home » Conifers in design » Samashki is the second Chechen soldier with a grenade. Russian war crimes in Chechnya. massacre in Samashki. Where did you come here from?

Samashki is the second Chechen soldier with a grenade. Russian war crimes in Chechnya. massacre in Samashki. Where did you come here from?

The “cleansing” of Samashki was accompanied by the killing of civilians, abuse of detainees, looting and burning of houses. It was during the “cleansing” that most of the village residents died and most of the houses were destroyed.

In the northern part of the village, primarily in the area of the station, it began on the first day of the operation - on the evening of April 7, shortly after the troops entered there.

In other parts of the village, military personnel also entered houses in the evening and night of April 7, checking that there were no militants there. However, according to witnesses, the main “cleansing” began in Samashki at 8-10 a.m. on April 8.

It should be noted that on April 7 and 8, internal troops and riot police marched only along the main streets of the village, stretching along an east-west line, without even entering many streets stretching from north to south.

For the most part, after entering a house at night and making sure that there were no militants there, the soldiers did not touch civilians. However, already at this time there were cases of detention of people and killing of civilians.

So, according to witness testimony, people in uniform entered the house 93 on the street on the night of April 7. Sharipov and checked the documents of the people who were there. Having discovered that the son of the owners of the house, AKHMETOV BALAVDI ABDUL-VAKHABOVICH, was registered not in Samashki, but in Prokopyevsk, Kemerovo region, they said that they would take him to the station headquarters. One of the witnesses (Kh. RASUEV) cited the words of these people: “We will check the documents. Whether you are on the list or not. Then we’ll let you go.” Well, mothers say, “Don't worry. We’ll check there and let you go.” The body of the executed B. AKHMETOV was discovered the next day on the street ( see Appendix 3). According to witnesses, the servicemen who entered the house were not conscripts, but older people.

CHINDIGAYEV ABDURAKHMAN, born in 1952, living on the street. Sharipova, 46 and UMAKHANOV SALAVDI, an elderly man living on the street. Sharipova, 41, reported that on the evening of April 7, they, together with ISAEV MUSAIT, born in 1924, and BAZUEV NASRUDDIN, born in 1948, were in the house at 45 Sharipova St. The choice of this house was explained by the presence of strong concrete walls and floors of the first floor capable of withstanding artillery shelling ( see photo). As federal servicemen approached their area, all four hid in a storage room located on the first floor. Entering the courtyard, the servicemen threw a grenade into the room adjacent to this storage room. Further, according to UMAKHANOV, events developed as follows:

“Then a minute later, maybe even earlier, the door opens: “Who’s alive?” Yes, let's go out [ Into the yard - author's report.]. There were four of them. “Bitches, lie down! Bitches, lie down! - We went to bed. We were ransacked. Then someone from behind shouts and says to me: “Who’s left there?” I say "No". “Take hostages,” he shouts from behind. They take me back there. Nobody here. Let's go out. “Bitches, into the hole! Bitches, pit!" We are being driven there [ into a hole in the garage for car repairs - auto report.]. The car stands as it stood then. Nasruddin was the first to climb. He stood over there, against the wall. Yes, yes, to the far wall. The three of us are standing here. I say: “They are putting us here to kill.” Well, I said a prayer there. We have these standing here, soldiers. MUSA says: “Guys, don’t shoot. We have to feed the cattle... Don’t shoot.” ISAEV stepped onto the third step. Two soldiers... Pointed a machine gun at him. They pushed him there like that. Yes, he didn't have time to go down. A moment later he gave him a burst of machine gun fire. We just went down and just bent down - they fired the second burst.”

After this, the servicemen left the yard. As a result, ISAEV was killed, BAZUEV and UMAKHANOV were wounded (BAZUEV died the next day). UMAKHANOV's dressing was done by Red Cross doctors in Samashki.

Residents of the northern part of Samashki also reported executions of civilians, which, in general, suffered less than other areas of the village.

In the morning, according to all interviewed village residents, the military moved through the streets, looting and setting fire to houses, detaining all the men. Numerous murders were committed.

There is no complete clarity about who carried out the “cleansing” on April 8. Most residents reported that among those who carried out the “cleansing” the bulk were not conscript soldiers (18-20 years old), who were the first to enter the village, but older military personnel (25-35 years old) - apparently contract soldiers.

However, there are testimonies from victims that their houses were set on fire on the morning of April 8 by the same soldiers who entered the village on the evening of April 7. For example, LABAZANOV MAGOMED, an elderly man living in house 117 on the street. Cooperative, said that Russian soldiers entered the courtyard of the house in the basement of which he was hiding along with other old people, women and children on the night of April 7. They first threw a grenade into the yard, but after screams from the basement they did not throw a grenade there. The commander of this group, the captain, allowed everyone to stay in the basement; the military spent the night in the yard. In the morning, these same soldiers, aged for military service, began to set fire to houses. In particular, the house where the son of the narrator LABAZANOV ASLAMBEK (Cooperative 111) lived burned down. However, when a soldier with a canister in his hands came to set fire to the house in the basement of which the narrator was hiding, another soldier did not allow him to do this, saying: “There are old men and women in the basement. Back!".

An important source of information for the authors of the report was the hearings held by the parliamentary commission to investigate the causes and circumstances of the crisis situation in the Chechen Republic on May 29. Only at these hearings were they able to hear the stories of the direct participants in the operation in Samashki, because They could not meet these people themselves due to the hostile attitude towards the observation mission of human rights organizations on the part of the command of the federal forces.

Military personnel and riot police described their actions on April 8 as simply leaving a virtually undestroyed village. According to them, there were no burnings of houses or killing of civilians. Moreover, it was alleged that they did not actually see or deal with the civilians of the village. At the same time, a Moscow riot police officer, contrary to the testimony of the VV soldiers, said that the battle continued in the morning: “we actually had to crawl forward through the streets.”

If the picture of what happened in Samashki is built on the basis of these stories, as members of the parliamentary commission do, then the operation in Samashki takes on extremely strange features. Having occupied the village in battle, the troops for some reason leave it in the morning under fire. Massive destruction somehow occurs later.

The statement of one of the VV soldiers that they did not enter the houses contradicts the answers to the questions of a riot police officer near Moscow:

Question to an officer of the Moscow region riot police: “In order to ensure a safe exit, did you check the houses? Did you go into the houses?

Question: “Tell me, who entered the houses? Did the riot police provide this security or the conscripts?”

Answer: “We were together. In the morning, everyone understood that we were leaving, everything seemed quiet and calm, but the sleepless night and tension were taking their toll.”

Here a question arises, which for some reason none of the members of the parliamentary commission asked: how, when checking houses, did the participants in the operation manage to avoid dealing with civilians?

It cannot be ruled out that most of the participants in the operation in Samashki who spoke at the parliamentary hearings actually did not themselves take part in the “cleansing” and simply do not have complete information about what happened in the village. None of them knew which street they used to enter and exit the village - perhaps these were the streets where there was no serious damage.

However, one of the servicemen recounted the following important episode, which contradicts the testimony of the other participants in the operation who spoke:

“The next day, when we were returning, we noticed a movement in one of the houses, it was the 8th in the morning. During an inspection of the house, about 70 men of different ages were found in the basement... A command was received over the radio station to take them prisoner. We brought them to the checkpoint, handed them over to FSB officers... They took them, one might say, on suspicion, in a combat situation.” The detained people were not armed.

In this story, it is doubtful that about 70 Samashkin men could be in one basement.

Villagers usually describe basement inspections differently. Here are excerpts from the stories of several residents.

ANSAROVA AZMAN, lives in Samashki on Vygonnaya street:

“On Friday I found out that troops would be sent in at four o’clock. I have two sons and a husband. We have no weapons and we have never fought. They took their sons and went down to the bomb shelter on Rabochaya Street... Suddenly soldiers arrived. "Is there anyone? Come out!" I said: “There are women and our children here.” We came out. They: “Women to the side” - right with machine guns. To our sons - “Quickly undress - barefoot and to the waist!” Anyone who hesitated was beaten with a machine gun butt. One of the men was MURTAZALIEV USAM (he had two children, his wife and father were lying dead in the yard). He showed the soldier his passport - he took the document into shreds. “I don’t want your documents,” he said. are needed. You are Chechens - we will kill you." We asked, begged them: “They did not take up arms! We took care of them. No one was left with arms in the village. Don’t touch our sons!” They said: “If you say another word, we will shoot you!” They called us obscene names. Then they took our sons and took us away.”

Living on the street. Rabochaya, house 54 KARNUKAEVA:

“Houses were burned. I have nowhere to go now. I was hungry and cold and left on the street with 4 children. Children were even beaten in front of me. It was the day before yesterday - the 8th. When they heard the noise of cars and tanks, they ran to their neighbors and hid in their basement. They go into the neighbor’s yard, shout to their grandfather: “Where, who is there?” The grandfather, probably scared, thought that they would throw something into the basement, said: “I have women and children there.” “Come on, let them come out!” » There's a machine gun right at us. As the boys come out, they immediately kick them, they immediately put the children on their knees against the wall. They are 12-13 years old. And us. When the last one came out [ soldier - author's report] says: “Is there anyone else?” We say no. And he threw a grenade. Then beat the children. I’m crying, my 5-year-old girl is also crying: “Give them back, give them back.”

They took my husband, KARNUKAEV ALIK, and my brother-in-law, KARNUKAEV HUSSEIN, a disabled man without an arm, they took him away. They also took my two sons. An hour later they [ sons - author's report] returned home, and they took my husband and stripped him right in the yard. They took me naked. They didn't even leave their shirts on...

Their [ sons of the narrator - author's report.] they put him up against the wall, kick him in the ass, and he [ son of the narrator - author's report.] says: “Uncle, won’t you kill us? Won't you kill me?" And the military man took his head and hit it against the wall. The father stands - he probably felt sorry for his son and says: “He doesn’t understand Russian.” And he hit my father right in the chin. And I say: “For God’s sake, don’t say a word to them - he will kill you.” They say to the grandmother: “Is this your drinking water?” She says: “Yes, this is clean water.” "Let's drink it ourselves first." She took the mug, drank the water, then they drank it themselves and spilled it, not leaving a drop. All these barrels and flasks were turned over and the water was poured out. If something happens, if there is a fire, don’t put it out. That's probably what they thought. This morning at eight o'clock we left Samashki on foot. They let us through the post without any hindrance - well, they didn’t say anything. They said: “Come on in.” They checked the truth, not documents, but bags, like that, pockets. But they didn’t say anything.”

YUZBEK SHOVKHALOV, elder of the village of Samashki, who took part in negotiations with the Russian command, living at st. Cooperative building 3, said:

"Come home [ April 7 - auto report.], they tell me: tanks, armored personnel carriers, everything they have is coming. There are cars coming from behind, soldiers. I say: “Guys, families, get into the basement.” And I’m standing on the street. He’s coming. “Give me the militants.” I say: “There are no militants here.” “You, come with me.” We walk through the rooms in my house . The second time, others come. They don’t tell me: go. He’s coming. There’s some kind of machine gun fire. They go out, I go in - two TVs were shot through... The first ones were young, the second time, they were dressed in black, I don’t know, who are they, 25-30 years old. They are aggressive. We didn’t sleep the whole night, the whole night there was shooting, shooting. My wife is lying sick with high blood pressure. Second day [ April 8 - auto report.] in the morning at about nine o’clock I go out into the street, a column is walking straight along our Cooperative Street. Armored personnel carriers... They fire from heavy machine guns. Right in the village. To the house where they live... Either the house is burned, or the house is destroyed, whatever... They bring hay, straw and burn it. They leave on their own... I go out. Where are the militants? I say: “There are no militants, and in general there are no militants in the village.” “Everyone get out of the basement!” There were about eight people gathered in the basement. Whoever gets up, they hit them right on the head, in the face, where they can’t be hit, and they fall. "Take off your clothes!" They undress. Half. Shirt, pants. “Take off your shoes.” They are filming. They check there whether they carried a machine gun or not. They look scuffed. None of them carried a machine gun. All the guys are young, I know them all, not one of them has a machine gun. "Lie down." They take me away and put me on the asphalt at an intersection. They herd me back into the basement, my wife, my daughter, two more nieces, in total there are about six of us sitting... Once, I see that smoke is coming, it’s impossible to even sit. When I get up from there, I knock out the lid, I run out with these burns, I run, I think, at least there was a flask with water there. No, they took her out, drinking water. Everyone is sitting on the other side of the street, sitting, laughing, cracking seeds, cracking nuts, they found it at someone’s house, eating compotes, my family and I are burning there. Well, I think the cattle probably weren’t killed. I come, they killed four cows with machine guns and grenades, and they shot the sheep.”

YUSUPOV SADULLA IDAEVICH, living in house No. 75 on Vygonnaya Street, an elderly man, the head of the family, said that he sent his family from the village in early April, but he himself did not have time to leave Samashki by bus on April 7 before the shelling began. 10 Here are excerpts from his story:

“The neighboring street was on fire, but our street had not yet burned at night [ from April 7 to 8 - auto report.]. Noise, din, back and forth, but it turns out they reached the school in our village, strengthened themselves there, and the battle stopped. The flares were as bright as day. Few soldiers ran along the roads. You could see it from the intersections, but it basically stopped. “Thank God, maybe this will end,” we thought. In the morning there is no war yet. The sun has risen a little. At ten o’clock in the morning the soldiers ran here... They shouted obscenities in an inhuman voice, cursed, shouted: “Come out, bitches!” and they approached every house and shot... They ran towards us from the western side. And then it’ll be my turn, I think. I ran into a small basement and snuggled up here. My basement was very small... How he approaches, by his legs I hear. And I pressed myself against the right wall, where I was sitting, I put a small bunk specially so that I could rest, sit when the situation was dangerous. Then he gave a turn... And then he was about to leave, his comrade arrived in time. When he walked away, he He says to him: “Maybe there’s still someone alive there." He returned, threw a grenade, and after it threw a round ring. It turns out he has some kind of lock. “Well, that’s it - I think - now I’m kaput. I need to die in peace." "I wasn't even afraid then. A grenade crashed. The bunks, which had double boards, broke in half, and I was stunned. It exploded under the bunk. Something hit my shoulder, something hit my legs. I fell to my knees. I became completely deaf. Swallowed such black poison. I spent the whole day drinking such a black infection. And then they walked away. I think they left. He checked his leg, moved it back and forth: the leg was intact, not broken, something was wrong, to hell with it. There's a little blood coming out of my hand. I went out... They pulled out this small safe, like this. Money and papers were kept in it. Two of them open it with something, try to open it, and the third guards them and shoots chickens into the house. Damn it, if he turns around now and sees me, he’ll kill me again for the third time. I think - now I’ll run into the bathhouse... They opened the safe and they went off the road. And the house was burning, and the kitchen was burning, and the bathhouse was burning, and the hay was burning. I turned off the flame in the bathhouse so that it wouldn’t go any further - I found a little bucket of water and poured it in, and turned it off. And there is nothing to think about the house. I didn’t get anything out of it.”

Next, S. YUSUPOV spoke about how on the street he saw the bodies of 6 killed people, including two old men and one woman ( see section “Death of residents of the village of Samashki” and Appendix 3). When visiting the house of S. YUSUPOV, representatives of the mission of human rights organizations saw a house destroyed by fire (only brick walls remained); there were no signs of battle on the walls, gates and fences of this and other nearby houses; in the earthen basement there were traces of the explosion of a lemon grenade.

In general, judging by the stories of residents of Samashki, during the “cleansing” of the village, military personnel did not hesitate to throw grenades into living quarters. So, KEYPA MAMAEVA, living at the address: st. Zavodskaya, house 52 (near the intersection with Kooperativnaya Street) said 11 that at 7:30 in the morning on April 8, she and her family members (husband, son, husband’s brother) saw through the window as if from a neighboring house (the owners had left the village ) servicemen took out carpets, TV and other things. The loot was loaded into a Kamaz and an armored personnel carrier standing on the street. Apparently, one of the servicemen saw faces in the window of MAMAYEVA’s house, after which he ran to the window and threw a lemon grenade at it ( see photo). At the last moment, the narrator herself and her family managed to jump out of the room and none of them were hurt. The results of the inspection of the scene of the incident allow the authors of the report to consider K. MAMAEVA’s story reliable.

Many village residents believe that military personnel in a number of cases committed crimes while under the influence of drugs. As evidence, they showed journalists, deputies and members of human rights organizations visiting Samashki, disposable syringes that were lying in large quantities on the streets of the village after the departure of federal forces.

It should be said that according to established practice, before the operation, each soldier is given disposable syringes with the anti-shock drug promedol in his individual first aid kit. This drug belongs to the class of narcotic analgesics; it should be administered intramuscularly for wounds. According to the rules, after the end of the operation, unspent doses must be returned. However, naturally, if there were wounded during the operation, then it is difficult to take into account where and how the dose was consumed.

When assessing the possibility of using promedol for other purposes, it should be taken into account that there is a lot of evidence of an extremely low level of discipline among many units of the federal forces in Chechnya, and of the prevalence of drunkenness among military personnel. Members of the mission of human rights organizations A. BLINUSHOV and A. GURYANOV personally heard in April how employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the 13th outpost said that after the end of their shift they would “inject themselves with a promedolchik.”

The level of discipline and morality is also evidenced by the fact that among part of the contingent of federal forces in Chechnya, a fashion has become widespread, contrary to the regulations, of tying a scarf around the head or neck with a homemade inscription “Born to Kill” on it. In particular, Memorial member A. BLINUSHOV saw such scarves on April 12 on guards stationed at the 13th outpost near Samashki. French journalists who were there also recorded this fact.

The operation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in the village of Samashki is a military operation carried out on April 7-8, 1995 during the first Chechen war by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs to “cleanse” the village of Samashki, Achkhoy-Martan district of the Chechen Republic.

... There were no more militants in the village. This did not help - after the artillery shelling with Uragan and Grad installations, Russian punitive forces began clearing the village. As a result of the massacre, according to various sources, from 110 to 300 civilians died, another 150 were detained, and most of them disappeared. How it was.

On April 7-8, 1995, the forces of the Sofrinsky brigade of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, OMON of the Moscow Region and SOBR of the Orenburg Region surrounded the village. Samashki and a demand was made to issue 260 firearms (as during the Great Caucasian War). There were no more militants in the village (they left the village before these events began at the request of the elders), and the villagers were able to collect only 11 machine guns. This did not help - after the artillery shelling with Uragan and Grad installations, Russian punitive forces began clearing the village. As a result of the massacre, according to various sources, from 110 to 300 civilians died, another 150 were detained, and most of them have not yet been found.

CARRYING OUT THE “CLEANING” OF THE VILLAGE

In accordance with the practice used by federal forces in Chechnya, an operation was carried out in Samashki to “clean up” the village.

In the northern part of the village, primarily in the area of the station, it began on the first day of the operation - on the evening of April 7, shortly after the troops entered there.

So, according to witness testimony, people in uniform entered the house 93 on the street on the night of April 7. Sharipov and checked the documents of the people who were there. Having discovered that the son of the owners of the house, AKHMETOV BALAVDI ABDUL-VAKHABOVICH, was registered not in Samashki, but in Prokopyevsk, Kemerovo region, they said that they would take him to the station headquarters. One of the witnesses (Kh. RASUEV) cited the words of these people: “We will check the documents. Whether you are on the list or not. Then we’ll let you go.” Well, mothers say, “Don't worry. We’ll check there and let you go.” The body of the executed B. AKHMETOV was discovered the next day on the street. According to witnesses, the servicemen who entered the house were not conscripts, but older people.

CHINDIGAYEV ABDURAKHMAN, born in 1952, living on the street. Sharipova, 46 and UMAKHANOV SALAVDI, an elderly man living on the street. Sharipova, 41, reported that on the evening of April 7, they, together with ISAEV MUSAIT, born in 1924, and BAZUEV NASRUDDIN, born in 1948, were in a house at 45 Sharipova St. The choice of this house was explained by the presence of strong concrete walls and first floor floors capable of withstanding artillery shelling (see photo). As federal servicemen approached their area, all four hid in a storage room located on the first floor. Entering the courtyard, the servicemen threw a grenade into the room adjacent to this storage room. Further, according to UMAKHANOV, events developed as follows:

“Then a minute later, maybe even earlier, the door opens: “Who’s alive?” Yes, let's go out [Into the yard - author. report]. There were four of them. “Bitches, lie down! Bitches, lie down! - We went to bed. We were ransacked. Then someone from behind shouts and says to me: “Who’s left there?” I say "No". “Take hostages,” he shouts from behind. They take me back there. Nobody here. Let's go out. “Bitches, into the hole! Bitches, pit!" They drive us there [into a hole in the garage to repair a car - auto report]. The car stands as it stood then. Nasruddin was the first to climb. He stood over there, against the wall. Yes, yes, to the far wall. The three of us are standing here. I say: “They are putting us here to kill.” Well, I said a prayer there. We have these standing here, soldiers. MUSA says: “Guys, don’t shoot. We have to feed the cattle... Don’t shoot.” ISAEV stepped onto the third step. Two soldiers... Pointed a machine gun at him. They pushed him there like that. Yes, he didn't have time to go down. A moment later he gave him a burst of machine gun fire. We just went down and just bent down - they fired the second burst.”

House 45 on the street. Sharipova. Here, on the evening of April 7, the military forced four men (two of them were elderly), who were hiding in a house from shelling, to climb into a car repair pit, and then opened fire on them with a machine gun. As a result, one person was killed and two were injured. There are no traces of bullets, grenade or shell explosions on the gates, fences and walls of the house. The exceptions are the walls of the pit, the rear side of the car and the room adjacent to the left of the garage, on the ceiling and walls of which there are traces of grenade fragments. The house itself had apparently been set on fire. Photo by M. Zamyatin, August 1995

After this, the servicemen left the yard. As a result, ISAEV was killed, BAZUEV and UMAKHANOV were wounded (BAZUEV died the next day). UMAKHANOV's dressing was done by Red Cross doctors in Samashki.

Residents of the northern part of Samashki also reported executions of civilians, which, in general, suffered less than other areas of the village.

In the morning, according to all interviewed village residents, the military moved through the streets, looting and setting fire to houses, detaining all the men. Numerous murders were committed.

They first threw a grenade into the yard, but after screams from the basement they did not throw a grenade there. The commander of this group, the captain, allowed everyone to stay in the basement; the military spent the night in the yard. In the morning, these same soldiers, aged for military service, began to set fire to houses. In particular, the house where the son of the narrator LABAZANOV ASLAMBEK (Cooperative 111) lived burned down. However, when a soldier with a canister in his hands came to set fire to the house in the basement of which the narrator was hiding, another soldier did not allow him to do this, saying: “There are old men and women in the basement. Back!".

Here are excerpts from the stories of several residents.

ANSAROVA AZMAN, lives in Samashki on Vygonnaya street:

“On Friday I found out that troops would be sent in at four o’clock. I have two sons and a husband. We have no weapons and we have never fought. They took their sons and went down to the bomb shelter on Rabochaya Street... Suddenly soldiers arrived. "Is there anyone? Come out!" I said: “There are women and our children here.” We came out. They: “Women to the side” - right with machine guns. To our sons - “Quickly undress - barefoot and to the waist!” Those who hesitated were beaten with a machine gun butt.

One of the men is MURTAZALIEV USAM (his two children, his wife and father were lying dead in the yard). He showed the soldier his passport - he took the document into shreds and tore it to pieces. “I don’t need your documents,” he says. You are Chechens - we will kill you." We asked, begged them: “They didn’t take up arms! We took care of them. No one was left with weapons in the village. Don't touch our sons!" They said: “If you say another word, we will shoot you!” They called us obscene names. Then our sons were taken away and taken away."

Living on the street. Rabochaya, house 54 KARNUKAEVA:

“Houses were burned. I have nowhere to go now. I was hungry and cold and left on the street with 4 children. Children were even beaten in front of me. It was the day before yesterday - the 8th. When they heard the noise of cars and tanks, they ran to their neighbors and hid in their basement. They go into the neighbor’s yard, shout to the grandfather: “Where, who is there?” The grandfather, probably scared, thought that they would throw something into the basement, said: “I have women and children there.” “Come on, let them come out!” » There's a machine gun right at us. As the boys come out, they immediately kick them, they immediately put the children on their knees against the wall. They are 12-13 years old. And us. When the last one came out [the soldier - author's report] said: “There is someone else "? We say no. And he threw a grenade. Then they beat the children. I cry, my 5-year-old girl is also crying: “Give them back, give them back.”

They took my husband, KARNUKAEV ALIK, and my brother-in-law, KARNUKAEV HUSSEIN, a disabled man without an arm, they took him away. They also took my two sons. An hour later they [sons - author. report] returned home, and they took my husband and stripped him right in the yard. They took me naked. They didn’t even leave their shirts on...

They [the sons of the narrator - author's report] are put against the wall, kicked in the ass, and he [the son of the narrator - author's report] says: “Uncle, you won’t kill us? Won't you kill me?" And the military man took his head and hit it against the wall. The father stands - he probably felt sorry for his son and says: “He doesn’t understand Russian.” And he hit my father right in the chin. And I say: “For God’s sake, don’t say a word to them - he’ll kill you”...

They say to the grandmother: “Is this your drinking water?” She says: “Yes, this is clean water.” "Let's drink it ourselves first." She took the mug, drank the water, then they drank it themselves and spilled it, not leaving a drop. All these barrels and flasks were turned over and the water was poured out. If something happens, if there is a fire, don’t put it out. That's probably what they thought. This morning at eight o'clock we left Samashki on foot. They let us through the post without any hindrance - well, they didn’t say anything. They said: “Come on in.” They checked the truth, not documents, but bags, like that, pockets. But they didn’t say anything.”

YUZBEK SHOVKHALOV, elder of the village of Samashki, who took part in negotiations with the Russian command, living at st. Cooperative building 3, said:

“I come home and they tell me: tanks, armored personnel carriers, everything they have is coming. There are cars coming from behind, soldiers. I say: “Guys, families, get into the basement.” And I’m standing on the street. He’s coming. “Give me the militants.” I say: “There are no militants here.” “You, come with me.” We walk through the rooms in my house The second time, others come. They don’t say to me: go. He’s coming.

Some kind of automatic queue. They go out, I go in - two TVs were shot through... The first time they were young, the second time they were dressed in black, I don’t know who they are, they were 25-30 years old. They are aggressive. We didn't sleep the whole night, the whole night there was shooting, shooting. My wife is sick with high blood pressure. The second day in the morning at about nine o’clock I go out into the street, a column is walking straight along our Cooperative Street. Armored personnel carriers... They fire from heavy machine guns. Right in the village.

To the house where they live... Either the house is burned, or the house is destroyed, whatever... They bring hay, straw and burn it. They leave on their own... I go out. Where are the militants? I say: “There are no militants, and in general there are no militants in the village.” “Everyone get out of the basement!” There were about eight people gathered in the basement. Whoever gets up, they hit them right on the head, in the face, where they can’t be hit, and they fall. "Take off your clothes!" They undress. Half. Shirt, pants. “Take off your shoes.” They are filming. They check there whether they carried a machine gun or not. They look scuffed.

None of them carried a machine gun. All the guys are young, I know them all, not one of them has a machine gun. "Lie down." They take me away and put me on the asphalt at an intersection. They herd me back into the basement, my wife, my daughter, two more nieces, in total there are about six of us sitting... Once, I see that smoke is coming, it’s impossible to even sit. When I get up from there, I knock out the lid, I run out with these burns, I run, I think, at least there was a flask with water there. No, they took her out, drinking water. Everyone is sitting on the other side of the street, sitting, laughing, cracking seeds, cracking nuts, they found it at someone’s house, eating compotes, my family and I are burning there. Well, I think the cattle probably weren’t killed. I come, they killed four cows with machine guns and grenades, and they shot the sheep.”

“The neighboring street was on fire, but our street had not yet burned at night. Noise, din, back and forth, but it turns out they reached the school in our village, strengthened themselves there, and the battle stopped. The flares were as bright as day. Few soldiers ran along the roads. You could see it from the intersections, but it basically stopped. “Thank God, maybe this will end,” we thought. In the morning there is no war yet.

The sun has risen a little. At ten o'clock in the morning, soldiers ran here... They shouted obscenities in an inhuman voice, cursed, shouted: “Come out, bitches!”, and approached every house, shot... They ran towards us from the western side. And then it’ll be my turn, I think. He ran into a small basement and snuggled up here. My basement was very small... I could hear his feet as he approached. And I pressed myself against the right wall, where I was sitting; I placed a small bunk specially so that I could rest, sit when I was in a dangerous position. Then he gave a turn... And then he was about to leave, his comrade arrived in time. When he left, he said to him: “Maybe someone else is still alive there.”

He returned, threw a grenade, and followed it with a round ring. It turns out he has some kind of lock. “Well, that’s it, I think, now I’m done. You need to die calmly." I wasn't even afraid then. A grenade crashed. The bunks, which had double planks, broke in half, and I was stunned. It exploded under the bunk. Something hit my shoulder, something hit my legs. I fell to my knees. I became completely deaf.

Swallowed such black poison. I spent the whole day drinking such a black infection. And then they walked away. I think they left. He checked his leg, moved it back and forth: the leg was intact, not broken, something was wrong, to hell with it. There's a little blood coming out of my hand. I went out... They pulled out this small safe, like this. Money and papers were kept in it. Two of them open it with something, try to open it, and the third guards them and shoots chickens into the house. Damn it, if he turns around now and sees me, he’ll kill me again for the third time. I think - now I’ll run into the bathhouse... They opened the safe and they went off the road. And the house was burning, and the kitchen was burning, and the bathhouse was burning, and the hay was burning. I turned off the flame in the bathhouse so that it wouldn’t go any further - I found a little bucket of water and poured it in, and turned it off. And there is nothing to think about the house. I didn’t get anything out of it.”

House on Vygonnaya street

Zavodskaya street, 52. K. Mamaeva (left) in front of the window through which a grenade was thrown into the room. There are no signs of combat on the walls of the building that would justify the use of a grenade.

Next, S. YUSUPOV spoke about how on the street he saw the bodies of 6 killed people, including two old men and one woman (see section “Death of Samashki Village Residents” and Appendix 3). When visiting the house of S. YUSUPOV, representatives of the mission of human rights organizations saw a house destroyed by fire (only brick walls remained); there were no signs of battle on the walls, gates and fences of this and other nearby houses; in the earthen basement there were traces of the explosion of a lemon grenade.

Apparently, one of the servicemen saw faces in the window of MAMAYEVA’s house, after which he ran to the window and threw a lemon grenade at it (see photo). At the last moment, the narrator herself and her family managed to jump out of the room and none of them were hurt. The results of the inspection of the scene of the incident allow the authors of the report to consider K. MAMAEVA’s story reliable.

Chronology of Russian war crimes in Dagestan

Chronology of Russian war crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh

Chronology of Russian war crimes in Chechnya

Samashki can be placed in the same mournful row with Lidice, Katyn and Songmi...

From the very beginning of the war in Chechnya, Samashki was like a bone in the throat of the Russian command. The village is located 10 km from the Chechen-Ingush border, the Rostov-Baku highway and the railway pass through it.

The victorious march of the Russian troops was interrupted as soon as it began: the residents of Samashki categorically refused to let the tank columns through. Then the troops went around the village from the north, and it found itself in a semi-blockade - only the road to the south, towards the regional center of Achkhoy-Martan, remained free.

All winter the Russian command had no time for Samashki: there were heavy battles for Grozny. By April 6, 1995, the situation around the village had become tense: Chechen units were operating in the area of the settlement.

The Russian occupation command deployed additional riot police units, internal troops, about 100 pieces of artillery and presented an ultimatum, according to which all “militants” had to leave the village, residents had to hand over 264 machine guns, 3 machine guns and 2 armored personnel carriers.

After council among themselves, the villagers decided to begin to fulfill the terms of the ultimatum, although the required weapons were not in the village. People hoped for negotiations.

About 70 militia left the village at the request of people towards the Sunzhensky ridge. On that day, only 4 armed people remained in Samashki. The ultimatum expired at 9 a.m. on April 7, 1995, but already on the night of April 6-7, artillery fire was opened on the defenseless village, and at 5 a.m. an air strike struck.
***

On the morning of April 7, about 300 residents of Samashki left the village. At 10 o'clock the negotiations continued, but came to nothing because the residents were unable to hand over the required number of weapons, which they did not have.

At 2 p.m., the commander of the “West” group, General Mityakov, repeated the ultimatum, and by the evening, Russian units broke into the village.

The punitive action lasted 4 days, during which neither the press nor representatives of the Red Cross were allowed into the village. The direct perpetrator of the bloody murder was General Romanov (aka General Antonov). It was he who commanded the units of internal troops that entered the village.

What was happening in Samashki these days has one definition - genocide. In Samashki, in one day on April 8, hundreds of women, children, and old people were killed.

The atrocities began immediately after Russian punitive forces entered the village. The massacre of innocent people was swift and terrible.

“Suspicious” houses were first bombarded with grenades and then “treated” with “bumblebee” flamethrowers.

In front of local resident Yanist Bisultanova, the old man was shot dead as he begged for mercy and pointed to his medal bars. Ruslan V.’s 90-year-old father-in-law, who at one time participated in the liberation of Bucharest and Sofia, was killed...

During the “cleansing”, approximately 40 villagers fled into the forest and tried to sit there. However, artillery struck the forest. Almost all of them died under artillery fire...
***
As of April 16 alone, 211 fresh graves were dug in the rural cemetery, and their number increased every day. Many Samashkin residents were buried in other places...

Samashki resident Aminat Gunasheva said the following:

“On May 17 (1995), when we were picketing near the State Duma, Stanislav Govorukhin came out of the entrance, recognized us and ran away. When he was in Samashki, he saw our mass graves and burned houses. People then approached him, offering the remains of their loved ones - some ashes, some bones... Russian troops have been stationed near Samashki since January of this year. And all these months we expected an assault every day...

On the morning of April 7, the Russian commanders said that if we did not hand over 264 vehicles to them by 4 p.m., the assault would begin. There was nowhere to take weapons, because on that very day all the fighters left Samashki. The old people persuaded them. The commanders firmly promised that if all the armed defenders left the village, then the troops would not enter it...

At the meeting, people decided to slaughter livestock, sell meat and use the proceeds to buy machine guns from the Russian military. Do you know where the Chechens receive weapons from land and air during a complete blockade? We buy it from Russian quartermasters and exchange it for food from the eternally hungry conscripts. Often a live grenade is traded for a loaf of bread.

But on that day the situation was hopeless. There was no way we could get what we needed so quickly. They asked for a week. But, obviously, the ultimatum was only a pretext, because no one even waited for the promised 16 hours. It all started 2 hours earlier...

... We sat waiting for our fate. They couldn’t run away - they were afraid that the uncle who had been wounded earlier would bleed to death. We hear the gates opening, an armored personnel carrier driving in, and a grenade being thrown into the empty basement. We entered the room. There were 18-20 of them. They look sober, but their eyes seem glazed over.

They saw the uncle: “When was it wounded? Where's the machine gun? Where are the "spirits"?

Raisa rushed to those who came: “Don’t kill, there is no one in the house, there are no machine guns, dad is seriously wounded. You also have a father?” “We have an order to kill everyone from 14 to 65 years old,” those who came shouted and began to overturn buckets of water with their feet. And we already knew what this meant: now they would certainly burn it, and they poured out the water so that there would be nothing to put it out with. The riot police left the room. They threw a grenade at the door. Raisa was wounded. She moaned.

I heard someone ask, “What?” Nearby they answered: “Baba is still alive.” This is about Raisa. After these words - two shots from a flamethrower. For some reason I couldn't bring myself to close my eyes. I knew that they were going to kill me, and I wanted only one thing - to die right away, without pain. But they left. I looked around - Raisa was dead, so was my uncle, but Asya was alive. She and I lay there, afraid to move. The trellis, curtain, linoleum, and plastic buckets were on fire. They left us to live by mistake, mistaking us for the dead...

I approached the school. There, women rescued several hanged boys from the noose. Looks like 1-3 grade. The children ran out of the building in horror. They were caught and strangled on a wire. Eyes bulged out of their sockets, faces swollen and became unrecognizable. Nearby there was a pile of burnt bones, the remains of about 30 more schoolchildren. According to eyewitnesses, they were also hanged and then burned with a flamethrower. On the wall was written in something brown: “Museum exhibit—the future of Chechnya.” And one more thing: “The Russian bear has woken up.”

I couldn't go anywhere else. Returned home. All that was left of the house were the walls. The rest burned down. Asya and I collected the ashes and bones of Uncle Nasreddin and Raisa in oilcloth and newsprint. My uncle lived for 47 years, and Raisa was supposed to turn 23 in July...

We came to Moscow not only to convey to you the pain of our people. We wanted to tell you about your killed soldiers. It’s wild for us to watch how their bodies are taken by helicopter to the mountains and thrown there to be torn to pieces by wild animals, how the corpses decompose in the lake of toxic waste from the chemical plant (between Grozny and the 1st dairy plant), and are dumped in silos.

... During the picket near the Duma building, an elderly, decently dressed lady jumped out. She laughed at us, stuck out her tongue, made faces. Some men supported her. They spat chewing gum at us...

I want everyone to know: yes, we feel unbearably sorry for our dead, but we also feel sorry for Russia. What will happen when the murderers, rapists and drug addicts who are rampaging through our land today return to their homeland? And I also don’t understand how you can live knowing that now your military is burning our children alive with flamethrowers? In front of the parents they crush the child with an armored personnel carrier and shout to the mother: “Look, f***, don’t turn away!” How do you look your mothers, your wives, your children in the eyes after this?”

The material uses materials from human rights organizations, stories of victims of the punitive action in Samashki and fragments of Igor Bunich’s book “Six Days in Budennovsk”

Although the second phase of the Chechen war, which began with the terrorist invasion of Dagestan, differs significantly from the first, the stories of the participants in the 1994–1996 campaign cannot yet be classified only as memoirs. This is, first of all, precious combat experience. True, it has not yet crystallized in the form of combat regulations, manuals and instructions, but as a result it is even more valuable.

SAMASHKI

In this operation, as an intelligence officer, I was assigned to a forward control post. The command of the group then, in April 1995, was in Mozdok.

The command paid more attention to such issues as the retention of Grozny and the liberation of Gudermes and Argun. The Samashki area was considered quite calm, and no problems were expected in this direction.

Advancing in a column towards Grozny, we had to pass through Samashki. At this time, information was received from intelligence officers: a fairly large bandit formation, about 300 militants, approached the village from Achkhoy-Martan, Bamut, Zakan-Yurt. According to our information, a significant part of the population of Samashki belonged to the same teip as Dzhokhar Dudayev. The agents presented a list of residents of this village who received weapons from Dudayev’s men. According to the list, about two hundred and seventy machines were distributed. So we could be confronted by up to 600 armed militants.

We held a meeting with local leadership, the so-called elders. They were given a requirement: SOBR and OMON soldiers were combing the village to check the passport regime and confiscate illegally stored weapons. After which the troops will leave Samashki, having previously left checkpoints on the outskirts of the village * .

* Honestly, this tactic would have justified itself if a unit was left in each village to perform commandant duty. But this was not done, and the rear was often left bare.

At the first negotiations, the elders tried to dissuade us from “cleaning up”. This was motivated by the fact that, they say, such a procedure is completely incompatible with the mentality of the Chechens, as well as the surrender of weapons and the passport regime. It must be said that we encountered such “argumentation” in literally every locality.

Negotiations have reached a dead end. Realizing the futility of the conversational genre, they got down to business: they quite firmly demanded that the weapons be handed over in order to then carry out a passport check.

– You must hand over two hundred and seventy machine guns.

In response - protest:

- Yes, we don’t have that many weapons in our village.

They put a list under the elders’ noses:

-Where are these “kids”?

They wailed in response: “This one went to Moscow, that one is also in Russia.” And so on. According to them, it turned out that none of those who were on the list were in the village. Realizing that they would not be able to deceive us, the elders began to play for time: they asked for two hours to collect weapons. Then - another two hours... Thus we stood near Samashki for three days!

We learned from the agents that the militants in the village held a meeting of residents: they gathered everyone in the club and began to intimidate the locals. Under their pressure, a decision was made: “Russians should not be allowed into the village.”

Considering that the local residents had been “persuaded,” the militants generously shouted: “Whoever wants can leave the village.” They didn’t have to wait long - a stream of refugees poured in.

Looking at the streams of people leaving the village, we realized that they had decided to give us a fight.

First of all, observers and scouts identified enemy firing points, trenches on the outskirts and in the depths of the village, and minefields around Samashki. The village was very well prepared for defense.

The population left mainly in the direction of Sernovodsk. We freely let people pass through our battle formations. They only checked documents and inspected vehicles to see if there were any weapons. When the flow of refugees dried up, one could say with complete confidence: everyone who wanted to leave the village did so.

The militants performed their war dance - dhikr - in the central square and dispersed to their positions.

"LANGUAGE"

You can’t just approach the village - controlled land mines and minefields were installed by militants almost along the entire perimeter of the outskirts of Samashki. In the morning, under the cover of fog, reconnaissance of the Sofrints tried to approach the village. However, soon their armored personnel carrier was blown up by a mine (the front wheel was torn off by the explosion).

During the retreat, the Sofrintsy managed to capture the “tongue” - a man who was working in the garden. During the interrogation, it turned out: Russian, Chechens kidnapped him from Kursk. According to his story, “they put a knife to his throat and took him to Chechnya.” He lived in a Chechen family as a slave - he looked after the cattle, cleaned, and did all the housework.

Unable to bear it, I ask a question:

- Well, what if you refused to do the work?

“Language” without thinking:

“Then they would have beaten me and might have killed me.”

-Have you tried to run?

- Yes, he was running here alone - the Chechens caught him, cut off his head and walked around showing us...

According to the slave, there were fifteen people like him in the nearby houses alone.

GET READY FOR BATTLE

Initially, the assault on the village was not planned. However, having made sure that the Chechens were belligerent, we carried out certain preparations - we placed infantry fighting vehicles around the village and carried out aerial photography. Sectors for assault groups were clearly designated. The group commanders carefully studied their areas.

We tried to make a passage through the minefield, but to no avail: there were a lot of booby traps set to be inaccessible. I had to use the Dragon missile launcher. The Dragon, filled with plastic, hooted over the field - the mines detonated, and armored vehicles moved into the resulting passage.

STORM OF SAMASHEK

Initially they wanted to start the operation in the morning, but then they changed their minds. Apparently, they thought that the militants would also expect an assault in the morning.

The operation began at 16:00. The assault groups rushed to the outskirts. Opposite each of the streets, the groups deployed into battle formation and only after that began to move deeper into the village.

Initially the resistance was not too strong; we were only fired at in two or three places. By the way, we warned the elders in advance that if they open fire on us, the troops will retreat to their starting points, and the detected firing points will be destroyed by tank fire, direct fire.

At the beginning of the ensuing battle, this is what happened. But a little later, especially with the onset of dusk, the situation changed. Confusion began. One of the reasons is that our plans did not take into account the ravine that ran in the middle of Samashki. Having reached it, the equipment stood up. We had to act on foot.

In the center of the village they encountered a well-organized enemy defense: firing points were equipped in the courtyards and front gardens. In addition, the militants were much better at navigating the village than we were.

The militants tried to make the most of this advantage, in particular constantly trying to force us to fire at each other. To do this, they wedged themselves into the battle formation of the advancing groups. They shoot in both directions and quickly leave. As a result, the assault groups exchange fire with each other for some time. True, all misunderstandings were quickly resolved. What saved us was having a good connection: the commander of each group had a Motorola.

During the battle, one of the commanders, Senior Lieutenant Maxine, was killed. The dead man’s radio station got to the enemy, thanks to which the militants, interfering with our negotiations, tried to “correct” our fire. The attempts were unsuccessful, since the militants apparently did not have anyone who could speak without an accent.

There were also funny episodes. In front of one of the fighters, someone jumped out from behind the fence. He told him: “Stop! Who it?!" In response: “Hey, I’m riot police, listen!”

"SAVE THE WOUNDED!"

Dusk is gathering. Aviation hangs SAB garlands over the battlefield * .

On the one hand, this, of course, allowed us to at least somehow find our bearings. On the other hand, it exposed us to the enemy.

* SAB - a type of aerial bomb, used to illuminate the area

We took the first prisoners around ten o'clock in the evening - seven militants. They were taken out of the village to the field where the outpost was located, and they set up something like a filter there.

The big problem is to ensure the evacuation of the wounded. Night. The terrain is mountainous. The helicopter was never able to land, although we had marked the area, and enemy fire also interfered. As a result, several people died without qualified medical care, which can only be provided in a hospital setting.

By four o'clock in the morning the entire village had passed. With the onset of dawn, they turned around and combed it in the reverse order. The militants remaining in the village tried to break through to the forest, but ran into their own minefield. Fire from small arms and machine guns from armored personnel carriers cut them off from the forest, and our mortar battery covered the surviving militants.

The assault groups returned to their starting line in front of the village at twelve o'clock in the afternoon. About one hundred and twenty Dudayevites were taken prisoner. It must be emphasized that the fact that the detainees participated in hostilities has been proven: the presence of weapons, documents confirming their belonging to an illegal armed formation. About a hundred militants died during the battle. The prisoners were sent by helicopter to Mozdok.

We lost twenty-six people killed, about ninety soldiers were wounded. During the assault on Samashki, two of our tanks and three armored personnel carriers were destroyed. The scale of our losses clearly refuted the theses of Dudayev’s propaganda about the peacefulness of the village.

I escaped with shell shock. In one of the courtyards there was a well - an asbestos concrete ring, to which was attached a long wooden trough - for watering sheep. And behind the trough is a ditch, something like an aryk. On this trough I sat down to reload the magazines.

Suddenly, it was as if something had pushed me: I looked up and there was a militant standing about twenty meters away and aiming at me with a grenade launcher. I grab the machine gun and pistol into my arms and... tumble over my back into the ditch.

A grenade flew after me. When it hit the well, it exploded. Clods of earth and stones rained down on me. It was saved by the fact that the explosion occurred in an open place. And our guys subsequently shot this grenade launcher.

BIG DISPLAY

A week after the assault, I had the opportunity to accompany S. Govorukhin’s commission to Samashki. By that time, human rights activist S. Kovalev and one of his assistants A. Shabad had made a fuss about this village, comparing it with Khatyn and Songmi. It was to investigate the circumstances of the incident that S. Govorukhin, the head of the parliamentary commission, arrived.

We provided security for both him and the accompanying Vesti film crew. Those who arrived at the scene could see that there was no major destruction in the village. And where would they come from: there were no bombing attacks, the largest caliber of weapons used was a grenade launcher and RPO “Shmel”.

Govorukhin talked with village residents. At times, he moved so far away from us that it made us worry about his safety. Perhaps he did this deliberately, believing that the Chechens would be more open away from us. An abundance of caution - our presence did not bother them too much. Despite everything, Govorukhin seemed to me to be a rather brave man.

After talking with the Chechens, our group moved through the village and was fired upon. They took up defensive positions and, under the cover of an armored personnel carrier, began to escort Govorukhin and the television crew out of the village.

During the shelling, I jumped into a ditch, under the bridge. Under the wooden piles there is a wire hanging down, like from a field telephone. Mine! And just now an armored personnel carrier should pass overhead, along the bridge.

Without thinking, he slashed at the wire with an “OTs” knife and only then got scared - a mine or landmine could have been set to open.

We followed the wire, which led us to the dugout. In the middle is an army telephone switch: you twist the knob, insert two plugs, and the landmine goes off. There are about a hundred mines lying around: TM-72, MON, ammonal charges, detonating cord with fuses... We removed all this in front of the TV camera and in the presence of Govorukhin.

Much later I learned from the newspapers about all the “atrocities” allegedly committed by us in the village of Samashki. I can say with full responsibility: all this is a lie of the purest water. This, by the way, is confirmed by the conclusion of the State Duma commission.

RIDE IN A WHITE CONVERTIBLE

Taking into account the experience of Samashki, we further advanced using all precautions and carefully reconnaissance of the area. They had already taken Achkhoy and were approaching Bamut. We received an order to conduct reconnaissance of the surrounding area of the village.

We set out on two armored personnel carriers. On one there are scouts, on the other there are special forces. The scouts go first, the special forces cover them.

Ahead is a farm. Behind the building there is a forest, close to the foot of the Bamut Mountains. Leaving the equipment in the forest and crossing the stream, we came close to the farm. The inside is empty, except for two skinny sheep. After some time, the “shepherd” was found, at least that’s how he introduced himself. In his shack they found zinc from cartridges and empty machine-gun belts. This “cattleman” himself - Russian, about thirty, rather sporty-looking - did not have any documents with him.

Having detained him until his identity was clarified, they moved back. The area around is occupied by the enemy, there is no time to hesitate. In order for the “cowman” to move along the way and not slow us down, we had to use a little military trick.

Having tied his hands from behind, he put an electric cartridge in his hands: “Look, man, this is a grenade, the antenna pins of which are unclenched. One end of the wire is tied to the ring, the other is in my hand. If you move, you’ll be finished.” Having understood what was required of him, the detainee jumped forward and sometimes even overtook me.

We crossed a huge field through which ran a dry ditch, in some places overgrown with reeds: three meters deep and up to five meters wide. They walked along it to the farm, and along it they departed.

We had already walked a kilometer and a half when we saw a horseman descending from the mountain, clearly in a hurry to the farm. Taking him by the elbows, they lifted the “cattleman” over the edge of the ditch: “Look, who is it?”

- Ah, this is our local forester. The forester is a godsend. Even if he is not associated with the militants, in any case, he knows all their plans: what and where is going on in the mountains. We decided to grab him too.

But the forester is riding openly across the field, and we are walking along the ditch, and even bent over. They took off their bulletproof vests to make it easier to escape. Three of us ran: the reconnaissance company commander, one warrant officer and me.

It was possible to intercept the forester at the moment when he was crossing the ditch near the farm. I stood on one side behind the fence, and the guys hid in the bushes on the other. He jumped on him from behind, the guys grabbed the horse by the bridle. When the forester and I were falling, I accidentally hit him under the ear with my elbow. Having fallen out of the saddle, the rider hit the ground and froze.

“It seems that everything is dead.” This thought made me so annoyed! It turns out that we rushed for one and a half kilometers, overtaking the horse, in order to kill the valuable “tongue”. And it’s awkward in front of the guys. In anger, he kicked the Chechen in the ribs: “Oh, you brute!” He groaned. “Oh, you’re alive!” They grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. Opening his eyes, the forester looked at us:

- Who are you?

- Uh, if there are so few of you, then I’m so bored for you!

– Why are you “bored” about us?

- Yes, there are now fifteen people with “handsome guys” at the farm * fit.

* The Chechens nicknamed the PK machine gun “handsome”

It's really boring. We are a forester and a horse in our arms - and we run along the ditch.

When we were three hundred meters away from our own people, they opened fire on us from the farm. Thank God, the militants did not think of shooting along the ditch. Otherwise, it would have been the end for us - the ditch is straight.

Our retreat was covered from our positions. Soon the armored personnel carriers jumped out. We threw the forester and the “cattleman” inside the “armor” and off we went.

When we went out on reconnaissance, our path ran through the battalion’s location. While we were at the farm, the militants drove up in a white jeep and fired at this battalion. But we learned about this later. In the meantime, we are driving across the field in two armored personnel carriers, leading the mare. We noticed a white car with no top winding along the forest, the windshield down on the hood. Through binoculars we saw five bearded men with weapons. Apparently they haven't noticed us yet. One armored personnel carrier followed the white car, and the other ran across it.

Our appearance in this territory turned out to be a complete surprise for the enemy - they returned home with a calm soul, having fired at the battalion. When the armored personnel carriers jumped out at them, they quickly assessed the situation: they began throwing weapons and other “compromising evidence” out of the car. However, we collected all this, took them off the car, tied them up and stuffed them into an armored personnel carrier.

The white convertible turned out to be a GAZ-69. Under Soviet rule, it was apparently driven by the chairman of a collective farm or some other respected person. I got into the car: I shouldn’t give up such luxury.

When we reached the farm, we forded the river. The armored personnel carrier is up to the wheel there, but on the “goat” you will drown. I think we’ll cross the river on the bridge directly opposite the battalion’s location, and at the same time we’ll shorten the distance. And the armored personnel carriers will come later.

On this jalopy we jumped out onto a hillock, just in front of the battalion. And for us - a barrage of fire! Then the guys from the battalion said that they were simply stunned by the impudence of the “spirits”: they had just fired at the positions, and half an hour later they appeared again, and even in the open.

There were three other scouts in the car with me. We fire rockets: “Don’t shoot! Their!" The shooting did not immediately stop, but it did.

We came closer:

-Why are you firing at your own people?

- “Our people” are all sitting at home. And from this car we were fired upon half an hour ago.

After some time, armored personnel carriers arrived. The “Czechs” were pulled out of their armored belly:

- That's who shot at you!

As it turned out, all the detainees: the forester, the cattleman, and the crew of the convertible knew each other very well, since they were members of the same gang.

DEATH OF A SCOUT

On May 19, 1995, two reconnaissance armored personnel carriers were ambushed near Bachi-Yurt. By this time, ODON units began to be pulled in from all over Chechnya to the Khasavyurt region, in the Gamiakh field - for further actions in the No-zhai-Yurt region. This was the so-called tactical group “Vostok”. The first ODON regiment was in Gudermes, and it was given the task of reaching Ichkhoy-Yurt.

The scouts went to study the route. The Gudermes-Khasavyurt highway is occupied by militants, so we had to look for workarounds. Through Belorechye, on the southern side of the Gudermes ridge, groups of scouts reached Bachi-Yurt. A few kilometers from this settlement, they were fired at from the mountainside by militants who jumped out on three motorcycles with sidecars. By return fire, two motorcycles were destroyed, and one began to leave for Bachi-Yurt. Our people rushed after him in the hope of getting the valuable “tongue”.

Along the road to the village there were a number of farms. Having caught up with them, the motorcyclist shouted something and drove into the village. The scouts did not enter Bachi-Yurt: they were too far away from their own, and there was no connection with the base; the radio station “did not penetrate” through the mountain range.

The commander of the reconnaissance group, Major Dmitry Chukhanov, decided to return. When their armored personnel carriers reached the farms, they were hit almost point-blank, from twenty meters. They dismounted and, jumping into the ditch, returned fire.

One of the first bullets mortally wounded Chukhanov in the head. Having fallen from the armored personnel carrier, already practically dead, he got up on reflexes and slowly walked next to the armored personnel carriers. He sat down in a ditch with the soldiers, put his rifle on the ground, grabbed his head and fell on his side. His fighters later admitted that such a spectacle was not for the faint of heart - their dead commander continued to fight for some time.

In that battle, six more people were killed almost immediately, and three were seriously wounded. Only the shooters and armored personnel carrier drivers survived.

Senior Lieutenant Vasyuchenkov, also wounded, ordered to load those who could not move into an armored personnel carrier (there was no way to collect the bodies of the dead) and retreat. He stayed to cover himself.

Hiding behind the tall grass, he went out to the buildings next to the farms and opened fire on the enemy from the flank. He fought until he shot the entire BC.

When the surviving soldiers managed to reach their own, the Vityaz was alerted.

Arriving at the scene of the tragedy, the Vityaz fighters saw that there were no more corpses - only pools of blood and characteristic traces of battle. Using the officer's badge, it was only possible to discover the place of Sasha Vasyuchenkov's death. Before his death, Sasha tore it off and threw it aside - we found it. And, apparently, in the last moments of his life, he wrote a short word: “ODON” on the wall of the barn with his blood.

ANGER AND PAIN

We took local influencers and worked with them. I had the role of an “evil investigator.” He grabbed them by the chest, shook them, and shouted: “Did you see Samashki on TV? Now we’ll arrange it for you!” (A rare case when anti-Russian propaganda worked for us.) “Wah! Videl Samashki! Wah, no need for Samashki! Why Samashki!” And they rushed to the second, “kind” officer: they say, we will give up the corpses, we will do everything, just calm this madman down.

Everyone gave up the bodies except Sanya Vasyuchenkov. And then the head of intelligence of the 76th, Pskov, Airborne Division came to me. He said that the Chechens from Novogroznensky brought to them the body of a fighter, judging by the uniform, a scout. Only the landing force and we operated in this area. They were all intact, so this is ours.

Moreover, the Chechens washed the body and brought it on a bread truck. They said that the body was thrown to their village by the Bachi-Yurt soldiers, apparently in order to provoke reprisals against them: “We are normal people, we don’t need this war, and we are extremely sorry for your killed fighter.” We looked at the corpse. Exactly - Sanya.

A little later, several of his killers were captured. After interrogating them, they were able to imagine the last minutes of his life.

With his fire, Sanya managed to pin down the enemy, thanks to which the armored personnel carriers escaped almost unhindered. The militants came to their senses and began to cover his position from the flanks. Wounded in the stomach and with broken legs, the scout continued to fight. Only after he ran out of ammunition were the Chechens able to approach him.

Sanya, apparently, was already dying from loss of blood. He held a machine gun in one hand and a pistol in the other, which he continued to point at the approaching Chechens, pressing the triggers in vain. Approaching, the militants snatched the weapon from the bleeding officer and started their usual song in such cases: “What, he fought back, yes, he fought back!” Vasyuchenkov leaned back against the wall of the barn. He looked as if through them and smiled, as if something joyful had been revealed to his gaze. As the militant we interrogated admitted, the officer’s last words were: “And my child was born.” One of the Chechens shot him twice in the head with a pistol.

When Vasyuchenkov left for Chechnya, his wife was pregnant. A girl was born, she was named Sashka, in honor of her father.

In my deep conviction, he is worthy of the title of Hero of Russia. When faced with a critical situation, he took care of everyone and everything. Except yourself.

One of the contract soldiers was wounded in both legs. One leg was amputated, the other was “assembled” with great difficulty. He spent a year and a half in the hospital. There I met a nurse, they got married, and now the child is growing. Disabled people are not needed in civilian life. We managed to get him to stay with us. He now serves as a reconnaissance company technician. I will say without exaggeration - a top-class specialist.

"EDELWEISS"

One of the features of this strange war, which literally drove us crazy, was that we went through and cleared the same villages several times. In the end, I became so familiar with the area that I could fight there blindfolded.

I had the opportunity to be the head of intelligence of the Edelweiss group, which was headed by General V. Shamanov. I think that the actions of this group were an example of highly effective and coordinated work of units and units of various departmental subordination: the Ministry of Defense, the Internal Troops, the police.

The group included two motorized rifle brigades, a special forces detachment and a regiment of the Internal Troops, as well as attached forces - SOBR and OMON. With her I walked along the second, and in some places even the third circle through the Gudermes ridge, through all these villages - Aleroy, Tsentoroy, Bachi-Yurt, Shali.

The tactics of fighting militants were worked out in detail. They acted like this: the brigades went around the village, placed tanks and guns on the dominant heights, and aimed direct fire at the village. This was done demonstratively, so that the enemy could see barrels of impressive calibers. As a rule, this argument was very convincing.

The Internal Troops were the first to enter the village. The second echelon was the police, who were checking passport regimes and searching for weapons. If a battle broke out, then the explosives carried out a direct force action, acted like a battering ram, and the riot police and security forces carried out a cleansing of the militants. All this was organized so competently that no problems arose. There were no interdepartmental disagreements.

As a rule, we had comprehensive information about the number of weapons in the village and the presence of militants. To the point that they could tell the commanders of the assault groups which houses should pay special attention to.

Getting cooperation from the Chechens was not too difficult. In the same Bachi-Yurt, I knew in which house which militant lived. There was a valuable informant who made contact because of his lust for power: “Just, commander, when you leave, tell me that I will be the boss here.” He provided me with detailed lists. True, he included all his personal enemies there. But what kind of intelligence officer would I be if I used only one source of information...

The troops are still approaching one village, and we are already working in the next. We always tried to create a solid foundation for ourselves so that the commander had information to make decisions. And it worked out well for us.

The publication was prepared by Boris Dzherelievsky

Type

Samashki is the second Chechen soldier with a grenade. Russian war crimes in Chechnya. massacre in Samashki. Where did you come here from?

Related posts: