166th separate motorized rifle brigade. Mad company: how “Gyurza” created a purgatory for militants in Chechnya. People are stronger than steel
2. Taking into account the difficult situation in the North Caucasus, the Maikop brigade, which suffered the greatest losses, should be withdrawn from the active forces and its further participation in operations should be categorically prohibited.
3. By the end of January 1995, return units and units of the Maikop garrison to their places of permanent deployment and provide rest (leave) in the established order.”
Streams of letters and telegrams came to Mozdok with the only question: whether their son, brother or relative was alive. But, unfortunately, the group’s command in those first days of the January tragedy also could not name the real number of dead and wounded soldiers out of the more than a thousand who went into battle. Even months later, no one could say anything about the fate of almost two hundred officers and soldiers of the brigade.
Only in early February was it finally possible to complete the operation to liberate the city from militants. But the black mark of that cruel and merciless war will forever remain an unhealed wound on the hearts of those who fought and who lost relatives and friends there.
Six months later, in June 1995, while preparing an interview for Krasnaya Zvezda with the commander of the North Caucasian Military District, Colonel-General Anatoly Vasilyevich Kvashnin, I asked him the following question: “Why were the troops unprepared for combat operations at the initial stage of the Chechen campaign? »
Yes, if we had more experienced commanders then,” he answered sadly, “there would be much fewer losses.” But where can we get them, experienced ones, if at best it was possible to conduct only command post exercises? The troops practically did not engage in real combat training, and command and staff exercises, as you understand, everything is smooth on paper... Then there is a real battle, which does not tolerate a template. The initial period of hostilities in Chechnya became a bitter lesson for all of us...
OPERATIVE INFORMATION
ENCRYPTION TELEGRAM
“To the Commander of the OGV in the Chechen Republic
I report:
On January 26, 1995, the 166th separate motorized rifle brigade concentrated in the area 14 km southeast of the city of Mozdok in full force. The shortage of soldiers and sergeants is 240 people. The personnel will be delivered to the brigade by Military Transport Aviation on January 27-28, 1995.
The brigade is engaged in the maintenance and preparation of weapons and military equipment for combat use.
Commander of the 166th separate motorized rifle brigade
Major General V. Bulgakov.
Trap for Basayev
The 166th separate motorized rifle brigade, commanded by Major General Vladimir Vasilyevich Bulgakov, took Minutka in early February 1995. When it gained a foothold on its lines in the area of the square, General Bulgakov received a new order: to move towards Novye Promysly, where the “Abkhazian” battalion of Shamil Basayev was entrenched on one of the mountain ridges.
The operation to destroy militants in the mountains was unique in itself. The brigade was divided into four assault detachments, and each of them was staffed specifically for the assigned task. The first detachment consists of 18 people, light small arms. The task is to capture the path to the mountain ridge and ensure the exit of the remaining three assault groups. In the second there are 32 people, its task is to occupy the south-eastern slope of the ridge. The third assault detachment, consisting of 42 people, and the fourth, of 96 people, took the dominant heights on this ridge. On the night of February 22, 1995, the 166th brigade, together with the 506th motorized rifle regiment, completed its task, encircling the Basayevites near Novye Promysly.
“We pinned them down in the mountains,” recalls Vladimir Vasilyevich, “and crushed them with our artillery. In fact, there, near Novye Promysly, the so-called “Abkhazian” battalion ceased to exist. And yet, at night, Basayev somehow managed to slip out of our trap.
Military builders followed the troops
In January 1995, when federal troops were besieging Grozny, clearing it of militants holed up on the floors and basements of buildings, Major Mikhail Tashlyk, who headed the newly formed Department of the Chief of Works (UNR), was tasked with restoring destroyed military camps, and in the area at Severny Airport to rebuild barracks for the 205th separate motorized rifle brigade.
Military builders in Chechnya were highly respected. And deservedly so - they not only equipped the troops, but also gave people water. Before their arrival, the fighters who stormed the buildings swallowed melted snow directly from the puddles in short moments of calm, and military builders arrived, drilled wells under fire and provided the military and the civilian population with artesian water. It was then that Major Tashlyk first realized how important his profession was for those around him, how necessary the help they bring to people was...
Chronology of actions of the 166th brigade in Chechnya.
On a personal note: this article does not contain all the dates, since we do not have the “Journal of Combat Operations of the 166th Motorized Rifle Brigade”. All dates are indicated primarily from the words of its veterans. If you have any points that are not listed here, or clarifications on existing ones. Let us know via our email. [email protected]
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We also marked the dates for which we have material with tags for ease of use. It turned out like the table of contents of our blog.
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166th separate motorized rifle brigade
Tver, Moscow Military District.
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Staffed with conscripts and contract soldiers.
Tank battalion on T-80.
**.12.94 - The brigade was transferred from Tver in 12 echelons to the Terskaya station, in At the end of January, it completed its concentration in the Mozdok area. Part of the brigade was transported by air to Vladikavkaz, and from there by helicopter to Mozdok. It went on for two weeks
additional combat training.
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01-02.01.95
- At night, the first battalion of the 166th brigade arrived from Mozdok, without heavy weapons. The brigade became part of the North group.
**.01.95 - At the end of January, the brigade was transferred from Tver in 12 echelons to the Terskaya station, and completed its concentration in the Mozdok area. Part of the brigade was transported by air to Vladikavkaz, and from there by helicopter to Mozdok. Additional combat training took place for two weeks.
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01-02.02.95
- At night, the brigade from Mozdok made a 120-kilometer march to the Tolstoy-Yurt area, the first battalion of the 166th brigade arrived, without heavy weapons. The brigade became part of the North group.
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02.02.95
-The brigade was brought into battle. The arriving battalion entered Grozny and the campus was taken without a fight. The third battalion of the 166th Motorized Rifle Brigade entered immediately on Kirova Avenue, the battalion headquarters and one company dug in on the territory of the SpetsMashStroy Research Institute, the other two companies of the battalion occupied the adjacent houses.
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03.02.95
- In the area of the shoe factory, servicemen of the 166th brigade repelled attacks by Dudayev’s militants, who used armored vehicles and mortars. The battle went on for five hours, and it came down to the use of hand grenades. In the following days, the brigade acted together with paratroopers and marines in the direction of the tram depot, tannery, on Minutka Square and in the area of the railway bridge over the Sunzha.
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12.02.95
- the “South-East” group of troops was reinforced by the 166th Omsk Infantry Brigade, transferred from the group of Lieutenant General Rokhlin. The 166th Motorized Rifle Brigade maneuvered from the area east of Grozny without losses and straddled the Alkhan-Yurt - Chechen-Aul road in the Gikalovskoye area.
16.02.95 - the remnants of the first battalion of the brigade began to leave Grozny. 48 people from the battalion remained alive (there were two battalions left in the brigade at that time).
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18.02.95
- In the morning, soldiers of the 245th Regiment carried out reconnaissance of a new area, which should be occupied by the 245th Regiment. When approaching these areas, our reconnaissance was fired upon from grenade launchers and heavy machine guns, and the enemy knocked out an armored personnel carrier. a fight ensued. Motorized rifle companies of the 166th brigade approached to reinforce the group. The enemy's firing points were suppressed by infantry fighting vehicles and small arms fire.
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21.02.95
-at 5.00 the artillery of the 166th brigade began artillery preparation to strengthen the artillery preparation of the 245th regiment for the advancing operation. At 06.10, as a result of the artillery barrage, the enemy was heavily damaged by fire. At 7.20, reconnaissance of the 245th regiment reached the destroyed bridges, the reconnaissance patrol took up defensive positions and opened fire, the infantry dismounted and attacked the enemy. The 166th Motorized Rifle Brigade was supported by an attack by 20 tanks. The infantry forded across the canals and took up defensive positions.
The roads Grozny - Beslan, Grozny - Goyty were blocked. The direction to Urus-Martan and the country gardens of Chernorechye became established. The last exits of the route from Grozny are closed.
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**.02.95
- In the second half of February, a separate tank battalion of the 166th Motorized Rifle Brigade was stationed in the Novye Atagi area.
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23.02.95
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27-29.02.95
- (the exact date is not known) the last units of the brigade located in Mozdok made a 120-kilometer march in the Tolstoy-Yurt area. One company was sent to cover the perimeter at Chervlenaya station.
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**.02.95
- the brigade moved from the Tolstoy Yurt area to the Khankala airport area and was concentrated east of Khankala. Thus, the eastern direction of Grozny was completely blocked. In early February, after changing from checkpoints, she left the city and moved out of the area 2 km east of Grozny.
16.03.95 - The third battalion left Grozny, to the crossroads between Chechen-Aul and Starye Atagi.
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17.03.95
- The second battalion left Grozny for the Goytov area.
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18.02.95
- The command of the 166th Motorized Rifle Brigade and the 506th Motorized Rifle Regiment was given the task of capturing Novye Promysly. Before the upcoming operation to encircle Grozny, the reconnaissance company spent two days with intensive training with assault groups, during which they practiced combat techniques in the mountains in conditions of limited visibility.
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21-22.02.95
- During the night, the reconnaissance company (Captain I. Batalov) of the 166th Motorized Rifle Brigade from the south and the 506th Motorized Rifle Regiment from the north of Novye Promysly captured six dominant heights practically without firing a single shot, including height 373.2 with an operating Chechen television center. As a result of successful actions in the south and southeast of Grozny, the city was completely blocked from all directions, and the remnants of Dudayev’s detachments were completely surrounded in the areas of Novye Promysly, Aldy and Chernorechye. The brigade intelligence chief, Major I. Kasyanov, and the reconnaissance company commander, I. Batalov, became Heroes of the Russian Federation on November 21, 1995. Over the next few days, the brigade did not conduct active operations, fire combat was sporadic.
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**.03.95
- Shawls. The 3rd battalion of the 166th brigade occupied the line between Belgata and Novye Atagi. The operation to disarm the illegal armed formations in Shali was planned to be carried out by the forces of the “South” group of troops. The following were involved in the operation: the 506th, 503rd and 324th Motorized Rifle Regiments, and the 166th Motorized Rifle Brigade.
At the first stage of the operation, it was planned to create strike groups by the end of March 27, 1995, which in the second stage would simultaneously block Gudermes and Shali within two days. It was planned to allocate the necessary forces and means to repel attacks by illegal armed groups approaching from other directions. In the future: 141st detachment (without tr) - on the southwestern approaches to Shali. The 506th Motorized Rifle Regiment on the morning of March 28 began combat operations northeast of Germenchuk with the goal of blocking Shali and Germenchuk from the east. Having occupied Goitein Court, the Marines provided the 506th Motorized Rifle Regiment with free passage to Shali. The 1st MSB moved in the vanguard of the regiment, the commander of which allocated the head marching outpost as part of the MSB under the command of Senior Lieutenant O. Benedya from the 2nd Measures.
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18.03.96
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**.04-**.05.95
- During the campaign in the mountains, to secure the right flank of the advancing groups, she blocked settlements and commanding heights in cooperation with the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. (unspecified data).
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12-20.05.95
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13.12.95
- A column of three infantry fighting vehicles, which previously accompanied the column of the 245th regiment returning to the temporary deployment point near Shali. Along the way, at checkpoint 30, I received information that militants were organizing a checkpoint in the area of the settlement of Novye Atagi. A decision was made: until they gained a foothold, attack and destroy. Hiding behind a GAZ-53 heading towards the village, the convoy drove to the checkpoint.
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**.12.95 to **03.96- The brigade did not take part in major operations.
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10-18.01.96
- One ATGM platoon from the 3rd battalion of the 8th company of the brigade took part in the siege of Raduev in the village of Pervomaiskoye.
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09.03.96
- A battalion-sized detachment was assembled and moved to the area of the broken checkpoint 15, with the goal of inspecting and ensuring the safety of investigators at the site of the remains of the checkpoint.
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13-14.03.96
- Actions in Chechen-Aul.
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14.03.96
- Rifle preparation of the second battalion and the eighth company of the third battalion for the raid began. They included newly arrived contract soldiers. The exercises took place on the territory of a former military training camp (a fragment of this can be seen in the video by K. Kamrukov “The First Chechen. In war as in war”).
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20.03.96
- At noon, the raid detachment began moving from its temporary deployment site near Shali to the Vedeno area. The raiding party reached the location of the 276th regiment stationed near Kurchaloi.
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21.03.96
- Having spent the night at the location of the 276th regiment, in the morning the raid detachment, reinforced by military personnel of the 276th regiment, moved. A few kilometers from Khidi Khutor, the detachment was ambushed. Our artillery, tanks and Mi-24 helicopters hit the positions of the militants.
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23.03.96
- On this day, a large-scale operation was planned at the reconnaissance company headquarters to oust Chechen militants from the village of Shali. (not confirmed data).
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26.03.96
- Departure of the raid detachment from Khidi Khutor back to the location of the 276th regiment near Kurchaloi. According to one version: the operation was incorrectly planned, which is why the raid detachment had to return from Khidi-Khutor back and wait for liquids for further dispatch to the final destination of this raid, Vedeno.
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31.03.96
- We walked through the village of Akhkinchu-Borzoi and stopped in the area of the village of Yalkhoy-Mokhk. There was no battle for the village; the militants abandoned it a couple of hours before the arrival of the 166th brigade. According to one version: due to the arrival of the raid detachment from the village of Akhkinchu-Borzoi, and the fortifications were located towards the village of Khidi-Khutor. The raiding party was located on the steep slope of the gorge. In a radio address by B. Yeltsin, a moratorium on shooting was announced.
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**.03.96
- Part of the raid detachment went to the area of the villages of Bas-Gordali - Tsentoroy, where a control post was equipped between the villages for a further attack on Tsentoroy.
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01.04.96
- Reconnaissance took height 996.
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02.04.96
- The battle for Tsentoroy and further clearing of the village of Bas-Gordali, together with explosive units.
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**.04.96
- Cleaning up the village of Dargo.
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**.04.96
- The raiding party stayed for about a week near Belgatoy.
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**.04.96
- Reconnaissance captured the village of Ersenoy.
Ilya Anatolyevich Kasyanov (05/28/1961-11/19/1999) - Russian lieutenant colonel, Hero of Russia, head of intelligence of the 166th Guards Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, hero of the Chechen War.
In 1978, after graduating from the Minsk Suvorov School, he entered the Kiev Higher Combined Arms Command School for reconnaissance. Faculty from which he graduated in 1982.
After graduating from college in 1982, he served as a reconnaissance platoon commander in the Far Eastern Military District.
Since mid-1984, captain, reconnaissance company commander. From 1984 to 1986 he fought in Afghanistan and was wounded twice. On November 21, 1984, on the western outskirts of Herat, Kasyanova’s infantry fighting vehicle ran over a hidden guided landmine with its right track. The explosion tore out a third of the vehicle's body, and the turret was pushed vertically upward. The tower, turning over in the air with the hatch down, fell to the ground, pinching but not crushing Kasyanov’s torso. From 1984 to 1985 he spent in the hospitals of Shindand, Tashkent, Rostov-on-Don, Kyiv, where doctors performed very complex operations on him and saved his leg. For Afghanistan, the commander of the reconnaissance company, Captain Kasyanov, was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but received the Order of the Red Star
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Since 1986, Ilya Kasyanov served in the Belarusian Military District. Then in the Northern Group of Forces from 1988 to 1992 he served in Poland.
Since June 1993, he has been appointed chief of intelligence of the 166th GMORB. In 1994, the brigade was sent to Chechnya. From January to July 1995 he carried out a combat mission in the Chechen Republic.
In Chechnya:
The 166th Motorized Rifle Brigade, which was transferred to Chechnya in January 1995, initially became part of the North group, but did not participate in battles and was in reserve. On February 12, it was transferred to strengthen the South-East group of troops. The brigade maneuvered from the area of eastern Grozny without losses and straddled the Alkhan-Yurt - Chechen-Aul road. Thus, the exit for militant detachments from the Aldy and New Fisheries areas was blocked.
On February 18, the command of the 166th Motorized Rifle Regiment and the 506th Motorized Rifle Regiment was tasked with storming the commanding heights in the New Fisheries area on the southern outskirts of Grozny and thereby completing the encirclement of the capital of Chechnya. These heights were considered not criminal: the militants attached special importance to them and created a well-fortified defense system there, and a selected unit was sent to protect them. The preparation of four assault groups and the overall leadership of the daring combat operation were entrusted to the intelligence chief of the 166th Motorized Rifle Brigade, Major I.A. Kasyanov. Before the upcoming operation to encircle Grozny, he spent two days with the assault groups in intensive training, during which they practiced combat techniques in the mountains in conditions of limited visibility.
The assault began on the night of February 20-21. At 5.30 am on February 21, the assault group under the command of the reconnaissance company commander, Captain I.A. Batalova (06/02/1967 - 12/09/2004) managed to silently bypass the strongholds of the militants, took possession of the dominant height of 398.3 in a sudden raid and concentrated on it. By the morning of February 21, units of the 166th Motorized Rifle Regiment from the south and the 506th Motorized Rifle Regiment from the north occupied six heights in New Fisheries.
Batalov Igor Adolfovich
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The militants initially retreated, believing that they were attacked by a large group. However, a massive attack was subsequently launched. For 40 minutes, artillery pieces and mortars cleared the heights, after which the militants launched an assault. On the afternoon of February 21, the Dudayevites carried out several counterattacks, trying to regain the heights, but they were all repulsed. In the battle, the tank of the commander of the tank company of the 506th MRR, Captain V.I., was hit. Sinelnika (04/05/1966 - 02/21/1995). The company commander died from his injuries. On February 22, enemy attacks continued, but 166 motorized infantry fighting vehicles and 506 small and medium-sized infantry rifles were already firmly holding the commanding heights. The defense of the height by I.A. Kasyanov’s scouts lasted two days. The success of the decisive and bold actions of the scouts ensured that the brigade carried out the destruction of militants in the New Fisheries area. The remnants of Dudayev’s detachments defending Grozny were surrounded in the areas of New Fisheries, Aldy and the suburb of Chernorechye. The blockade ring around the Chechen capital has closed. Victory of A.I. scouts Kasyanova was also brilliant because there were no losses: among the scouts there were only four wounded.
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On May 15, 1995, Lieutenant Colonel I. A. Kasyanov and his subordinate, reconnaissance company commander Captain Igor Adolfovich Batalov were awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.
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In the summer of 1995, the exact date is not known to me, I.A.’s business trip. Kasyanov ended and his post was replaced by Kosarev Valery Yuryevich.
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In 1996, after the signing of the Khasavyurt Agreement, Lieutenant Colonel Kasyanov continued to serve as chief of intelligence of the 166th GMORB in the city of Tver.
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In 1997, Kasyanov completed courses for training UN military observers, and served as a military observer in Yugoslavia and Western Sahara, Morocco, and was awarded the UN Medal “In the Service of Peace.”
In 1998, after his return, he was appointed as a teacher at the training center of the Combined Arms Academy.
At the end of October 1999, Kasyanov went with a group of listeners on his second business trip to Chechnya, near Bamut.
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Here's what we found out from unofficial sources:
Kasyanov with a group of officers, among whom was the commander of the 693rd regiment, went out on reconnaissance. Four hundred meters from the front edge. And then the mortar started firing at them.
12 hours 30 minutes.
There are four mines around, three more are definitely covering the group. Five people are killed, Ilya is wounded. My legs and arm were cut by shrapnel, as was my neck. There were 18 fragments in his bulletproof vest. Those who told me about this suggest that the Chechens had a good spotter. And it is quite possible that he acted on our part. And then...
The artillery processed the place where the fire was coming from, but there was no one there anymore. Most likely, the mortar was in the back of the truck. A helicopter is called to pick up the wounded Ilya. The "vertushechnik" cannot land the car. They say that he had no experience of flying in the mountains. After some time, the second “spinner” comes. At this time, fog falls on Bamut. I've been to this area of Chechnya and remember the damned gray cotton wool. The helicopter pilot shouts on the radio: “Indicate the landing site...” Flares take off, but because of the fog they are not visible to the pilot. Six unsuccessful approaches, and the rotorcraft leaves for base. A decision is made to transport Kasyanov in an armored vehicle. On the way, Ilya injects himself with promedol. There is no surgeon in the regiment's medical unit, but one is needed. Then Kasyanov is sent to doctors by units of internal troops. This time he can no longer inject himself. It is done by those who are nearby. Then it's really bad. In the medical unit there were neither conditions for blood transfusions nor the blood itself.
18 hours 50 minutes.
After being wounded, Ilya lived for another 6 hours and 20 minutes.
All. He was 38 years old.
As the “Afghan”, reserve lieutenant colonel Stas Nazimov, would bitterly and rightly say at the wake:
- Ilya was ready to give the last drop of his blood, but Russia did not have one pint for him...
Posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.
He was buried in the city of Tver, on September 12, 2006, on the Walk of Fame of the Dmitrovo-Cherkassy Cemetery. Here he had to bury his comrades more than once. Here he told his friend Alexander Kharchenko
Streets in the village of Mamulino, Tver Region and the city of Tver are named after the Hero. Memorial plaques were installed: in the city of Dzerzhinsk (Tver?) on the facade of school No. 14, a memorial plaque was installed on the house on the street. Tereshkova, 50a, in which he lived with his parents.; in Minsk on the building of the Minsk Suvorov Military School.
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166th Motorized Rifle Reconnaissance Squad of Chechnya..
ITAR-TASS war correspondent Alexander Kharchenko talks about the tragic events that occurred on November 8, 1999.
I LOST MY YOUNGER BROTHER IN BATTLE...
It is the night of November 8th, but there is no sleep. I don't understand what's happening to me. Like I was sick. I wander around the apartment, trying to read, but the letters are difficult to form into words.
I still don’t know that the coming day will tear my soul with a Caucasian knife. And not just mine.
Ilya! Killed? Can't be! When? 8th. What? Near Bamut?
On the phone is the voice of the former deputy commander of the 166th Tver Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, reserve colonel Sergei Ustyanov:
- The information is being checked, but it looks like it will be confirmed... I'll call you after twelve.
I'm dialing hotline numbers in Moscow. I hear: “We don’t have such information.” And it already seems that... It just seems.
Back on November 4, Ilya came to me, called Seryozha Barkov, the chairman of our regional organization "Combat Brotherhood", and took books on the history of Chechnya, which I specially selected for him.
I left the recorder with a request to have it repaired.
On the afternoon of the 9th I called Alena, Ilya’s wife.
- How are you? There is a problem?
- Everything is fine, Sasha. He'll be back on the 20th.
- Maybe I'll meet him earlier. Here one business trip rolls up...
We didn't know anything yet.
By evening it started snowing in Tver. He wrapped a fresh grave in a white shroud on the Alley of Glory of the Dmitrovo-Cherkassy cemetery. Nature seemed to ask for forgiveness from the Hero of Russia, Lieutenant Colonel Ilya Kasyanov, who came to this earth with the best intentions - to live and fight evil.
So much has already been written and said about the heroes of the first Chechen war that it is time to compile a large reference book with a complete list of the exploits of that war. However, it was not by chance that the legendary special forces company of the 166th separate motorized rifle brigade entered the history of military operations. The militants, who resisted the onslaught of the Russian military to the last, nicknamed this company “mad.”
About misconceptions
The most daring military operations during the first Chechen campaign are usually attributed, rightly or wrongly, to the GRU special forces. The special forces of the GRU General Staff owe part of their fame to the film “Purgatory” about the events in Chechnya, where Russian soldiers are shown in the role of such crazy people. By some strange coincidence, after the release of the scandalous feature film, the reconnaissance company of the 166th motorized rifle brigade began to be assigned specifically to the GRU special forces. However, the “mad” were never included in the special forces of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff and could not be included by definition. The Gyurza company often worked side by side with GRU soldiers, but was never part of this special unit.
Another subject of controversy among ordinary people and everyone who was interested in the fighting during the first Chechen war was the company commander himself - Major Alexey Efentyev with the call sign “Gyurza”. In the heat of controversy and the abundance of information, he is called the “sole” commander of the reconnaissance company, but in reality, Efentiev was the last person to command the company until its disbandment. The military, who have long since retired, say that Efentyev’s first acquaintance with the company was not easy. The nature of the fighting, its severity and fierce resistance from the militants, and the complex nature of the fighters also affected it.
"Gyurza"
Efentyev himself, in numerous interviews that “covered” him on the wave of military glory, never spoke of himself as a special person and never considered himself a hero. However, Efentyev’s colleagues, and simply those who encountered him, sometimes by accident, in Chechnya say that the major’s uncompromisingness and toughness caused discomfort only to those who did not understand why they were holding a weapon in their hands. However, it was “Gyurza”, a graduate of the Baku Higher Combined Arms Command School, who was assigned not only a call sign recognizable from radio traffic, but also another nickname that did not arise out of nowhere.
Before he took command of a separate reconnaissance company of the 166th Motorized Rifle Brigade, Efentyev managed to serve in Afghanistan immediately after graduating from college. From 1987 to 1988, “Gyurza” commanded the reconnaissance group. It was then, according to those who were familiar with Efentiev, that the playful nickname “Lesha - the golden hoof” stuck to him. By some almost animal instinct, Efentyev was able to determine the direction of enemy fire by sound and “measured” the distance to the object by eye. The military says that such abilities are rare among commanders - about one in a hundred. What explains this feeling and the unique army “sense” is difficult for the common man to understand, but where “Gyurza” led his group, there were never losses. 
“You need to feel the war, to be in the center of the battle. Understand that a machine gun is not just a piece of hardware, but your working tool, your best friend. It’s like being a great racing driver and feeling with every part of your body any, even the smallest, change in the car’s behavior on the track,” say former scouts.
Another feature of the service under the command of “Gyurza” was the training of contract soldiers newly arrived in the company. Having not been fired upon, having served only compulsory service, recruits often did not understand where the enemy was “working” on them from. Such miscalculations could cost the fighters their lives, so “Gyurza” and the squad commanders taught the “young ones” right on the spot, organizing short training sessions with live fire. For such initiatives, Efentiev himself and his subordinates could easily have gone to court, but saving lives in that war was placed above the established rules - delay could lead to irreparable consequences.
Combat brigade
The basis of the “Gyurza” combat group was not youngsters who took a machine gun in their hands for the first time, but seasoned, life-taught, and wise in their own way, simple Russian men. The backbone of the reconnaissance company consisted of completely different people with completely different destinies. Former policeman, gravedigger at the cemetery, teacher, miner. However, all of them, gathered by fate in one place and arriving to fight for their Motherland, voluntarily did their work as true professionals. Mature men showed boyish agility when a combat mission required it, and enormous human experience in short moments of calm. The main comedian in the company was “Mitrokha”, also known as “Dmitrich” - a sniper who had been a shooter, a machine gunner, and a squad leader - a strong native of Ivanovo, and “Petrovich” - a former police captain - was considered the most experienced and reasonable. People of different ages In the battles in the Caucasus, many things were connected, but the main thing was a sense of duty, need, importance and the need to be close to comrades in arms and the desire to “crush” the enemy to the last. Some soldiers of the Gyurza reconnaissance company did not have time to really recover from their wounds before they immediately fled from the hospital, taking only their pants and shirt. This is exactly how Kostantin Mosalev is remembered, whom the director awarded with the nickname “Kostya Pitersky” in the film “Purgatory.” In fact, Mosalev’s nickname in the detachment was “Skull”. Because of the characteristic black bandana with white skulls that stands out from the crowd. Rabid
The militants did not like to get involved with the reconnaissance company. They knew they would drive until the last minute. It is not known who nicknamed Efentyev’s company “mad,” but the nickname stuck firmly not only among Chechen fighters, but also among tank crews, special forces and even staff officers. As soon as they talked about the battle of the “mad men” over the radio, it immediately became clear that a real battle was going on somewhere. The “mad men” rushed into battle without thinking. Instincts and the ability to beat the enemy not with numbers, but with skill, worked. Efentyev’s company could fight with all its strength against forty militants and emerge victorious, and always, according to those who witnessed the events in Bamut and Grozny, drove the enemy to the last. In addition to dozens of raids deep into Basayev’s positions, there is a reconnaissance company under the command of Efentyev and an operation to unblock , or, more correctly, a rapid breakthrough through the encircled Coordination Center in Grozny, completely occupied by militants. Thanks to this risky and, according to many experts, impossible from the point of view of the group’s safety, not only high-ranking officers, but also many Russian journalists were saved. However, the Grozny feat happened two months after another significant event. 
The majority of military personnel note the special professionalism of “Gyurza” and the entire “mad” company in the actions to liberate Bamut. It was the reconnaissance of the 166th brigade that bypassed the militants in the mountains and got behind them. Faced with the advance detachment, the scout patrol entered the battle, “putting down” 12 bandits. The surviving militants rushed as hard as they could to Bamut, from where they began to report via radio about a “reconnaissance brigade” in their rear. Largely thanks to the reconnaissance of the 166th Brigade and the actions of the 136th Motorized Rifle Brigade, which took on a heavy battle on the slope of the gorge, Bamut itself was able to be recaptured relatively easily. The company itself, under the command of Major Efentyev, even after disbanding on the eve of the second Chechen war, thanks to the personnel and personal qualities of each fighter , still remains one of the most combat-ready army units in the modern history of the Russian Armed Forces.
Here I would like to cite an excerpt from correspondence with Valery Pavlovich Kislev, the author of the book “Reconnaissance Battalion” and the two-volume book about the 245th infantry regiment “Confession of the Invincible Regiment” and “The Glory of the Invincible Regiment”. This is what he wrote to me about the 166th Tver brigade: “Not far from us, in Ivanovo, at the beginning of the 1st campaign, the 166th motorized brigade was formed - I just ran away three times, even before sending".
PAST HOME - TO WAR. Another batch of hastily trained soldiers is sent from Tver to Chechnya.//Newspaper "Soviet Russia" N2 (11132), 01/6/1995
Soldier Dima Sukharev was traveling from Vladimir to Tver by train. He didn’t drive, as if he was flying on wings. Still would! The path did not lie somewhere, but to the side of my birthplace. Kalashnikov is just a stone's throw from Tver, where Dmitry was drafted from. The soldier dreamed that he would see his relatives. They will visit him in the unit or he will receive a leave of absence. I was lucky, in a word: just a little over six months after being drafted, I was home. Yes, and there will be something to talk about. Now he is not a greenhorn, but a tank driver. I wonder how his gallant friends and girlfriends will greet him, in his fitted, well-worn uniform?..
But the soldier’s New Year’s dreams were not destined to come true. Upon arrival at the unit, Dmitry was told that he was included in the list of those who, after short preparation, would go to Chechnya. Here's some "luck": I was in a hurry to go home to go to war. And not a tanker, but a motorized rifleman.
During these New Year's days, Tver has become a tragic city for dozens of mothers from all over Russia. By someone's order, a motorized rifle unit is formed in an ancient Russian city to be sent to Chechnya. Soldiers and sergeants are sent here from wherever they remain. And, apparently, there are now few of them in the army destroyed by the “reformers.” I judge this by a number of indirect but compelling signs. Tanker Sukharev had to be urgently retrained as an infantryman, not because of the excess of ordinary motorized riflemen. Alexey Pipkin was transferred to the Tver unit from the Podolsk region. The soldier himself does not know what position he was in. Performed the duties of... a fireman. In six months, I received information about the quality of coal and fuel oil, learned to use a shovel perfectly, and maintain pressure and temperature in the boiler. I didn’t have to hold the machine gun in my hands. And in Tver he was told that in ten days (that’s how long was left before departure) he should become a mortarman.
While the soldier was telling me all this, my parents stood gloomily nearby. Although, they believe, they were lucky: they found their son without much trouble. It's more difficult for others. O. Khaziakhmetova came to Tver all the way from Magnitogorsk. They have been huddling at the station for more than one night now. And in the morning he comes to the checkpoint, asks questions, demands to find his son Igor. In vain. Mothers give different answers every day. At first they said that he had already been sent to Chechnya. Then they reported that it seemed to be at the training ground, since it was not on the list of those sent. Now they say they don’t know where it went...
How can one understand such absurdity! - the unhappy woman cannot hold back her tears.
Lyudmila Vasilyeva from Moscow cannot see her son Vitaly. In the last days of December he was transferred from Smolensk to Tver. They say that he is learning a new specialty at the training ground. There are only two weeks left for study.
You must understand,” Lyudmila Ivanovna convinces me, “that to acquire military skills you need at least six months. What kind of smart guy ordered these untrained kids to hell? Let Yeltsin, Grachev and other Kremlin sages first send their children, sons-in-law and other relatives to Chechnya. And ours will follow these commanders...
Various rumors are circulating in the regional center. Including about conscripts, who, without training or preparation, are going to be thrown into battle almost from military registration and enlistment offices. It was not possible to find out whether this is actually so. The TASS correspondent was not allowed into the unit or into the training ground. The commanders and their educational assistants flatly refused to talk to the personnel. It’s not difficult to understand them: they follow orders. But the silence of commanders is more expressive these days than any words. Many officers in the unit served in Afghanistan and well understand the senselessness and treachery of yet another massacre.
The other day there was a police presence at the military town. The operational group of the Proletarsky district police department went there in response to a call from the unit on duty: the parents, they say, were disturbing public order. The police arrived and saw this picture. Truck after truck units leave the gate. In the backs, like cartridges in a clip, there are soldiers in full gear with matte gleaming helmets. Mothers who had arrived the day before to see their sons were ready to throw themselves under the wheels. They demanded that we stop sending them until they saw their children. The unit commander, however, immediately ordered the lists of those sent (more than 400 people) to be read out. There were none of them whose mothers had gathered at the gate. It turned out that this group was also transferred to Tver from another Russian city. And on the same day, they were sent by military transport aircraft to Mozdok. One of the aviation chiefs who controlled the loading of the planes shared their impressions.
The guys are well equipped. Dress warmly, everyone has a bulletproof vest, chemical kit, dry rations, and a sleeping bag. But... Kuga is green.
Yuri BUROV.
(Our own correspondent).
Tver.
