All about the 6th company. "Step into immortality." Official page of the book. Company against Khattab's gang

A year ago I wrote about this unprecedented battle (“Your Son and Brother,” Izvestia, No. 138). Our command released 2,500 Chechen fighters from Shatoi - they parted and opened the road to the Argun Gorge. But the paratroopers of the 6th company of the 104th regiment did not know about this; the regiment commander, who knew nothing, gave them the task of occupying four heights. They walked calmly until at height 776 they ran into militants.

The company fought, holding the height, for 20 hours. Two battalions of the “White Angels” - Khattab and Basayev, more than 600 people, joined the militants.

2500 versus 90.

Who joined us?

There were two companies nearby (one of them were scouts), about 130 people, but the Chechens set up an external guard, ours did not take the fight and left. Helicopters arrived, for some reason without an air controller, circled, fired a salvo blindly and flew away (now they found another reason: it was getting dark). Front-line aviation was not involved (later they cited bad weather - a lie). The regimental artillery worked poorly, the shells barely reached.

The company was driven without preliminary air and ground reconnaissance.

There were many criminal oddities. Pskov residents, military and civilian, specialists and ordinary people, are confident that the militants bought a retreat corridor from our military leaders. (They also named the amount - half a million dollars.) But at the regimental level they did not know this.

Of the 90 company paratroopers, 84 were killed.

The switchman was punished: regiment commander Melentyev was transferred to Ulyanovsk as chief of staff of the brigade. The commander of the eastern group, General Makarov, remained on the sidelines (six times Melentyev asked him to give the company the opportunity to withdraw without killing the guys) and another general, Lentsov, who headed the airborne task force.

After publication, I thought that the offended military leaders would sue Izvestia. They didn't submit it. And there was no response to the editor; the General Staff and other departments remained silent.

The silence of the generals is like a conspiracy against everyone. They remain silent, thereby creating conditions for future disasters.

“The company was framed”

I wrote about the possible treachery of military officials and the heroism of the 6th company. Now I’ll talk about miscalculations at the company level. For what? At least to avoid new victims. Unless, of course, the military leaders hide again and draw public conclusions.

In January 2000, the 6th company as part of the 104th regiment left to replace the paratroopers of Colonel Isokhonyan. The mood was carefree and upbeat, inspired by the example of their predecessors: near Argun they beat up Gelayev’s gang, killed more than 30 people, and only two battle losses.

Lieutenant Colonel A.:

The company was a team, formed before leaving. Due to the lack of junior officers, they crammed people from the entire division, and they recruited from the 34th regiment, and from their 104th, but from other companies. Company commander Eremin was in Chechnya at that time. The paratroopers were trained by Roman Sokolov. And in the end, a third was appointed company commander - Molodov, he was a stranger - from the special forces, no combat experience - he commanded a company of young soldiers. He was the first to die in this battle from a sniper bullet. The commander was the first to set himself up. Battalion commander Mark Evtyukhin, who led the company to the heights, was in Chechnya for only a month - on a business trip. Neither he nor the regiment commander Melentyev has any combat experience. We worked at the training ground, of course. But how... I think they were not ready for battle.

The events in Chechnya are already a consequence. Error upon error. Evtyukhin reported one thing, but in reality it was something else. We rose to altitude very slowly, stretching for three kilometers. As a result, two platoons rose, but the third did not make it in time; the militants shot them on the rise. Fatal mistake - they didn’t dig in. The battalion commander sent reconnaissance to the neighboring heights of Isty-Kord, gave the order to the business executives to prepare dinner, but did not give the order to dig in.

If they had dug in, would they have fought back?

Yes. In the mountains, every small line must be secured - trenches must be dug, a fire system must be organized. There was enough ammunition. Then only artillery or aviation could take them. The enemy had neither one nor the other.

On the neighboring hill, Evtyukhin’s deputy, Major Alexander Dostavalov, dug in with the 4th company. The militants showed up, but after meeting resistance, they left. There were 15 people in the company.

When battalion commander Evtyukhin realized that things were really bad, he contacted Dostavalov: “Help.” Dostavalov and Evtyukhin were friends; they lived nearby in Pskov, in the same hostel. And the 6th company was dear to him; he had previously commanded it for several years. But he had an order from the command: not to leave his height.

Still, is it true,” I asked the lieutenant colonel, “that the road was sold, and the 6th company was framed - for the sake of credibility, to cover up their tracks?

The company was framed. There was betrayal. It’s impossible not to notice 2500 people. At this time there is still no greenery.

And there is no need to notice. They knew about the militants, it is possible that they were being led. It seems true that, moving at night, they gave a sign with flashlights and ours did not shoot without orders. Whether it was like this or not doesn’t matter.

Dostavalovs

Vasily Vasilyevich Dostavalov, father:

My son was born in 1963, in Ufa, I served there. I immediately called him Alexander. So that there would be Alexander Vasilyevich, like Suvorov. I was transferred to Kuibyshev, Odessa, Sevastopol - there I was already deputy regiment commander. Sasha came running to my unit, throughout his childhood he was surrounded by infantry, sappers, and artillerymen. At school I was friends with weak boys and girls - to protect. We called him Suvorik. “Die yourself, but help your comrade.”

I went to the military registration and enlistment office for the draft. “I’m an infantryman myself, I want my son to serve in the elite troops.” - "In what?" - “In the airborne forces.” Now I’m visiting him - in Ryazan. The battalion commander praised: “If only everyone served like that!” And I kissed my son. In 1987, he graduated from the famous Ryazan School. He arrived beaming, wearing lieutenant's uniform. I will never forget this day. My wife and I cried with happiness.

Then - Bendery, Transnistria, battles. I'm already retired. There are no letters. It turns out he was wounded in the shoulder. I spent three months in the hospital: “Dad, don’t come yet, I’m completely thin, then you’ll come.”

And then - Chechnya. I didn’t accompany him to the first war; he left suddenly and didn’t tell me so as not to worry him. But where is it... I’ll tell you the truth, I even started drinking. There was no money. I sold the dacha, I’m taking half the money to Chechnya: “Sasha, buy yourself a car.” - "For what? I'll buy the car myself." Returned - Order of Courage. And I have a second stroke.

He lived in Tver with his wife and mother-in-law. On January 3 he calls: “Dad, sleep well, everything is fine.” And on February 4, I called my mother-in-law, wished her a happy birthday, she told me: “And Sasha is in Chechnya.” Again he didn’t want to worry me, and again I didn’t see him off.

On February 10, he took part in the first battle, accompanied the convoy, and discovered an ambush. Destroyed 15 militants, the convoy passed without losses.

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- Help.

One word was enough for Major Dostavalov, contrary to orders from above, to rush with his platoon to height 776.

Did Dostavalov know that he was going to certain death? The most experienced paratrooper - the third war, realized that the battalion commander was dying and no one helped him. At night he walked along the rear of the militants, ran into ambushes twice, left, and on the third attempt led the platoon to a height. Without a single loss.

Moments of happiness. The doomed people at the top decided that help was coming, they were not forgotten, they were not abandoned.

The Dostavalovites were all burned in this fire. The major himself was one of the last to die.

Vasily Vasilievich Dostavalov:

Sasha’s wife called me from Tver: “Sasha is dead!..” I fell.

Alexander Nikolaevich Shevtsov:

My Volodya was also in this platoon. He wrote me a letter as a declaration of love to his commander. The battalion commander never called his son or other privates by his last name. Only by first name or first name and patronymic. And he only shook hands. Discipline, order. These guys would follow Dostavalov into fire and water. They went.

When my son decided to go to Chechnya under a contract, I said: “You are 21 years old, an adult, decide for yourself.” Then it seemed that the war was coming to an end. He comes: “We’re going in the evening.” I put ointments, cologne, an iron, and shoe polish in my sports bag. I say, look at the TV, there is dirt there, tanks are skidding. You will wear rubber boots. He and his friend also bought half a bag of sweets and gingerbread. Sweet tooth. Children, adult children. “You’re a machine gunner, where are you going to place the machine gun?” - “I’ll hang it around my neck.” I drove him to the gate of the unit, he jumped off and, without saying goodbye, ran to the unit. Like going to a pioneer camp. I called out, he returned, we said goodbye.

Here, in the division, a wall newspaper was published, in it there was a story about how the checkpoint was ambushed, and Volodya rescued them with a machine gun.

When they brought the notice: “He has died the death of a hero...”, my hair stood on end for two days, I was shaking, and had goosebumps. I didn’t want to believe it until the credits rolled on television.

Alexander Nikolaevich goes to his son’s grave every day and brings candy.

Monument

Two years ago, Vladimir Putin proposed creating a monument to the 6th company.

The installation of the monument was accompanied by scandals (Izvestia reported on this on August 3, 2002). The military won. Despite the objections of the regional administration, the Pskov mayor's office, and the relatives of the victims, they erected a monument near the checkpoint of the 104th Parachute Regiment in Cherekhe: it will educate soldiers. They considered it a departmental matter. They erected a 20-meter structure in the shape of an open parachute. High under the dome are 84 autographs of fallen paratroopers, copied from their personal documents. “Who are we going to bring flowers to, a parachute, or what?” - asked the relatives of the victims.

They were waiting for Putin at the opening; after all, it was his order.

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Vasily Vasilyevich Dostavalov now lives abroad. IN

Simferopol. He wasn’t invited to the Airborne Forces holiday or to the opening of the monument, but that didn’t bother him much. There, in Pskov, his son’s grave is, this is the main thing, he visits him once or twice a year. And then financial problems arose.

Unexpectedly, Crimean paratroopers came to my house; they also once graduated from the Ryazan school. They probably read your Izvestia. “Are you Dostavalov Vasily Vasilievich?” We sat down. We drank a little. I'm talking about the opening of the monument. “Will you go?” - “No, guys, I can’t - empty-handed.” They say: "It's not your problem." And they bring me round-trip tickets. They asked me to tell Putin: “Russian paratroopers in Crimea are ready to defend Russia.”

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The six surviving fighters couldn't get out of my head all year. The last one, who was left without a single cartridge when the militants came at him like a dark wall, raised his hands: “I surrender.” He was hit on the head with a rifle butt and lost consciousness. I woke up from the cold. I found a machine gun under the body of the dead man, walked around the height, and did not meet any wounded people. He told everything himself, honestly, as it happened. If I had hidden it, remained silent, no one would have ever known anything.

At home, he tried to commit suicide; his mother pulled him out of the noose. The military prosecutor's office conducted an investigation and found no crime or gross violations. The guy, like others, was awarded the Order of Courage. And absolutely right. But the pain did not subside: “Why didn’t I die along with everyone else? It’s my fault that I didn’t die.” The guy did not come to the opening of the monument and ended up in a mental hospital. And another one didn’t come: he’s also in a mental hospital.

And two more did not arrive. Hristolyubov and Komarov. I saw them on the TV show “As It Was.” We sat with our hands on our knees and our eyes on the floor. The presenter tried to squeeze out of them how the battle at the top went, whether it was scary or not, what they were thinking. They looked down blankly, as if zombied. They answered quietly: “Yes. No". We didn't remember anything. As it turned out later, they couldn’t remember.

They slowly climbed to the top in the tail of the third platoon, which did not reach the hill. Khristolubov and Komarov carried a stove and a machine gun. When the shooting started, the grenade launcher Izyumov jumped up, grabbed a machine gun and rushed up. And these two disappeared, appearing when everything was quiet.

Senior officer Oleg P.:

Khristolubov and Komarov were going down, hiding in a crevice, and heard a groan: “Guys, help!” This was called by Senior Lieutenant Vorobiev, deputy commander of the reconnaissance company. Both chickened out and ran away. After the battle below, at the foot of the hill, they mumbled: “There, on the slope, the officer remained, still alive.” When our men got up, Vorobyov was already dead. Khristolyubov and Komarov were also awarded the Order of Courage. The regiment's chief of staff, Teplinsky, was against it, and we, all the officers, were against it, but apparently in Moscow they decided differently: the entire company was heroes. The most amazing thing is that Khristolubov and Komarov quickly got used to this role.

And two more of those who survived.

After the death of Dostavalov, the last officer, Senior Lieutenant Kozhemyakin, remained alive. He ordered them to crawl to the cliff and jump, and he himself picked up a machine gun to cover them. Following the order, Suponinsky and Porshnev jumped, the height of the cliff was the height of a five-story building.

Private Suponinsky, the only survivor, was awarded the Gold Star of the Hero. The Airborne Forces helped him with an apartment in Tatarstan. But it didn’t work out with work: wherever he comes, he’s not needed. (This is what the press service of the Airborne Forces said.) The hero is entitled to benefits, vouchers, and vacation. I hid the Star and they took it without any problems.

I found his phone number, called him, said that I wanted to come, talk, help. “No need,” he refused. - And I didn’t hide the Golden Star. I’m going to Pskov for the opening of the monument, I’ll be passing through Moscow for two days.” He left his cell phone number and another one for contact. I called him fifteen times. The phones were silent. He resolutely avoided me.

I decided to go to Pskov for the opening of the monument.

Opening

The lieutenant colonel met me on the platform and then did not leave. An honest man, he warned: “It is not recommended for you to meet the parents of the victims. The officers have been instructed and will refuse to speak.”

In anticipation of Putin, all the soldiers and officers worked for a month to clean up the military unit, the territory of the 104th regiment is now like an English park.

But Putin did not arrive. And Kasyanov did not come. The representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the North-Western District and the vice-speaker of the Federation Council arrived. Head of the Administration of the Pskov Region, Mayor of Pskov. Of the current and former military leaders - Shpak, Podkolzin and Shamanov. We followed the regulations established in case of the president's arrival. They spoke solemnly and formally. There were also those who did not quite understand where they had ended up; the Vice-Speaker of the Federation Council honored the memory of those who died “in a short-lived” (!) battle.

No one spoke from parents or widows. Colonel Vorobyov, who had lost his son, approached the microphone, but he was considered a man from the command: “He is no longer ours.” Indeed, there was also a report.

None of the speakers mentioned any of the dead by name.

Vasily Vasilyevich Dostavalov tried to break through to the surrounded stand, but his way was blocked. He came up to me, upset, caught his breath, the heat was over 30 degrees, and took off his jacket. “My son made it to the hill, but I can’t get to the podium?..” No, I didn’t make it. The mighty colonels stood with their chests, or rather their stomachs.

I was very afraid that the old man might have a third stroke.

There he is, there is Suponinsky! - my guardian, the lieutenant colonel, pointed to the line of speakers. Telepathy: Suponinsky turned sharply in our direction.

After his short speech, I walked up and handed over the promised last year’s Izvestia - there were good words about him too.

I won't talk to you about anything! - He narrowed his eyes unkindly, as if preparing for hand-to-hand combat.

But I want to tell you about you. Read more.

All! No stories,” he snapped angrily and walked away.

Of course, there were instructions. But it's not about her at all. The only Hero of Russia among the surviving paratroopers seemed to be afraid of conversation.

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- Why are they doing this to me? - It was painful to look at Dostavalov. - For what?!

They were afraid that you would talk about your son...

Evtyukhin, Molodov and Vorobyov were forever included in the lists of the military unit. And the name of Alexander Dostavalov was crossed out. For rushing to help his comrades. The deputy division commander explained this to his father: “Your son left his hill and violated the order.” That is, he had to sit and watch his comrades die.

They were afraid that the father’s living word would break the pretentious scenario.

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Of course, it would be necessary to give the floor to a representative of the public committee “In Memory of the 6th Company.” The Committee does not forget any of the relatives of the deceased Pskov residents.

Gennady Maksimovich Semenkov, committee member:

The deputies of the regional Assembly and I traveled through 14 districts of the region, visited all 22 burial sites, and met with parents and widows. We found out - who needs repairs, who needs a telephone, who needs psychological rehabilitation... Some local administrations hid the parents of paratroopers from us: the troubled ones drink.

The work of the committee began with the full cooperation of the division command. But then the committee members began to find out the details of the battle - who died and how? How could all this happen? Divisional Commander Major General Stanislav Yurievich Semenyuta began to get irritated: “This is none of your business, these are military issues.”

Before the opening of the monument, we spent three sleepless nights, rushing to St. Petersburg in order to print posters with photographs of paratroopers by August 2. All 84 people on one poster. We cooked this for relatives.

But even before the rally, Semenkova found the deputy division commander for educational work: “The presence of the public committee here is undesirable, this is an order from the division commander.” Semenkov and Rear Admiral Alexei Grigorievich Krasnikov with rolls of posters stood to the side of the monument, from the rally. The deputy commander of the 104th regiment approached them: “You were not invited here.” Semenkov showed a newspaper with an announcement: “Here: all citizens are invited. At the request of relatives, we must distribute hero posters.” “I am tasked with keeping an eye on your group – where and what.” The celebrations were already in full swing when soldiers with a mine detector approached Semenkov and Krasnikov: “It was ordered to check for the presence of mines and landmines.” They gutted the rolls with portraits of heroes, in front of everyone they began to check the flowers around with a mine detector: what if these very respectable people, whom, by the way, the organizers of the celebrations knew very well, threw away explosives?..

It was a shameful sight - to the point of complete loss of officer honor.

After the meeting, everyone moved to the regiment’s territory, where, at the stadium, the paratroopers were supposed to demonstrate martial arts. There Semenkov and Krasnikov were supposed to present posters to their relatives. Dostavalov joined them. We walked slowly through the park. Dostavalov felt bad. “I won’t go any further,” he said and leaned against the tree.

There were 50 meters left to the stadium when an officer caught up with them: “You are forbidden to be here! I'll walk you to the exit." Semenkov and the rear admiral abandoned the convoy, turned around and left.

After the demonstration performances of the paratroopers there was a gala dinner.

Near the monument, the grandmother of the deceased paratrooper Denis Zenkevich wept bitterly. The mother died after Denis’s death - a heart attack. Granny cried because the photo of her grandson on the poster turned out the worst - a large dark spot covers almost the entire face, and because she couldn’t see Denis’s painting under the dome - it was too high.

No one - neither officer nor soldier - took her hand.

Heroes and Order Bearers

Of the 84 dead - 18 were Heroes, the rest had Orders of Courage. Who and how divided them posthumously into Heroes and Order Bearers? All officers are Heroes.

Of those who came to the rescue with Dostavalov, there are three heroes - Alexander Dostavalov himself, this is understandable, platoon commander Lieutenant Oleg Ermakov and Sergeant Dmitry Grigoriev. The remaining 13 people are ordinary people, not a single one is a Hero, although they went to their deaths voluntarily!

Still, I managed to talk to both the officers and the parents. This was the next day, August 3rd.

Officer (not only the name, but also the rank):

All officers were warned not to give interviews to anyone...

The privates were awarded the Gold Star based on their service record: how they showed themselves during the service - diligence, discipline.

But heroism is often shown by inflexible and extraordinary people.

I'm telling it like it was. Now about why Suponinsky ran from you. That he was one of the last defenders on the hill and Kozhemyakin let him and Porshnev go is a lie. That they jumped from a cliff as high as a five-story building is a lie. Show me this cliff. I climbed this hill up and down. On March 1, following fresh tracks, he ascended, on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th, when all the dead were carried away from the heights. The battlefield says a lot. Kozhemyakin, the reconnaissance platoon commander, is a good hand-to-hand fighter and apparently put up a good fight. His face was completely smashed with rifle butts, and several stabbed militants were lying nearby. They probably wanted to take him alive as the last officer.

On the morning of March 1, when everything was quiet, I met Suponinsky and Porshnev at the foot of the hill. Suponinsky said something feverishly as they walked away, and Porshnev remained silent, his eyes downcast. He had not yet had time to come up with his own legend. And how is it - they retreated together, and only one became a Hero? Suponinsky's shin was severely cut by a shrapnel; with such a wound he would not have descended from a height.

They weren't up to par. They hid, waited and came out.

Soon Khristolubov and Komarov appeared at the foot. Yes, they abandoned the seriously wounded Vorobyov, that’s true. Both have clean barrels and a full complement of cartridges. They didn't fire a shot.

The last to leave was Timoshenko, the battalion commander's liaison officer.

One of our officers directly told Suponinsky: “Take off the star”... All six of them should not have been awarded.

I met with the mothers of the victims at the editorial office of the Pskov News newspaper. Pakhomova Lyudmila Petrovna, her son Roman, 18 years old, died. Kobzeva Raisa Vasilievna, her son Sasha was 18.

Lyudmila Pakhomova:

Only our sons, under the command of Dostavalov and company commander Ermakov, rushed to rescue the 6th company. Nobody else. On August 2, 2000, following fresh tracks, I showed a photograph of my son to Suponinsky: “Sash, have you seen my Roma?” He says: “No, I was wounded at the beginning of the battle and they carried me out.”

At the start of the battle!

The boss gave my husband a car, and we went to Rostov to pick up our son. We live in the Lipetsk region, the city of Gryazi. There were a lot of coffins, all sealed. I said: I don’t need zinc, you freeze your son, I don’t have far to go. They refused for a long time, and then they said: “You have to pay for freezing.” A paratrooper from the Tula division, Sasha Tonkikh, who came to accompany Roma, said: “Don’t worry, I’ll pay for everything myself.”

Did you need to make sure it was him?

That it's him. And if he had remained in the zinc coffin, he would not have been sewn up or washed. They sewed up his eye and his thigh, and I washed my hands at home myself. Sasha Tonkikh bought houses and wreaths, and did everything. And he gave me money for escorting - 5000. We are not traveling by rail, but by car. And he said to his friends: “Give your mother the money for gasoline.” Oh, what a good guy.

Raisa Kobzeva:

And my coffin is open. And he was accompanied by Sasha Smolin, also a paratrooper, but from the Naro-Fominsk division. He also went to pay for the freezing, it turns out: “Aunt Raya, you don’t need anything, the guy said: “I don’t take it from my own”... My son’s face is disfigured, there are no arms - one to the hand, the other to the elbow, no legs - fragmented. One body, and then the stomach is torn. This is apparently a projectile.

Lyudmila Pakhomova:

We, parents, on the morning of August 2, before the celebrations, were gathered in the assembly hall of the House of Officers so that we could tell who needed what help. They announced: “It’s a separate conversation with the parents of the Heroes, the rest - sit aside.” Apparently, there are other means and benefits for them.

We Dostavalovskys and others from the 6th company went out into the corridor...

But our children are still heroes, although not Heroes.

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This was a reward event in which there should have been no place for anyone who was confused or cowardly, and there should also be a Hero among the survivors.

Let be. It’s not for me, a civilian, to judge. In the end, paratrooper Suponinsky was where I had never been, and saw something that I would not see. Another thing is more important - that there is not a single offended person.

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We will never know the whole truth. But the officers of the regiment promised to tell much of what they know when they retire. Is it too late? Eyewitnesses and participants pass away. A month before the opening of the monument, the former regiment commander Melentyev, the only one who was punished, died of a heart attack.

I went to the cemetery with Dostavalov and Shevtsov. Before this, Vasily Vasilyevich, at my request, read his failed speech: “Dear Pskovites, dear parents... This monument is for each of our sons individually... This monument is a continuation of the lives of our sons... They died, but emerged victorious. .. In life everything comes and goes. If we leave too, only what we could and managed to do for people will remain on earth. You and I gave birth, raised children and gave them to Russia...”

It would be a good performance, and most importantly - in the first person.

Not a word about my son.

At the cemetery, Alexander Nikolaevich Shevtsov remained calm. As always, I brought sweets to the grave.

And Dostavalov knelt down and cried.

They are buried nearby - the sweet tooth and Suvorik.

Exactly 10 years ago, on March 1, 2000, the 6th company of the 104th Guards Parachute Regiment almost completely died in the Argun Gorge. At the cost of their lives, our fighters stopped the advance of a Chechen gang numbering up to 2000 guns. The drama unfolded like this.

After the fall of Grozny in early February 2000, a large group of Chechen fighters retreated to Shatoi district Chechnya, where on February 9 it was blocked by federal troops. Some of the militants managed to break out of the encirclement: Gelayev’s group broke through in the northwestern direction to the village of Komsomolskoye ( Urus-Martan district), and Khattab’s group - in the north-eastern direction through Ulus-Kert (Shatoi district), where the battle took place. The combined detachment of paratroopers under the command of Guard Lieutenant Colonel Mark Evtyukhin was tasked with occupying a line four kilometers southeast of Ulus-Kert by 2 p.m. on February 29, 2000, in order to prevent a possible breakthrough of militants in the direction of Vedeno. Early in the morning of February 29, the 6th company of the 104th Guards Regiment, an airborne platoon and a regimental reconnaissance group began to advance to Ulus-Kert. At 12.30 the reconnaissance patrol came into combat contact with a bandit group of about 20 militants. Evtyukhin ordered the 6th company to gain a foothold on the dominant height 776. At 23.25 the bandits launched a massive attack. Their number, according to various sources, was estimated from 1.5 to 2.5 thousand trunks. The bandit leaders several times offered the paratroopers to let them through in exchange for saving their lives. But this issue was not even discussed among the fighters.

Feat at altitude 776

At five in the morning on March 1, despite huge losses, the bandits broke into the company's positions. Guard Lieutenant Colonel Evtyukhin in this situation made a courageous decision and called the fire of the regimental artillery on himself. Hundreds of bandits burned in the fiery inferno. But only a few of our guys survived. They talked about the last minutes of the victims.

The commander of the guard's reconnaissance platoon, Senior Lieutenant Alexei Vorobyov, personally destroyed the field commander Idris in a fierce battle, beheading the gang. The commander of a self-propelled artillery battery of the guard, Captain Viktor Romanov, had both legs torn off by a mine explosion. But until the last minute of his life he adjusted artillery fire. Guard private Evgeny Vladykin was beaten until he lost consciousness in hand-to-hand combat with militants. I woke up, half naked and unarmed, in the positions of the bandits. He knocked off his light machine gun and made his way to his own.

This is how each of the 84 paratroopers fought. Subsequently, all of them were forever included in the lists of the 104th Guards Regiment, 22 paratroopers were awarded the title of Heroes of Russia (21 posthumously), and 63 were awarded the Order of Courage (posthumously). One of the streets of Grozny is named after 84 Pskov paratroopers.

Will we find out the truth?

Immediately after the tragedy, the relatives and friends of the victims demanded that the state answer simple and natural questions: how could intelligence detect such a concentration of militants in the Ulus-Kert area? Why, during such a long battle, was the command unable to send sufficient reinforcements to the dying company?

In a memo from the then commander of the Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Georgy Shpak, to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Igor Sergeev, the answer to them is as follows: “Attempts by the command of the Airborne Forces operational group, PTG (regimental tactical group) of the 104th Guards PDP to release the encircled group due to heavy fire from gangs and difficult terrain conditions did not bring success.” What's behind this phrase? According to many experts, the high dedication of the lower military echelons and incomprehensible inconsistencies in the higher ones. At 3 o'clock in the morning on March 1, a reinforcement platoon headed by Yevtyukhin's deputy guard, Major Alexander Dostavalov, was able to break through to the encirclement, who later died along with the 6th company. However, why only one platoon?

The soldiers of the 1st company of the battalion also tried to help their comrades. But while crossing the Abazulgol River, they were ambushed and were forced to gain a foothold on the bank. Only on the morning of March 2 did the 1st company manage to break through. But it was already too late - the 6th company died. What did the higher command do on March 1 and 2, why were more powerful reinforcements not sent to this area? Was it possible to save the 6th company? If yes, then who is to blame for the fact that this was not done?

There are assumptions that the passage from the Argun Gorge to Dagestan was bought for the militants from high-ranking federal leaders. “All police checkpoints were removed from the only road leading to Dagestan,” newspapers wrote at the time. The price for the retreat corridor was also mentioned - half a million dollars. According to Vladimir Vorobyov, the father of the deceased senior lieutenant Alexei Vorobyov, “Regimental Commander Melentyev asked for permission to withdraw the company, but the commander of the Eastern Group, General Makarov, did not give permission to retreat.” Vladimir Svartsevich, a military observer, director of the photo service of the Moscow bureau of the AiF, argued in the article that “there was an outright betrayal of the guys by specific officials.”

On March 2, 2000, the military prosecutor's office of Khankala began an investigation into this case, which was then sent to the department of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation for the investigation of crimes in the field of federal security and interethnic relations in the North Caucasus. At the same time, the investigation established that “the actions of military officials, including the command of the Joint Group of Troops (Forces) ... in the performance of duties for the preparation, organization and conduct of combat by units of the 104th Parachute Regiment do not constitute a crime.” The case was soon closed by Deputy Prosecutor General S.N. Fridinsky. However, questions remain, and over the past 10 years no one has bothered to answer them.

"Inconvenient" heroes

The attitude of the authorities towards the memory of the paratrooper heroes is also surprising. It seems that the state, having hastily buried and rewarded them in 2000, tried to forget about the “inconvenient” heroes as quickly as possible. At the state level, nothing has been done to perpetuate the memory of their feat. There is not even a monument to the Pskov paratroopers. The parents of the dead children feel a disregard for the state.

“Many single mothers, each of whom gave her only son to the Motherland, have a lot of problems today,” the mother of the deceased paratrooper Lyudmila Petrovna Pakhomova told me, “but the authorities don’t hear us and don’t help us.” In fact, she betrayed the guys twice. And 10 years ago, when I was left alone without help with a 20-fold superior enemy. And today, when he prefers to consign their feat to oblivion.

The country that sent these guys into battle did not allocate a penny for the documentary film about the 6th company - “Russian Sacrifice”. Its screening took place on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the feat of the Pskov paratroopers at the Moscow Khudozhestvenny cinema. Relatives of the victims were invited to this event from different parts of Russia. But the public organizations of special service veterans “Combat Brotherhood” and “Rus” paid for the travel and stay in Moscow. Just like the making of the film itself.

“The films “I Have the Honor” and “Breakthrough” were previously made about this feat of the paratroopers,” the director of the film “Russian Sacrifice” Elena Lyapicheva told me. These are good films about the truth of the Chechen war, about the heroism of soldiers. At the same time, the images of the main characters in them are collective, and the films are created with great artistic imagination. The film “Russian Sacrifice” reflects real heroes and preserves their real names. The script is based on the stories of miraculously surviving soldiers of the 6th company, relatives of the dead paratroopers. The film reveals the “kitchen” of betrayal of the 6th company and the interests of Russia in general by some state and military officials. The film is based on the real diary of senior lieutenant Alexei Vorobyov. This is a parallel line - the officer’s thoughts about the history of Russia and its present day, about betrayal and honor, about cowardice and heroism. Unlike other works that reveal the feat of the Pskov paratroopers, the film “Russian Sacrifice” tells not so much about the military, but about the spiritual feat of the heroes. This is a film-reflection on the deep spiritual meaning of the military oath, about faith and fidelity, about the history of the Russian people, in which the feat of Russian soldiers always shines with a bright light, about the ways of the national and spiritual revival of Russia.

It seems impossible to comprehend with human, earthly understanding where these boys drew their strength of spirit. But when you learn the story of their short life, it becomes clear what kind of power this is and where it comes from.

Most of the guys are hereditary warriors, many are from a Cossack family, their ancestors served in the Cossack troops, some in Donskoy, some in Kuban, some in Siberian. And the Cossacks have always been defenders of the Russian land. Here, for example, is the fate of senior lieutenant Alexei Vorobyov. Being from a family of hereditary Cossacks, he spent his childhood in a Siberian village. Even at school, he differed from his peers in his depth, romance, faith, love for Russia and its history. At the age of 14, he wrote in his diary: “I am proud that I am a Russian Cossack. All my ancestors, be that as it may, served Russia, fought for the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland. I also want to devote my life to my Motherland, as my Cossack ancestors did.”

And the state refused to allocate funds for the story about such patriots. The film was made without government support, as they say, by pooling money, on the pennies of ordinary people. Huge gratitude to them. Many thanks for the help to the governor of the Moscow region, the chairman of the All-Russian public organization of veterans “Combat Brotherhood” Boris Gromov, the former commander of the Airborne Forces Valery Evtukhovich, and the personnel of the 76th Airborne Assault Chernigov Red Banner Division.

The film starred People's Artists of Russia Lyudmila Zaitseva, Alexander Mikhailov, Aristarkh Livanov, real soldiers and paratroopers, relatives and friends of the victims.

In a conversation with me, Lyudmila Zaitseva, who played the role of the mother of paratrooper Roman Pakhomov, emphasized:

“In our time, when moral guidelines are often knocked down, the feat of these guys is the most important guideline so that each of us can adjust our course in life. He teaches us not to bend in the difficult, sometimes vile circumstances of modern life, where meanness and betrayal often reign, so that we remain human even in inhuman conditions. The film also tells about the feat of mothers and fathers who raised such children and blessed them to defend the Fatherland. Low bow to them!

“These 18-19-year-old boys fought with 35-40-year-old thugs,” actor Alexander Ermakov, who played the role of his brother, paratrooper Oleg Ermakov, continued the conversation, “who were trained in sabotage camps around the world.” Moreover, they were not afraid to go hand-to-hand, they cut down bandits with sapper blades, and when they were surrounded by superior enemy forces, they exploded grenades on their chests. When our units arrived at the scene of the unequal battle, seasoned officers knelt down and cried in front of the mutilated bodies of the courageous paratroopers. And the commander of the Marine Corps group in Chechnya, Major General Alexander Otrakovsky, his heart could not stand it, and he died suddenly after learning the details of this battle. The drama of what happened was intensified by the fact that many guessed, and some knew for sure, about the betrayal of individual generals associated with the part of the Moscow oligarchy striving for power, which is directly stated in the film.

The memory of the feat of the Pskov paratroopers is needed first of all by us who remain to live on this sinful land. Where else can we draw strength if not from the fact that we are compatriots and fellow believers of these guys. They, who went through hell on earth and became truly immortal, when trouble comes to us, when our hands give up, will help us live honestly and overcome difficulties.

At the beginning of March 2000, in one of the clashes during the Second Chechen Campaign, most of the personnel of the 6th company of the 2nd battalion of the 104th Guards Parachute Regiment of the 76th Guards Airborne Division (Pskov) were killed. The death of the paratroopers, who entered into battle with a detachment of Chechen militants significantly superior in number, even after 16 years, raises a lot of questions. The main ones are: how could something like this happen and, just as important, why did it go unpunished for the command?

Three main versions of what happened at height 776 (area of ​​the Chechen city of Argun, at the line Ulus-Kert - Selmentauzen): a fatal coincidence of circumstances that did not allow the paratroopers to come to the aid, the criminal inability of the command to organize a combat operation and, finally, bribery of representatives of the federal troops by militants in order to obtaining the necessary information about the time and route of the 6th company's advance.

Initially unequal forces

At the end of February 2000, federal troops defeated Chechen militants in the battle for the village of Shatoy, but two large bandit groups led by Ruslan Gelayev and Khattab emerged from encirclement and united. A company of Pskov paratroopers had to fight this formation, which broke through into the Ulus-Kert area. According to the Russian side, the bandit detachment numbered up to 2.5 thousand militants. In addition to Khattab, they were led by such famous field commanders as Shamil Basayev, Idris and Abu al-Walid.

The day before the end of the fighting in Shatoi (February 28), the commander of the 104th regiment, Colonel S. Yu. Melentyev, the commander of the 6th company of paratroopers, Major S. G. Molodov, was ordered to occupy the dominant heights of Isty-Kord. After securing at height 776, which was 4.5 kilometers from Mount Isty-Kord, 12 scouts set off towards the final point of the route. [C-BLOCK]

On February 29, the reconnaissance patrol entered into battle with a bandit group of about 20 militants and retreated to height 776. From this clash began a battle that cost the lives of more than 80 servicemen of two companies (in addition to the 6th company, 15 soldiers of the 4th company also fought at the height) . The battle at height 776 began just 4 hours after the federals captured Shatoy.

It was obvious that the forces were unequal - at first only two platoons of the 6th company fought with the advancing militants, the third, stretched out while climbing to a height of 3 kilometers, was fired upon and destroyed on its slope. At the end of February 29, the company lost more than a third of its personnel killed.

One of the six surviving soldiers of the 6th company, Andrei Porshnev, recalled that the militants came at the paratroopers like a wall: as soon as they put down one “wave” of the attackers, half an hour later another was coming, shouting “Allahu Akbar”... Artillery worked against the bandits, but against the Russian fighters it was not clear why there was no help - after all, the 4th company was located nearby.

The opponents clashed in hand-to-hand combat. The retreating militants then used the radio to offer the paratroopers money for free passage.

To come to the rescue is not ordered

In the early morning of March 1, 15 paratroopers from the 4th company, which occupied defensive lines at a nearby height, broke through to their surrounded comrades, led by Major A.V. Dostavalov. No one gave them the order to go to the rescue. The paratroopers of the 1st company of the 1st battalion unsuccessfully tried to break through to height 776: while crossing the Abazulgol River, they ran into an ambush and were forced to gain a foothold on the bank. When they finally reached the positions of the 6th company on March 3, it was already too late.

When it became clear that the heights could not be held, and there was nowhere to wait for help, Captain V.V. Romanov, who took command of the 6th company after the death of senior officers, called fire on himself. At 5 a.m. on March 1, militants occupied the heights. Despite the massive artillery fire that covered Hill 776, the remnants of Khattab’s bandit group, having lost, according to some sources, about 500 people, were still able to leave the Argun Gorge.

In the battle for Hill 776, 84 soldiers of the 6th and 4th companies, including 13 officers, were killed. Only six soldiers managed to survive.

Were the paratroopers betrayed?

There are still debates about why the Pskov paratroopers were not given effective support or were not given the order to withdraw the company. De jure, no one from the command of the federal forces was punished for what happened. At first, Colonel Yu. S. Melentyev was made the last, who gave the order to advance the 6th company to the height of Isty-Kord. A criminal case was opened against him for improper performance of duties. But then the case was closed due to an amnesty.

Although Melentyev’s comrades claim that the colonel, immediately after the start of the battle, several times asked the command for permission to withdraw the company, but to no avail. Colonel Melentyev, who died in 2002 from a heart attack, is also credited with such an assessment of what happened at height 776 in late February - early March. He allegedly shared with a friend shortly before his death: “Don’t believe anything they say about the Chechen war in the official media... They traded 17 million for 84 lives.”

General Gennady Troshev in his book “My War. The Chechen diary of a trench general” says that assistance was still provided to the paratroopers - there was serious fire support: regimental 120-mm guns at a height of 776 almost continuously fired about 1,200 shells from the afternoon of February 29 until the morning of March 1. According to Troshev, it was the artillery that inflicted the most serious damage on the militants. [C-BLOCK]

Another version says that the command of the eastern group of troops, led by Gennady Troshev, did not take into account the specifics of the mountainous and wooded terrain, in which the unit does not have the opportunity to form a continuous front or even control the flanks. Plus, no one expected a large group of gangs to break through in one place. Front-line and army aviation could have helped the paratroopers, but that was not there either.

Igor Sergeev, the then Minister of Defense, attributed the impossibility of transferring additional forces to the combat area to the dense fire of the militants.

Officials initially did not want to talk openly about the details of the death of the Pskov paratroopers. Journalists were the first to talk about what happened at height 766, and only after that did the military break the days-long silence.

Ten years ago, from February 29 to March 1, 2000, 84 paratroopers of the 6th and 4th parachute companies of the 76th Airborne Division were killed in a battle near the Chechen village of Ulus-Kert. 15 of them were called up from St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. Although years have passed since those events, the debate about the causes of the tragedy has not diminished. Sergei Ivanovich Kozhemyakin, a career military man, the father of the Hero of Russia, Lieutenant Dima Kozhemyakin, who died valiantly in that battle, all this time conducted his own investigation into the circumstances of his son’s death. A direct eyewitness and colleague of Dmitry Kozhemyakin, reconnaissance sniper Alexey Golubev, also agreed to clear up the fog of those terrible events.

1. The tragedy of the fighters

It saddens me greatly that every year it becomes more and more difficult to find out the truth about those events,” says Sergei Ivanovich Kozhemyakin, “especially since the official authorities are clearly not interested in bringing the investigation of all the circumstances of this case to the end. The investigation was closed, the parents of the victims were told: “Forget it.” We no longer expect that the state will deign to answer the questions that have been tormenting us for years.

In the spring of 2000, immediately after the tragedy, without waiting for official explanations, many parents of the fallen paratroopers began an independent investigation into the circumstances of what happened at altitude 776.0. Over the past years, Sergei Ivanovich managed to interview almost everyone who was involved in the last battle of the 6th company. He collected many documents that made it possible to more or less holistically reconstruct the events of that terrible day.

We didn’t have time to dig in
...From the very morning of February 29, the 6th company was plagued by failures. It all started with the fact that the company, starting its last journey to height 776.0, was delayed in leaving. The commander of the second battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Evtyukhin, who was walking with the company, received a “stick” from Colonel Melentyev for this. The exit, however, began later than the command had expected. On top of that, the company took with it tents and camp stoves - things that were certainly necessary, but in the mountains they sharply slowed down the company's maneuverability. The heavily laden soldiers began to stretch out along the entire route of movement... And then there was another misfortune: while they were walking, they lost two soldiers. Battalion commander Evtyukhin ordered senior lieutenant Sotnikov to find the stragglers. The officer found them only... at the base camp. It turned out that their feet were wet, they could no longer walk through the mountains and returned to the camp without permission.

Contrary to popular belief, the battle did not take place at the height of 776.0, but in the saddle between the spurs of the mountain. The company did not have time to occupy the heights and dig in...
At 12.30 reconnaissance discovered the enemy and took over the battle. The scouts of Lieutenant Kozhemyakin and Senior Lieutenant Vorobyov did everything in their power - they held back the militants as much as they could, and even took prisoners. But the forces were too unequal. With the entire mass of a two-thousand-strong detachment, the militants attacked the company that did not have time to dig in. In the terrible meat grinder, which lasted from 12.30 on February 29 to 7.00 on March 1, only six soldiers of the 6th company managed to survive. The terrible truth is that not all of the company’s soldiers were able to meet the enemy face to face. The third platoon could not even reach the saddle of the height where the battle broke out. The militants shot him right on the slope.

“I saw photographs from the place of their death,” says Sergei Ivanovich. - The platoon soldiers did not expect the sudden appearance of a mounted detachment of militants, who opened fire on the move. That's how they died. It is still possible to understand them; reconnaissance has already taken place ahead.

Thus, no more than 60 paratroopers took on face-to-face combat with hundreds of militants.

Neither the battalion commander nor the regiment command could even imagine that the militants would attack the company all night. In fact, after the first unsuccessful attempt, it was on the night of March 1 that the enemy began the decisive assault. The company could still be saved by Major Alexander Dostavalov, who was firmly entrenched at the neighboring height of 787.0, with a platoon of soldiers from the 4th company. He firmly held the flank of the 6th company, preventing the militants from bypassing it along the mountain he occupied. But as soon as the major decided to leave the position and went to the paratroopers of the 6th company leading the battle, the ring closed.

Alexey Golubev recalls:
- I survived by chance. Our reconnaissance platoon under the command of Lieutenant Kozhemyakin was supposed to bring the main forces of the 6th company to a height of 776.0. Before each exit, the reconnaissance group was assigned a representative of the sapper company, usually a sergeant, and an artillery officer with his signalman. At that time, due to the special importance of the task, an officer, senior lieutenant Alexander Kolgatin, went with us from the sappers. Just before leaving, it turned out that he did not have the white camouflage coat that all scouts always wore. Dima ordered me to give him mine. I did so and therefore stayed in the camp...

Contractors were not eager to help
Before they had time to bury the fallen paratroopers, high army officials had already announced: the weather was to blame for the death of the company, which prevented them from coming to the rescue in time.
“There was a very difficult mountainous terrain, so that it was possible to maneuver personnel and come to the rescue,” explained Nikolai Staskov, chief of staff of the Airborne Forces in 1998-2005.

The snow cover was literally more than a meter, the units moved waist-deep in snow. Thick fog, night. Analyzing the actions of the regiment’s command, we cannot blame it for not taking any measures... For five hours crossing the river in winter conditions, people were in the water, they could not rise under the heavy fire of the militants.”

In fact, it was the other way around. The video taken by the militants immediately after occupying the heights shows that there is practically no snow at the battle site, the sun is shining brightly... The same can be seen in the photographs taken by our paratroopers on March 3, when they began to carry out the bodies of the fallen from the heights.

Alexey Golubev recalls:
- The weather in those days was unstable. The snow fell and then melted. But on March 1, when we went to help the company for the first time, there were no snow piles. From March 1 to March 3 there was a starry sky. It started to snow, but quickly melted...
Only at 0.40 on March 1, the 1st company of the 104th regiment, led by the regimental intelligence chief Baran, tried to come to the aid of their dying colleagues. However, before reaching the sixth company, the paratroopers stopped on the Abazulgol River, not daring to cross. Later, a version will appear that the company was allegedly detained by militant fire...

It seems to me that the cowardice of some of those who went to relieve the company’s blockade played a significant role here,” Sergei Ivanovich Kozhemyakin is sure. - Fear shackled the soldiers. In the first company there were many contract soldiers whose contract was already expiring. If the conscripts, on the contrary, were eager to help those who were dying, the contract soldiers clearly did not want to risk their lives. The commander was not the same one there either. The now deceased Sergei Melentyev, commander of the 104th regiment, later told me: “If Dmitry Kozhemyakin’s reconnaissance platoon had been in my reserve, and not together with the entire company, then his scouts would certainly have pulled out Evtyukhin and the soldiers from that height.” He knew Dima well from his internships in the Ulyanovsk Airborne Brigade and was confident in him as a combat officer. In addition, Dima knew this entire area. It was his scouts who placed units on the blocks.

“There are a lot of Chechen corpses”
Only in the morning, when the shooting had already subsided, the soldiers of the first company again approached the crossing.

Alexey Golubev recalls:
- On the morning of March 1, when we approached the river, we saw privates Suponinsky, Porshnev and Vladykin on the opposite bank. They shouted to us that an ambush was waiting for us at the height, and then they jumped down. We pulled them ashore. Vladykin looked the worst of all, his face was broken, he was holding someone else’s RPK, Suponinsky was slightly wounded in the leg by a fragment of a VOG-25 grenade, Porshnev had no wounds. Then we saw that two MI-24 helicopters circling over the battle area were aimed at us. Someone shouted: “They’re going to hit me now!” We quickly dispersed, and sure enough, our gunships fired at us, confusing us with militants. Then, when the identification smoke had already been lit, they could not find the commander, Major Baran. He somehow quickly managed to disappear from the dangerous place. Finally he came and attacked our signalman, where you supposedly ran away, and he responded: “So it was you who ran away, Comrade Major, I was here all the time!” We never went to the heights...

Alexey Golubev recalls:
- Although it was dark at the height, we will never forget what we saw. The smell is terrible, the ground is covered in blood. The dead lay all over the height. We found the deputy commander of the reconnaissance company, senior lieutenant Alexei Vorobyov. He was already dead, although the body had not yet had time to cool down. His right hand was torn off, he tried to stop the bleeding and wrapped his hand. There was a trail of blood behind his body... We stayed at the height for about an hour. They said over the radio that the militants were trying to surround us, that a detachment of Arab mercenaries was coming towards us, and they ordered us to retreat. On March 3, we again rose to heights and began removing the bodies of the dead. Some of them were collected by the militants into a common pile; some of the dead were without shoes and undressed - they were searched and searched for documents. The Chechens took all their weapons with them. Not far from the height we discovered a hastily made large burial place for militants. There were many, many corpses there.

In addition to the paratroopers, on the morning of March 2, soldiers of the FSB special forces unit “Vympel”, whose positions were not far from the battle site, tried to climb to the height. Approaching it, they found about thirty abandoned corpses of Arab appearance. At the same time, reconnaissance reported that a new detachment of militants was approaching the heights, trying to get into the Argun Gorge, so the Vympelovites also failed to get to the place where the 6th company was killed.

2. Parents' tragedy

To be honest, the parents of the victims found the greatest support in the Airborne Forces. The command does not forget the families of the fallen paratroopers. But even this help did not save the parents from the callousness of government officials, who still have not paid the relatives of the victims the compensation they are entitled to by law.

Free fight against terrorism
The relatives of the victims were paid approximately 700 thousand rubles from extra-budgetary funds. This was the second time after the Kursk tragedy when the state found funds for the families of military personnel. But for some reason the state chose to forget about the funds that are due specifically according to the LAW. At first, the authorities simply did not tell the relatives about the existence of such a federal law, then, when its existence became known, they began to hide behind all sorts of acts and papers that allowed them to avoid the necessary payments.

All these years, the parents of the dead paratroopers fought with all their might at all possible doors - from the Human Rights Commissioner to the Ministry of Defense and the Presidential Administration, but the result was always the same: “you are no longer entitled to anything.” Not a single politician, not a single human rights activist explained to them their right...
So, on July 3, 1998, more than a year before the start of the second Chechen war, the State Duma adopted the law “On the fight against terrorism.” Article 21 of this law established that in the event of the death of a person who took part in the fight against terrorism or during a counter-terrorism operation, the family of the deceased serviceman is paid a “one-time benefit in the amount of 100 thousand rubles.” In addition, according to the current Article 18 of the federal law “On the Status of Military Personnel,” insurance payments to military personnel in the event of their death, no matter whether in Chechnya, St. Petersburg or Transbaikalia, amount to 120 times the minimum monthly salary. When in 2000, the parents of the victims turned to various authorities for clarification, they were met with puzzled looks from officials, saying that we don’t know such laws, we don’t have instructions on this matter. The military registration and enlistment offices took a special position - it turned out that no directives regarding the implementation of these laws were received from the Ministry of Defense at all. So the parents of the victims are still left without legal money.

A few years later, on March 10, 2006, a new law “On Countering Terrorism” came into force, Article 21 of which raised the amount of a lump sum payment for the deceased to 600 thousand rubles. Many parents of the paratroopers of the 6th company had a glimmer of hope: maybe now they will get back at least something of what they were entitled to? We contacted the Ministry of Defense again. But in a response from the Financial and Economic Department of the Moscow Region it was said that Article 21 of the Law “On Combating Terrorism” applies only to “events that occurred from January 1, 2007,” but not before, and if so, then no money to the parents of the fallen not supposed to - neither then nor now.

For money - to the European Court!
Dina Chugunova, the mother of Vadim Chugunov, a paratrooper of the 6th company who died near Ulus-Kert, in desperation appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in 2008, demanding 1 million euros in compensation from the Russian Federation. The court is still considering this issue. This woman, like many, learned about her right to receive legal compensation for the death of her son in Russia only in 2005...

Now parents only manage to receive tiny monthly supplements to their survivor pension. They are arbitrarily installed in the regions by regional and regional governors at the expense of local budgets. For example, in Moscow, the families of the victims are paid an additional 5 thousand rubles, in the Moscow region - 8 thousand, in St. Petersburg - only 2 thousand, in the Leningrad region - not a penny.

At the end of the summer of 2009, the Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation, Alexander Konovalov, announced that his office had nevertheless prepared a decree on the payment of compensation to the families of those killed in the first and second Chechen wars. At the same time, Russia’s chief lawyer emphasized that the implementation of the decree directly depends on how quickly the State Duma considers it. Although more than six months have passed since the minister’s statement, the matter has not moved forward. The State Duma, out of old habit, is doing anything but adopting the laws that society expects from them.

Vyacheslav Khripun, “MK in St. Petersburg”

On the night of February 29 to March 1, 2000, the Russian army fought in the style of the 90s for the last time

The last battle of the 6th company of the 104th Guards Parachute Regiment of the 76th Airborne Division is perhaps the most dramatic and heroic battle of the Second Chechen Campaign.

Despite its relatively small scale, the battle at Hill 776 is without a doubt historic. For the last time, the Russian army fought a large Chechen gang in the style of the 90s: fewer in number, with poor communications, without air support and the help of comrades, compensating for the shortcomings and sloppiness of the generals with mass heroism and the lives of soldiers.

In subsequent years, the army leadership, albeit with difficulty, learned the bloody lessons of the mountains. Already in 2008, saving South Ossetia from a Georgian attack, Russia demonstrated a completely different style of introducing war.

The rats are cornered

The winter of 1999–2000 turned out to be a bad time for the Ichkerians (gangs who fought for the independence of Chechnya). Flywheel of war, spun by invasion Shamilya Basayeva And Khattaba to Dagestan, grinding down one gang after another. The federals not only stopped the invasion, burying hopes for an “imarate from sea to sea,” but also during the summer campaign they restored control over the plain part of the republic, besieged and took Grozny. As in the first campaign, having suffered defeat in the fields, the Chechen troops began to retreat to the mountainous and wooded areas in the south.

The Argun Gorge became the real lifeline for the separatists, along which their families fled to Georgia and the wounded were transported. Caravans with weapons, medicines and equipment traveled along it to Chechnya.

The Russian command perfectly understood the significance of this road and made a move: they flew border guards and paratroopers to the heights above the gorge by helicopters. The troops were delivered to positions above the heads of the gangs; They were also supplied by air.

The first landing was landed on December 17, and by the end of January the militants’ retreat routes to Georgia were completely cut off. 2,300 “border guards” and paratroopers dug in at all key heights along the border. They were given mortars and artillery.

The militants were also supported from the plain. A group of 20 thousand led an attack on Shatoi, the last regional center under the control of terrorists. The army men came from the north, west and east, forming a huge arc and breaking any resistance in front of them.

Under their attacks, about a thousand militants rolled into this area from Grozny. Another two thousand under the command of Khattab moved towards them from Itum-Kali. In addition, the area already had “its own” gang - 1,400 militants from Basayev’s group.

The mountainous and forested area helped to evade clashes with the main forces of the Russians, but strategically it was a mousetrap. Russian aviation carried out up to 200 sorties a day, destroying mountain fortresses and forest bases of militants. Special forces operated in the forests, armored vehicles and motorized rifles occupied the valleys. The militants had almost no room for maneuver, and the army had an almost unlimited supply of shells and bombs.

Thus, a situation arose in which the Russian army sought to hold and finish off the remnants of the Ichkerians in the Shatoi area. The terrorists, on the contrary, dreamed of breaking out of the military cordons and spreading throughout the republic.

Company against Khattab's gang

The 6th company of the 104th Guards Parachute Regiment, although part of one of the most elite divisions of the Russian army, was by no means professional. It was staffed with contract soldiers and paratroopers from other units shortly before deployment. Some were enlisted in the company literally before loading onto the plane.

The 2nd battalion, in which the company was to fight, was also not in the best shape. Just a month before the trip, an inspection found him “not ready for battle.” Combat Mark Evtyukhin I tried to put the unit in order, but there simply wasn’t enough time for training. On February 3, the battalion was transferred to Grozny; After some time, the paratroopers were assigned to guard the base near the village of Oktyabrskoye.

In addition to the soldiers and officers of the 6th company, a group of 15 soldiers from the 4th company of the same 2nd battalion also took part in the battle. In total - 90 paratroopers. They were covered by fire from the Non division (120 mm guns).

The enemy they faced was by no means simple. The Chechen fighters decided to break out of the encirclement in two large groups. One under command Ruslana Gelayeva went to the northwest, aiming at the village of Komsomolskoye, and the other, under the command of Khattab, moved in almost the opposite direction - to the northeast. It was with them that the paratroopers of the 104th regiment had to meet.

Exactly how many thugs went with Khattab is a moot point. According to official data, there were about 2.5 thousand of them, according to terrorists - 700. One way or another, the detachment was many times larger than the paratroopers.

In addition to Chechen terrorists, the gang included a large number of Arab mercenaries. The militants were well armed and well motivated: by that time, Russian aviation was using one and a half ton vacuum bombs and cluster munitions against their positions. Apart from death, they had nothing to expect at Shatoi. At the same time, unlike the paratroopers who found themselves in this area for the first time, the militants knew the area very well.

Rota goes into eternity

February 28 commander of the 104th regiment Sergey Melentyev ordered to occupy the dominant heights of Ista-Kord. Initially, battalion commander Evtyukhin intended to send the 4th company, which had more heavy weapons and was better prepared, on this mission. However, due to equipment breakdowns, people did not have time to arrive. The 6th company of the major was ordered to become a barrier Sergei Molodov.

The paratroopers advanced to the heights on foot. The soldiers carried not only weapons and ammunition, but also tents, stoves, and a large amount of additional equipment.

Meanwhile, the militants began to probe the regiment's positions in search of a weak point. At about 11 o'clock in the morning Khattab reached the positions of the 3rd company. The militants radioed the commander, calling him by name, and offered him money for passage. The company commander responded by pointing artillery at them. Having left several corpses in front of the positions of the intractable paratroopers, the Khattabites decided to try their luck elsewhere.

At half past twelve, 12 scouts of the 6th company encountered 20 militants on Mount Isty-Kord, after which they retreated to the main forces. The company forded the Abazulgol River. The overloaded paratroopers were very tired and stretched out along the slope.

The head patrol and command rose to the top at the same time as Chechen intelligence. A short but fierce firefight took place. During the battle, Major Molodov was mortally wounded, and the company was led by battalion commander Evtyukhin himself.

The Chechens retreated and regrouped. Around four in the afternoon the first powerful attack followed. The militants managed to catch and shoot the third platoon of the company on the slope, which never managed to rise. Only three soldiers from this platoon survived.

Then the assault on the summit began. Up to 1.5 thousand militants took part in the attack. The terrorists crushed the paratroopers with massive fire, and the defenders fired back. A self-propelled battalion fired at the slope; the attack was repulsed.

However, the situation was already critical: many were killed, the rest were almost all wounded. The problem was that the paratroopers could not dig out trenches in the frozen rocky soil, and the militants did not spare mortar shells and grenade launcher fire.

At about ten o'clock in the evening the second attack began. The Nonas were still hammering at the heights, but the militants had nothing to lose. Around three in the morning, 15 scouts of the 4th company, under the command of Major Alexandra Dostavalova.

For the final assault, the militants assembled a group of 70 volunteer suicide bombers. By that time, no more than 40-50 paratroopers remained at the top. The wounded died not only from bullets: many died from severe frost.

Nevertheless, the wounded and frostbitten soldiers continued to fire from the advancing horde for several more hours. At 6.01, battalion commander Evtyukhin made contact for the last time, causing fire on himself. Around seven in the morning the last shots were fired.

Brother, where is the help?

Why did the 6th company die? On the one hand, miscalculations in preparing the operation affected, on the other hand, extremely unfavorable circumstances in which the battle was fought.

The military was unable to detect the advance of large enemy forces in time. The command, with good intentions, forbade the paratroopers to conduct reconnaissance on their own outside the artillery “umbrella,” and interaction with the Vympel special forces detachments and the 45th Special Forces Regiment was not established. Therefore, when the paratroopers faced a monstrous danger, neither the commanders on the spot nor the command at headquarters understood this.

The aviation, which had been mauling the militants the other day, also could not help: throughout the entire day the area was covered in thick fog, and rain and snow fell from low clouds.

However, it cannot be said that they did not try to save the company. At night, fellow soldiers from the 1st company advanced to the besieged heights. But Khattab, who was well versed in the tactics of mountain warfare, had already placed machine-gun secrets at the fords of the Abazulgol River, which did not allow the relief group to approach the battlefield.

The only help that reached the 6th company were the same 15 scouts who were brought by Major Dostavalov, who exactly fulfilled Suvorov’s behest: perish yourself and help your comrade.

Nevertheless, the paratroopers fought to the end. No one raised their hand to surrender, no one asked for mercy. The soldiers fired back even after the company's control fell apart. The commanders shared the fate of the soldiers: all of the 13 officers who participated in the battle died. The last to give his life was Lieutenant Dmitry Kozhemyakin, covering the retreat of two wounded soldiers. Only six paratroopers survived the battle at the height.

The breakthrough through the company's positions, according to various sources, cost Khattab from 50 to 500 militants. Soon more than 200 militants surrendered to Russian troops; most of them were wounded, and many at Hill 776. The enemy paid a very high price for passing through the positions of the 6th company.