped a girl. I figured out that this girl’s mom was simply extorting money from him after finding out who his dad was. This student was detained, then he was released, in the end there was no criminal case, and then his dad came to me, a man who at that time earned a lot - from Norilsk, from the mining and processing plant. And so he just came to thank me and offered me that very Volga. I yelled at him, and in the end we drank a bottle of vodka that was in my safe and went our separate ways.
And the second incident occurred in the regional center, all in the same Kemerovo region. A student died there. I was then a prosecutor-criminologist, I went to this area with some other case, and I was asked to look into it. And it happened like this: potatoes were loaded onto a ZIL-555 dump truck. The side of this truck opened up, it was heavy, metal; he was propped up with a piece of wood. The student was throwing a bag there and knocked out this stand, it fell, and he was cut in half. I looked into it and found out that the student was drunk: they drank all night, and in the morning they went for loading. Although they received safety training. After my intervention, they refused to initiate a criminal case. And then the manager of the state farm department offered me these same lids as a bribe. I yelled at him, but I bought these two packs of a hundred pieces from him for the “native” price. Because it was a terrible shortage.
That's all I was offered for my work. Well, now I am very ashamed of the investigation to which I devoted most of my adult life, for the situation in which it found itself.
- By the way, how do you feel about the fact that these departments have now been separated - the Investigative Committee exists separately from the Prosecutor General's Office?
I think this is bad. Previously, when I started working as a lawyer, it was much more difficult for a defense attorney to communicate with the police investigation than with the prosecutor. There was more order in the prosecutor's investigation. Now the prosecutor's office has been deprived of many powers in terms of oversight of the investigation, and even in a situation where the entire state body is sick. Of course, the investigation needs to be supervised. Seeing violations of the rights of participants in the process - the accused or the victim, I, a lawyer, can do practically nothing. They interfere. And high-ranking officials.
It is believed that our systemic corruption prevents the presence of foreign entrepreneurs in our market. And there is another opinion that some of them, on the contrary, are satisfied with such a climate where they can come to an agreement, “resolve the issue with an understanding person” and open their own business without unnecessary difficulties, without an environmental assessment, for example.
Yes, on the one hand, they don’t come to us with serious, long-term projects. Because they are afraid: now we will be launching the project for three years, and when we start working safely, they will take it away from us. And, in general, there is reason to be afraid. On the other hand, to quickly carry out some operation, to spend money - and why not? After all, like it or not, in the West two or three percent a year is considered a good profit. And we have? Earn 10-15% of even one billion a year, well, even if you unfasten some of this money, but still, what a profit!
It's a shame. In both cases, we are treated without respect.
Corruption, as we know, is generated, on the one hand, by laws that are incompatible with normal life, and on the other, by the omnipotence of officials. An example is “zero ppm”, which many consider absurd even from a biological point of view. For example, a person took alcohol-based medicine half an hour ago, he is absolutely sober and adequate, but the alcohol meter showed a “non-zero” alcohol content, which means that he is a persistent traffic violator. Accordingly, this person will be forced to “solve the issue.” He will pay a bribe, he will provoke a traffic police officer to bribe.
As a lawyer, I don’t like many laws. But I no longer like that these laws, which I don’t like, which, in my opinion, are wrong, but they have been adopted and must be observed, are not observed. And many things are done in our country not according to the law, but according to concepts. As for ppm, let’s assume that now the permissible three ppm are introduced, but four were found in a person. And he will still “solve the issue.” The introduction of an acceptable non-zero ppm will not solve the problem of traffic police bribe-takers. And, I think, it would be better if they stopped the practice when the traffic cop on duty at the end of his shift must give an agreed amount to the platoon commander, and the platoon commander has a certain amount that he must give to his superior. We need to fight not with the law, but with these unofficial relations, with these “concepts.”
We talked about government measures to curb corruption. How do you feel about public initiatives, about the fact that facts of a “significant increase in the assets of a public official,” as it is called in the UN Convention, are made public?
I am for the need to fight in all possible ways, including public ones. You need to fight according to your capabilities, including those of a lawyer. Although quite often a potential client comes with a specific case, we are ready to take it on. But one of the first questions is: “How much should I bring in?” I say: “Guys, you have come to the wrong address. If you now go to someone who promises to “smear” and hush up the matter, then look: they will rob you and do nothing.” And there have been cases when, after some time, this person comes again and says: “Yes, you’re right, I’ve been robbed, let’s conclude an agreement with you, but keep in mind: I don’t even have much money left.”
What needs to be done to heal the body? Should we carry out a radical purge of management personnel, starting from the very top and ending with housing offices and district police departments, or rewrite the laws, or adopt the notorious Article 20 of the UN Convention, which prescribes punishment for illegal enrichment? Or give bonuses to bloggers who report on parliamentary houses in Miami?
Let's start with article 20. If enrichment is illegal, then it must be held accountable. And it doesn’t matter whether the article is signed or not. Rewrite our laws? Okay, let's write others. They will no longer be implemented, just as the current ones are not implemented.
Yes, we need to cleanse the authorities of corrupt officials. But who will cleanse? I noticed: almost always when we, investigators and lawyers, encountered employees of the Department of Internal Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is in charge of the fight against corruption in the police ranks, we saw that these police officials drive the most expensive foreign cars.
I have been working as a lawyer since 1996. Every year, the work of criminal lawyers becomes worse and worse. If earlier it was possible to do something, now the entire course of the process is programmed, the result is known in advance. In my opinion, in our trials there is no adversarial process, no comparison of the parties’ arguments when considering a case.
Those who will treat our “organism” must be prepared: it will be very difficult.
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(NOTE- 1.
Sitnikov Nikolay Yurievich
born on January 2, 1974 in the village of Maslyanino, Novosibirsk region. Not married. Before being drafted into the army, he lived with his parents in the village of Maslyanino, Private conscript military unit 3485 (special forces unit “Vityaz”). Military specialty - sapper. October 17, 1993 to Sitnikov N.Yu. awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation posthumously. N.Yu. Sitnikov was buried. at home. 2. Duncan Terry Michael
born January 24, 1967 in the USA, Georgia. Firm lawyer "Firestone-Duncan". He has been in Moscow since June 28, 1993. Duncan's body was taken to his homeland and buried there. 3. Proshkin Leonid Georgievich
, former senior investigator for especially important cases of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, one of the leaders of the investigative team that investigated criminal case No. 18/123669-93 about mass riots in Moscow on October 3 - 4, 1993. The material was published in the newspaper “Top Secret” , No. 9, 1998, p. 6 - 8 (Cont.))
Mikhailov Yuri Egorovich was born on August 27, 1958 in Moscow. Russian. Married, had two minor children. Lived on Altufevskoye Highway. He was buried at the Lianozovsky cemetery in the capital. 4. We are talking about the deceased Yaremko D.G. Paul Otto was born on April 24, 1969 in Ithaca, New York. US citizen, photojournalist for the Moscow bureau of the New York Times newspaper. He has been in Moscow since January 1993. Permanent residence: USA, Lansing)
Briefing October 5, 1993
The briefing was conducted by G.B. Karasin, Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
During the crisis in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry worked calmly and rhythmically
Throughout the crisis period in Moscow October 3-4 The Russian Foreign Ministry worked, although with increased intensity, calmly and rhythmically. At night from 3 to 4 October and throughout yesterday, the most critical day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saw its main task as conveying to our foreign partners the true essence of what happened in Russia. For this purpose, a number of meetings were held between the leadership of the Ministry - First Deputy Minister A.L. Adamishin, deputy ministers B.L. Kolokolova and G.F. Kunadze-practically with all foreign ambassadors accredited in Moscow. Russian ambassadors abroad acted in the same direction. In its explanations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that October 3 In Moscow, a pre-planned armed rebellion took place, started by supporters of the former Supreme Council, national patriots, pro-communist and pro-fascist elements. The main role in organizing this rebellion belonged to Rutskoi and Khasbulatov, who, having accumulated forces, under the cover of negotiations, directly called on their supporters to storm the Moscow City Hall and the Ostankino television center, and named the Moscow Kremlin, the residence of the President of the Russian Federation, as the main target. Standing next to them were not so much former deputies as military adventurers such as Achalov and Makashov. Appeals Khasbulatov and Rutsky and the subsequent actions of the militants resulted in unprecedented and numerous casualties. This is the worst thing that happened.
Under these conditions, the President and Government of the Russian Federation, who did everything possible to avoid violence and bloodshed, were forced to declare a state of emergency and use force to stop the unrest. We asked our foreign partners in these difficult days to treat this with understanding, especially considering that the goal of the rebels was to return a nuclear superpower to the distant past, not even the Brezhnev, but rather the Stalinist model, to a situation when the world could once again find itself on the brink nuclear confrontation.
Such understanding and, moreover, broad support for the actions of the President of Russia and the Russian Government, voiced immediately after the signing of the Decree “On step-by-step constitutional reform”, were confirmed with renewed vigor on this turning point.
Events that took place in Moscow October 2-4, have caused deep concern in all countries of the world without exception. The reaction to them followed immediately, and its main political meaning was the support of the President and the Government of Russia. State and political figures of the highest rank near and far abroad - presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers - unequivocally condemned the riots and acts of armed violence carried out by political adventurers striving for power, and supported the use of force by the President of the Russian Federation in order to restore order in the capital . In a situation where we are talking about the need to overcome not only the political, but also the severe human and material consequences of the rebellion, we appreciate with gratitude the readiness of a number of states and foreign public organizations to provide medical and other necessary assistance to Muscovites.
In response to the call made during a conversation at the Russian Foreign Ministry, the EU Commission decided to provide urgent medical assistance to Moscow in the amount of 300 thousand ecus. A representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross expressed his readiness to urgently send 1.5 tons of medicines to Moscow. The governments and Red Cross committees of France, Italy, Canada, Poland and a number of other countries have already announced the sending of medical equipment and medicines to Moscow.
Our deep gratitude to all of them.
Russia - Germany
October 5 a telephone conversation took place between the foreign ministers of Russia and Germany A.V. Kozyrev and K. Kinkel. Kinkel announced the full support of the Government of Germany for the decisive actions of the President and the Government of Russia to ensure the further development of democratic reforms. He also said that this position was shared by other EU member states that were represented at the meeting of Commonwealth foreign ministers held in Luxembourg. A.V. Kozyrev informed his German colleague about the situation in Moscow and the Russian Federation as a whole.
Russia - USA
In the morning October 5 A.V. Kozyrev had a conversation with US Secretary of State W. Christopher, who expressed the United States’ full support for the measures taken by the President and Government of Russia.
Russia-Council of Europe Vienna Summit
For the first time in the history of the Council of Europe October 8-9 A meeting of the heads of state and government of the 32 member countries of this organization took place in Vienna. Representatives of seven countries that have submitted applications to join the Council of Europe were also invited to the Vienna summit. The Russian delegation was headed by First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs A.L. Adamishin.
In connection with the October events in Moscow, Russian issues attracted close attention and became one of the central issues both at meetings and during informal exchanges of views. In this context, the message of the President of the Russian Federation acquired a special meaning B.N. Yeltsin participants of this forum, confirming Russia’s course towards continuing reforms, as well as our interest in rapprochement with the Council of Europe.
At the meeting, a Declaration on Russia was adopted, which declared solidarity with the reforms carried out by the President of the Russian Federation and emphasized the determination to provide effective support to the democratization process in our country.
According to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, C. Lalumiere, the majority of the countries of the Council of Europe are inclined in favor of the speedy admission of Russia to its full membership. She is convinced that the December elections to the State Duma and the adoption of the new Constitution should finally remove all formalities holding back its adoption. Russia's full membership in the Council of Europe will serve as an additional guarantee of the irreversibility of democratic transformations...
From the speech of A.L. Adamishin
at the meeting of heads of state and government of the member countries of the Council of Europe October 8, 1993
Let me first of all emphasize that the absence of Foreign Minister A.V. Kozyrev at the forum does not mean that something is wrong in Moscow again. At these hours, Russian President B.N. Yeltsin is meeting with the leaders of three Transcaucasian states - Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The President asked A.V. Kozyrev to take part in it. This shows, among other things, that despite serious internal difficulties, Russia keeps an eye on regions in which it has vital interests and where we are able to lend a helping hand if asked.
Dear Mr. Chairman, Dear Madam Secretary General, Dear representatives of states and governments of member countries of the Council of Europe, I am honored to receive the instructions of the President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin announce his greetings to the participants of such a high forum.
The difficult ordeal through which we have just passed makes the strategic line for the rapprochement of all democratic states of Europe, as expressed in the President’s address, even more urgent. Fortunately, the rebellion was localized by Moscow. The rest of Russia continued to live its normal life, as did most of the capital. But everyone in Russia will remember for a long time October 3-4.
We can say with a clear conscience that the President and the government did everything possible to avoid an armed clash. Until the last moment there was hope for an agreement, a compromise. Under the cover of negotiations, however, a bloody rebellion was being prepared. The President, the government, and the Russians are grateful to the states of Europe, as well as to other friendly countries, who firmly supported the reluctantly harsh actions of the Russian leadership. Your support demonstrated the inextricable link between the destinies of democracy in Russia and in other parts of Europe.
In these tragic hours in Moscow, our common fate was decided. What's next? The main thing is to significantly accelerate the pace of democratization in Russia.
It was for this purpose—and not for the establishment of authoritarian power—that measures were taken on September 21 to dissolve the old Supreme Court and new elections were announced, not only for parliament, but also for the President, ahead of schedule.
The course has been taken for national reconciliation; there should be no revenge. Dead- 149 people-they were buried in Moscow yesterday, regardless of which side they fought on. There is reasonable hope that economic reform will move forward faster. A lot has already been done: 25% of workers are employed outside state ownership, 80% of the military-industrial complex has been reconverted. It is in the economic field that we count on more assistance from you than before. We hear voices from Western Europe that it is time to go beyond just good wishes. And it is right.
And in any case, it is necessary to remove the restrictions that still exist on access to Western European markets for Russian goods.
It has been confirmed that free elections to the State Duma will take place, as announced, on December 12. All political figures, parties, movements that have not tainted themselves by direct participation in the rebellion are guaranteed equal opportunities. This also applies to access to the media. Censorship restrictions introduced rashly in the first days have been abolished. We expect observers at these elections, including from the Council of Europe. Further cooperation between CE experts will also be useful in the examination of the draft constitution, the adoption of which will be the State Duma’s priority task. In two days, many of us grew up several years older. Russia's cooperation with the Council of Europe and other European organizations also appears in a different light. It clearly lags behind the dictates of the times. Sometimes it may seem that we, in Russia, are freeing ourselves from the stereotypes of the past faster than those to the west of our borders. We reject the idea that a new split in Europe is inevitable. The Berlin Wall did not collapse under pressure from both the West and the East in order to erect new ones. Let those who love simple solutions think about what this could lead to. Are we really going back to the logic of the 19th century, the logic of coalitions? "against"? Russia for the coalition "behind" of all European states striving to prevent new conflicts from growing on the soil cleared of past confrontation...
Russia submitted an application to join the Council of Europe a year and a half ago. How long to wait for a decision? Let's finally decide.
Democratic reforms in Russia are carried out not to please anyone, but to follow fundamental national interests. But your assistance can greatly help this. Russia, as the recent tragedy has confirmed, has made its choice. We count on an adequate response from Europe and its institutions.
Evidence and documents related to the events at the Ostankino television center on October 3, 1993
From the published evidence of L.G. Proshkin
Early in the morning October 4, 1993 I, then the senior investigator for especially important cases of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, received a call from my boss. He asked to arrive as quickly as possible to the investigative unit of the Prosecutor General's Office, located in Blagoveshchensky Lane.
In the office, the head of the special unit, Fetkulin V.Kh. was alone. He said that two criminal cases had been opened. One, regarding the seizure of the mayor's office (the former CMEA building), was entrusted to me to take over. The second case - about the attempt to seize the television center - must be taken into account by its production Vladimir Ivanovich Kazakov, now head of the Directorate for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office. Already having experience in organizing an investigation into the State Emergency Committee case, we discussed practical issues of creating investigative teams. Dozens of investigators seconded from the Main Military Prosecutor's Office and the Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrived in the cramped building. They were sent to Kazakov or to me for inclusion in investigative groups.
Every day the investigation gained momentum. Both criminal cases were combined in one proceeding. The joint investigative and operational group, which included up to 200 investigators of the prosecutor's office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense and several hundred operational police and counterintelligence workers, headed by the head of the investigative unit of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation V.Kh. Fetkulin. The group consisted of subgroups working in various areas and a headquarters headed by an experienced prosecutor, a good organizer, S.A. Aristov.
At the same time, whatever “installations” neither were given "above", investigators and operational workers honestly performed their duty, obeying only the law. Thus, contrary to the will of the leadership, the investigation extended to The 4th of October, and to the events preceding October 3. The actions of not only supporters of the Supreme Council were investigated, but also government forces, largely to blame for the current situation and the grave consequences of what happened. It became obvious presence of provocateurs, openly pushing the opposing sides to use weapons and bloodshed. Yes, about 15:00 October 3, even before the start of active "fighting", while demonstrators were passing along Konyushkovskaya Street, next to the US Embassy, a man, unidentified by the investigation, dressed in a police uniform, fired a machine-gun burst from the column towards military personnel and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. As a result, six people were injured, one of whom died in the hospital. October 3-4 in the area of the television center were killed or subsequently died from their wounds at least 46 people No less than 124 people.
The television center was stormed by 20 people, armed with machine guns and one grenade launcher, and defended by 900 military personnel and police officers and 24 armored personnel carriers. After "have taken" the city hall building, which was surrendered by government forces without any resistance, supporters of the Supreme Council, in cars seized from internal troops and on foot, moved to Ostankino to seize the television center and provide the leaders of the Supreme Council with the opportunity to go on air. The leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, having learned about this, sent reinforcements to the television and radio complex, which was already heavily guarded. A detachment was sent to Ostankino "Knight"- special purpose unit of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. Over a hundred fighters “Vityaz” on “beteerakh” moved from the White House to the television center in parallel to supporters of the Supreme Council. Both columns saw each other. The movement of the columns along the way from the White House to the television center was monitored by traffic police services. The automobile convoy of supporters of the Supreme Council was headed by General Makashov at “trophy” police UAZ. His personal guard and group "North" were driving one of the cars seized from internal troops. We were traveling by car Konstantinov I.V. and Anpilov V.I. Makashov had about 20 people at his disposal, armed with machine guns. In addition, to the group "North" young people joined in, carrying with them an RPG-7 grenade launcher taken from the riot police and two rounds (grenades) for it. State traffic inspectors, at the direction of their management, ensured traffic safety during the passage of columns along the route. The 21st traffic police department tried to set up barriers at the intersections of Novomoskovskaya with Dubovoy Roshcha passage, Oak Grove passage with Botanicheskaya, Botanicheskaya with 1st Ostankinskaya, 1st Ostankinskaya with Novomoskovskaya “hedgehogs”, but they were late.
October 3, 1993 security of the television center building complex “Ostankino” provided 87
employees of the 4th department of the Security Directorate of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate. They were armed with 84 pistols and 37 machine guns with the corresponding amount of ammunition. There were the necessary means of communication, personal protection, and special equipment. They were assigned 20 military personnel from military unit 3179, armed with 19 machine guns and a pistol. At urgent requests from the management of the television center, the commander of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation sent additional units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to Ostankino to assist in protecting the complex of buildings. Near 16 hours 30 minutes 84 military personnel from military unit 3641 arrived there, but they did not have firearms. The fighters had body armor, helmets and rubber sticks.
IN 17 o'clock, almost simultaneously with Makashov’s column, on the direct order of the leadership of the internal troops to the television center on six “beteerakh” 105 special forces troops armed with standard weapons arrived "Knight" under the leadership of the unit commander. Together with them came 14 people from military unit 317a, armed with machine guns. Having entered the building of the hardware and studio complex-1 (ASK-1) from the side of the pond, the fighters took up defensive positions at the doors of the 17th entrance, erecting barriers, blocking the entrance with the help of tables, safes and other improvised means. "Beteers" were placed around the building and took up a perimeter defense. Soon after 17 o'clock 23 employees of the 3rd Department of the Security Directorate arrived, armed with 23 pistols and one machine gun. TO 18 o'clock 31 riot police officers of the Moscow Department of Internal Affairs arrived at the television center on railway transport, armed with 27 machine guns and three pistols.
IN 18 hours 30 minutes 111 military personnel from military unit 3641, led by the unit commander, arrived at the television center building complex. Together with them came the Deputy Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, General P.V. Golubets. , who took command. Thus, by 19:00 the security of the TTC building complex “Ostankino” were carried by at least 480 police officers and internal troops, a significant part of them were riot police and special forces. They were armed with at least 320 machine guns, machine guns, sniper rifles, 130 pistols, 12 grenade launchers, including the RPG-7 anti-tank grenade launcher, with a sufficient amount of ammunition. They had six armored personnel carriers, standard communications equipment, personal protective equipment, and special equipment. General management was carried out by the Deputy Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who had the appropriate powers. Column under the leadership of A.M. Makashov arrived at the television center at about 17:00. The arrivals headed to the 17th entrance, where spontaneous rallies arose. At the same time, Makashov called on the demonstrators to maintain order, asked not to break anything or beat anything, since the property of the television center is national property. The heads of the police department came out for negotiations. Makashov, Anpilov and people from their entourage came up to their porch. Makashov demanded that the television center be handed over, an operator be allocated, and the leaders of the Supreme Council and the opposition be given the opportunity to go on air. The police officers said that they could not hand over the television center without instructions. Makashov, agreeing with their arguments, provided the opportunity to contact his leadership. While waiting for reinforcements, police officers played for time in negotiations. Makashov was informed that the issue of providing airwaves had been resolved, but it would be done from another building, and they offered to move there.
Believing the promises, Makashov, together with the guards and the group subordinate to him "North" moved to the ASK-3 building. Most of the demonstrators moved there. Impromptu rallies continued to demand airtime. Employees and military personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were persuaded to move “on the side of the people”. Among the protesters there were many journalists, photo and television correspondents who were filming the events taking place, and simply curious people. At the same time it is obvious the presence of extremists and outright provocateurs. Groups of people separated from the protesters and, blocking traffic, began stopping trolleybuses passing along the street and disembarking passengers.
Without waiting “live broadcast”, Makashov, in an ultimatum tone, demanded that the guards hand over their weapons and open the doors. The police officer who came to negotiate refused to surrender the guarded facility. Makashov said that in three minutes he would begin the assault. The grenade launcher that was brought and one of the grenades for it was taken by one of Makashov’s subordinates. Being a purely civilian, he was unable to bring the grenade launcher into a position suitable for firing, or even load the grenade. Seeing the grenade launcher and manipulations with it, the soldiers “Vityaz”, guarding the building, rose from the lobby to the first floor and took refuge behind a concrete parapet. The situation was reported to the unit commander and the command was given to resist in the event of an assault. After another ultimatum, two trucks of supporters of the Supreme Council rammed the entrance to ASK-3 and the window next to it. The officer in charge of this area asked for permission to open fire in order, as military regulations provide, to repel an attack on a protected facility. Commander “Vityaz” and the deputy commander of internal troops who was in ASK-1 forbade doing this, although shots at radiators and car wheels could "discharge" situation without bloodshed. A police officer from St. Petersburg who was part of the unit “alternative Ministry of Internal Affairs”(from the number “stormed”), demonstratively manipulated the grenade launcher, indicating that it could fire. At this time, one of the members of Makashov's security was wounded in the leg by a shot from the building. Volunteer doctors provided assistance to the wounded on the spot and carried him on a stretcher to a vehicle to take him to the hospital.
Immediately at the break where the doors to ASK-3 were, a powerful explosion was heard (according to many eyewitnesses, there were simultaneous explosions). People standing nearby were wounded by shrapnel. At the same time among the fighters “Vityaz” on the first floor there was an explosion of an unidentified explosive device, during which Private N.Yu. Sitnikov died. This explosion was mistaken for a grenade fired from a grenade launcher by the attackers. However, the investigation established with certainty that a shot was not fired into the building through the main entrance with a tandem cumulative action grenade PG-7 VR from the grenade launcher that the attackers had.
Thanks to the media already in the morning The 4th of October the version that the first shot in Ostankino was made by supporters of the Supreme Council from an RPG-7 V-1 grenade launcher with a tandem cumulative action grenade PG-7 VR was brought to the attention of the public and was accepted by everyone as true, and it was from this shot that Private Sitnikov died as a result of a shrapnel wound . The approval of this version in the general opinion was facilitated by the conclusion of an examination carried out at the Central Forensic Laboratory of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. It said that all of Sitnikov’s injuries could have been caused by one shot from a high-power weapon, possibly from a grenade launcher. Neither in the research part of the report, nor in his conclusions, the expert explained why a grenade launcher was named as a weapon. However, he did not name, even presumably, the grenade launcher system and the grenade used, of which there are many, different in power and purpose.
The expert’s unmotivated conclusions raised our doubts. Moreover, the examination did not take into account the results of the inspection of the scene of the incident; Sitnikov’s clothing and personal protective equipment of the special forces soldier of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were not examined. The expert was interrogated and explained that he knew from the media about Sitnikov’s death from a grenade launcher shot from the attackers. Based on the objective picture of the wounds and, in particular, the diameter of the wound channel, he identified the ammunition, which could be a grenade from an under-barrel grenade launcher. He didn't even mean the RPG-7 grenade launcher. At the same time, the supporters of the Supreme Council, who were in Ostankino at that moment, did not have a single “grenade launcher”. Due to doubts about the results of the initial examination, a second comprehensive medical and forensic examination was appointed, in which, along with forensic experts, explosion specialists, ballistas, developers and users of grenade launchers and personal protective equipment (body armor) were involved. The experts familiarized themselves with the materials of the criminal case, with video and photographic materials, visited the scene of the incident. The clothing of the deceased and his body armor, collected piecemeal from various museums, were subjected to thorough examination. At the training ground of the internal troops, an investigative experiment was carried out with the shooting of a PG-7 VR grenade from an RPG-7 V-1 grenade launcher, simulating the conditions of the scene of the incident. The results of the investigative experiment showed that the tandem cumulative action grenade PG-7 VR has enormous penetrating (burning) power and “work” It should have left serious damage inside the building, which was not the case in ASK-3. This was also confirmed by the leading expert on grenade launchers of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, who, after studying the case materials, viewing a large number of video and photographic materials, and inspecting the scene of the incident, categorically stated that the PG-7 VR grenade was in the room where Sitnikov died. didn't work. The repeated examination refuted the conclusions of the primary examination. The conclusion states that Sitnikov was in a lying position behind a concrete parapet at the time of the report. Thus, a direct hit on him when fired by the attackers was excluded. The injuries he received were the result of an unidentified device rupturing in his immediate vicinity (explosive injury). Experts categorically rejected the possibility of Sitnikov being wounded by a shot from an RPG-7 grenade launcher or from an under-barrel grenade launcher. They proved that at the site of his death there was no explosion of the warhead of the PG-7 VR grenade. Taking into account the results of the examination and other evidence collected in the case, we concluded that Sitnikov died not from a grenade launcher shot from supporters of the Supreme Council, journalists and onlookers who were in front of the entrance to ASK-3, but as a result of the explosion of some device, who was inside the building, that is, among the defenders. Thus, the version of the leaders of the “defense” of the television center was refuted that the open fire to kill was a response to a shot from a grenade launcher and the murder of a serviceman of the internal troops.
Two to three seconds after explosions inside and outside ASK-3 from the buildings of the television complex and from other places where internal troops and police officers were located, heavy fire was opened. They fired in bursts and single shots from sniper rifles at armed and unarmed people, at militants and journalists, at active participants in the events and just onlookers. They shot at the wounded people who were trying to carry them out. This is how an American lawyer was killed Terry Michael Duncan, in that fateful hour for him, pulling the wounded out from under the fire. Witness Boytsov A.A. , a photojournalist for APN, said that from 5 p.m. on October 3, he was in Ostankino, photographing the events taking place. Approximately 19 hours 30 minutes General Makashov's armed men pushed journalists and civilians away from the main entrance. Soon there was an explosion at the entrance, after which heavy fire began from the building at the people nearby. The fire was aimed at killing. He and foreign photojournalist Paul Otto took cover from the bullets behind concrete flower beds. Shooting at them with tracer bullets continued for a long time. The fighters saw how the American Duncan pulled out three wounded men from under fire. These moments were photographed by him. Paul Otto and the crawling Duncan repeatedly addressed the soldiers who were shooting at them “Vityaz”, shouted that they were foreign journalists, asked not to shoot and to be given the opportunity to leave the shelling zone. In response to the appeal, obscene language was uttered and the shooting intensified in their direction. During such "negotiations" Someone from “Vityaz” allowed them to leave. Boytsov translated the soldier’s words to Paul Otto, who rose from behind a flowerbed and was immediately shot in the stomach by a shot from the ASK-3 building. Fighters “Vityaz” they did not give the opportunity to crawl to Paul Otto for assistance, shooting at everyone who tried to approach the wounded Duncan, being nearby, encouraged Paul Otto with words and talked to him so that the wounded man would not lose consciousness. This continued for a long time, until one of Duncan’s machine gun bursts was not injured. He fell silent and did not speak again. The fighters saw several citizens being carried out from under fire by Paul Otto, who reported that the wounded Duncan remained there. One of these people addressed the military three times “Vityaz”, who was in ASK-No. and fired at the area, persuading him to let him through and give him the opportunity to carry out the wounded foreigner. In response, obscene language was heard from the building. Then this man, waving his hand, got up and headed towards the lying Duncan, but did not reach him, as he was wounded in the back by a machine gun fire from the ASK-3 building. The man who had fallen was pulled out of the shelling zone by his feet and carried away. Boytsov photographed the moment he was wounded in the back and taken out from under fire, taking two pictures. The investigation established that Yu.E. Mikhailov was killed.
The victim, Paul Otto, said during interrogation that October 3 filmed events at the central entrance of ASK-3. He was on the right side of the truck that broke the windows of the entrance to the building. Approximately at 19 hours 30 minutes A strong explosion was heard from the left side of the truck. A few seconds later, heavy machine gun fire began. He immediately fell and hid behind a flower bed. To his right lay a young guy with a machine gun, who was wounded by the first shots and died a short time later (as the investigation established, it was a member of the group "North"). The heavy shooting continued for about ten minutes. There was a lull, then the shooting resumed. He lay behind the flowerbed for about an hour. I saw a man nearby, openly walking from wounded to wounded and dragging three or four victims to a safe place. He thought it was some kind of madman, pulling out the wounded under bullets and not being afraid. This man openly approached him and asked where he was wounded. He replied that he was not injured. They met. He was surprised to learn that he was also an American, Duncan Terry Michael. At that time, the shooting intensified, and Duncan also lay down behind a flower bed. They talked for ten minutes, but he was wounded in the stomach, which he reported to Duncan, who promised to take him to a safe place when the shooting subsided. To keep him from losing consciousness, Duncan talked to him or called out numbers, and he continued counting. Approximately after 10 minutes the shooting intensified. They hit Duncan in the head and he fell silent. After some time, Paul Otto himself was carried out by some people and taken to the hospital. Supporters of the Supreme Council practically did not fire back at the initial stage.
After the outbreak of hostilities, the Ministry of Internal Affairs units in Ostankino were reinforced. By 20 o'clock at three “beteerakh” 58 military personnel of the detachment arrived at the television center "Knight", armed with 52 machine guns and sniper rifles, six machine guns, three grenade launchers. Ten arrived at the same time "batteers" with one hundred military personnel from military unit 3186.
TO 20.30
four servicemen of military unit 3485 delivered ammunition and additional weapons - 17 machine guns, machine guns, sniper rifles, five under-barrel grenade launchers, one pistol. At the same time, 90 military personnel from military unit 5401 and 89 military personnel from military unit 5476 arrived. Armament: 155 machine guns and rifles, 26 pistols... to be continued...
Let us remember that this terrible story happened in the winter of 1959. Nine skiers died in the mountains of the Northern Urals. In the middle of the night, for unknown reasons, they cut the tent and ran into the forest without outerwear or shoes. Six died from hypothermia, and three were found to have fatal injuries. The true causes of that tragedy were never established, the criminal case was closed and classified.
- Leonid Georgievich, are there any conclusions yet?
It is surprising how poorly and superficially this matter is written. In my opinion, it was not investigated at all, but was put together on someone’s orders. Most likely, at the direction of party bodies at various levels. After all, what a paradox it turns out to be: the case was supervised by very high authorities. Even the Deputy Prosecutor of the RSFSR Leonid Urakov himself came to Sverdlovsk in connection with this case, but the case was carried out in a clumsy manner. What does this mean? That the investigation was carried out as it was ordered, and not as it should be. For example, in the case there is an interrogation of Alexey Krivonischenko, the father of the deceased Grigory Krivonischenko. We read from the words of the father: “After the burial of my son, I had students at dinner, participants in the search for 9 tourists. And those who were on a hike south of Mount Otorten in January - February. Participants in two groups said that they observed a striking light phenomenon on the evening of February 1 north of these groups. An extremely bright glow of some kind of rocket or shell. The glow was so strong that one of the groups, already getting ready to sleep, came out of the tent and observed this phenomenon. After some time, they heard a sound effect similar to strong thunder. Those who saw and heard this phenomenon can be found. Students said that they observed these phenomena twice - on February 1 and 2. The same students said that the fire under the cedar tree went out not from a lack of fuel, but because they stopped adding fuel. Obviously, people around the fire did not understand what to do, or were already blind. They say that a few meters from the fire there is a dry tree, and under it there is dead wood. The only way to avoid using ready-made fuel is without seeing it. It seems to me that tourists were quickly losing their sight."
These are very serious testimony, they are recorded. But the most amazing thing is that investigators leave such important information without any attention. They are not questioning the witnesses to this explosion that the father refers to! Such an omission cannot be explained by the inexperience of the investigation. The search engines also saw something and reported something. But no additional interrogations were carried out with them. It is also very strange that not a single person from the relatives of the victims was recognized as a victim. But all the tourists had close relatives.
- These mysteries give rise to other researchers to say that tourists could have been killed.
If this is established, I will, of course, be horrified. But I don’t believe that this could happen. If they had been killed by fugitive prisoners - there is such a version - then this case would have been quickly investigated and the prisoners would have been found. Those prisoners or not, they would have been found and punished. This means the prisoners have nothing to do with it. Although there Ivdellag is one of the serious camp systems. Here's an interesting thing. Some say that the prisoners could not, because there were no escapes at that time. But meanwhile, in the case materials, I discovered a story that a few days after the first corpses of tourists were found, the pilots saw fugitive prisoners and these prisoners were detained. So the prisoners were always running. In those days, security was weakened a little, because the Twentieth Party Congress was held and the camp system was quite seriously dispersed. But this is by the way.
THE DEAD WERE NOT TESTED FOR RADIATION
- There is a popular opinion that they were killed by security forces.
I do not think so. If the security forces had killed them, they would have hidden everything so much that they would have found nothing at all. But if something fell there, something exploded, that could have happened. Moreover, there are many interesting points here. For example, radiation was detected on the body parts of the last victims. And the radiologist expert said that it was some kind of dust. Since two tourists worked at a military factory, radiation presumably got on their clothes there. But in this case, it was necessary to draw up job requests. But these requests are not there! Yes, and people went on a hike, probably not in work clothes. The very fact of radiation testing is surprising. In my practice, this has never happened, and I have never heard that the bodies and clothes of people who died, even if not for an obvious reason, were examined for radiation. What was the reason for the radiation test? And the reason was clearly significant. But again, not a single line about that in this case. But if we were to study radiation, we should have measured the background radiation in different places. It cannot be that this was not checked, but it is clearly outside the scope of the criminal case. It is also very strange that no inspection of the scene was carried out after the snow melted. Logically, this inspection should have been carried out. I, as a former prosecutor-criminologist who dealt only with murders for 10 years, will tell you that a second examination, as a rule, provides more information than the first. And here even the clothes of the dead were not examined. After the corpse is taken to the morgue, they undress it, then the investigator takes the clothes, carefully examines them and records everything in detail in the protocol. But this is not done here either! And this despite the fact that the regional prosecutor himself was in the Ivdel morgue. By the way, I don’t know of a case where the regional prosecutor himself was present at the scene of an incident, much less at the morgue. This is not a royal matter! At most, the deputy in charge of the investigation could come. And then the regional prosecutor even came to autopsy the corpses! And if so, then the experts should have worked on the principle of redundancy: it would be better if we did more research, if only they would get rid of us. Because since the regional prosecutor has arrived, it means there will be a serious debriefing. It is better to do both what is needed and what is not necessary, than to leave something unfinished. However, the case has a very poor description in the forensic medical examination reports. I would say - none. The fractures are poorly described, limited to childish babble - “there are skull fractures”, but where, how, with what - this is not the case.
- Well, what does this all mean?
All this can only mean one thing - there was a command to quickly wrap up this case and not get involved in the details. Because when the young investigator Vladimir Korotaev began to do something, they gave him one slap on the wrist, two slaps on the wrist, and then, as he himself told reporters, the regional committee offered to fire him. But he was not fired just because he was a young specialist. Another important thing: he, Korotaev, says that he made decisions on conducting examinations. By the way, each examination is carried out by order of the regional prosecutor's office. There is not a single resolution on the appointment of examinations in the case. Not a single question was put to the forensic doctors. And this despite the fact that there is a regional prosecutor and a criminal prosecutor! The profession of prosecutor-criminologist appeared in 1956, it was introduced so that there would be a person who should teach investigators, investigators would undergo internships with him, and he would provide assistance in the most serious cases. In the entire USSR, even in the 70s, there were only 350 criminal prosecutors. This is very little. In the late 50s there was almost one person per region. And these were the best specialists. And when Lev Ivanov, a criminal prosecutor, investigated and made such a decision, it means that he clearly followed the instructions. But then, look, he was appointed prosecutor of the Kustanai region. But there are very few cases where forensic prosecutors become regional prosecutors. They were simply such good specialists that it was unreasonable and illogical to place them in administrative positions.
AN EMERGENCY ON A UNION SCALE?
- What are our prospects for investigating the tragedy now?
The criminal case, in fact, is not closed. It was initiated following the violent death of the first 5 people. The rest had not yet been found. And it was stopped in relation to officials, and not due to the death of tourists. (Read the section “Instead of an epilogue.” - Ed.) It was established that there was no malicious intent in the actions of the officials. Their poor performance has no causal connection with the deaths of these nine people. They are punished along party and service lines. We need to contact the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation and bring this all to an end. Perhaps they will tell us that the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution has passed. But we do not insist that anyone should be prosecuted. The constitutional rights of the relatives of the victims simply must be respected. We need to pay tribute and apologize to our relatives for the fact that this has not been done for more than 50 years. After all, we are still investigating the murder of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.
- But where and what can be found now after the passage of time?
I think that from this case the death of students was separated into another case and transferred either to the military prosecutor's office or to the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation. Or maybe these materials are safely lying somewhere in the Union Prosecutor's Office. After all, there most likely occurred an emergency on a union scale. Let's hope that the documents will still be found.
INSTEAD OF AN EPILOGUE
The investigation needs to be completed
Lawyer Leonid Proshkin, having carefully studied the criminal case, believes that there are significant legal justifications for further investigation of the case of the death of the Dyatlov group.
The case was dropped against certain officials who made shortcomings in the organization of sports work, and these shortcomings are not causally related to the death of tourists:
“For shortcomings in the organization of tourist work and weak control of the bureau of the Sverdlovsk Civil Code of the CPSU punished in party order: the director of the Ural Polytechnic Institute Siunov, the secretary of the party bureau Zaostrovsky, the chairman of the trade union committee of the Criminal Procedure Code Slobodin, the chairman of the city union of voluntary sports societies Kurochkin and the union inspector Ufimtsev. Chairman of the board of the institute’s sports club Gordo has been fired from work. Considering that there is no causal connection between the actions of the persons listed above who committed shortcomings in the organization of sports work and the death of tourists, and without seeing a crime in this case, guided by paragraph 5 of Article 4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR*, he decided: " The criminal case regarding the death of a group of tourists should be terminated with further proceedings.”
This decision of the criminal prosecutor, agreed upon with the head of the investigative department and approved by the regional prosecutor, is clearly illegal and essentially groundless. After all, a criminal case was opened on February 26, 1959, not in relation to the improper organization of sports work of officials from education, sports and party-trade union activities, but on the fact of the death under absolutely incomprehensible circumstances of 9 young, healthy, strong people, experienced and well-trained tourists. Moreover, the circumstances of this tragedy have not yet been investigated, although there is something to investigate.
What is the value of just one phrase in the decision of the prosecutor-criminologist Ivanov to dismiss the case: “... it should be assumed that the cause of the death of tourists was a natural force, which the tourists were not able to overcome...” Next comes the already cited statement that “for shortcomings in the organization of tourism work and weak control by the bureau of the Sverdlovsk State Committee of the CPSU were punished in the party order..." - after which the allegedly punished officials are listed. These words, which mean nothing within the framework of the criminal case, effectively stopped the investigation into the tragic death of 9 young people.
After all, the investigation did not try to establish the “natural force” that allegedly caused the death of 9 tourists. It is not clear from the case materials that the prosecutor-criminologist, the head of the investigative department and the prosecutor of the Sverdlovsk region considered and called it a force of nature. Obviously, not the weather, not the climatic element - there is not a single meteorological document in the case, not a single request about the weather at that time in the place where the Dyatlov group died.
*According to the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR of 1923, which was in force in 1959:
"Article 4. Criminal prosecution cannot be initiated, and once initiated cannot be continued and must be terminated at any stage of the process:
Paragraph 5. In the absence of corpus delicti in the actions attributed to the accused.”
However, the accused or accused in this criminal case were not so. No one was charged with it.
"TOMORROW". Leonid Georgievich, what, in your opinion, led to the confrontation between the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation and President Boris Yeltsin in the fall of 1993?
Leonid PROSHKIN. There were many reasons, but the funny thing is that even now in an elite house on Rublyovka, on the same landing, there live gentlemen (I don’t mention their names), one of whom was in the White House in 1993, and the other called for the execution of the Supreme Council. However, after the end of the October events, they went into common business and were members of the same party.
"TOMORROW". Do you want to say that these were birds of a feather, only from different sides? But Yeltsin, by first issuing Decree No. 1400 on September 21, and then ordering tanks to shoot at the White House, then violated the Constitution, the Basic Law of the country? Let’s not forget that the first blood was shed by the troops of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, whose leadership swore allegiance to President Yeltsin and began committing atrocities on the streets of Moscow, and not only against those who came to defend the White House, isn’t that right?
Leonid PROSHKIN. All this is true, but there were so many ill-considered and inexplicable actions on both sides that I got the feeling that people both in the White House and in the Kremlin were pulling strings from completely different - albeit nearby - buildings. Let's call them the "third force". And the fact that not a single deputy died during the execution of the Supreme Soviet of Russia is, of course, a happy accident. Mostly young guys and pensioners were hit by bullets. I interrogated the mother of one young guy who died while defending the White House in 1993. She cried during the interrogation and said that two years ago, in 1991, she herself brought him to defend the White House from the State Emergency Committee, and then he remained alive. In 1993, there was no longer any need to guide him; he went there himself. And he didn't return. But we investigated the events themselves, not their political motives.
"TOMORROW". At the Ostankino television center, was the first shot fired from an armored personnel carrier of the internal troops of the Russian Federation or from a grenade launcher from those who came with General Makashov’s column?
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Leonid PROSHKIN. When we filmed a program on RTR dedicated to the October events of 1993, hosted by Vladimir Solovyov, because of the same question, before it began, at a tea party with the former Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation A.S. The Kulikovs argued very strongly, almost to the point of a fight. The fact that the White House defenders, led by Albert Mikhailovich Makashov, went to Ostankino was their indisputable mistake. No one would allow them near microphones and TV cameras. Moreover, the microphones and screens of Ostankino TV can be turned off if necessary in a completely different place. The White House defenders could have entered the Ostankino television center, but their speech would not have taken place, no one would have seen it. Moreover, when their convoy was traveling to the television center, if someone needed to prevent it from getting there, then they simply would not have let it through to Ostankino.
"TOMORROW". Could the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the FSB of the Russian Federation give a command to allow a column of opponents of the Russian President to enter the television center?
Leonid PROSHKIN. I cannot say this. But neither Pavel Grachev, the Minister of Defense, then, as evil tongues say, drank with Yeltsin, nor the Minister of Internal Affairs Viktor Erin, nor other security officials from the presidential team gave the order to stop the convoy with Makashov as it passed to Ostankino. As a result, this convoy was not only not detained, but no attempt was made to delay it.
"TOMORROW". And who fired the first shot at Ostankino: riot police from the television center at supporters of the Supreme Council or from a grenade launcher by the Makashovites?
Leonid PROSHKIN. There was a shot from a grenade launcher, but it went to the side and hit the ground. And it was done after the shooting began from the television center building. But what is called a shot from a grenade launcher at the television center was not such. Inside the building - where the soldiers of the Vityaz special unit were holed up - a special weapon that was in the possession of the soldiers of this unit, who had just returned from the Caucasus, exploded. We conducted a comprehensive forensic examination on this matter; the developers of this grenade launcher, manufacturers, and specialists from the Armament Directorate of the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense and from the Institute of Special Equipment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation were brought in as experts. Experts from various departments gave a unanimous conclusion that private soldier of the Vityaz unit Sitnikov, who was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia, died precisely from the explosion of this special equipment.
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"TOMORROW". Could the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation have received an order from Yeltsin to shoot at the column under the command of Makashov?
Leonid PROSHKIN. Without the order “from the very top,” the shooting, naturally, would not have happened. But I personally have not seen a written order to shoot the White House. If our group had been given the opportunity to investigate this case as it should be, then it would be necessary to hold accountable both those who were on the side of the President of the Russian Federation and those who were in the White House. According to one of my versions, although there were other versions, both at that moment were thought for both, as I have already said, by the people sitting next to the Kremlin and the House of Soviets.
"TOMORROW". "Third Force"? There is a version that in those days snipers were used near the White House, shooting in the back both riot police and supporters of the Supreme Council in order to make them hate each other. Moreover, the snipers were delivered from Israel by officers of the Russian special services who supported B. Yeltsin.
Leonid PROSHKIN. There were snipers, I agree. But the fact of their transfer to Moscow from Israel and the fact that they were from Beitar was denied in a conversation with me even by Albert Mikhailovich Makashov, who is often accused of ardent anti-Semitism.
"TOMORROW". Then where could they come from?
Leonid PROSHKIN. They could also have been from the Russian special services, but most likely, for these purposes they used mercenaries who cannot be directly identified with the “third force”. By that time, there were many people in our country who had gone through the Transnistrian, Georgian-Abkhaz, Azerbaijani-Armenian and other conflicts. The same Chechnya did not appear out of nowhere... In 1993, they could have carried out such a task for money or for some other reason. Something similar later happened in Kyiv, during the events on the Maidan: a very similar, almost identical, scheme to seize power was played out there.
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A lot can be said about the events of October 1993. When, based on the materials of the investigation, I came to the conclusion that there were grounds to hold accountable both those who led the defense of the White House and those who commanded its blockade and execution, Boris Yeltsin demanded that I be fired. But Mikhail Borisovich Katyshev and other heads of the Prosecutor General’s Office did not follow this instruction. And the investigation was quickly stopped, declaring an amnesty for everyone. About two hundred people investigated this case. After the amnesty, the investigation team was left with 18 people and huge piles of materials. Therefore, we only dealt with the victims and victims of those events.
"TOMORROW". Who do you think the people supported in October 1993?
Leonid PROSHKIN. The people were not happy with either Yeltsin or the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation. Everyone saw that a division of state property and power was taking place in the country. That’s why there were no popular protests anywhere except Moscow in 1993.
And in Moscow there was complete confusion - perhaps specially organized. On October 4, it came to the point of numerous clashes between units of the Ministry of Defense and the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which were on Yeltsin’s side. As a result, two servicemen of the Ministry of Defense were killed and several were wounded.
"TOMORROW". Was there any return fire from the White House? After all, A. Rutskoy, at one time, giving me an interview, claimed that the defenders of the White House did not fire at the army units that on the morning of October 4, 1993 went to storm the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation...
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Leonid PROSHKIN. They shot. They also fired from there. It never happens that a gun hanging on the wall in a play does not fire. Shots were fired, but no one died from a bullet fired from a weapon seized from the White House. But we were not allowed to shoot the weapons of the Internal Troops, and also the army ones. The command of the Dzerzhinsky division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation during the anniversary celebrations of their unit at the training ground, which was visited by B.N. Yeltsin, wrote him a complaint about the investigative group. And we were forbidden to shoot their weapons.
In general, Yeltsin was categorically against amnesty. He believed that the party whose leaders were detained on October 4 in the White House and then arrested was to blame for everything. But here he was powerless. Prosecutor General Alexey Ivanovich Kazannik - the same one who “ceded” his deputy mandate to Yeltsin at one time - agreed to the amnesty, but refused to sign documents for specific amnestied persons. He had to resign, and all the amnesty documents were signed for him by Vladimir Ivanovich Kravtsov, who was then the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. And he was also dismissed - already by Yeltsin, who, as I said, was against this amnesty. Many questions remain regarding the October events of 1993, but I can say that they have been well investigated, so that future historians will be able to rely on them when the time comes.
Finally OUR barricades!
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OUR songs! The sounds of OUR words!
Motherland! Thanks for the reward,
For your trust and love!
You waited for a long time, exhausted,
She didn’t let me into the righteous flogging.
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Meek, great, holy,
You tried to save me.
You gave me a fierce word
To defeat the surging darkness.
Only darkness with a bony hand
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She grabbed her heart like a collar.
The clamp just became so tight,
That you can no longer live and breathe.
The time has come for new songs,
The ones that need to be written in blood.
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Motherland! You can be calm -
I won't let you down in anything.
I exchange the pen for a drekolya,
You call for a fight - and I’ll go!
- Andrey
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He will definitely come. But not anytime soon.
- Taisiya
Malinina
Yeltsin simply needed to constitutionally “consolidate” the division of property that had already occurred and continue the constitutional plunder of the country within the framework of the Constitution, which was adopted in December 1993. What other time will come? I don't know. It is not capitalism that will “rot,” but us in global capitalism. Slowly but surely!
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- Victor
Viktor Buryakov novel “Betrayal”. Tragic days of September-October 1993. Gor, Moscow. Excerpt. Pyotr Protasov was very nervous this time, stood on the Moscow wet asphalt and - here you go, he got into trouble at the wrong time and had to be treated in a strange apartment, with strangers for whom he did not want to be a burden.
From her raids around Moscow, Lyudmila Ivanovna brought all kinds of appeals, leaflets, newspapers; and Peter, lying in bed, covered in mustard plasters, looked through them, trying to understand how all this could end. I was worried that the army was keeping silent. But somewhere on the third day of his illness, he came across a copy of the Appeal of a group of officers of the Directorate of the Ministry of Security of the Russian Federation for the Irkutsk Region dated September 24:
"Watching with alarm the development of the socio-political situation in the country after the publication of the Presidential Decree "On phased constitutional reform in the Russian Federation", the employees of the Department came to the unanimous opinion that the Presidential Decree has put society on the brink of the collapse of Russia, there is a danger of a civil war. With this act The President grossly violated the fundamental law of the state - the Constitution of the Russian Federation, sharply aggravated the situation in the country. By destroying the basic principle of the state system - democracy and separation of powers, his actions provoke the collapse of Russia.
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We understand that both the legislative and executive branches of government are to blame for the current crisis. The crisis required a speedy resolution, but through a search for agreement in society, through civil peace.
Sharing the position of the people's deputies of the Irkutsk Regional Council, who recognize the Presidential Decree as inconsistent with the Constitution, we consider any unconstitutional actions of the authorities and administration of the Russian Federation unacceptable, and we call for the restoration of the legitimacy of the legislative branch and for holding early simultaneous elections of the Federal Parliament and the President of the Russian Federation.
In connection with the current situation, in order to avoid drawing the security forces into the political struggle, in order to prevent misinformation of the Russian population about the position of the officers and enlisted personnel of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defense, the Russian Federation, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to hold an All-Russian Officers' Meeting with the election of a supervisory board to monitor the situation.
We assure you that we will continue to act, guided by the Law on Federal State Security Bodies, and not to carry out orders and instructions that contradict the Constitution and laws of the Russian Federation."
“So this is where the dog is buried,” thought Peter and got up from bed, trying to tear off the mustard plasters, which were incredibly burning, probably fresh. tetanus. They don’t recognize them, and besides, they are outside politics. What the New Russians are doing to the people is politics for them: they say both are to blame. But no, it doesn’t happen like that, trouble will reach them too The people feel bad - and the army will feel bad, and no matter how much they joked about the words “the people and the army are united”, “the people and the party are united”, but what happened was what happened, and now - the defeat and collapse of both the country and the army , and the people."
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And suddenly he remembered the former president of the USSR, nicknamed Marked; managed to lead the long-suffering people to the slaughterhouse. Many of them grew up at the regional and district levels under the wise leadership of Brezhnev. The Secretary General probably thought that they would adhere to some measure in their personal, well-fed life, and show more concern for the people; but it turned out that under Soviet rule they only had an appetite, and here they are
broke out of their cages and rushed across their native country, sweeping away barriers and laws.
Oh, life, life. And when will you now get back on track and the people will breathe easily and freely? Only now is it becoming clear to the people that without the communists and everyone who loves their country, you will not move. And Peter represented the communists as a handful of brave men who knew where and why to lead people. But only then will the people win when the majority goes over to the side of these knowledgeable people. If this does not happen, there will be no victory. Everything seems to be clear, but the deception of the well-spoken new owners is still stronger. The old life was boring, and the new one turned out to be even more terrible, and sometimes it seems that victory sometimes comes on the day when you don’t expect it.
The general entered the room where Peter was lying on the sofa, covered with two blankets, in warm underwear, and saw that there were newspapers and leaflets all around - both on the chair and on the nightstand next to the pillow.
- What, are we studying? It’s a lost cause, as I said, you won’t succeed. The army, of course, will not budge, as far as I am informed, but nothing will change for you either. Our people are as tired of communists as a bitter radish. Some had repressed relatives, some were believers and their church was taken away and beheaded. So a big bill has been brought against them, and they will not be forgiven soon. There is no turning back. Moscow has lived its own life, and continues to live. The country is silent, and here, in the center, a handful of adventurers and deceived people, offended by life, have gathered, those wretched people who could not fit into current life. You know it yourself: if you don’t fit into a turn, you’ll fly to the sidelines of history. Your party and some of the people did not fit into this turn. What can you do, this is the reality, you need to honestly admit it to yourself and stop clinging to the old and outdated. We are confidently entering the civilized community. Let's learn democracy from the West, how to live correctly, and not be savages.
Peter didn’t want to argue on this topic anymore, the state was sluggish, lousy, and then there was the young general with his new thinking. But Peter could not remain silent:
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- Okay, Sergei, we won’t. Time will tell whether we lived correctly and who has been on the sidelines of history all these years - us or your vaunted West. You, the military, were praised and fed under the Soviet regime, but you are a new Russian with your new thinking. Their army is located in the West, and in the event that they finally lose, that army will protect them from the hungry, rebellious Russian people. And she will send you home to die alone, without a pension, without the right to life.
“We’ll see about that,” Sergei disagreed. “Let them just try to disarm us.” We will still show our teeth, and those who touch us will then know what Russian officers are worth.
– What they are worth can already be seen on the streets of Moscow, when the army allows people to be beaten and takes part in this.
– I would not say that the soldiers from the Dzerzhinsky division are our army.
– Whose is it, American or African?
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“We’ll see whose it is, but I know for sure that my soldiers are not there and will not be there, we are not punitive, we are for justice.”
– That’s right: we don’t bother you, you don’t bother us, politics is a dirty business, and, they say, sort it out yourself, like spiders in a jar.
– Absolutely right, for us the main thing is border security and the external enemy, but inside the country you have to sort it out yourself. There will be a threat of destruction of Russia - then we'll see.
“I’m afraid that when they finish off the country, you will no longer be there, and there will be nowhere and no one to look around,” Peter noted with regret, convinced that the conversation with the general was leading into some kind of emptiness and did not bring anything good for his soul , in addition to anxiety for those who continue, like Lyudmila Ivanovna, to go to rallies and worry about their future and all
The general also understood that there was nothing to talk about, everything was clear, but he believed that his conscience was clear, and he didn’t owe anyone anything for anything, and there was only one life and he had to live it skillfully so that he could than to remember in recent times
minutes before being dragged to the cemetery.
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Two people thought about death on this October day almost in the center of Moscow, in a multi-story building, in a well-kept general’s apartment. But the thoughts were different, although people grew up in one country, and ended up equally in another country after its defeat in 91. It would seem that in childhood they took the same oaths when they were taken in October, pioneers, Komsomol, in the army they took the oath of allegiance to the Motherland, they wrote approximately the same statements to the party, where they asked to be accepted as members. But each of them reacted differently to what he said and wrote before, and their lives went differently, on their own paths, in no way did they coincide.
And the only thing Peter thought about was that death would still overtake anyone, but they would also remember the person after his departure according to his deeds, and each person would be given his own measure.
The time has come when the wounded, exhausted Motherland needed you; and while you’re alive, you have to answer what you did when she’s having a hard time like never before in history. And the question now is not about love for the Communist Party or hatred. And if the communists stubbornly held on to their Motherland for decades, defended it, and they are cursed by those who betrayed it, then who has more faith?
And it’s a shame to admit that you’ve been deceived; they now indiscriminately curse the entire Russian people, like a stupid, unreasonable child; They are afraid to admit that out of self-interest and petty hatred they sell the country every day piece by piece, each of those lost in the three pines - a centimeter, a millimeter - but they sell. May everyone be rewarded according to their actions.
And the only thing that Pyotr Protasov regretted was that over the past decades too many traitors have grown up on Russian grub, without family, without tribe, like cuckoo children whom a negligent mother threw into someone else’s nest, and they have already grown up and do not fit into someone else’s spirit nest, and the unfortunate mother bird, struggling with all her strength, tries to feed the voracious monster. And it’s unclear how she still has enough strength and patience, and for how long?
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So Peter firmly decided for himself - not to think about death, not to bring it upon himself, but, while he was alive, to do as many useful things as possible for his Motherland.
affairs and return back daily by millimeter, by centimeter sold
pieces of the Motherland, at least in the souls of people. This way it will be more accurate and reliable. The battle for the minds of the Russian people continues, and the enemy must not be stronger. The enemy is the enemy, and soon everyone will see him, when they fully see the light, and he, Peter, on his territory, on his native land, still has something to fight for, something to stand up for. They don’t trade their homeland and don’t hold it accountable for their grievances; one can only love it and only protect it, no matter how ugly it may seem at times. Homeland, like life, is given to a person only once and, no matter how they choose who to be born, they do not choose where to be born.
The general left his office, where former party comrade Pyotr Protasov was lying down on his sofa, and after his departure he continued to carefully re-read leaflets and newspapers and increasingly understood that this would not end well. Some have lived or are living to their fullest and will not give up the new power for a healthy life, because no matter how you look at it, retribution for everything they did to the people awaited them. That’s why they will resist to the end, and
they can wash with blood.
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Peter wanted to quickly suppress the inflammation, leave this office, this room, go outside, go to the Barrikadnaya metro station, where, as Lyudmila Ivanovna said, people continued to come, and communicate with like-minded people, and look at the faces of those who continued
disperse people with batons. And Peter had no fear for his life. After all, a person dies only once, and not several. And most importantly, Peter ordered himself to live in order to see how his beloved Motherland would rise up and straighten up, and the free, great Russian people, and with them the small nations, who, it turns out, without an “elder brother” and without his support, would breathe deeply. they cannot take a step. For this it was worth living further, for this it was worth going again to where people are fighting for every centimeter of Russian land, for their future. There people like him are waiting for him, and there is no self-interest in their thoughts and actions, but only holy rightness, the understanding that if they don’t do it, then who else will? Nobody wants to die, everyone wants to live. But just how?
So let the enemies of the Motherland kneel, and not the people themselves, for this it is worth living.
Chronicle of the tragic events of October 1993
about the author
Proshkin Leonid Georgievich
Vice President of the Foundation
Veteran of the prosecutor's office.
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Since 1972, in investigative work.
In the years - First Deputy Head of the Main Investigation Department of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation.
Awarded state and departmental awards. Honorary Worker of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation.
Organizes the work of the Legal Assistance Cabinet at the Foundation.
Part I. The assault that never happened
On October 3-4, 1993, a small two-day civil war occurred in Russia: 123 killed, 384 wounded. No one suffered any criminal or political responsibility for this bloody massacre. The February amnesty reconciled both sides. Both sides breathed a sigh of relief when the Prosecutor General's Office was forced to close criminal case No. 18/. Moreover, each of the organizers of the October events released a “memoir” in which they easily shifted responsibility for the murders onto their political opponents. Moreover, persistent legends and myths about the countless number of “stormtroopers” breaking through to Ostankino, about the “first shot,” about the heroic defense of television by special forces from the “Vityaz” unit, about the heroic assault on the White House, etc., have become firmly established in public opinion.
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Today we are publishing an article by the former head of the investigation team, Leonid Proshkin. Unlike the “convenient” versions of politicians, it was written on the basis of materials from a criminal case. Leonid Proshkin deliberately does not draw any conclusions, he states only the facts. But behind these facts is the fear and madness of the performers, both the opposition and the entire presidential army.
“Early in the morning of October 4, 1993, I, then the senior investigator for especially important cases of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation, received a call from my boss. He asked to arrive as quickly as possible to the investigative unit of the Prosecutor General's Office, located in Blagoveshchensky Lane. In the office, the head of the investigative unit, Fetkulin V.Kh. was alone. He said that two criminal cases had been opened. One - the seizure of the mayor's office (former CMEA building) - was assigned to me to take over. The second case - about an attempt to seize a television center - should be taken into consideration by Vladimir Ivanovich Kazakov, now the head of the Directorate for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office.
Already having experience in organizing an investigation into the State Emergency Committee case, we discussed practical issues of creating investigative teams. Dozens of investigators seconded from the Main Military Prosecutor's Office and the Investigative Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrived in the cramped building. They were sent to Kazakov or to me for inclusion in investigative groups.
Every day the investigation gained momentum. Both criminal cases were combined in one proceeding. The joint investigative and operational group, which included up to 200 investigators from the prosecutor's office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense and several hundred operational police and counterintelligence workers, was headed by the head of the investigative unit of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation V.Kh. The group consisted of subgroups working in various areas and a headquarters headed by an experienced prosecutor, a good organizer, S.A. Aristov.
At the same time, no matter what “instructions” were given “from above,” investigators and operational workers honestly fulfilled their duty, obeying only the law. Thus, contrary to the will of the leadership, the investigation extended to October 4 and the events preceding October 3. The actions of not only supporters of the Supreme Council were investigated, but also government forces, which were largely to blame for the current situation and the grave consequences of what happened. It became obvious that there were provocateurs who openly pushed the opposing sides to use weapons and bloodshed. So, at about 15:00 on October 3, even before the start of active “combat operations,” while demonstrators were passing along Konyushkovskaya Street, next to the US Embassy, a man, unidentified by the investigation, dressed in a police uniform, fired a machine gun from a column in the direction of military personnel and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs . As a result, six people were injured, one of whom died in hospital.
On October 3-4, at least 46 people were killed or subsequently died from their wounds in the area of the television center. At least 124 people were injured near the television center.
20 vs 900
The television center was stormed by 20 people armed with machine guns and one grenade launcher, and defended by 900 military personnel and police officers and 24 armored personnel carriers.
After the “capture” of the city hall building, which was surrendered by government forces without any resistance, supporters of the Supreme Council, in cars seized from internal troops and on foot, moved to Ostankino to seize the television center and provide the leaders of the Supreme Council with the opportunity to go on air.
At the call of Makashov A.M. at a rally on Oktyabrskaya Square, demonstrators storm City Hall
The leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, having learned about this, sent reinforcements to the television and radio complex, which was already heavily guarded.
The “Vityaz” detachment, a special-purpose unit of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, was deployed to Ostankino. More than a hundred Vityaz fighters in armored personnel carriers moved from the White House to the television center parallel to supporters of the Supreme Council. Both columns saw each other. The movement of the columns along the way from the White House to the television center was monitored by traffic police services.
The automobile convoy of supporters of the Supreme Council was led by General Makashov in a “trophy” police UAZ. His personal guard and the Sever group were driving one of the cars seized from units of the internal troops. The car was driven by I.V. Konstantinov. and Anpilov V.I. Makashov had about 20 people at his disposal, armed with machine guns. In addition, young people joined the “Sever” group, carrying with them an RPG-7 grenade launcher taken from the riot police and two rounds (grenades) for it.
Fighters of the “North” group from among supporters of A.M. Makashov.
State traffic inspectors, at the direction of their management, ensured traffic safety during the passage of columns along the route. The 21st traffic police department tried to place barrage “hedgehogs” at the intersections of Novomoskovskaya with Dubovaya Roshcha passage, Dubovaya Roshcha passage with Botanicheskaya, Botanicheskaya with 1st Ostankinskaya, 1st Ostankino with Novomoskovskaya, but they were too late.
On October 3, 1993, the security of the complex of buildings of the Ostankino television center was provided by 87 employees of the 4th department of the Security Directorate of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate. They were armed with 84 pistols and 37 machine guns with the corresponding amount of ammunition. There were the necessary means of communication, personal protection, and special equipment. They were assigned 20 military personnel from military unit 3179, armed with 19 machine guns and a pistol.
Special forces soldiers "Vityaz" in Ostankino
At 17:00, almost simultaneously with Makashov’s column, on the direct order of the leadership of the internal troops, 105 military personnel of the special forces detachment “Vityaz” armed with standard weapons, under the leadership of the unit commander, arrived at the television center in six “batteers”. Together with them came 14 people from military unit 317a, armed with machine guns. Having entered the building of the hardware and studio complex-1 (ASK-1) from the side of the pond, the fighters took up defensive positions at the doors of the 17th entrance, erecting barriers, blocking the entrance with the help of tables, safes and other improvised means. The "batteers" were placed around the building and took up all-round defense.
Shortly after 5 p.m., 23 employees of the 3rd Department of the Security Directorate arrived, armed with 23 pistols and one machine gun. By 6 p.m., 31 riot police officers of the Moscow Department of Internal Affairs on railway transport arrived at the television center, armed with 27 machine guns and three pistols. At 18:30, 111 military personnel from military unit 3641, led by the unit commander, arrived at the television center building complex. Together with them came the Deputy Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, General P.V. Golubets, who took command. Thus, by 19:00, the complex of buildings of the Ostankino shopping center was guarded by at least 480 police officers and internal troops, a significant part of them were riot police and special forces. They were armed with at least 320 machine guns, machine guns, sniper rifles, 130 pistols, 12 grenade launchers, including the RPG-7 hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher, with a sufficient amount of ammunition. They had six armored personnel carriers, standard communications equipment, personal protective equipment, and special equipment. General management was carried out by the Deputy Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who had the appropriate powers.
Column under the leadership of A.M. Makashov arrived at the television center at about 17:00. Those who arrived headed to the 17th entrance, where spontaneous rallies arose. At the same time, Makashov called on the demonstrators to maintain order, asked not to break anything or beat anything, since the property of the television center is the people's property.
Politicians Anpilov V.I., Konstantinov I.V. and General Makashov A.M. during tragic events
The heads of the police department came out for negotiations. Makashov, Anpilov and people from their entourage came up to their porch. Makashov demanded that the television center be handed over, an operator be allocated, and the leaders of the Supreme Council and the opposition be given the opportunity to go on air. The police officers said that they could not hand over the television center without instructions. Makashov, agreeing with their arguments, provided the opportunity to contact his leadership. While waiting for reinforcements, police officers played for time in negotiations. Makashov was informed that the issue of providing airwaves had been resolved, but it would be done from another building, and they offered to move there. Believing the promises, Makashov, together with the guards and the Sever group subordinate to him, moved to the ASK-3 building. Most of the demonstrators moved there. Impromptu rallies continued to demand airtime. Employees and military personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were persuaded to go “to the side of the people.”
Among the protesters there were many journalists, photo and television correspondents who were filming the events taking place, and simply curious people. At the same time, the presence of extremists and outright provocateurs is obvious. Groups of people separated from the protesters and, blocking traffic, began stopping trolleybuses passing along the street and disembarking passengers.
Without waiting for the “live broadcast,” Makashov, in an ultimatum tone, demanded that the guards hand over their weapons and open the doors. The police officer who came to the negotiations refused to hand over the protected object. Makashov said that in three minutes he would begin the assault. The grenade launcher that was brought and one of the grenades for it was taken by one of Makashov’s subordinates. Being a purely civilian, he was unable to bring the grenade launcher into a position suitable for firing, or even load the grenade.
Seeing the grenade launcher and the manipulations with it, the Vityaz fighters guarding the building climbed from the lobby to the first floor and took cover behind the concrete parapet. The situation was reported to the unit commander and the command was given to resist in the event of an assault. After another ultimatum, two trucks of supporters of the Supreme Council rammed the entrance to ASK-3 and the window next to it. The officer in charge of this area asked for permission to open fire in order, as required by military regulations, to repel an attack on a protected facility.
The commander of the Vityaz and the deputy commander of the internal troops who was in ASK-1 forbade this, although shots at radiators and car wheels could “defuse” the situation without bloodshed. A police officer from St. Petersburg, who was part of a unit of the “alternative Ministry of Internal Affairs” (from among those who stormed), demonstratively manipulated the grenade launcher, indicating that it could fire.
At this time, one of the members of Makashov’s security was wounded in the leg by a shot from the building. Volunteer doctors treated the wounded on the spot and carried him on a stretcher to a vehicle to take him to the hospital. Immediately at the break where the doors to ASK-3 were, a powerful explosion was heard (according to many eyewitnesses, two simultaneous explosions). People standing nearby were wounded by shrapnel. At the same time, an unidentified explosive device exploded among the Vityaz fighters on the first floor, during which Private N.Yu. Sitnikov was killed. This explosion was mistaken for a grenade fired from a grenade launcher by the attackers. However, the investigation established with certainty that a shot was not fired into the building through the main entrance with a tandem cumulative action grenade PG-7 VR from the grenade launcher that the attackers had.
Sitnikov Nikolai Yurievich was born on January 2, 1974 in the village of Maslyanino, Novosibirsk region. Not married. Before being drafted into the army, he lived with his parents in the village of Maslyanino. Private conscript in military unit 3485 (special forces unit “Vityaz”). Military specialty - sapper. October 17, 1993 to Sitnikov N.Yu. awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation posthumously. Sitnikov N.Yu. was buried. at home.
Thanks to the media, already on the morning of October 4, the version was brought to the attention of the public and accepted by everyone as true that the first shot in Ostankino was fired by supporters of the Supreme Council from an RPG-7 V-1 grenade launcher with a tandem cumulative action grenade PG-7 VR and precisely from this Private Sitnikov died as a result of a shot as a result of a shrapnel wound. The approval of this version in the general opinion was facilitated by the conclusion of an examination carried out at the Central Forensic Laboratory of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. It said that all of Sitnikov’s injuries could have been caused by one shot from a high-power weapon, possibly from a grenade launcher.
Neither in the research part of the report nor in his conclusions did the expert explain why he named a grenade launcher as a weapon. However, he did not name, even presumably, the grenade launcher system and the grenade used, of which there are many, different in power and purpose.
How did Private Sitnikov die?
The expert's unmotivated conclusions raised our doubts. Moreover, the examination did not take into account the results of the inspection of the scene of the incident; Sitnikov’s clothing and personal protective equipment of the special forces soldier of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were not examined. The expert was interrogated and explained that he knew from the media about Sitnikov’s death from a grenade launcher shot from the attackers. Based on the objective picture of the wounds and, in particular, the diameter of the wound channel, he identified the ammunition, which could be a grenade from an under-barrel grenade launcher. He didn't even mean the RPG-7 grenade launcher.
At the same time, the supporters of the Supreme Council, who were in Ostankino at that moment, did not have a single grenade launcher. Due to doubts about the results of the initial examination, a second comprehensive medical and forensic examination was appointed, in which, along with forensic experts, explosion specialists, ballistas, developers and users of grenade launchers and personal protective equipment - body armor were involved.
The experts familiarized themselves with the materials of the criminal case, with video and photographic materials, and visited the scene of the incident. The clothing of the deceased and his body armor, collected piecemeal from various museums, were subjected to thorough examination. At the training ground of the internal troops, an investigative experiment was carried out with the shooting of a PG-7 VR grenade from an RPG-7 V-1 grenade launcher, simulating the conditions of the scene of the incident.
The results of the investigative experiment showed that the tandem cumulative action grenade PG-7 VR has enormous penetrating (burning) power and, when “working” inside the building, should have left serious damage, which was not the case in ASK-3. This was also confirmed by the leading expert on grenade launchers of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, who, after studying the case materials, viewing a large number of video and photographic materials, and inspecting the scene of the incident, categorically stated that the PG-7 VR grenade in the room where Sitnikov died didn't work.
The repeated examination refuted the conclusions of the primary examination. The conclusion states that Sitnikov was in a lying position behind a concrete parapet at the time of his death. Thus, a direct hit from the attackers was excluded. The injuries he received were the result of an unidentified device rupturing in his immediate vicinity (explosive injury). Experts categorically rejected the possibility of Sitnikov being wounded by a shot from an RPG-7 grenade launcher or from an under-barrel grenade launcher. They proved that there was no explosion of the warhead of a PG-7 VR grenade at the site of his death. Taking into account the results of the examination and other evidence collected in the case, we concluded that Sitnikov died not from a grenade launcher shot from supporters of the Supreme Council, journalists and onlookers standing in front of the entrance to ASK-3, but as a result of the explosion of some device, who was inside the building, that is, WITH THE DEFENDERS. Thus, the version of the leaders of the “defense” of the television center was refuted that the opening of lethal fire was a response to a shot from a grenade launcher and the killing of a serviceman of the internal troops.
Victims of heavy fire
Two to three seconds after the explosions inside and outside ASK-3, heavy fire was opened from the buildings of the television complex and from other places where internal troops and police officers were located. They fired bursts and single shots from sniper rifles at armed and unarmed people, at militants and journalists, at active participants in the events and just onlookers. They shot at the wounded and at the people trying to carry them out. This is how American lawyer Terry Michael Duncan was killed, who in that fateful hour was pulling the wounded out from under fire.
Duncan Terry Michael was born on January 24, 1967 in the USA, Georgia. Lawyer at Firestone-Duncan. He has been in Moscow since June 28, 1993. Duncan's body was taken to his homeland and buried there. Witness A.A. Boytsov, a photojournalist for the APH, said that from 17:00 on October 3 he was in Ostankino, photographing the events taking place. At approximately 19:30, General Makashov’s armed men pushed journalists and civilians away from the main entrance. Soon there was an explosion at the entrance, after which heavy fire began from the building at the people nearby. The fire was aimed at killing. He and foreign photojournalist Paul Otto took cover from the bullets behind concrete flower beds. Firing at them with tracer bullets continued for a long time. The fighters saw how the American Duncan pulled out three wounded men from under fire. These moments were photographed by him. Paul Otto and Duncan, who had crawled up, repeatedly turned to the Vityaz servicemen who were shooting at them, shouted that they were foreign journalists, and asked not to shoot and to be given the opportunity to leave the shelling zone. In response to the appeal, obscene language was heard and shooting intensified in their direction. During such “negotiations,” someone from Vityaz allowed them to leave.
Boytsov translated the soldier’s words to Paul Otto, who rose from the flowerbed and was immediately wounded in the stomach by a shot from the ASK-3 building. The Vityaz fighters did not allow anyone to crawl to Paul Otto to provide assistance, shooting at anyone who tried to approach the wounded man. Duncan, being nearby, encouraged Paul Otto with words and talked to him so that the wounded man would not lose consciousness. This went on for a long time, until Duncan was wounded by one of the machine gun bursts. He fell silent and did not speak again. The fighters saw several citizens carry Paul Otto out from under fire, who reported that the wounded Duncan remained there. One of these people appealed three times to the Vityaz servicemen who were in ASK-3 and shelled the area, persuading them to let him through and give him the opportunity to carry out the wounded foreigner. In response, obscene language was heard from the building. Then this man, waving his hand, got up and headed towards the lying Duncan, but did not reach him, as he was wounded in the back by a machine gun fire from the ASK-3 building. The man who had fallen was pulled out of the shelling zone by his feet and carried away. Boytsov photographed the moment he was wounded in the back and taken out from under fire, taking two pictures. The investigation established that Yu.E. Mikhailov was killed.
Mikhailov Yuri Egorovich was born on August 27, 1958 in Moscow. Russian. Married, had two minor children. Lived on Altufevskoye Highway. He was buried at the Lianozovsky cemetery in the capital. During interrogation, the victim Paul Otto said that on October 3 he was filming the events at the main entrance of ASK-3. He was on the right side of a truck that broke the windows of the entrance to the building. At approximately 7:30 p.m., a large explosion was heard from the left side of the truck. A few seconds later, heavy machine gun fire began. He immediately fell and hid behind a flower bed.
To his right lay a young guy with a machine gun, who was wounded by the first shots and died a short time later (as the investigation established, he was a member of the “North” group). The heavy shooting continued for about ten minutes. There was a lull, then the shooting resumed. He lay behind the flowerbed for about an hour. I saw a man nearby, openly walking from wounded to wounded and dragging three or four victims to a safe place. He thought that this was some kind of crazy person - he was pulling out the wounded under bullets and was not afraid. This man openly approached him and asked where he was wounded. He replied that he was not injured. They met. He was surprised to learn that this was also an American, Duncan Terry Michael. At that time, the shooting intensified, and Duncan also lay down behind a flower bed.
They talked for ten minutes, but he was wounded in the stomach, which he reported to Duncan, who promised to take him to a safe place when the shooting subsided. To keep him from losing consciousness, Duncan talked to him or called out numbers, and he continued counting. About 10 minutes later the shooting intensified. They hit Duncan in the head and he fell silent. After some time, Paul Otto himself was carried out by some people and taken to the hospital.
Paul Otto was born on April 24, 1969 in Ithaca, New York. US citizen, photojournalist for the Moscow bureau of the New York Times newspaper. He has been in Moscow since January 1993. Permanent residence: USA, Lansing.
Supporters of the Supreme Council practically did not fire back at the initial stage. After the outbreak of hostilities, the Ministry of Internal Affairs units in Ostankino were reinforced. By 20:00, 58 servicemen from the “Vityaz” detachment arrived at the television center in three armored personnel carriers, armed with 52 machine guns and sniper rifles, six machine guns, and three grenade launchers. At the same time, ten armored personnel carriers arrived with one hundred servicemen from military unit 3186. By 20.30, four servicemen from military unit 3485 delivered ammunition and additional weapons - 17 machine guns, machine guns, sniper rifles, five under-barrel grenade launchers, one pistol. At the same time, 90 military personnel from military unit 5401 and 89 military personnel from military unit 5476 arrived. They were armed with automatic weapons and rifles, 26 pistols. By 21:00, ten servicemen from military unit 3485 arrived in Ostankino in five armored personnel carriers with standard weapons.
Thus, after the outbreak of hostilities, up to 450 additional internal troops with standard weapons and the necessary amount of ammunition arrived to protect the television center in Ostankino. The arrivals were placed at the disposal of the Deputy Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, who was in charge of the “defense” of the television center.
In total, in Ostankino in the evening and night of October 3, 1993, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation concentrated at least 24 armored personnel carriers and over 900 military personnel and police officers with standard weapons. Obviously, supporters of the Supreme Council could not “take” the television center, and the events that took place near the television center after the shooting began cannot be called an assault.
However, extremist-minded people, for some unknown reason, set fire to the ASK-3 building with bottles of gasoline and prevented the fire from being extinguished. They also tried to set fire to the armored personnel carriers of the internal troops, which caused increased retaliatory shooting at people.
The provocations of extremists, the inaction of security and internal troops at the initial stage, and their unjustifiably harsh actions subsequently resulted in a large number of casualties, including among citizens not involved in the events.
Along with the erroneous version about the circumstances of the outbreak of hostilities in Ostankino, I would also like to refute the hitherto widespread “legend” about the death of one of the television workers at the hands of supporters of the Supreme Council.
Sergei Nikolaevich Krasilnikov was born on March 11, 1948 in Moscow. Head of the AVZI-18 video recording facility, located in the ASK-3 building of the Ostankino TTC. Lived on Chicherina Street. October 3 Krasilnikov S.H. was at his workplace in office No. 1276 on the first floor of ASK-3. After the explosions and the start of shooting, he left the office. In the niche where the door is located, he received a through gunshot wound to the head, from which he died on the spot.
A witness who worked that evening with the deceased said that at 16:00 they learned from a television program that the White House had been unblocked and that supporters of the Supreme Council were going to Ostankino. Together with Krasilnikov, we went to the police post and saw that they were armed and wearing bulletproof vests. From the direction of the VDNH metro station on Korolev Street, a column of demonstrators with flags approached the television center. Returning to the control room, we continued working. We went out into the hall several times and saw armed men in camouflage there. When the shooting started, Krasilnikov went out into the hall, she dragged him back, telling him not to stick his head out. After some time, Krasilnikov, under the pretext that he needed to go up to the second floor for work, left the room again. She turned off the equipment and lights. I saw that the door to the corridor was open. I called Sergei, but there was no answer. She walked up to the door and saw Krasilnikov lying on the left against the wall, feet out. There was a lot of blood on the floor. She realized that Krasilnikov had been killed.
The shift manager of the operational information programs department of the television center said that after the explosion and the start of heavy shooting, he called AV-ZI-18 to order the employees working there to leave the control room. He was informed that Krasilnikov had been wounded and was lying at the door to the equipment room. I ran downstairs and saw a body on the floor. He wanted to get closer to help, but was stopped by a shout from the main entrance: “Get back! Otherwise I’ll shoot!” He asked that they not shoot, because the man lying down needed help. They threatened to shoot him and did not allow him to approach. Having gone to the first aid station, I tried to call an ambulance, but I couldn’t. Having put on a white robe, he again tried to approach Krasilnikov. They didn't let him in again.
The results of the inspection of the scene of the incident (part of ASK-3, where Krasilnikov was killed), together with the conclusions of the examination and the testimony of witnesses, gave reason to conclude that the shot that killed the victim was fired along the corridor from the hall of the central entrance to the building, where those defending the television center were located military personnel of internal troops and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Outside the building, where there were demonstrators and members of the paramilitary forces of the Supreme Council, it was impossible to hit Krasilnikov either with a targeted shot or with a ricochet. The attackers were unable to penetrate to the first floor of the building and above and could not shoot from the hall.
Thus, it has been established that Krasilnikov was killed not by supporters of the Supreme Council, but by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or military personnel.
The bloody events in Ostankino, the “defense” from an assault that never happened, were the prelude to even bloodier events at the White House on the morning and afternoon of October 4.”
Part II. How the Taman division and the Dzerzhinsky division shot each other
Morning fight named after Grachev and Erin
At 5 a.m. on October 4, 1993, the President of the Russian Federation issued Decree No. 1578 “On urgent measures to ensure a state of emergency in Moscow.” Units of the Ministry of Defense entered the city. The reason was a night massacre near the television center, which, as follows from the investigation materials, arose largely through the fault of the Ostankino defenders themselves. Nine hundred military personnel literally riddled the area in front of the television center, where there were twenty Makashov machine gunners and hundreds of unarmed people.
Minister of Internal Affairs Erin V.F., Minister of Security Golushko N.M. and Minister of Defense P.S. Grachev in accordance with this Decree, they were supposed to create a joint headquarters by 10.00 on October 4, 1993 to lead the forces involved in ensuring the state of emergency in the capital.
As it was established by the investigation, the ministers FAILED TO FULFILL the provisions of the Decree on the creation of a joint headquarters. Interaction between departments was NOT organized. Emerging issues were resolved “on a routine basis.”
The investigation also established that the direct entry of troops into Moscow was carried out on the verbal order of the Minister of Defense, Army General P.S. Grachev. dated October 4, 1993.
According to the order, the leadership of military units and other units in ensuring the state of emergency in the city and restoring law and order was entrusted to the Deputy Minister of Defense, Colonel General G.G. Kondratyev. The order obliged him to develop an operation plan and assign combat missions to the command of military units and subunits by 9 o'clock on October 4, 1993. However, the action plan for the troops, taking into account their different subordination, was NOT developed by Kondratiev.
At about 5 o'clock in the morning on October 4, Kondratyev G.G. set tasks for the commanders of military units involved in blockading the building of the Supreme Council. Everyone was ordered to suppress the defenders’ firing points, prevent armed “militants” from breaking through from the White House and entering, and also ensure the exit of women and children from the building.
As a result, early in the morning, units of two departments - the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs - concentrated around the White House: the Taman Division, the 119th Parachute Regiment and the Internal Troops Division named after. Dzerzhinsky. Units of the Kantemirovskaya Division took guard over the Kalininsky Bridge and blocked the approaches to the White House from Novy Arbat.
To the commander of the Taman division, Major General Evnevich V.G. The task was set to take positions on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment, including Gluboky Lane from Rochdelskaya Street to the embankment. At the same time, by order of the Minister of Defense, Army General P.S. Grachev. Volunteers armed with machine guns - veterans of the Afghan war - were stationed on the division's armored personnel carriers.
The 119th Parachute Regiment blocked the White House from the back side of Krasnopresnenskaya embankment.
The division of internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (formerly the Dzerzhinsky division) was supposed to block the territory from Rochdelskaya Street and Glubokoy Lane to Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment. By order of the command, a group of four armored personnel carriers was to occupy Glubokiy Lane from Rochdelskaya Street to Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment.
At 7 o’clock in the morning the group’s armored personnel carriers began moving towards Glubokoye Lane. On Rochdelskaya Street there were barricades erected by defenders of the Supreme Council. People at the barricades threw Molotov cocktails at the armored personnel carriers. One armored personnel carrier caught fire. The group commander ordered to open fire to kill.
At the same time, at the intersection of Glubokoye Lane and Rochdelskaya Street there were armored personnel carriers of the Taman Division. Hearing the shooting, veterans of the war in Afghanistan dismounted and took cover behind the trees. The crews of armored personnel carriers of the internal troops, seeing armed people in civilian clothes, opened fire in their direction. One of the “Afghans” was seriously wounded in the chest, stomach and leg.
The commander of a unit of the Taman Division, located at the intersection of Rochdelskaya Street and Gluboky Lane, reported to Divisional Commander Evnevich that some armored personnel carriers, firing intensely, were moving from the direction of the White House. The division commander, not knowing whose equipment it was, ordered not to open fire.
Meanwhile, armored personnel carriers of the internal troops reached Krasnopresnenskaya embankment across Nikolaev Street. In the area of Glubokoy Lane, the embankment was blocked by a barricade of reinforced concrete blocks, extended by a MAZ refrigerator and a water truck. The commander of the explosive group, seeing some people on the barricade and near it, decided that they were defenders of the White House, and ordered to open fire. However, behind the barricade there were Afghans dismounting from armored vehicles, and in the MAZ cab, guarding the delivered cargo, sat the driver, Lithuanian citizen Yurgelenis Bronius.
At the same time, the commander of the Taman division, Major General Evnevich V.G. I watched from the opposite bank of the Moscow River as four unknown armored personnel carriers were moving and firing along the embankment in the direction of the location of his troops. Remembering that parts of the division had already been fired upon by unknown armored personnel carriers, and some units of the internal troops had gone over to the side of the Supreme Council, the division commander assumed that this was coming to help opposition supporters. Based on this assumption, Evnevich ordered several armored personnel carriers of the division to be advanced towards the moving group and meet them with fire.
Taman armored personnel carriers No. 189 and 180, opening fire from all types of weapons, rushed towards the armored personnel carriers of the internal troops. In the battle that ensued between the servicemen of the internal troops and the Taman residents, Yurgelenis Bronius died.
The armored personnel carrier of the commander of the mobile group of internal troops with tail number 444 tried to go around the barricade on the left side and was set on fire. The wounded group commander was unable to leave the vehicle and died. A private of the internal troops died in the armored vehicle with tail number 412. The crew members of the remaining armored personnel carriers of the group received injuries of varying degrees of severity from minor injuries.
Turning around, the combat vehicles drove out onto Nikolaev Street and disappeared into the courtyard of a residential building. The crews reported to the deputy commander of the internal troops division about the battle with supporters of the Supreme Council, the death of the group leader and fighter, and the injury of other servicemen. The group was put into reserve.
The commander of the 119th Parachute Regiment ordered his reconnaissance company to block the entrance to the White House from Rochdelskaya Street. From Colonel General Kondratyev G.G. he received orders to ensure the passage of riot police to the White House, while interacting with the Taman division. He was NOT WARNED about the presence of units and armored vehicles of internal troops in the area of Rochdelskaya Street.
Deputy division commander named after. Dzerzhinsky ordered the commander of one of the battalions to block the area from Pavlik Morozov Square to the Krasnaya Presnya stadium, including its territory. At the same time, the locations of the Ministry of Defense units were NOT REPORTED.
At about 7 o'clock in the morning, a group of three armored personnel carriers and one infantry fighting vehicle of the internal troops advanced to the Krasnaya Presnya stadium, located opposite the White House. BMP No. 201, which was moving first, knocked down the gates of the stadium and drove inside. Then the armored personnel carriers entered the stadium.
At this time, shelling was going on in the surrounding area, including the stadium. The crews of armored vehicles of the internal troops returned fire.
Soldiers of the 119th Parachute Regiment reported to their command that there were foreign armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles at the stadium. Mistaking them for fighting vehicles of supporters of the Supreme Council, the regiment entered the battle. The commander of the 2nd battalion tried to destroy one of the armored personnel carriers with a grenade launcher, but his actions only caused an intensification of combat operations by the internal troops. As a result, two servicemen of the Ministry of Defense were killed and several were injured.
At about 10 o'clock in the morning, the deputy commander of the internal troops division ordered two armored personnel carriers of the division to move to Krasnopresnenskaya embankment to cover the riot police units. A police officer was included in the crew of the commander's armored personnel carrier to communicate with the riot police.
The servicemen of the Taman division, seeing armored personnel carriers with the same coloring as those with whom they fought in the morning, opened fire from all types of weapons. As a result, the group commander, two more servicemen of the internal troops and a police officer who liaised with the riot police were killed.
During the firefight, citizens' cars parked near houses in the battle area were destroyed or seriously damaged.
During interrogations, officers from internal troops and the Ministry of Defense said that they did not know who they were fighting against. They were not notified of the locations of units of other departments, and communication between units was not organized.
From the editor. As a result of this many-hour battle, several armored personnel carriers were shot down and ten people were killed. The victims were awarded high government awards. Even years later, the very fact of the morning shootout between units of the Ministry of Defense and a division of internal troops is kept in the strictest confidence. In the center of the capital, for several hours, the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Internal Affairs were unable to coordinate the actions of their subordinates. Both, as you remember, received a “Hero of Russia” on their chests.
After the assault
During the assault, the buildings of the Supreme Council, the Moscow City Hall, and the Mir Hotel suffered significant damage. Fires started in the House of Soviets and City Hall, a significant part of the buildings burned out, and enormous material damage was caused.
According to the “Certificate on the actual costs of restoration work related to compensation for damage due to mass riots on October 3-4, 1993, buildings and engineering systems on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment, building 2, and Rochdelskaya street, building 2,” the costs of restoring the complex of buildings of the former Supreme Council amounted to about 49 billion rubles, 44 million US dollars, 12 million Austrian schillings, one million Finnish marks and various amounts in other currencies.
In addition, equipment worth hundreds of millions of rubles (information on its residual value) was stolen or destroyed. During the inventory of the property of the Supreme Council as of October 10, 1993, a shortage was identified in the amount of 367,131,559 rubles. A significant number of firearms in service with the Department of Security of the Supreme Council disappeared. Some personal belongings of people's deputies, employees of the Supreme Council apparatus, and service personnel disappeared. At the same time, after the surrender, everyone leaving the buildings of the Supreme Council was thoroughly searched. It was impossible to take anything out and steal it.
The estimate for the restoration of the City Hall building and the Mir Hotel amounted to over 17 billion rubles in terms of prices at that time. Burnt, broken and stolen property worth more than 4.5 billion rubles was written off. About 20 million US dollars were spent on the purchase of new equipment.
Firms renting premises in the city hall building and their employees suffered damage amounting to 1.6 billion rubles and tens of thousands of dollars.
After its capture, the commander of the Moscow District of Internal Troops, Major General A.G. Baskaev, was appointed commandant of the House of Soviets. The complex of buildings was transferred to the protection of internal troops.
The investigation showed that in many cases, military personnel of the military units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who extinguished the fire and guarded the buildings were involved in the theft of property, firearms and ammunition.
During its existence, the investigative and operational group searched for and seized 926 firearms, as well as many other military equipment that were lost or stolen during the events under investigation. And this was one of the results of our work.
I dare to say that to the credit of the members of the investigative-operational group and the leadership of the investigative department of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation (and this was the case in the investigation department of the Prosecutor General's Office), we did not allow ourselves to be drawn into political “showdowns.” Despite the dissatisfaction of individual government officials and supporters of the former Supreme Council of the Russian Federation, the investigative team did its job, guided only by the Law. The leaders of the group and the prosecutors overseeing the investigation were replaced several times. The deadlines for completing the case and sending it (or a selected part) to the court were repeatedly determined. However, we did everything for a complete, comprehensive and objective study of all the circumstances of what happened.
Contrary to the will of individual leaders, the investigation extended to October 4 and the events preceding October 3. The actions of not only supporters of the Supreme Council were investigated, but also government forces, which were largely to blame for the current situation and the grave consequences of what happened.
Of course, we could not find an answer to many questions. For example, it was obvious that there were provocateurs who openly pushed the opposing sides to use weapons and bloodshed. So, at about 15:00 on October 3, even before the start of active “combat operations,” while demonstrators were passing along Konyushkovskaya Street, next to the US Embassy, a man, unidentified by the investigation, dressed in a police uniform, fired a machine gun from a column in the direction of military personnel and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs . As a result, six servicemen of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were wounded, one of whom died in hospital. Or the same “mysterious” snipers. But these “gaps” in the investigation are not our fault; we did everything in our power.
Until the very last day of the investigation, which ended on September 3, 1995, we searched and found victims, recognized them as victims, and carried out forensic medical examinations.
It was established that directly on October 3-4, 1993, during the events investigated by the investigative group of the General Prosecutor's Office in criminal case No. 18/, at least 123 people were killed or died from wounds received during this period. At least 348 people were injured of varying severity.
The above data on the number of victims (dead and wounded) do not take into account victims of events investigated in independent criminal cases: those killed and wounded during hostilities between various units of government troops or as a result of measures to implement the state of emergency, as well as citizens beaten after arrests, those who died suddenly or suffered from accidents on the streets of the city during this period (life in the city continued in all its manifestations), etc. Each death case (about thirty) was thoroughly investigated under our control.
Here and below are official figures that reflect what we were able to establish. They are quite accurate. I use the term “no less” because I admit the possibility of some increase in the number of victims due to the dead and wounded citizens who have not been identified by us. In investigative documents, the statements are more categorical.
In connection with the anniversary of the October events, I would like to express my deep condolences (I think that all the other members of the investigative team will join me) to the families and friends of the victims, as well as sincere sympathy for the wounded and injured.
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