Welcome to Hell. Reports from the war in Chechnya (Valery Kiselev). Welcome to hell Welcome to hell Chechnya inscription

The author distributed the first edition of this book to soldiers in positions in the summer of 2001 in the Argun Gorge... But first there were hundreds of meetings with Russian soldiers and officers fulfilling their military duty, local residents who found themselves in the combat zone in Chechnya. The bitter truth about the war in Chechnya... Our common pain and tragic memory. Lessons that everyone should always know and remember...

• First campaign

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The given introductory fragment of the book Welcome to Hell. Reports from the war in Chechnya (Valery Kiselev) provided by our book partner - the company liters.

© Valery Kiselev, 2018

ISBN 978-5-4490-7215-3

Created in the intellectual publishing system Ridero

First campaign

1. Moscow on the day the Chechen war began

At seven o'clock in the morning on December 12, 1994, there was still not a soul on Red Square, nor on the surrounding streets. Only at the Mausoleum there was a pitifully stray poodle. The impression was that the population had abandoned the city, and the enemy army had not yet entered it. The first passerby I met was busy posting leaflets on the walls of houses.

The leaflet invited women to a protest rally, which was to take place near VDNKh. Protests against the outbreak of war in Chechnya. By 12 o'clock, when the rally began, Moscow finally woke up. There are already several thousand people on the square in front of VDNKh, red banners are waving. What would a rally in Moscow be without Viktor Anpilov – “the agitator, the loudmouth, the leader.”

“England... America... The bourgeoisie...” Anpilov drowns out Tanechka Bulanova’s loud cry from the nearest “lump.” Two men make their way through the crowd with an imported television, just bought at an exhibition somewhere. Some old women with pots and spoons in their hands. This is with the shelves of Moscow stores bursting with abundance. The Ostankino Needle peeks timidly out of the clouds. The leaflet said that after the rally there would be a march to Ostankino.

V. Anpilov gives the word to the “national heroin” of the USSR - Sazha Umalatova. She just came from Chechnya, where her father died under the tracks of Russian tanks. The crowd gets even more excited.

Deacon Viktor Pichuzhkin takes the floor. So harmless in appearance, and his surname is more than modest, but how much energy this man has! At one time he would have been a commissar in the Chapaev division instead of Furmanov, and not a deacon in our days. If the soldiers had not allowed Vasily Ivanovich to die then, how folklore would have been enriched after his commissarship!

– Long live Soviet power! – the deacon exclaims from the bottom of his heart.

After the speech of the representative of Ukraine, a call is heard over the square:

– Glory to socialist Ukraine!

V. Anpilov invites those gathered to quickly move to Pushkinskaya Square. Several metro changes along with crowds of people, mostly lively grandmothers. Anpilov has already perched himself on the pedestal of the monument to Pushkin. There are also groups of people from “Russia’s Choice”:

- This is our place! Go to your Manezhnaya!

V. Boxer builds a chain of determined men so that the “Reds” do not take their place, but in vain, the crowd of Anpilovites keeps arriving.

The Democrats move a little to the side, tricolor flags and slogans appear: “Boris, wake up!”, “Boris, this time you are wrong!”, “The military framed the president.” Portraits of B. Yeltsin and A. Sakharov, the slogan of the Democratic Union: “Independence for Chechnya!” The “Reds” have a slogan: “Freedom for the Chechen people!” There are several groups from the Chechen diaspora, all wearing new sheepskin coats, but standing silently.

The situation was heating up every minute.

- Shoot, shoot and shoot! – a man in a shabby coat growls towards the “reds”.

“I remember you, damn democrat, I’ll hang you first!” – shouts a woman with a portrait of Lenin.

Two old women grappled:

– It’s all your fault, communists!

– It’s you, Democrats, who ruined everything!

Both probably fulfilled the same five-year plans, and they receive the same pensions.

“I’m not a citizen, but a gentleman,” a man from the “New Russians” mutters through clenched teeth when some woman asked him to step aside.

– I defended the White House twice! - some old man shouts.

- What an old fool! - the lively granny answers him.

The Democrats are trying in vain to organize their rally here, but it is impossible to shout over Anpilov, and they retreat to the steps of the Rossiya cinema. Many of the crowd move back and forth to listen to speakers from both camps. It turns out that both sides are against sending troops into Chechnya, and both sides condemn the president.

- Let's unite, if we are together now!

- With the communists? Never!

- Guy-dar! Guy-dar! - the crowd chants. Yegor Timurovich appeared, saying something into three megaphones at once, but Anpilov’s throat was like tinned. S. Yushenkov, K. Borovoy, and several other State Duma deputies speak one after another. Everyone condemns the entry of troops into Chechnya.

Valeria Novodvorskaya appeared, in a luxurious fur coat, with a group of gray-haired boys. And she is also against the president’s decision: “The introduction of troops into Chechnya is the collapse of democracy in Russia!”

– I want to go on vacation to the Caucasus! - some woman yells, about 6-7 pounds in weight.

The “Reds”, having heard the speech of Gaidar and Novodvorskaya, are pressing harder and harder and are now pushing the Democratic rally away from the area in front of the cinema. It was a miracle that there were no contractions, the passions were so inflamed.

“I ask the police major,” says Novodvorskaya, “why don’t you disperse the communists, they are having an unauthorized rally.” So he answers me: “We are afraid of them!”

They carefully take her down the stairs, supporting her by the elbows.

“Let’s leave, otherwise they’ll start shouting about the Judeo-Masonic conspiracy again,” she says. Her supporters are fussing around her: “Lera! Lera! Hurry up to the car!”

The Anpilovites gain the upper hand, accompanying the victory with various exclamations. One group sang “Get up, branded with a curse...”, another “Get up, huge country...”, but also some went to the forest, some for firewood. For another hour or two, passions were in full swing, people were proving to each other that it was impossible to send troops into Chechnya.

And Alexander Sergeevich stood and sadly looked at his descendants...

2. First prisoner

Doomed

On December 11, 1994, the battalion of Lieutenant Colonel Vitaly Seregin, as part of the Shumilov operational regiment of internal troops, moved in a column along the road from Khasavyurt to the Chechen border. The regiment, guarding important facilities and maintaining public order in populated areas along the highway, was supposed to ensure the entry of General Lev Rokhlin's tank corps into Chechnya.

The battalion was slightly larger than a company - 120 people. Most of the soldiers are young, have not been fired upon, they arrived in Dagestan only five days ago, and were collected from the district police units. The soldiers were not psychologically prepared to shoot, especially at civilians.

The militant commanders calculated the situation well. They understood that Russian soldiers would not shoot at women with infants who surrounded the column of armored personnel carriers. Perhaps the militants knew that the regiment received the order: “Do not open fire!” At this time, the Dagestan police withdrew from the conflict between Chechnya and Russia and did not interfere with the militants.

Lieutenant Colonel Seregin had two options: shed the blood of civilians or surrender, hoping for help from his own people or for a political resolution of the conflict.

The militants, hiding behind crowds of women and children, captured 58 soldiers and officers of the battalion, including Lieutenant Colonel Seregin. Anticipating a tragic turn of events, he did everything to ensure that the heavy weapons of his battalion did not fall into the hands of the militants. I managed to report the situation to the regiment commander. He sent help - a propagandist with a loudspeaker. He shared the fate of his comrades.

“The fact that we did not use weapons on the territory of Dagestan in this situation was the right decision,” says Vitaly Seregin. “If we had started shooting, all Dagestanis would have risen up against us.” This would lead to an expansion of the conflict. The Chechens needed only this, for blood to be shed.

But if the battalion had used weapons then, the fate of many of its soldiers, including Lieutenant Colonel Seregin, would have been different...

- Now, in the same situation, in the same place, my first command would be: “Fire!” – said Vitaly Seregin.

“Our people are standing, swarming in the distance...”

Then, on December 11, 1994, no one could imagine that a real war was beginning in Chechnya. The prisoners, all 58 people, were taken to the Khasavyurt school. The officers were kept separately.

The paradox of the situation was that the Chechens captured the Russian military on the territory of Dagestan; other units of the regiment were stationed not far from the border with Chechnya. The prisoners hoped for quick help from their comrades. Alas…

“At one in the morning, out of nowhere, correspondents from ORT, CNN, then NTV suddenly arrive,” recalls Vitaly Seregin. “And they started filming us, asking why we came here.” We replied that we had arrived to guard important government facilities on the territory of Dagestan...

Correspondents from Russian television companies quickly rushed to the militants' invitation to film the first prisoners, but none of them told the Russian command about their location so that they could attempt to free them.

“About six in the morning on December twelfth we were woken up. I see two Volgas and a foreign car parked on the street. We, eight officers, were put into cars,” continues Vitaly Ivanovich. “There were Chechens standing around in the uniform of the presidential guard, hung with weapons. And they took us from Khasavyurt towards Chechnya along the Rostov-Baku highway. We drove past a place near which our regiment's command post was located. Someone must save us! Ours are standing, swarming in the distance...

The Chechens completely openly transported the prisoners along the road along which the regiment's units were stationed nearby. There were no checkpoints of ours. There was a Dagestan riot police stationed on the border with Chechnya. The police did not check the cavalcade of cars with armed people and calmly raised the barrier.

First meeting with Maskhadov

A few hours later, the captured Russian officers ended up in Grozny, on Minutka Square.

“We were placed in the basement of the library next to the Government House of Chechnya,” says Vitaly Seregin. “The next day, they brought in eleven more people, the crew of an armored personnel carrier, which got lost at night and “flew” into Chechnya.

Aslan Maskhadov himself came to the prisoners and began asking who and where they were from. By chance, Lieutenant Colonel Seregin saw his map indicating the deployment of Russian troops preparing for the campaign against Chechnya. Then the prosecutors of Chechnya began to interrogate: “Why did you come to Ichkeria?” They opened cases against the prisoners and took photographs.

– And again correspondents arrived - from Egypt, Jordan, other countries, whoever was there. The Poles, “brothers – Slavs,” recalls Seryogin, took special pleasure in filming us.

Immediately remembered about God

A few days later, Russian troops began the assault on Grozny.

– One of the Chechens warned us the day before to go to sleep on the floor. And so they did. The bombing began. For some reason, everyone immediately remembered God. Behind the wall in the basement were boxes with anti-tank mines. If a bomb hit our house, there would be nothing left of us. I saw how our tanks and infantry fighting vehicles flew into the square on December 31, how they were burning. When the battle began, the Chechen grandfather broke the lock in the basement and invited us all to leave. Where will we go? There are Chechens everywhere and there is a battle going on. We decided to stay in the basement.

The basement began to be replenished with prisoners from the Maykop motorized rifle brigade, which was the first to enter Grozny on the evening of December 31.

“During the night they brought in twenty-four people, mostly tankers,” recalls Vitaly Seregin. “Six to eight of them were wounded.” I had a paramedic and gave them first aid. The Chechens began to interrogate one lieutenant and he said that he had fired a hundred shots from his infantry fighting vehicle. The Chechens took him out and shot him. Among the prisoners was the helicopter navigator. They would have easily been shot too. We advised him to say this: he refused to bomb and was sent to the infantry as punishment, and was captured.

Burnt soldiers

A few days of relative calm, and then a new assault. There were more prisoners in the basement.

“Father came to us on Christmas,” says Seregin. “We ask him: “For what sins are we here?” People weren’t killed or maimed.” - “The Cross of God!” Then came human rights activist Sergei Kovalev, someone from Yabloko who looked like Lenin. They filmed it again with a video camera. Human rights activists said that we had no business coming here. They threw us a pack of cigarettes, and even then they were incomplete... Kovalev offered to sign the petition to end the war. I refused.

The day after Christmas, the prisoners were taken to the square in front of the palace to collect the corpses of killed Russian soldiers in a heap so that the dogs would not eat them.

“The soldiers who burned in the BMP were so small...” recalls Seryogin.

The ring of Russian troops around Dudayev's palace tightened, and the prisoners were transferred to the basement of this building.

“There were seventy-six of us here.” Sixteen of them are officers, warrant officers and contract soldiers. I was the senior in rank, everyone obeyed me. Bread and water were divided equally, and he made sure that the wounded ate. Every night, soldiers’ mothers came to us on an artillery tractor, looked for their sons among the prisoners and took them away if they found them. I asked one woman to send a note home that I was alive. Refused. Because I'm an officer, not a soldier. But this same tractor brought not only soldiers’ mothers, but also ammunition to the Chechens.

Hope hung by a thread

On January 17, the militants defending Dudayev’s palace began to dress in gauze and prepare for a breakthrough. The prisoners were divided into groups and forced to carry wounded and killed Chechens.

“I got to carry the blind man’s buff.” “We left the palace and no one was shooting,” Seryogin continues. - They left for Sunzha. How could one not notice three hundred people leaving the palace in different directions...

Russian troops noticed those who had broken through, but it was too late. They shot after us. They didn't catch up. For several more days, the prisoners and guards, and with them Maskhadov’s headquarters, were located within the boundaries of Grozny, in some hospital. There, all the captured soldiers were taken away by their mothers. The Chechens freed them then willingly. Russian soldiers released from captivity were the information weapon of Movladi Udugov, this Chechen Goebbels.

Lieutenant Colonel Seregin and Major Dedegkaev were soon separated from this group of prisoners and they ended up in the security company of Dudayev’s presidential guard. The Chechens moved with prisoners from one place to another.

- I saw how our people fought for Argun. I had to see Maskhadov and “comrade” Basayev several times, recalls Vitaly Ivanovich. – They took us to Shali, Vedeno. Here everyone beat us, for eight days in a row. They pour water on me and beat me again. They offered to join them in their service. Boys aged 13-15 were especially beaten; these are real animals. But it wasn’t so hard physically - they give it a couple of times and you lose consciousness, as well as mentally, listening to insults.

In battles with Russian troops, militant detachments melted away. It seemed like freedom was here.

“In the summer of ninety-five, for example, there were only twelve people left in the first Muslim battalion, ten in the second,” said Vitaly Seregin. “These were Dagestanis, Kumyks, Nogais, Kazakhs, Uzbeks. There were only a handful of them left. But ours declared another truce and the Chechens began to gather new groups of boys and teach them how to fight.

They recognized each other

Nine days short of nine months, Lieutenant Colonel Vitaly Seregin spent in Chechen captivity. On August 19, 1995, through intermediaries, the Chechens exchanged him for the person they needed.

“The next day I was in Khankala, with General Romanov,” says Vitaly Ivanovich. “He hugged me and kissed me.

A little more - and meeting home with family and friends.

After returning from captivity, Vitaly Seregin had to visit Dagestan more than once on business, to the very places where he was taken prisoner. The Dagestan policemen, not without whose help Russian soldiers and officers were captured, now smiled cordially at Colonel Seregin. He tried to find his old acquaintances who were holding him captive. I met one, this was before the start of the second campaign, on the border of Chechnya with Dagestan. The Chechen stood behind the barrier and grinned. They recognized each other.

3. “Just wounded? Oh, thank you..."

January 1995, House of Officers of the Nizhny Novgorod Garrison, room No. 26, a temporary information center is located here, where you can inquire by phone about the fate of the military personnel of the 22nd Army, whose units are now in Chechnya.

“The center was created on January 3,” says senior officer of the educational department of the army headquarters A. Yakovlev, “by order of the army commander, General Efremov. The units were put on alert, so that there would be no rumors and to reassure the parents, and a “hotline” was organized.

There are several dozen calls per day; the phone is really “hot”.

“Today, before lunch, there are 24 calls,” says the officer on duty. “Parents of servicemen not only of our army, but also of units of internal troops, airborne forces, and border troops are contacting us.”

In the room on the stand there is a long row of telephones that you need to call to find out about the fate of your son, the duty officer has lists of military units located in Chechnya and the wounded. On the list of hospitals where the wounded in Chechnya are sent, I counted 9 addresses. This alone speaks volumes about the scale of the fighting.

“Many of the wounded arrived for treatment at the army medical unit, and we sent 14 people home for treatment,” says the officer on duty. “At first they mostly suffered from burns and concussion, because they were operating in armored vehicles, then they suffered from bullet wounds, most often in the extremities.

Our conversation is interrupted by a call.

– Kemerovo region? Very hard to hear! State your son's last name.

After a few seconds the duty officer answers:

– Your son left for Chechnya, is in the village of Tolstoy-Yurt, does not participate in hostilities, is engaged in patrolling and escorting convoys.

People call this phone from all over Russia, even from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

– Do mothers cry often? - I ask the duty officer.

“Very,” the duty officer answers. “Many are trying to take their anger out on us, many need to speak out.”

The standard answer to angry calls from mothers is: “We are carrying out the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the President of Russia, he was elected by all the people and, therefore, carries out the will of all the people.”

Therefore, by the will of their mothers, their sons are in Chechnya...

- Junior Sergeant Makarov? – the duty officer asks. – Your son has a perforating shoulder wound and is hospitalized. Don’t cry, the officer reassures the soldier’s mother.

And then to me:

- If you say that their son is wounded, we’re glad...

Very often, however, it turns out that the son is serving far from Chechnya and in such troops that cannot be used in any way, but is too lazy to write home.

“For example, Vasin Nikolai,” says the officer on duty, “hasn’t written to his mother since November, although he serves in the air defense.”

And parents are going crazy from the unknown.

4. ...There is one envelope in the bag

According to the press, everyone who wants to morally support soldiers from units of the Nizhny Novgorod garrison currently serving in Chechnya can write letters and send them to the editor. In the coming days, an airlift with humanitarian aid and mail will go to Chechnya.

And how many letters do you think Nizhny Novgorod residents wrote to their fellow countrymen? Yes, just one thing. This is from a city of one and a half million. We cannot say how to explain this, whether it is indifference, or the fact that we are sorry for the money for the envelope.

During the Great Patriotic War, if you remember, girls wrote to our soldiers much more often.

5. Some people have already recovered

In the garrison military hospital, 9 servicemen who performed their duty in Chechnya are currently being treated. Moreover, only one of them was wounded; the rest suffered from frostbite and pneumonia.

In total, from the units of the Nizhny Novgorod garrison taking part in operations in the Grozny region, 54 people were injured, mostly of moderate severity. Some of them, 14 people, have already been sent home for leave.

6. Who should a soldier listen to – his mother or his commander?

The architect's house, the assembly hall, here, at the invitation of the Civil Initiative club, the parents of soldiers came to create a committee of soldiers' mothers in Nizhny Novgorod.

The parents hoped to receive some practical help: how to find out about the fate of their son, what to do if he was already wounded, but S. Speransky, a deputy of the regional legislative assembly, chairman of the legal policy committee, said frankly:

– You were gathered here so that you could solve your problems yourself.

Why, then, one might ask, did we elect deputies, why do we need power at all, if mothers themselves must solve the problems that the state has created for them?

- He can’t sleep it off, your president!

– Now they will take everyone away, despite their illnesses! They took my child with three concussions!

When the consultant for work with military personnel of the regional legislative assembly, Yu. Novikov, suggested that we discuss the issue of how to prepare young people for the army, they shouted from the audience:

“We need to get the children back from there, not raise us!” No one attacked our country! They are not only killing children, they are also killing us, they are killing our future!

When the mothers spoke and expressed their hearts, those wishing to work on the committee of soldiers’ mothers were asked to raise their hands. There were only seven such people.

In the hall were representatives of the regional military registration and enlistment office and the garrison, who could have told a lot, but no one gave them the floor.

7. Soldiers are ready to do their duty

Headquarters of the Nizhny Novgorod garrison, a short conversation with N. Prozorov, senior public relations officer, who has just returned from Chechnya:

– The combined regiment was sent there on January 15. All soldiers have undergone additional combat training; there is not a single first year of service. They were fully staffed, equipment and weapons were also fully equipped, they even brought firewood with them. After unloading, our unit is in the concentration area; it did not take part in the hostilities in Grozny before my departure. The soldiers live in tents, the food is excellent, as much as you want, the uniform is warm. Everyone knows their task and the overall goal of the operation. Morale is good. There are no cases of frostbite in the regiment, there are no nervous or mental breakdowns, and the commanders have very strict control over hygiene. When we entered there, the population greeted us generally friendly, especially when we were traveling in a train across the Stavropol Territory. The enemy clearly sensed that force was coming. I would like to reassure parents: we have experienced commanders and well-trained soldiers, all of them are ready to fulfill their duty.

So, if many parents would like to return their sons as soon as possible, they themselves are ready to listen to their commanders and follow orders.

But our soldiers still need help. They will be happy to receive home-made canned food, sweets, and cigarettes from their fellow countrymen. And parcels can be brought to the Nizhnevolzhskaya embankment, to the red barracks. From there they will be sent to their destination.

8. Ivan Sklyarov: “We must stop the war immediately!”

Here is what I. Sklyarov said about this trip:

– We visited the Khasavyurt region of Dagestan, where the Shumilovsky regiment is holding back a group of Dudayev’s militants, numbering up to 7 thousand people, in North Ossetia, and drove up 30 kilometers to Grozny. In Mozdok we met with Grachev, Erin and Stepashin. On the spot we got acquainted with the life of our soldiers. No one can say for sure how many Nizhny Novgorod residents there are now, because units have been transferred from all over Russia, even from the Far East. In Mozdok they saw how the dead and wounded were being reloaded; the impression, of course, remained grave. The Shumilovsky regiment is located in a field, people live in dugouts, 15 people each. The soldiers are in a normal mood, but there are a lot of sick people. Everyone was delighted with the gifts from their fellow countrymen. The impression remained that the internal troops were better organized than the army. They awarded the most distinguished 20 wristwatches, just at this time government awards were presented to the regiment - 4 orders and 13 medals.

There is a lot of confusion, but there shouldn’t be, and the heavy loss of soldiers is also depressing. There are a lot of refugees, in the Khasavyurt region there are up to 150 thousand of them. At the meeting with Grachev, we told him that supply issues, especially medicines, and replacement of troops should be resolved faster.

In general, the situation in Chechnya is very serious, and one feels that this will last for a long time. A reassessment of government actions is needed. We must ask the government: why did military operations begin without proper preparation? The soldiers don’t even understand why they are there. The main task now is to stop the war by any means necessary.

At night we had a meeting with Chechen field commanders, we discussed the issue of returning our soldiers taken hostage, 18 of them. This matter is complicated by the fact that they are all scattered across different settlements. But still, the Chechen commanders promised to resolve this issue.

We all must understand: a real war is going on in Chechnya, without any embellishment.

9. Dead people don't need human rights

S. Dmitrievsky and I. Kalyapin visited Chechnya, who were there as observers from the Nizhny Novgorod organization of the International Society of Human Rights. This is what they told your correspondent.

– What was the purpose of your trip?

“We wanted to find out whether there were grounds for sending troops into Chechnya, what is the situation of prisoners of war of federal troops there and how humanitarian aid is received there. We were in Chechnya for 5 days, 3 of which were in Grozny, at the location of the Chechen militias. We walked freely wherever we wanted.

– What are your most vivid impressions from this trip?

– First of all, we were shocked by the Stalingrad panorama of Grozny. The city looks like after a nuclear bomb, many houses are in ruins, there are remains of advertisements all around, and missile tails are every now and then seen on the streets. The Chechens showed us ball and needle bombs. And in those days when we were there - January 18, 19 and 20 - the city was subjected to intense, indiscriminate shelling from all types of weapons.

– Have you seen captured Russian soldiers?

– What, in your opinion, is the level of combat capability of the Chechens?

“They have career commanders, everyone is determined to fight to the last.” We think that even now the Chechens control about half of the city. There is no solid front there. In Grozny, we were told, no more than a thousand militias are constantly active.

– You were in a rural area, and everyone there also had weapons?

– About 80 percent of Chechens have weapons; they already have a machine gun as part of their national costume.

– How do the Chechens themselves feel about Dudayev?

“About half the population supports him.” Many people criticize the meat grinder that is taking place in Grozny, others say that Allah himself sent Dudayev to the Chechens. We felt that we were defending not so much Dudayev there as our own homes. The attitude towards Russians there is generally normal. But Yeltsin is now the second Stalin for them.

– In your opinion, when will it all end?

– Our forecast is the gloomiest. It is impossible to defeat the Chechens.

– Have you seen the humanitarian aid?

– In Grozny – no. She all arrives in Mozdok.

10. The Chechen conflict through the eyes of...

"Nizhny Novgorod Guard" ...

A detachment of the “Nizhny Novgorod Guard” (this is the name of the OMON unit of the Internal Affairs Directorate) returned from a business trip to Chechnya, which served there for 45 days to protect the Beslan-Grozny highway. Five people from this detachment met with representatives of the Nizhny Novgorod press, told the details of the business trip, and also expressed their point of view on the events taking place there. Just in case, we omit the names of these guys, especially since they spoke complementary to each other.

– There are only 19 outposts on the Beslan-Grozny highway, we served at three, the closest to Grozny is two kilometers away. They ensured the advancement of columns with food, ammunition, and equipment.

“We had to shoot every night.” But we never opened fire first. They fired at us from 800, 600 and even 200 meters.

– The detachment had no casualties during this trip, but the commander, Lieutenant Colonel A. Vasiliev, was wounded. They wounded him from a passing Zhiguli car with automatic fire.

– We encountered the first resistance in Nazran. There were trucks on fire, there were crowds of people, and militants were pushing women and children forward.

– We saw our aviation only once – a couple of planes flew by, and usually helicopters.

– The media cover events in Chechnya biasedly, only from the point of view of Chechens. Why is no one calling for mercy for our soldiers?

– The morale of our soldiers is very high. Many are poorly trained, that's true. Paratroopers and marines do not know how to act; there were cases when the Chechens took away their weapons.

“The fact that committees of soldiers’ mothers come to Chechnya to pick up their children indicates the weakness of the nation. It is the press that is largely to blame for the decline in the prestige of the army. The press often takes unverified information. We had only just arrived in Rostov, and already there were rumors that we were in captivity.

– We have a negative attitude towards the mission of State Duma deputies; they earn political capital for themselves. Sergei Kovalev feels more sorry for the Chechens than for the Russian soldiers.

– We don’t know why Dudayev’s army turned out to be so strong...

– We were welcome guests in every home, we did not fight with the people.

These fighters and commanders of the Nizhny Novgorod Guard are convinced that they were on Russian territory. That is, Chechnya is first Russia, and then Chechnya, and Chechens are obliged to comply, first of all, with the laws of Russia, and then live according to their customs.

... Nizhny Novgorod governor

B. Nemtsov, together with a delegation from Nizhny Novgorod, visited the location of the Shumilovsky regiment of internal troops on the border with Dagestan, met in Mozdok with Grachev, Erin and Stepashin. I talked with many officials, soldiers, and refugees.

“The morale of our soldiers is really high. Young soldiers are not adapted to life in the field. There are many sick people, there is pediculosis. True, the supply of medicines is very bad, there is not even aspirin, and clean linen is delivered with lice.

Dudayev does not have gangs, but a professional army, which is led by commanders outstanding in their fighting qualities. This army is cruel and cold-blooded. There are many mercenaries, including Russians. There are also bandits released from prison; they have nothing to lose. Dudayev's army is well armed.

This conflict clearly showed that our army needs reform. But I am against the General Staff removing the Minister of Defense from subordination.

The conscription age must be immediately changed: at 18 years old, soldiers are still children.

The main danger is the “Afghanization” of the conflict. A governor-general should be sent to Chechnya to find someone like Ermolov. This person should not be a participant in hostilities, he should be one of those who are against war. In our country, unfortunately, a pilot is sent to reform agriculture, and the former chairman of a collective farm is sent to lead the bombing of the city. Grachev must be given the opportunity to bring the military operation to an end, and then figure out how the weapons got to Dudayev. In general, it was necessary to block the roads there, launch Alpha so that it would take Dudayev, and do without a war. The entry of troops was an adventure, a mistake. It was necessary to deal with Dudayev back in 1991. And now we will all have to participate in the restoration of the economy of Chechnya.

11. The boys “played” at war...

Nizhny Novgorod garrison military hospital. Nine servicemen injured in Chechnya are being treated here. Colonel I. Kurilov, head of the medical hospital, briefly talks about the state of health of each soldier.

Four of them serve in the Shumilov operational regiment of internal troops, the rest are army men. Two were paratroopers with shrapnel and bullet wounds; the rest had frostbite on their legs, phlegmon, reactive polyarthritis, concussion, and pneumonia. Everyone’s condition is now satisfactory, and they are receiving special attention in the hospital.

I asked permission to talk to the wounded paratroopers. It is difficult to imagine them in uniform and with weapons in their hands - they look like just boys, there are many of them in the 8th and 9th grades. They probably don't even shave yet. Only the eyes are already like those of men who have seen a lot.

Igor N., private, Pskov Airborne Division, drafted on January 10, 1994, military specialty - grenade launcher:

“Only I never fired from a grenade launcher, there was nowhere to go, as the losses began to occur, they gave me a machine gun. We flew to Beslan on November 30, the company was staffed with 53 people. Half of the soldiers served for only six months. Platoon commanders fresh from military schools. Our first battle was on December 28, with Dudayev’s special forces. From the company we lost two killed and five or six wounded. We celebrated the New Year in Grozny at a burning oil depot. Then we were at the central market, where our own artillery covered us, four were wounded. Spirits stole 10 of our tanks from the railway station and burned many...

During the conversation, the guys never said “Chechens”, only “spirits”...

– How did the commanders explain to you the political goals of the operation?

“They didn’t talk to us about politics at all.” They said that our main goal is to survive. At the central market, our battalion was surrounded. The infantry was supposed to occupy the building around the market, but the vodka soldiers ran into us and abandoned us. Then our snipers killed three of our platoon. The platoon commander was wounded in the legs, and another had his eyes severely burned. They bombed us and fired at us constantly, often, probably, from their own guns.

– How did they feed you there, Igor?

“And it’s full of shops and stalls, everything is abandoned,” and stopped short: “They gave dry food for 2-3 days, hot food sometimes.”

-Where did you sleep?

- In the basement, in sleeping bags.

– Why are there so many frostbitten people?

“Your feet are always damp in boots, there’s nowhere to dry them.”

– Weren’t there spare foot wraps?

- It wasn’t, they didn’t give it away.

– Under what circumstances were you wounded?

“On January 7th, we were guarding a tank, and a shell hit the turret, our people were shooting at us, there was no coherence. Four were wounded, I was hit in the leg by shrapnel. I went to the medical battalion, they bandaged it, then my leg began to swell, and the commander sent me to the medical battalion. We were riding on armor, and the BMD (airborne combat vehicle - V.K.) overturned in a ravine. One guy died immediately, and I also broke my toe.

Oleg S., Tula Airborne Division, senior gunner, served for 5 months before being sent to Chechnya:

– We arrived from Tula to Ryazan on our own, from there on the Ruslan to Mozdok, where we were on November 30. We prepared for several days - we shot, threw grenades, and practiced tactics in the field. They said that we would only blockade the city. The company had 6 infantry fighting vehicles and 50-55 people. When we went in a column, we came under fire from Grads, and 6 people in our regiment were killed and 13 were wounded, 2 BMDs were destroyed. We stood up on December 18 near Dolinskaya and dug in. There we were again covered with “Grad”, and the machine gunners fired heavily at us. In our company there were three killed and five wounded, and in the eighth of 44 people there were 11 left; their spirits in one house were thrown with grenades.

– Oleg, how do you assess the combat training of the Dudayevites?

“They are not afraid of open battle, and everyone is older than us.” I was lucky that I served in a reconnaissance company and was well trained, while the others were very exhausted and exhausted, they were not even taken on operations. This is when we cleaned our houses of spirits, apartment by apartment. We knock them out at night and defend during the day.

– Were there many local residents there?

– Many, and all Russians who could not leave earlier. Because of this, many suffered. When you take a house, you give a line into the room, and then you look - grandparents are lying dead...

– Can you say for sure that you killed any of Dudayev’s men?

- Five. I used a “night light” (night vision device - V.K.) to shoot to kill.

- How were you wounded?

“We were on guard duty near the bridge, someone in a white camouflage suit was walking at night, I fired a burst, he fell, but didn’t notice the others, and they hit me in the hand.”

– Were you wearing bulletproof vests the whole time?

- They are of no use. I hung mine on a tree to test - from my machine gun, AKS, only a dent, but with the spirits, the AK-47 - it pierces right through, along with the body.

– After everything you’ve experienced, what feelings do you have towards the Chechens? Hatred?

– Would you agree to go there again?

- We don’t know...

These boys seem to have had their fill of war.

12. Twice Captured

Events in the North Caucasus provide such plots that novelists, perhaps, will not need to invent anything: write down the stories, for example, of Russian soldiers who participated in the Chechen war, and here you have a novel with a seething of human passions. My interlocutor today is a soldier who managed to be captured twice by the Chechens. He told about his adventures with only one request: not to give his last name.

Happiness is special forces

– I was drafted into the army in the spring of 1994, I went to serve willingly, I was proud that I was in an elite unit. In August of the same year, some were transferred to Dagestan. We did combat training in the field, did a little shooting, and guarded checkpoints and bridges. We got involved in army life, the service went well.

We’ve only heard about Shamil and Ermolov

“They didn’t know what was happening in Chechnya, they had no idea. Once the company commander tried to explain something, but it was not clear. We felt that the situation was heating up. Everything was unclear, some kind of chaos, confusion. We're digging trenches - women from neighboring villages come and don't let us dig.

The war ended 50 years ago, and suddenly they shoot

“We could have escaped if we had acted tactically correctly.” When our column was surrounded by a crowd, two thousand Chechens, the commanders were confused, and in this situation they began to take away our weapons. They beat me a little, but not without it. They thought they would tear me to shreds. Now you understand that you should have locked yourself in armored personnel carriers and left. But we already crushed three of them from the crowd. More than fifty people captured us. They took us to their homes, 2-3 people at a time, and began to explain what was happening in Russia. I remembered the words of one Chechen commander: “Borka sent you here, but he went to the hospital with sinusitis.” We sat down to watch TV. The Vesti announcer says that the information about the capture of a large group of prisoners has not been confirmed, this is a provocation by the Dudayevites. But we are in captivity! The Chechens around us ranged from 14 years old to bearded. Almost everyone is armed: from Israeli Uzi assault rifles to self-propelled guns.

Zhilin also dreamed of escape

“Basically, you could have run, there was no security.” But in which direction are ours? At first we didn’t even know approximately where we were, in Dagestan or Chechnya. They didn’t hurt me, they fed me, they didn’t force me to work. They didn't know what to do with us. What did you do? We watched TV, talked, slept. The women looked at us with pity, although they knew that we had not come to them to protect them. After some time, with the help of intermediaries from the government of Dagestan, the Chechens returned more than half of the captured Russian soldiers. Under what conditions, none of us knew.

“They greeted us normally; none of the officers complained that we returned without weapons.” And then the Chechens took a lot from us: 4 armored personnel carriers, each of them had about a dozen “flies”, 2 grenade launchers, and a lot of ammunition for them. People from the FSB of Dagestan recorded our testimony, and that’s all. Then the unit gave us new guns.

Meanwhile, the new year 1995 was approaching...

“We met him in ambush near the road along which, as we were told, Dudayev would have to flee. They said that our marines had taken Grozny, and we must catch those who would run away from there. The order is to solve all the cars that do not stop.

Gradually the mood began to change

“They gave us an example of helicopter pilots who, without orders, raised their vehicles and fired rockets at some village from where they were fired upon. I remembered the family of the “bandit” with whom I was kept: his 10 children, and another 30 refugees. I remembered a 15-year-old boy whose parents were killed by ours. It was striking: this is not a war in which it would be worth giving your life. Die for a cause that no one cares about? I began to think more and more that it was our hands that were fomenting war here. So tired of being a pawn in someone's game... We sat in a perimeter defense and defended ourselves. And the dirt in the camp was such that even the morning formations were canceled. No “wake up”, no “hang up”, free - sleep if you find a place. Most of us still had no idea why we were here? I remember how one soldier asked an officer: “Are we for Dudayev or for the opposition?” It was already at home that I learned that Chechens were robbing trains on the railway, expelling Russians, making counterfeit money, and sucking oil from passing oil pipelines.

One morning he decided

“I left the barrel and ammunition in the company and left the camp. The direction was towards Kizlyar, towards the railway. I walked about ten kilometers in circles, returning to the same place twice. I didn’t think then about being caught by our own people or the Chechens. In the evening I went out to the track. A car is approaching, a VAZ-2106, with Chechens. "Where?" - “Home.” - “Sit down, we’ll take you there.” - “It depends where.” A gun barrel appeared from the car window. They brought me to some headquarters. There one of the Chechen commanders recognized me: “Aren’t you at home?” - “Why should I be at home?” “We then released you on your general’s word of honor that all of you who were captured would be sent to Russia.”

I didn’t know about the general’s word of honor

“They started taking me around the villages like an exhibit. They babble something in their own way. Sometimes they said in Russian: “Tomorrow you have a khan, we’ll shoot you.” - “Well, khan, so khan.” I got to others - they offered to fight against the Russians: “We will give you such weapons as you have never seen before.” - “No, guys, if I didn’t shoot at you, then I won’t shoot at my own people, and even less so.” Then they said: “Tomorrow we will go to the mullah, we will accept you into Islam.” The people around me were constantly changing. At one of the headquarters I again met the Chechen who had released us from our first captivity. “Now,” he says, “I won’t hand you over to the commanders, only to your mother.”

A week later my mother arrived

“In the unit, a criminal case was initiated against me. The disbat was shining. Then I received a paper that, in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Victory, I was granted an amnesty. But I didn’t consider myself a criminal, so why do I need an amnesty? I went to the regiment, they told me that I was not needed here, go to the district. They said - go to the regiment. Then I met with the general, he invited me to talk like a man. He started telling me how good they are and how bad I am.

A man's conversation with the general did not work out

“I don’t know,” he says, “what to do with you. “Where is your uniform?” - “The Chechens changed their clothes.” - “Look for the form.” It was useless to explain to him why I left the regiment. To the general I was a robot, an imbecile. I was surprised why he didn't arrest me. I decided to go to Moscow, to the main military prosecutor's office. There they took testimony and sent me to a collection point, to the Lefortovo barracks. And there they don’t know what to do with me. “Come on,” they say, “we’ll put you in a mental hospital?”

I spent a month in the hospital

– This is called rehabilitation. They didn’t give me any medicine, I just rested. They gave me a certificate that my mental state was impaired due to depression, so that the criminal case could be closed.

They didn’t wait for a certificate from the prosecutor’s office

“The military prosecutor wrote to the unit commander asking that I be fired within three days and that the criminal case against me be dropped. On the military ID, on the record that I was in Chechnya in combat conditions, they wrote obliquely that it was made erroneously, and on another piece of paper they wrote that I left the military unit in Chechnya without permission during the fighting and that a criminal case had been opened against me. There were no marks of captivity. In general, we ourselves got confused in these records.

He doesn’t regret what happened

– There is a feeling of awkwardness in front of my comrades, I understand their condemnation. But I understand something that they don't understand. If I had stayed, who knows what would have happened next. You would have to shoot at people without seeing them as enemies. I know guys who came back from there with a feeling of hatred. But who made them hate the Chechens, and the Chechens hate us? I heard from many that this is a bandit tribe, and they only understand the language of gunshots. I was surprised that Chechens are very educated people with high intelligence. I liked their traditions: respect for father, mother, and elders. Many Chechens did not want to leave Russia; now they say that we would rather die than live under Russia. It was possible to find a compromise at the very beginning of the conflict, if not for ambitions. It’s a shame that our regiment was supposed to be a guarantor of security, but has become one of the cogs in the machine that provokes conflict. When I left, I wanted to do something, to show that I was against all this. I didn’t think that I was committing a military crime; I wanted to feel like a human being. It was a shame that they treated you like a sheep, without explaining or asking anything, and even more so, they forced you to carry out orders, capitalizing on the sense of military duty. In essence, the government is correcting our mistakes with our hands and blood.

And life hung by a thread

“I didn’t think about it then.” Now you understand that the first Chechen could have shot me, because I was in uniform. But I learned a lot when I found myself between a rock and a hard place. If a company or an entire regiment had left then, it would have been better: the government would have thought about it. And I understand that the officers are not protesting, performing purely police functions and shooting at people. They can’t even shoot themselves: there are children at home, a wife without a job and no apartment. Who will take care if something happens? So we had to follow orders, which sometimes did more harm than good.

13. Holiday with a Chechen flavor

The regional governor B. Nemtsov, the head of the Nizhny Novgorod garrison I. Efremov and the deputy governor for military affairs, General L. Pavlov, visited one of the tank units. In the soldiers' teahouse they met with servicemen who had returned from the conflict zone in Chechnya.

There are about 40 of them, yesterday's boys, who in a few weeks became real men in Chechnya, who have been in hellfire, who have learned what the death of a friend is. All of them are here after being wounded or shell-shocked, as they say, having smelled gunpowder.

It’s a holiday, but it turns out to have a Chechen flavor. The governor cordially congratulated the soldiers, wished everyone a quick recovery, and promised that his next trip to Chechnya would definitely be at the location of units of the 22nd Army. Now there are more than 400 soldiers, officers and warrant officers there, many contract soldiers, all volunteers. Unfortunately, there were losses in this undeclared war. Four people died from the tank division of the 22nd Army, and in total, from the conscripts of the Nizhny Novgorod region, as B. Nemtsov said, 19 people, and this figure is constantly increasing.

What is a holiday without gifts, although it was not very fun. JSC Nitel gave each soldier a very beautiful jacket, and the Nizhny Novgorod Credit joint-stock bank gave them all a savings book.

Then there was tea with sweets. I sit down at one table and get to know the guys.

– Evgeniy Lyakhov, senior mechanic, from Kursk.

– Odzhes Yuri, senior mechanic, from Irkutsk.

- Alexey Kotov, machine gunner, from Izhevsk.

– Alexey Vechtomov, senior gunner, also from Izhevsk.

All of them came to Chechnya from different units, from all over the country, one even from the Berlin brigade, transferred to Russia from Germany last summer. And in Grozny we met and fought together. They lost comrades and were wounded.

“In our platoon of 25 people, there are five left, the rest are killed and wounded...

“I was wounded in an armored vehicle when a grenade hit it. Everything there burned down, I didn’t even have time to fire my machine gun...

“And I was wounded when I climbed into the hatch of an infantry fighting vehicle upside down, a bullet hit my foot...

“A lot of officers died, and such good ones...” one of them sighed.

These guys also had to be under fire from the “white tights,” although one of the newspapers denied their participation in the battles for Grozny.

– We caught one of these ourselves, it turned out to be a Muscovite, there were eighteen notches on her sniper rifle...

“They even had their own prices for us: it was cheaper to kill an infantryman, more expensive to kill a paratrooper...

Everyone went out into the street to take a souvenir photo with the governor and army commander. Students from schools in the Sormovo district came to the unit’s location to get acquainted with the life of the Russian army. They are separated by age by a year or two, but some are still children, others are already completely men...

“And the war in Chechnya is just beginning,” General I. Efremov said thoughtfully.

14. The Chechen knot tied by politicians is cut by the army

Mozdok, March 1995

The snow-covered fields of Russia somehow imperceptibly gave way to Kuban black soil. Through the IL-62 window you can clearly see the raising columns of dust from the tractor while ploughing. It's as if a tank company is going on the attack. The war is very close from here. Our fellow countrymen are there now. The huge IL-62 is filled with boxes of gifts. Many enterprises and banks responded to the request of the regional governor B. Nemtsov to help our soldiers in Chechnya. A total of 20 tons of cargo worth 155 million rubles. The Meshchera trading house prepared for each Nizhny Novgorod soldier, and there are 150 of them in Chechnya, a gift in its branded packages: vest, cap, chocolate, cigarettes, writing instruments. Several boxes of books. Soldiers who have gone through the hell of Grozny are offered to read “Filibusters” and “Night in Lisbon.” The plane lands heavily on the concrete runway. Spring is in full swing here. Every now and then planes land and take off. Mozdok is the last transshipment point for goods going to Grozny.

“I’ve already made more than ten flights,” says the IL-62 commander, “there were especially many paratroopers before the New Year, 126 on each flight.”

Boxes with gifts are loaded into an MI-26 helicopter. B. Nemtsov, who went to the headquarters of General A. Kulikov, returned:

– There is more order, and there are fewer bosses.

We transfer to helicopters. The pilot, closing the door, routinely instructs:

– I ask you not to smoke, drink in small sips and not to seduce the crew.

We're flying low. Greenery is just beginning to emerge in the steppe. Here and there you come across flocks of sheep scattering from the helicopter's rotors. The closer you get to Grozny, the more often there are traces of war - fields, as if lashed by tracks and wheels, charging boxes scattered on the ground, fences made of shell casings glistening at the positions of self-propelled guns.

Everything is calm in Sunzha

Grozny-Severny Airport. The building is intact, but there is not a single piece of glass. We get out of the helicopters and immediately find ourselves surrounded by soldiers with machine guns at the ready: a convoy from a reconnaissance company. Dusty faces, grenades and spare magazines sticking out of the pockets of camouflages, badges with a personal number and crosses on their necks. On the square near the airport building there is a column of armored personnel carriers, on one of them there is an inscription: “N. Novgorod".

Everyone surrounded the commandant of Grozny, General I. Rybakov:

– Every day 3-4 thousand people return to the city; now the population is approximately 130 thousand. 6 bakeries are working, there is gas, there will be water, in a week everything will be back to normal...

We transfer to armored personnel carriers. It’s about half an hour to the location of the 166th Guards Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade along the streets of Grozny, and then we turn south, to the Chechen-Aul area. I stand in the hatch next to the driver to see everything with my own eyes. Far to the right, half of the sky is obscured by black smoke.

“The oil fields are burning,” comments an officer sitting on the armor next to him.

On the left on the horizon there are flashes from salvos of missile systems.

“They’re processing Arghun,” I hear behind me.

Everywhere there are multi-storey buildings with burnt out windows, riddled with bullets and shrapnel, along the roadside there are broken and burnt out cars and buses. Three riddled trams. A whole street of dilapidated private houses without roofs; some nine-story buildings had corner rooms knocked out by shells, so that three or four floors still hung above them. On a completely destroyed street there is an intact kiosk with the inscription “Beer”. Along the street there were concrete light poles destroyed by shells - what a density of fire there was! There are houses that have probably been hit by hundreds of shells, and in some places entire floors have been demolished. The park along the Sunzha has only split stumps from hundreds of trees. Here is the famous Minutka Square. Yes... This is something between Stalingrad and Hiroshima.

I counted no more than a dozen passers-by all the way through the city. Two women are dragging a TV on a cart; neighbors have gathered to gossip at one of the surviving private houses. A bearded man stands at the crossroads, looking from under his brows. The little girl either waves or threatens with her little hand. Here and there on the gates of the surviving mansions there is an inscription in chalk: “They live here.”

“From here the brigade was brought into battle,” the accompanying officer points to the ruins of houses and buildings.

Dusk is gathering. In some places, gas escaping from the pipes is burning on the streets. At one of the checkpoints with special forces, we let a column of battalions pass. On the armor - narrow-eyed soldiers with machine guns, the first thought: “Lord, are they really Chinese volunteers?”

“The division is from Buryatia,” comments the accompanying officer.

The Presidential Palace, for which there were particularly heavy battles, is covered in inscriptions, like the Reichstag: Rostov, Yaroslavl, Vologda, Chelyabinsk - it seems they were taken from all over Russia... The tiles on the square in front of the palace turned into rubble. We stopped to film the surroundings with a video camera, and a group of people, hung with machine guns and grenades, in mismatched uniforms and had not shaved for a long time, approached. They turned out, however, not to be Dudayevites, but special forces from Vladivostok.

On the outskirts of the city there is a picture of the Grozny spring: a soldier, hugging a red-haired woman, teaches her to shoot from a machine gun. The bullets are flying somewhere into the white light.

The order was given - he was sent to Grozny...

Headquarters of the 166th Guards Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade. There are maps on the wall. Red and blue lines and circles. Major General V. Bulgakov, brigade commander, reports the situation to the commander of the 22nd Army, Lieutenant General I. Efremov, and member of the military council, governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region B. Nemtsov.

The brigade was transferred from Tver in 12 echelons to the Terskaya station, and at the end of January it completed its concentration in the Mozdok area. Additional combat training took place for two weeks. Then the brigade was placed at the disposal of the commander of the Operational Group North, General L. Rokhlin, and made a 120-kilometer march to the Tolstoy-Yurt area. It was brought into battle on February 2, it took the campus in Grozny without a fight, but the next day in the shoe factory area it fought off 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.

In early February, the brigade rushed around the city to the Gikalovskoye area, overcoming the resistance of gangs, then in a southwestern direction, through canals, embankments, dams, with battles, but mostly detours, powerful attacks with strong artillery barrage. Now the brigade occupies 32 kilometers along the front.

On February 20, the soldiers of the 166th received orders to capture the dominant heights in the area south of Grozny. The operation was carried out at night, by four assault groups. The battle was fought for 4 hours, in the fog, the heights were taken and held with the support of artillery. The enemy began to retreat to the Chernorechensky forest area, where they were blocked.

For the last few days, the brigade has not been conducting active operations; fire combat has been sporadic.

During the brigade commander's report, salvos of rocket systems from the near rear were very clearly audible. Every 20 minutes. Somewhere nearby, Akatsiya self-propelled guns are firing every now and then, and machine guns are occasionally firing. All night long, the grandson of Katyusha’s grandmother, “Grad,” threw his fiery arrows, “persuading” Dudayev’s militants to accept the ultimatum and lay down their arms.

Dudayev’s call sign is “Yalta”

According to the headquarters of the brigade of General M. Bulgakov, as of March 22, its units, since the beginning of hostilities, destroyed 142 militants, 29 vehicles, 1 tank, 1 infantry fighting vehicle, 1 armored cap, suppressed the fire of 22 mortars, destroyed 63 firing points, neutralized 71 mines, and took 15 prisoners .

Acting against the brigade, according to intelligence data, is the special forces regiment “Borz” (“Wolves”), two Kazakh groups (their radio call sign has been detected - “Alimum”) with a total number of 1200-1500 people. They can also be supported by 5 thousand militants from the direction of Shali. Mercenaries, a group of Ukrainian nationalists, and even some Don Cossacks are fighting in this area. Two weeks ago, one of our soldiers was killed by a female biathlete. They neutralized a female sniper, a Chechen, who was hiding behind her children.

– To what extent is it confirmed that the fighting against Russian troops is being carried out by ordinary Chechens, peaceful people forced to take up arms?

“Of the fifteen prisoners we took,” said General V. Bulgakov, “all were ordinary bandits: wearing tattoos, with syringes, and drugs. One was caught and served 17 years. The machine fed and watered him. These bandits force ordinary Chechens to take up arms under the threat of destroying their families.

There are many cases characterizing the meanness and bestial cruelty of the Dudayevites, for example:

“In the first battle we lost seven people. Then they found them - their eyes were gouged out, their bodies were mutilated, they were all finished off with shots to the head. The mothers came for identification... Sorry, I can’t tell you any more...

There was an attempt to flood the brigade's positions by exploding the dam, and then to burn it with gasoline from 4-ton gas tankers.

The commander of the internal troops of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Colonel General A. Kulikov, with whom we met in Mozdok before departure, said:

“This morning, for example, they reported to me that the militants shot in the back two old men who were walking with a white flag towards our positions in Argun. In Samashki, bandits have already blown up a thrice-repaired bridge three times, which makes it impossible to deliver goods by rail to the civilian, Chechen population. Dudayev now has 500-800 thugs left who have nothing to lose, they are ready to fight to the last. Bandits drive people out of villages, kill their own Chechens and blame it on our soldiers.

All the officers with whom we were able to talk these days note that at first the militants acted in an organized and skillful manner, but after the capture of Grozny, the morale of the gangs sharply declined.

“They’ve become cowards, they’ll jump out in a UAZ with a mortar, fire a few shots or from machine guns - ta-ta - and run away,” says the chief of staff of the 245th motorized rifle regiment, Lieutenant Colonel S. Chepusov, “they don’t go directly into battle, so spot them difficult. But here,” the officer pointed towards the destroyed tank and infantry fighting vehicle, “they had a very well-equipped platoon stronghold for 40-50 people.

Through binoculars, behind the tanks dug in in the field, Alkhan-Yurt is clearly visible, somewhere here the front line passed.

“At night, four of our people were wounded,” said S. Chepusov, “they were fired at from mortars.

Our radio intelligence also knows Dudayev’s call sign – “Yalta”; it is not so difficult to determine his location, but...

“If you strike with artillery or aviation, it means that civilians will also die,” said Colonel General A. Kulikov, “and I am not privy to the plans to capture Dudayev.”

In the 245th motorized rifle regiment, where we went from the brigade of General V. Bulgakov, at the end of the meeting B. Nemtsov asked the regiment officers: “What other problems remain?” “Do you know when Dudayev will be caught?” - They answered his question with a question. - “Well, I wanted to ask you. You have to search." - “Well, we will look for him. If we don’t find him, we’ll appoint him,” they joked.

At the same time, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the gangs to keep in touch with each other, and Colonel Maskhadov, Dudayev’s chief of staff, offers to contact him under the call sign “Internationalist” to begin negotiations, but...

We've learned a lot

Why did the fighting in Chechnya drag on for so long? What are the reasons for the large losses of our army? We asked these questions to many officers.

“The analysis of the first battles was very tough,” said General V. Bulgakov, “everyone learned lessons from them.” We did not expect to meet such resistance from the Dudayevites. At first, I must admit, it was scary, but after the first battle we realized that we could solve any problem. After they saw the corpses of civilians, their dead comrades, the soldiers developed bitterness, combat anger, and became more ingenious and cunning. The soldiers learned a lot; no one should be forced to dig in.

If in the first battles there was still no proper interaction between units and branches of troops, then troop control improved significantly. But many officers said with bewilderment that after the capture of Grozny there was no need to give the Dudayevites a break, to agree, much less offer negotiations - this gave them the opportunity to regroup and prepare for new battles. After Grozny, everything had to start practically from scratch. The entire operation should have been and could have been carried out much faster and more organized.

Even in the first conversations in the hospital with the wounded paratroopers, I had to make sure that the soldiers did not know the purpose of the military operation, did not understand why they had come to Chechnya in the first place. What changed in the mood of soldiers and officers during this time?

“This land is ours,” the soldiers say, “we are defending Russia, we will stand here as long as necessary.”

I tried to confuse them with the question that, probably, first it is still Chechnya, and then Russia, and we must respect the national feelings of the Chechens. No, everyone thinks that this is Russia first, and then Chechnya. Many, it turns out, are well aware that Grozny was founded by the Cossacks, that there have long been Cossack villages in the foothills. Few people believe that national feelings prevail among Dudayev’s followers today, because they act like bandits.

B. Nemtsov asked General V. Bulgakov a direct question: how does he feel about B. Yeltsin’s very order to send troops into Chechnya? The general answered, as it seemed to us, quite sincerely:

“And we had no time to evaluate this order politically.” We just didn't think about it. It was necessary to solve the problems of preparation for the operation.

- Tell me, do you want to fight? - they asked the general.

“Of course not,” answered V. Bulgakov, “I fought in Afghanistan for two years, I know well that war is a dirty job, that I will lose my comrades here.”

Fathers are commanders

During these two days that we spent near Grozny, there were many meetings and conversations with officers. I listened carefully to how they said, what they said, how they behaved with each other and the soldiers. In the brigade of General V. Bulgakov, I involuntarily caught myself thinking that I had seen all this somewhere, in some movie. In “The Living and the Dead,” in Serpilin’s division, when political instructor Sintsov arrived there! The same confidence in victory, order, organization, even in small things. At times it seemed that we were not near Grozny, but near Mogilev. The same night, rockets take off, artillery roars, enemy tanks are destroyed in front.

I liked how clearly and confidently General V. Bulgakov reported the situation to the army commander, how he spoke about his soldiers. In a word, a true professional, any mother can safely entrust her son to such a commander.

Colonel S. Morozov, commander of the 245th motorized rifle regiment, his chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel S. Chepusov - both also with experience of the war in Afghanistan, combat officers. I can imagine how the guard soldiers must love Major I. Kasyanov, the brigade’s reconnaissance chief - he graduated from the Suvorov Military School, in Afghanistan he commanded a reconnaissance platoon, a reconnaissance airborne company in Herat, and was awarded an order. Here, near Grozny, for organizing the battle to capture an important height, he and the commander of the guard reconnaissance company, Captain I. Batalov, were presented with the title of Hero of Russia. They carried out this operation without losses and, as they say, classically.

I remember the commander of the repair and restoration battalion, Lieutenant Colonel L. Krupsky - very similar to Captain Tushin from War and Peace. A true war worker. When he gave figures on how much equipment his battalion had repaired since January, I didn’t want to believe that this was possible: 236 units of armored vehicles, 487 vehicles, 119 units of missile and artillery weapons, and how many were evacuated from the battlefield! His soldiers stood in the ranks - ordinary guys, most of them machine operators, repairmen, drivers, dusty, grimy, in oily overalls.

“Our soldiers have gold,” we often heard from officers.

“Take care of people, less bravado, more vigilance,” one could hear every now and then from the commander of the 22nd Army, Lieutenant General I. Efremov.

Ivan Ivanovich’s human qualities can be judged by just one episode: an elderly warrant officer approached him and told him that his family, five children, were in Ashgabat, they needed to be taken out of there, help resolve this issue.

“Fly with us today, get ready,” said the general.

The ensign's surprise that his request was resolved so quickly immediately caused tears to flow from his eyes.

The officers do their duty, do everything to ensure that there are fewer losses, so that the soldiers have everything they need, but they themselves and their wives, as it turns out, still do not have Russian citizenship, because they arrived in Russia from Germany.

The regional governor B. Nemtsov was simply shocked:

- How? You serve in the Russian army, you fight for Russia, and you and your wives are not yet formally citizens of Russia?

“If the wound is small”

In the morning, the commander of the motorized rifle brigade, General V. Bulgakov, reported that at night the militants fired at the positions of the seventh company, three soldiers were wounded.

We're going to the medical center. There are soldiers with minor wounds being treated in tents here. Seven of them have already returned to their units during the fighting. The governor and army commander spoke with everyone, gave them gifts, and talked with doctors and nurses. Conditions for the wounded are normal and there is enough medicine. We also met a fellow countryman here - Leonid Erokhin from Yesenin Street. He's getting better, soon to see his friends.

“During all this time, 270 people have passed through our surgical and dressing platoon,” the doctors say, “there were gunshot and shrapnel wounds, including in the head.

The head of the medical service of the 2nd battalion of the brigade, Lieutenant O. Pakhovchuk, said that in the first battle, the heaviest, there were 30 wounded in the battalion. Everyone was evacuated within two hours, and they were taken to the nearest hospital in less than half an hour.

We flew from Mozdok together with a team of doctors from the Scientific Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics, who worked at the EMERCOM hospital in Grozny. Seven doctors, led by A. Aleinikov, stayed here for two months. They take with them a souvenir: a soldier’s helmet, riddled with bullets and shrapnel. A colander, not a helmet.

“Up to 120 people were treated per day,” said anesthesiologist N. Gamova, “mostly civilians.” There were many deaths, because many injuries were incompatible with life. I worked in Ufa, Arzamas, Spitak, but here everything was much worse.

Zhilin and Kostylin

One of the main goals of the trip to Chechnya was to find out how the work to free our soldiers who were captured by Dudayev’s men was going on. There are 10 such people from the units of the 22nd Army.

“We are doing everything possible,” said the commander of the internal troops of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, General Colonel A. Kulikov, “to return them as quickly as possible.” According to our data, the militants now have 50-60 of our soldiers and officers hostage, one third of them are with Dudayev, the rest are hidden in the villages. We know that they are alive, we received notes. We are taking all measures, contacting Chechen authorities to ransom our soldiers, we will not spare any money for this.

At the location of the 245th regiment, we were shown a well with a grate, where Zhilin and Kostylin probably once sat more than 150 years ago. History repeats itself. Somewhere in the mountain villages our guys are now languishing in the same wells...

“I haven’t seen my mom for so long.”

As soon as the command “Stand!” was heard. at the location of the motorized rifle brigade, shells from the “Grad” flew from the rear with a roar. Several times B. Nemtsov, in his speech to the Nizhny Novgorod soldiers, who were lined up to hand over gifts from his fellow countrymen, had to pause - nothing could be heard because of the shots.

The governor presented watches, radios, envelopes with money, five guitars to those who distinguished themselves in battles and service during this time; for the brigade and regiment, dozens of boxes with sweets and everything a soldier needed.

When the ceremonial part was over, he approached the line:

– Who has telephones at home so they can call their parents?

It turned out that there were a lot of Sormovichi, car factory workers, I listed phone numbers in Kstovo, Dzerzhinsk, Balakhna, Gorodets.

“Please call your mother, Lydia Ivanovna,” says Alexey Kokurin, “that he’s alive, well, and coming home soon.”

– And mine, write down: Larisa Alexandrova, to Balakhna, from Shemin Alexey...

– Can I say hello to Ukraine?

– And to Kazakhstan?

– Hello to all of Bryansk!

- Tell mom that everything is fine with me...

To be honest, it was difficult to hold back tears, looking at these very young boys in soldier’s uniform. Many people don’t even shave yet, although they risk their lives with weapons in their hands every day... Lord, when will this end!

– We need to end this war to hell! – B. Nemtsov said directly and from the heart.

Yes, I would like to take everyone who tied this Chechen knot through the streets of Grozny and lead them along the soldiers’ line, force them to call their mothers by phone, that their children were alive yesterday, but we don’t know what will happen tomorrow...

The interview with Colonel General A. Kulikov ended when the colonel entered the office:

– Arghun has been captured, comrade commander!

A little more, a little more - a little - I would like to believe in it. Gudermes and Shali remained.

15. Business trip of General Kladnitsky

The head of the regional department for combating organized crime, Major General I. Kladnitsky, returned from Chechnya, who commanded the combined special rapid response detachment of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs of 415 people there.

– Ivan Ivanovich, in what areas of Chechnya did your detachment operate and what tasks did it perform?

– In Grozny, Argun, Gudermes, settlements in the southeast of the republic. In addition to purely operational ones, we carried out tasks to obtain information about the deployment of gangs and their weapons.

– Can I find out about the main results of the work of your detachment?

“During the fire contacts, 157 militants were captured, 32 of them were transferred for exchange for our prisoners of war. Over 150 machine guns were seized, 5 units of armored vehicles and artillery systems, 2 thousand shells, 1.5 thousand grenades, more than 800 mines and a huge amount of ammunition were seized.

– Many people are surprised: where did the Dudayevites get so many weapons?

“They prepared for war in advance. We did not come across any imported weapons. They intercepted 2 trucks with shells coming from Dagestan. It's hard to say how they got there. The borders with Azerbaijan and Georgia are actually open, and in those conditions – mountains – it is very difficult to ensure their reliable protection.

– Who were the prisoners you took based on their social status?

– This is mainly a criminal element. From the machine and from the plow, as they say, it was not. There were also former Chechen law enforcement officers and office workers. A special battalion of former prisoners of the local colony acted on Dudayev’s side. They took, for example, one: Dudayev awarded him the rank of colonel, although this man was convicted of rape. Another example: they took one of the leaders of gangs, who turned out to be the head of one of the departments of the current Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya.

– Everyone is probably asking you this question: when will the war end there?

– Military operations have actually ended, but the clearing of territories from small gangs will still continue.

– The Dudayevites’ raid on Budennovsk, is this a new form of struggle? Is there a real danger that such groups will penetrate our city?

– Dudayev announced long ago that he was ready to move on to terrorist actions in the depths of Russia. Our main task now is to blockade the territory of Chechnya and prevent terrorist groups from entering our cities. All the most important facilities have been taken under protection, and the access control regime has been sharply strengthened. About 20 Chechens live in our region, all of them are under control. All the “tanned” people who come to our city also immediately come to our attention. It is very important that during this business trip we obtained lists of many gangs in Chechnya, this should make control easier.

– How do you assess the morale of the Dudayevites today? There were reports that they were tired.

“Many began to return to their homes and hand over their weapons. In the north of the republic the situation has stabilized noticeably, in the mountainous regions it is more difficult. Although we captured a lot of secret weapons depots. They operate there, as a rule, from ambushes, in small groups of 5-7 people.

-Have you come across any mercenaries?

– Only as specialists, instructors, these are, as a rule, fellow believers from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan.

– Is it really so difficult to take Dudayev?

“Yes, we knew where it was, but if we didn’t launch an air strike there, hundreds of innocent people could die.” I cannot give the lives of my people during the operation for him.

– Were there any casualties in your squad during this trip?

– There were 16 wounded from the detachment, one died, not from our city. These losses occurred during the operation in Gudermes.

– How did the Nizhny Novgorod residents perform on this business trip?

- Worthy. All are nominated for awards.

– Ivan Ivanovich, what is your worst impression from this business trip?

“It’s hard that people there have learned to kill each other with unprecedented cruelty and mercilessness.” We even have a peculiar syndrome: don’t walk on the grass. In Moscow, when there was an opportunity to walk on the grass, everyone, without saying a word, walked on the asphalt. In Chechnya you can easily fall into a mine. I opened the door - a mine exploded overhead, on a tripwire. There was a case: as soon as we entered the house, the click of a mine on the tripwire - everyone was right there in the windows, but one was wounded.

– And yet: should Nizhny Novgorod residents be afraid of terrorists from Chechnya?

– You have to be prepared for all surprises. For our part, we did everything to prevent something similar to what happened in Budennovsk.

16. Boris Nemtsov: “A logical point has been reached on the participation of Nizhny Novgorod residents in the Chechen conflict”

“I found out that I was going to Chechnya,” said B. Nemtsov, “when Yeltsin summoned me to Moscow the day before.” The idea to go to Chechnya together appeared on January 29 during a meeting with the president. Yeltsin called and said: “Get ready.” It was his personal decision; I was not on the delegation’s lists. I asked Boris Nikolayevich what he said to Naina Iosifovna in the morning when he was getting ready to fly to Chechnya. “I said that I was going to the Kremlin.” At 10:50 we were in Mozdok, 35 minutes later in the village of Pravoberezhny, Grozny district. The village was not bombed, there was no destruction there. Yandarbiev's authority in this village is zero. First we met with servicemen of the internal troops, then there was a meeting with the population, about a thousand people came. Then we boarded helicopters and flew to Severny Airport, to the 205th Brigade. There was also a meeting with the public of Chechnya. The President did not hide from the people; there were no Mosfilm decorations, as in the TV program “Dolls”.

Assessment of the personal qualities of Z. Yandarbiev from the words of the military:

“The separatists are behind him, that’s for sure.” Another thing is whether he controls all field commanders, this is unclear. There is no unity in the ranks of the separatists. Yandarbiev himself is a fairly consistent separatist, but it is possible to negotiate with him.

How do the military themselves assess the results of negotiations with the separatists and the prospects for peace:

– Near Bamut, according to generals Kvashnin and Tikhomirov, the main forces of the militants were destroyed. After the capture of Bamut, small groups of militants remained in Chechnya, unable to provide significant resistance. However, soldiers believe the gangs could be resurrected in a few months.

B. Nemtsov assessed the results of B. Yeltsin’s trip to Chechnya as follows:

“Now there is an opportunity for peace to reign.” Yeltsin told Grachev in front of me that he would tear off his head if his order to stop hostilities was not carried out. The President strictly ordered not to succumb to any provocations. Peace in Chechnya now can only be disrupted by some major terrorist acts. Now it is very important that the strong political will of the president is supported by grassroots officials. This trip greatly increased the number of Yeltsin's supporters. A logical point has also been made regarding the participation of Nizhny Novgorod residents in the Chechen crisis.

About B. Yeltsin’s behavior in Chechnya:

– I think our president is very smart. I was proud that he did that. Not a single presidential candidate went to Chechnya, not a single tsar went there.

17. Sentenced to death

The Shumilovskaya separate special-purpose brigade is one of the elite formations of the internal troops of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. For several years now, like a fire brigade, it has been transferred from one hot spot of the country to another to correct the mistakes of politicians.

On the eve of Defenders of the Fatherland Day, the brigade was visited by the representative of the President of Russia for the Nizhny Novgorod region E. Krestyaninov, the governor of the region B. Nemtsov, the vice-mayor of Nizhny Novgorod B. Dukhan, the chairman of the board of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Foundation for the Disabled of Afghanistan E. Pukhov and the chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod Committee of Soldiers' Mothers G. Lebedeva. The guests at the ceremonial meeting warmly congratulated the brigade soldiers, presented gifts, and got acquainted with the life of the unit.

Unfortunately, only half of the brigade is now at the place of permanent deployment, the rest are in Chechnya. With short interruptions, she has been there since the very beginning of the conflict. How our fellow countrymen fulfill their duty can be judged by the number of those awarded during this period: 48 soldiers and officers, about 60 more people are waiting for orders and medals. The war is not complete without casualties: over the course of a year, the brigade lost 14 people killed and about a hundred wounded, and there were also missing people. Rarely does a day not bring new sad news. On the eve of the arrival of guests to the brigade, it became known that two more soldiers were killed in Chechnya, then four received severe concussions when their armored personnel carrier was fired from grenade launchers.

The brigade commander, Colonel Yu. Mizyuta, has fought so much in recent years of peace that it’s time to start writing his memoirs. Extremists sentenced him to death in Baku, in Karabakh, and a third time in Chechnya, but he takes this calmly and continues to fulfill his duty.

A company of soldiers passed through the parade ground, boots rattling. These serve for only two months, intensively prepare for combat operations, master the new assault small arms that have just entered the brigade. At the training center, soldiers showed how they shoot. It may be a long way from Rambo, but it’s very good. Soon they will have to measure their strength with Chechen militants. I also heard this from the brigade officers:

– They taught them on their own... Why do their grenade launchers shoot so well? I taught them this a few years ago.

Many militant commanders were still their comrades not so long ago.

“Current soldiers have become much worse than a few years ago,” says Colonel Yu. Mizyuta, “physically weaker, they come in underweight.” It is rare to have graduated from high school, more and more often with 4-5 grades of education. Those who only saw buckwheat porridge in the army also come and are forced to put them on one and a half allowances.

Soldiers and officers honestly perform their duty, but often do not understand the political goals of the presence of our troops in Chechnya.

Major I. Vetrov, senior officer for psychological counteraction with the enemy, to the question: “Can he convince the Chechen that he is wrong, that Chechnya should be part of Russia?” - answered:

-Are we right? In ordinary communication and in any specific situation, you can negotiate with Chechens, but it is impossible to convince them. Many of them, however, have nostalgia for the USSR.

Lieutenant Colonel V. Seregin knows Chechen militants firsthand: he spent 8.5 months in captivity with them. The fate of this man is the plot for an entire novel. In the army for 26 years, and everywhere I had to extinguish national conflicts... He was captured in December 1994 on the border of Chechnya and Dagestan. He and Major O. Dedegkaev were captured by the militants then, hiding behind women and children; it was impossible to fight back, and the order was: “Do not open fire.”

“They kept me in a total of nine basements, transporting me from place to place,” says Lieutenant Colonel V. Seregin. “I tried to escape, knocked out one guard, grabbed his gun, but didn’t notice the second one from behind. He stunned me with a blow to the head. Then they beat me for two and a half hours, so I didn’t get up from my bunk for ten days.

Only a few months later, V. Seregin, thanks to a Chechen security guard who served in his unit in Kyrgyzstan in 1990, managed to convey the news home.

“Many times they offered to go into their service,” he says, “they promised golden years.” And I believed that they could keep their word. They tried to convert, but tactfully, unobtrusively. He refused, of course. Survived by miracle. For example, there was a day when our location was bombed by 22 Russian planes.

They were ransomed, but a month later Major O. Dedegkaev died: the conditions of captivity were too harsh.

Lieutenant Colonel V. Seregin continues to serve:

“I can’t imagine myself without the army.” I love her.

The state and the army have not done much to spare officers like V. Seregin from at least the worry of housing: for three years he and his family have been living in a dormitory.

The Russian Armed Forces now rely on such officers.

At this meeting in the brigade, the regional governor B. Nemtsov expressed his point of view on the ongoing conflict:

– There is no political will to end the war in Chechnya. We must muster the courage and sit down at the negotiating table. It's time to end the war.

18. Return of the regiment

Someone had to return from the Chechen war first; this luck fell to the 245th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 47th Tank Division of the 22nd Army.

“Lucky,” the army commander, General I. Efremov, briefly answered the question of why, this particular regiment, in pursuance of the decree of the Russian President, was the first to be withdrawn from Chechnya.

And on the military platform of the Ilyino station that day, from the very morning, you could see many smartly dressed women, officers’ wives, and children with flowers.

Finally, the locomotive's long whistle was heard, followed immediately by shouts: “They're coming! They're coming!" The orchestra struck up “Farewell of the Slavic Woman,” and a long-legged girl with a bouquet of flowers stretched sweetly, seeing the barrels of self-propelled guns on the platforms.

- And here is mine! – the young woman shouted.

-Have you seen yours? They wave with Petrov...

“Here’s your dad, wave your hand,” a beautiful woman picks up the baby.

Black-tanned men in camouflage uniforms poured onto the platform, and the strong soldier's smell mixed with the aromas of summer flowers.

While it is still impossible to hug your wife and children, the line froze in front of the podium with the slogan “Welcome to your native Nizhny Novgorod land.” The commander of the 245th motorized rifle regiment, Lieutenant Colonel S. Yudin, reports to the commander of the 22nd Army, General I. Efremov, about his arrival.

“Greetings and congratulations, I’m sincerely glad that the war is over for you,” the commander said after greeting.

Yes, the 245th Motorized Rifle had the privilege of being in the most critical and difficult sectors during operations in Chechnya since January 23, 1995. First, they fought near Prigorodny and Starye Atagi, blocked Grozny from the south, and cleared Alkhazurovo of bandits. Then, in June 1995, raids in the area of ​​Chishki and Ulus-Kert, the defeat of Dudayev’s headquarters in Vedeno - there the regiment hoisted the banner of Russia. Heated battles for Kirov-Yurt and Novye Atagi - and the regiment brilliantly completed its combat mission, hoisting another Russian banner as a sign of victory.

They were in a real war, which does not happen without losses. It happened that they were ambushed, and during a year and a half of fighting, the tracks of combat vehicles covered thousands of kilometers. The meager lines of combat reports are replete with numbers of losses of the enemy and our own, killed, wounded, burned and blown up infantry fighting vehicles and vehicles. And behind each such line are human destinies. During the year and a half of the war, the regiment lost 221 people killed, 394 wounded and 20 captured. No matter how bitter it is, the regiment returned home without its comrades, and only Allah knows how long they will languish in captivity.

Many greetings and high words were said on this day.

“You completed your task with honor, defending the unity of Russia,” said the chief of staff of the Moscow Military District, General L. Zolotov.

– Our dear Christ-loving army! – with these words the rector of the Old Fair Cathedral, Fr. Vladimir.

The Christ-loving army awkwardly held red carnations in their tired hands and eagerly awaited the end of the speeches and congratulations.

“...This terrible word is Chechnya... Protects my country from Chechen gangs...” the children recite chants hastily composed by adults.

When several names of the regiment's decorated soldiers were named, the children chorused:

– We strive to be equal to them, we just need to grow up a little... We will make the whole country proud of your glorious deeds...

Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region B. Nemtsov, congratulating the regiment on its return, said:

– With the withdrawal of the 245th regiment, the implementation of the plan for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Chechnya actually began.

– How long do you think the war in Chechnya will last? – I asked an elderly soldier standing in the ranks.

- About ten years. The Chechens are very angry. They shoot every day.

“Ten... Enough for a hundred years, if we fight like this,” said the soldier, a Suvorov miracle hero in appearance.

– Who’s stopping you from fighting well?

- The mafia is in the way. They would have demolished everything there in three days if they hadn’t interfered. And then negotiations again...

The soldiers with whom I spoke were all aged: 35, 38 years old, and the one who looked like Suvorov’s miracle hero was 44. He introduced himself:

– Nikolai Osipov, from the Ivanovo region, served his military service in the Vitebsk Airborne Division, demobilized back in 1973, and voluntarily in Chechnya for six months.

- Why did you go?

- Yes, I just decided to look at this madhouse. Almost all of our company are contract soldiers. The young ones have zero combat training, even in the Kantemirovsky division. They don't know how to disassemble the machine.

– When was the last time you were in battle?

– Near Goisky, June 4. Seventy people from the regiment were lost there and forty-five from the 324th regiment. I saw the militants killed in that battle: one Muscovite, a Belarusian, two Arabs. But the Chechens now do not fight themselves, they only pay money to mercenaries. In that battle, our infantry fighting vehicle was hit by a hand grenade launcher, three were lost...

The command “To the solemn march” sounds. Ahead of everyone with the regimental banner are Lieutenant S. Novikov and Captain F. Sergeev. The first has a brand new medal “For Courage” on his chest, the second has the Order of Courage. By the way, in total, 694 people in the regiment were nominated for awards during the fighting in Chechnya.

With a stamped step, they walked in front of the podium with the guests of the regiment's unit. One of dozens of the Russian army, the first for which the war in Chechnya, God willing, ended.

...And the baby cried bitterly in his mother’s arms: he saw his dad, but for some reason it was still impossible to kiss him. But it’s okay baby, a few more minutes and your dad will be with you. It would be good - for a long time.

19. Caucasian mothers are looking for Russian prisoners

Guest of the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Committee of Soldiers' Mothers - Lidia Bekbuzarova. She is the deputy chairman of the committee of soldiers' mothers of Ingushetia. This woman had a difficult fate: an Ingush by nationality, a sanitary doctor by profession, she lived in North Ossetia, was taken hostage, and militants took her out to be shot several times. She was saved by a miracle.

– Lydia, are you in our city on business?

– A few months ago, our committee received a letter from your governor with a request to organize the collection of a million signatures against the war in Chechnya in Ingushetia. We don’t have that many residents, and we ourselves need help. I came to ask Nizhny Novgorod residents for a car, preferably a GAZelle. Without our own vehicles, it is very difficult for our committee to travel to work for the release of Russian captured soldiers.

– Isn’t the army looking for prisoners?

– Really no, I’m just not able to do it. There is now some kind of authority to search for prisoners of war, but there are almost no results.

– What are your results?

– Our women from the committee visit Chechnya all the time. Relations with field commanders are good. We negotiate with them. Mainly for exchange. Never for ransom. During this time, 26 soldiers were exchanged. For one captured Chechen - four Russians.

– How do the militants treat our prisoners?

- Lydia, how do you manage to get into the places where they keep prisoners?

“The militants don’t even ask mothers for documents. It’s at our checkpoints that people are still shaking their nerves. Which commander will you end up with? In villages, prisoners are usually kept 3-5 people per house. We haven’t seen any seriously wounded people, but there are some guys with wounded. We have not heard about the facts of abuse of prisoners. The soldiers didn't talk about it. The last time I went to the mountain village of Bamut, four soldiers were being held there. True, this time they didn’t let us near them. In general, the Chechens have very good secrecy.

– What is the general mood of ordinary people in Chechnya?

– Everyone lives in hope for peace. They are waiting for the end of the war.

– Do you feel this end?

- Not a single day without bombing. Every now and then, from the direction of Beslan and Mozdok, planes buzz terribly, flying to Chechnya. Recently, a helicopter caught on a high-voltage line, and do you know what fell out of it? Carpets.

– Who do people blame for this war?

– Both sides, and especially the security ministers. If we wanted to, we could stop this war.

– Have you often met with our soldiers?

– The last time was with the border guards at the post. He asked me to buy him some bread. He had such a pleading look. Thin. They live in tents. I asked how they were fed, but he remained silent.

– Is it true that the militants have many mercenaries?

– I haven’t seen a single one. I know families where seven people died during the bombing. He was left alone and out of anger goes to Dudayev’s troops.

– You often met with Russian officers. What's their mood? Aren't you tired of all this?

- Everyone is angry, especially the majors for some reason. They say that they endure for a long time, but sooner or later they will take revenge on those who started this war.

– How do people in Ingushetia treat their president?

– Ruslan Aushev is simply idolized, everyone’s favorite. It's very difficult for him. There are 250 thousand refugees in Ingushetia from Chechnya alone, and 70 thousand Ingush from North Ossetia. Unemployment is 92 percent. And it’s better not to say prices.

– Is there any real help for refugees from the federal budget?

“I know for sure that the migration service doesn’t have a single ruble right now.” Tatarstan promised to help with potatoes and flour.

Lydia Bekbuzarova brought a list of soldiers of the 245th motorized rifle regiment of the 22nd Army who were captured by Dudayev’s men. There are 27 names on the list. There is not a single one from the Nizhny Novgorod region. They were captured on December 13 last year. This fact was confirmed at the headquarters of the 22nd Army. Four Russian soldiers out of thirty-one mothers were exchanged for one Chechen. The place where the prisoners are kept is also known. A local field commander reported that the soldiers were captured in response to the shelling of a peaceful demonstration. They can only be released after the bombing stops.

...The telephone at the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers rings continuously. There are several dozen mothers here every day. Here comes another call. The man, crying, said that he was informed that his son, Alexander Otdelkin from the Avtozavodsky district, was missing. Another piece of news: Dmitry Maslyakov from the Kstovsky district died on April 9. His body is in Vladikavkaz. Some official said that they would send them as soon as there were several corpses. So as not to waste the plane. Dmitry Maslyakov was called up on December 19, 1992. And already killed. Two months after being drafted, Alexey Evstifeev from the Kanavinsky district came to Chechnya and was wounded on February 23. Tumaev Sergei, a resident of Nizhny Novgorod, was mistakenly buried not at home, but in the Altai Territory. This is already the second case. The body of the resurrectionist Oleg Lukovkin has still not been found; his mother buried someone else’s son instead.

The number of Nizhny Novgorod residents killed in this war has already exceeded seventy. Soldiers are killed and maimed every day. The latest news: Borsk resident Alexey Sumatokhin was wounded near Bamut, two months after being drafted.

And how long will this continue...

Just two phrases from a conversation with G. Lebedeva, deputy. Chairman of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers:

- A twenty-year-old guy - without legs, completely drunk before his eyes... Another came from Chechnya - and now he’s going to kill a person, just like crushing a bug on the wall...

20. Russia needed him alive

On January 1, 1995, in a battle on the station square during the assault on Grozny, senior lieutenant of the medical service of the Maykop motorized rifle brigade, Alexander Gursky, was killed by a Dudayev sniper.

Until January 28, his corpse lay in the square. The father, an electrician at GAZ JSC, Vitaly Eremeevich Gursky, came to pick up the murdered man. It was decided to bury his son in the city of Uman in Ukraine, where his mother lived. Two majors from the unit where A. Gursky served gave his father 600 thousand rubles, and with this the Russian Ministry of Defense considered its duty to the parents of the killed officer fulfilled. This money was barely enough to deliver the coffin to Uman.

The Russian government, when fighting began in Chechnya, announced that compensation would be paid to the family of every Russian serviceman who died there. The parents of Senior Lieutenant A. Gursky also have the right to count on it. But, as they say, it was smooth on paper...

A. Gursky’s mother is a citizen of Ukraine. This sovereign state has nothing to do with the actions of the Russian army in Chechnya, and local officials denied A. Gursky’s mother the right to compensation. Her son died for Russia, not for Ukraine. A. Gursky’s father was also refused: although he himself lives in the Nizhny Novgorod region, his son did not live here. This is what they explained to him at the regional department of social protection. Senior Lieutenant A. Gursky, who died for Russia, to his misfortune, studied at a medical institute in Samara, there he was drafted into the army, served in Krasnodar, and from there he ended up in Chechnya. And on top of that, his parents were divorced at the time of their death and were citizens of different states.

“If my son had been killed in a fight,” writes Vitaly Eremeevich Gursky, “I would not have gone anywhere. But since the state took his life, it must pay for everything.”

The Department of Social Protection told him that travel to his son’s funeral would probably be paid only after they came and saw how he lived. “Perhaps...” What if it turns out that he lives financially well? Does this mean that you don’t have to pay for your son who died due to the fault of the state?

V. Gursky sent a letter to the regional governor and told about his misfortune. B. Nemtsov ordered that the father of the deceased Russian officer be helped. We can only hope that this will happen.

21. Shumilov brigade fights to the death

...We fought for eight hours surrounded by 10 soldiers of the Shumilovsky separate special purpose brigade. Major Gulay's group was on the third floor of one of the houses on Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya Street in Grozny. When the situation became critical, the commander decided to break through. The fighters began to jump from the third floor. They went out to their people. All with broken legs. Private Gubochkin, who was covering the group’s breakthrough, also reached his own. Also with broken legs.

This is just one of the episodes of the latest battles in Grozny, which was described by the commander of the Shumilov brigade, Colonel Yu. Mizyuta.

– When was the last time you had contact with the brigade unit in Grozny?

“Two hours ago,” answered Colonel Yu. Mizyuta, looking at his watch. – Today we lost three more killed. They just reported that on Minutka Square, the battalion’s political officer, senior lieutenant Larin from Bogorodsk, was seriously wounded in the stomach, one soldier was killed. They reported that one soldier, who was considered missing, came out to his friends.

My heart bled when Colonel Yu. Mizyuta read coded telegrams from Grozny: “During a sniper attack, Private Demidov died heroically, Private Korolev was killed on Minutka Square, and Senior Mechanic-Driver Private Kondratyev died from a through wound to the head. And there’s a sea of ​​such telegrams..."

For four days they could not remove the wounded from the fire. They tried to break through to the square with armored personnel carriers, but they immediately lost three vehicles. After being hit by grenade launchers, armored personnel carriers turned into “pressure cookers.”

Since August 5, when militants broke into Grozny, the Shumilov brigade has lost, according to the latest data, 10 people killed, 82 wounded and 9 missing. During the week of fighting, the brigade lost a total of a company. The brigade had never experienced such losses during a year and a half of deployment to Chechnya.

Among the dead were two officers, lieutenants Slavgorodsky and Frolov. The second is our fellow countryman, from the Krasnooktyabrsky district. Another fellow countryman was killed - Sergeant Igumnov, an Arzamas resident.

“There are also big losses in equipment,” said Colonel Yu. Mizyuta, about 20 percent of the standard equipment remains. Eighty percent of the remaining weapons are in need of major repairs. The machine guns are so worn out that shooting accuracy is out of the question.

“But the brigade is standing, not a single position in Grozny was given to the enemy,” Colonel Yu. Mizyuta emphasized.

How much longer can the brigade hold out...

– What about ammunition, medicine, food?

“There’s enough ammunition, ten wagons have been brought.” It’s also ok with food and medicine.

– General Lebed, having visited Chechnya, called our soldiers “little bastards.” How are your people dressed?

– According to the norm, camouflage is issued for one year, but after a month and a half it turns into tatters. Boots also burn quickly, so we allow you to wear sneakers. But no one wants to revise the norms.

– Are they going to withdraw the brigade from Chechnya? Still, a year and a half in Chechnya...

– They promised to withdraw us in February, March, then in July. I do not believe that there will be an order to withdraw the brigade from Chechnya. There are no other parts to replace it.

– But people can be replaced gradually...

- By whom? The replenishment was given such that it only needs to be fattened for six months. We have 40 percent of soldiers with a 3-5 grade education. That’s why the soldiers serve there for a year and a half, and the presidential decree to replace them is impossible to implement. Don't send boys into battle. We did replace some people, thirty percent of them are eager to return, but these are all sick people. After Chechnya, we don’t have a single healthy officer.

– What about the rehabilitation course prescribed after Chechnya?

– What kind of rehabilitation is there... If you are sent from Chechnya for treatment, then there will be no one to serve. From there, no more than ten percent return healthy.

– Comrade Colonel, do you believe that General Lebed will be able to change the situation in Chechnya?

– I don’t believe in Swan. I don’t believe in peace either. I met Maskhadov ten times, he is the bastard of bastards, you can’t trust him. Now we have only two options in Chechnya: either, closing our eyes in shame, run away from here, or raise a division of long-range bomber aviation into the air and... And fight as it should... Well, how can you fight if, for example, the Chechens find out about the redeployment of the brigade earlier, than we receive an order. One cannot help but get the impression that the higher spheres are full of traitors. Someone is directing the war there, but not the president.

– How do you feel about introducing a state of emergency in Chechnya?

“It would free our hands.” Then all power there would pass to the military, all local authorities would be forced to obey, and we would cut off all sources of money for the war. And then it comes to what it comes to: there, taps are welded on oil pipelines, oil is pumped to “moonshine” factories, then gasoline and fuel oil are sold, and that’s money for the war. During this time, the brigade burned down more than fifty such factories using flamethrowers.

The other day, Colonel Yu. Mizyuta flies to Chechnya for the umpteenth time. To his wounded brigade.

22. Bamut ballad

For private Yevgeny S., the war in Chechnya, as promised by Russian President B. Yeltsin, is over. Now he is already home, but not because he served. We are sitting with Evgeniy in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin on a bench, and he talks about his service in the army. It turned out to be short, just a few months.

“They called me up on December 13 last year,” Evgeniy began his story, “and a week later we, 120 Nizhny Novgorod residents, were already in Mozdok. We ended up in self-propelled artillery, they told me that I would be a reconnaissance rangefinder. They dressed me normally and fed me well at first. They said that we would not get to Chechnya. It all started because of fluorography...

– Have you undergone a medical examination?

- Something like that. The doctor saw that all of our breasts were blue and told the officer.

- Why blue?

– Grandfathers “slowed down” when they got tipsy. The lieutenant colonel lined us up: “Who are you?” Those who spoke were left in this unit, and me and others who remained silent were left in the arsenal. There we were immediately told that there was a direct road to Chechnya from here. It took a month to load boxes of shells at the arsenal. First, one company was sent to Chechnya, then the second, near Bamut. They said that almost all of them died. And I just got sick, streptodermatitis.

- Some kind of rare disease...

Zhenya lifted his trouser leg and showed the ulcers on his legs.

“But I was also sent with the third company.”

- Is it with such and such legs? Did they at least teach you how to shoot?

“And no one there cares whether I can shoot or not.” On April 6th, our entire company found itself near Bamut. Forty soldiers, three sergeants and four lieutenants, fresh from college. They were more afraid than we were; there were cases when officers shot themselves in order to get to the hospital. My fear went away when I saw my friend killed. The Chechens were sitting in the trenches at a distance of a sniper shot, 7-10 kilometers from us.

– So you took part in the last assault on Bamut? How did it go?

“The artillery barrage was normal, the mortars covered us, and sometimes they even hit us. The wounded were taken away by helicopter. I didn’t see any attack helicopters or tanks. The Chechens were sitting in missile silos, and the shelling was of little use. Grachev came to us, I was still on guard, although he had about 150 of his own guards. Then negotiations began with the Chechens, and Dudayev and his fighters left Bamut, they allowed him to go to Shali.

- How is Dudayev? He died much earlier, and not in Bamut?

- Yes, he didn’t die, he’s alive, he’s hiding somewhere. These are just rumors that he was killed to make it easier to hide.

– Did you have big losses during the assault on Bamut?

“Out of forty people, there are twenty-eight of us left.”

- And you, of course, shot...

- Well, of course. And I saw Chechens killed. The order there was: shoot everyone. One time, an officer ordered me to shoot at a woman with a child. I closed my eyes and fired upward. I got it from him, but at least the people were saved and had time to hide.

– You had cool officers...

– There were some very good ones. Various officers. One sent a soldier to the village for “grass,” but he himself was already in the woods.

– For “weed”... Did many soldiers use drugs?

- Whoever is a fool smokes. Those who wanted to stay alive - no. I tried it once and it immediately went crazy. And there was a lot of vodka there, they brought it with food, they gave it to us every day.

– Zhenya, what happened after the capture of Bamut?

– I’m standing on duty at night. Two figures are coming. I say: “Stop! I’ll shoot!” They answered me: “We’ll shoot you, puppy, ourselves.” I pulled the shutter and fired the burst upward. These two lay down, swearing terribly, it felt like they were drunk... I kept them until the morning, and when dawn broke, I saw a major and a lieutenant colonel from the Airborne Forces. The breeder came and removed me from my post. Then a friend came to me: “They are looking for you.” I come to the commander, I see these two. “Come here, puppy,” and one of them will hit me in the forehead with the butt. I'm ticking... An armored personnel carrier is catching up with me. The senior lieutenant shouts to me: “Jump on the armor!” I had three options: lynching, tribunal or escape. The senior lieutenant advised the third. He took me in an armored personnel carrier to Prokhladny, which is 150 kilometers from Bamut.

- Why exactly there?

- And we drove wherever our eyes looked. I didn’t even know what to do then. In Prokhladny, somewhere on the outskirts, my temperature rose from a shot in the back, I fell near some house. Grandma comes: “Are you a soldier? Escaped? - “I had to.” She took me and her son into the house. They fed and changed clothes. I rested for a while and decided to go. They gave me food for a week, and I went.

- But there are checkpoints and patrols all around...

“I walked along the railway, mostly at night. The railway workers gave us food. Although it happened that I didn’t eat anything for 2-3 days, I only drank water from wells.

– What if you had to meet people?

“Everyone was understanding.” Especially grandmothers. Once a patrol stopped me, and I was walking with a man, he stood up and said that I was his son. On the way I met about fifty people like me. They walked alone and in groups. There were fifteen people in one group.

- And where did you come?

– First to Rostov. He swam across the Don, holding clothes in his hand. It took a week and a half to get to Rostov, almost a thousand kilometers. Then to Kamensk, another 200 kilometers to some station, and from there on passing trains to Moscow. From Kursky station to Vladimir - and home.

End of introductory fragment.

“We will take Grozny in two hours with one parachute regiment.”

P. Grachev

“Unhappy is the country that needs heroes.”

B. Brecht

In this essay about the beginning of the first Chechen war, about the storming of Grozny, there will be no real names and surnames. Not only for reasons of safety of the heroes of the essay, who continue to serve, but also because their military fate is a drop in the ocean, and these drops are similar. They reflect the face of real war, because “the truth does not suffer because someone does not recognize it,” as Schiller said.

The assault, confusion, lack of ammunition and food are only the visible part of the iceberg. But then for the participants in the war there were years of non-recognition, years of oblivion. Many did not wear awards received in that war, which is still not called a war - they strive to call it the streamlined word “campaign”. "But the truth does not suffer..."

They fought, were captured, died... There was friendship, there was betrayal, there was heroism, but there was also cowardice. There was a place for everything in the war. But many of those who left part of their lives in the war did not find a place in the peaceful life of their Motherland, on whose orders they shed blood and died...

They got older, but remained the same at heart. No almighty time could erase those terrible, tragic days from memory...

STORM!

December 1994.

There were guns in a dirty pit, the earth shook from a continuous series of volleys, shriveled and fell off in lumps from the walls of the pit. They hit Grozny.

Conscript private Alexey Sharov, like a machine, just had time to fire shells. From the flickering, roaring and acrid burning, he lost track of time, did not think about anything, as if all his life he had only been carrying cool and smooth shells. The palms burned from their heaviness and metallic coldness.

His fingers did not bend or obey, and Alexey did not feel the string sticking to the streamlined body of the projectile. Because of it, the projectile got stuck in the gun barrel. Didn't push further and didn't pull back out. In a desperate struggle with this vile rope, the commander found Alexei. The sentence was short:

- For a disabled gun to the front line!

Alexey threw his duffel bag and the kirzachi connected to each other into the hatch of the BMD and climbed after him, broad-shouldered, thick, in trampled felt boots, almost black from dampness. He did not know any of his current neighbors in the BMD landing compartment.

On the BMD they rushed into the thick of it. They beat both their own people and the “spirits”. There was shouting and screaming all around. There was complete confusion.

The fighters rushed to the nearest four-story building. They ran, jumping over corpses. The faces of some of the dead were covered with scarves, scraps of fabric... This is how the locals designated their own.

Eight people, along with Alexey, settled on the first floor. They fired from machine guns, crouching at the window sill and sticking their AK hand out the window. Such shooting was of little use. But the fighters shot eight horns in an instant.

On this street the fighting died down. It beat in deafening waves somewhere in front and to the sides. Fiery and explosive, this ocean either carried away the sounds of battle, then returned them on a new wave and with renewed vigor.

There were four survivors on the first floor of the house. One of the dead, torn to pieces by the explosion of his own grenade, lay in the corner - he dropped the “efka” at his feet.

Then the Ural arrived, and the soldiers began throwing corpses into it from the roadside. Those with their faces covered were left behind - the locals would bury their own.

Alexey has almost gotten used to corpses, if you can get used to it at all. When he and his artillery division were still in the pit and servicing the gun, corpses were also brought there, and then for the first time he had to load them into turntables...

The commander gathered the remaining soldiers, and they moved further down the street, closer to the Marines. We occupied another house. The soldiers fled to their rooms, taking advantage of the calm. They were looking for shoes and clean clothes. They were eaten alive by linen lice. Alexey found himself some sneakers and began to put them on, but the commander immediately attacked him:

- What are you doing?! Where are your kirzachi?

“We stayed in the BAM,” Alexey muttered under his breath. - But I can’t walk in felt boots. Sand got stuck in them, they became size forty-two, and I have forty-five. Try it yourself! My legs are all bleeding, and these foot wraps are... kilometer long...

The wave of battle grew, became thicker and more intense, and approached the building of the former bakery, where Alexey and other fighters were located.

The artillery hit its own. There was no connection. In order to somehow fix it and transmit the coordinates, the commander drove the radio operator into a tree under bullets. There the radio started working. The coordinates were transmitted, but the artillery, stationed twelve kilometers from the city, still hit its own...

Three days later we moved deeper into the city. The battle either died down or flared up with renewed vigor. But the shooting and the roar of explosions almost did not stop. The unexpected silence did not bring relief and calm; on the contrary, it instilled anxiety.

We had to spend the night in one of the houses with several entrances.

The soldiers found mattresses and pillows. The corpses were taken out of the corridors and rooms into the street.

At night, the commander ordered Alexei to go with him to the neighboring entrances to check the posts. Fragments of plaster, brick, and fragments of bottles and ampoules crunched underfoot.

- Stop! Who goes? – A soldier’s head poked out from under the stairs.

There were only two fighters on the first floor.

-Where is the third one? – asked the commander.

- He's wandering upstairs. “Looking for something,” the soldier shrugged. Alexey and the commander climbed the stairs.

On the top floor, a rustling sound was heard in one of the apartments. The commander opened the first door and immediately slammed it, jumping to the side. Alexey also heard a characteristic click. A blinding light came out of the crack under the door along with the explosion, and immediately it became deafeningly dark and quiet, only the rustling of the plaster crumbling from the ceiling.

“I was scared of the steps,” the commander guessed. “He pulled out the pin, and then he saw us and didn’t throw the grenade...

Days passed. Alexei was completely indifferent whether the city was taken or not. He's already used to it. Most conscripts learned to fight in battle, and for each lesson the war exacted an expensive price. There was no time to take the “Two Hundreds” out of the city.

At the beginning of the offensive, the soldiers were still somehow fed, but then the food supply became very bad. They cooked in pots all kinds of animals that they could catch in the city.

One day he was standing at his post, and his comrades brought in an old horse that had been killed by a shell. The legs were cut off from the carcass and began to be boiled. Alexei barely managed to stand the allotted four hours and rushed to the boiler. He sank his teeth into a piece, as if he had bitten a wooden table, and almost broke his teeth. Threw his leg. I noticed that to the side the fighters were conjuring something, sawing something. It turned out that in the nearby muddy swamp they found some turtles. They sawed the shells into ashtrays, and tried to boil the turtles themselves. Alexey tried this cloudy brew and almost vomited...

Alexey was familiar with hunger from Pskov, where he took a course as a young fighter. In fifty days of KMB, he lost several tens of kilograms. The soldiers exchanged their guards badge for a loaf of bread and picked mushrooms in the forest. Of the twelve conscripts, Alexei's fellow countrymen, ten escaped. Alexey was admitted to the hospital with dystrophy, treated and sent to Chechnya...

Then the food in Grozny became a little better. One day, Alexei, Seryoga and Dimka were sent to the Ural to go to the warehouse for provisions.

We left late. We loaded up at the warehouse and had to spend the night here - there was a curfew. At night, Dimka, without saying anything to his comrades, exhausted from hunger, went to the warehouse. The door there was open.

Alexey heard the shot and called Dimka, but he did not respond. Wounded in the thigh by sentries from the warehouse, bleeding, he lay on the other side of the fence, so Alexey could not see him. There, under the fence, Dimka died.

In the morning, Alexey and Sergey returned to their own, puzzling over where Dimka had gone. On the way they ran into an ambush. They were fired at from a grenade launcher. The wounded Seryoga still managed to drive over the saving wall of the house and lost consciousness.

Clean-up operations were carried out in the city. Militants were hiding in the ruins and in empty, surviving houses. In a private house in the suburbs, empty like many houses, the soldiers found three two-hundred-liter barrels of honey. They took with them as much as they could. And when they returned to the house where they were based, they told other soldiers about the sweet find. They also went for honey and did not return.

A few hours later, together with the commander, we went to look for them. Alexey remembered the street and the lattice fence well. On the edge of the fence hung the severed head of one of the missing. And two more soldiers were never found.

Alexei and other soldiers were eighteen to nineteen years old in 1994...

The Chechens ran towards the police. They screamed and cried.

- We're being robbed! Help!

Next, two soldiers, about nineteen years old, came out of their house with cans of compote in their hands. And they heard the terrible:

- Hands up!

Frightened, they raised their hands. The cans broke and canned peaches and apples scattered across the asphalt. Dust adhered to the fruit.

Half an hour later, the soldiers were sitting in the commandant’s office in front of a police colonel, who was over forty and had a wife and adult daughter at home. The marauding soldiers cried, smearing tears down their cheeks.

- We wanted to eat...

The colonel looked at them and thought, why does he need all this? Under orders to catch marauders - these guys, and in the evening on an uncomfortable bed, listen to rustling sounds and are afraid that a grenade will be thrown into the tent, in retaliation, as their own soldiers promised.

One day the colonel received information that there were corpses in the field behind the school. The bodies of both our soldiers and militants. All over the field. The driver got out of the car, saw all this, staggered and whispered:

“Guys, that’s it, that’s it, let’s get out of here,” he sat down in the back seat and frantically began to look for the steering wheel in order to leave as quickly as possible...

They called an investigation team and sent the bodies for examination, so that later they could be buried humanely.

OUR FLAGS OVER THE CITY

Russian and St. Andrew's flags above the roof of the destroyed presidential palace. By the end of the assault on Grozny, there was no longer any strength left to rejoice at anything. Of course, the army men suffered the most, but the internal troops also took a fair beating during the battles for the city.

The flags, as the apogee of what was happening, fluttered over the city. Maybe for some, the flag is a piece of fabric, but the soldiers and officers behind the flag saw their comrades, dead and wounded, those who did not see the banners fluttering in the smoky glow over the defeated palace.

The commander of the internal troops and his soldiers were ordered to mine the approaches to the banners so that the “spirits” would not pull them down at night. It took too many days, blood and sweat to install them.

Starley and her fighters mined the upper floors of Dudayev's palace, and for greater safety they blew up the staircases. The flags were safe.

The commander set another task - to blow up all the passages and loopholes that led to the basement. And the basement is two or three floors going underground. Starley was about to poke his head in there, but didn’t go far and decided not to risk people - it was dark, and most likely every piece of it was mined.

And in this darkness a candle light suddenly flashed. Someone was walking along the underground corridor towards the sappers. The soldiers took up defensive positions. A few seconds later the underground resident was captured.

It turned out that he lived under the palace for almost a whole month, hiding there from bombing. This Chechen offered to lead the sappers along a safe path deep into the basement and promised to show them where the ammunition, weapons and food supplies were located.

But the elder cautiously refused, and handed the grimy Chechen over to the police. You never know where this “Susanin” will lead!

At the site of the palace's power plant there was a crater from an aerial bomb. In the crumbling walls one could see passages leading to the basements of the palace.

“We need to plug this loophole,” the elder decided.

His gaze fell on a huge unexploded shell... Lifting it turned out to be difficult. The four of us couldn't handle it, so they called in more fighters.

Starley placed the shell in the crater, placed an overhead charge, but, apparently, he did not put enough explosives - the shell did not explode. Then he increased the charge, and the senior’s subordinates collected all the unexploded ammunition around and surrounded the shell with them. They hid behind the wall.

The explosion was so strong that slabs and plaster fell from the roof of the palace.

“Well, now everything is in order,” the elder rubbed his hands.

But when he, shaking himself off, came out of the shelter, he saw that instead of the previous crater, there was another gaping, two times larger than the first. And the underground passages opened up even more thoroughly. I had to sweat, weaving a web of tripwires in the huge crater that had formed, so that no one else would come out of the palace basements.

...The destroyed city seemed to be entirely occupied by troops. Roadblocks, army tents, heavy equipment. During the day, the city barely noticeably pulsed with hidden life, and at night it began to pound furiously with random bursts of machine gun fire and swell with explosions. The city was suffering from war.

But the Russian and St. Andrew’s flags rose and did not fall over Grozny.

Exhausted soldiers and officers looked at these two flags, and each remembered their own - the battles, the mangled bodies of friends, which sometimes were impossible to bury, their fear. They remembered that their mothers were turning gray when they were young, and imagined the eyes of their wives, who were looking for a familiar face in television reports from the war...

But they took Grozny! Without joy, with complete devastation from losses, with disappointment and with a painful premonition that this war will be eternal.

However, not one of them, even in his worst dream, could imagine that very soon there would be a Treaty of Khasavyurt, that Grozny would be surrendered to the bandits and betrayed not only those who went on the assault - both living and fallen, but also those Russian residents of Grozny, who will be left without protection and whom the militants will then slaughter entire families.

Those Chechens who fought against the militants will also be left without protection. Many of them will be forced to go over to the side of the bandits in order to survive.

But they took Grozny, only to storm again five years later. They did not discuss the expediency of the orders, again and again they lost friends, several times shell-shocked, wounded, burned, they returned to the war to save inexperienced conscripts from certain death. And they saved, often at the cost of their own lives...

Low bow to the living and eternal memory to those who fell in that war.

© Valery Kiselev, 2018

ISBN 978-5-4490-7215-3

Created in the intellectual publishing system Ridero

First campaign

1. Moscow on the day the Chechen war began

At seven o'clock in the morning on December 12, 1994, there was still not a soul on Red Square, nor on the surrounding streets. Only at the Mausoleum there was a pitifully stray poodle. The impression was that the population had abandoned the city, and the enemy army had not yet entered it. The first passerby I met was busy posting leaflets on the walls of houses.

The leaflet invited women to a protest rally, which was to take place near VDNKh. Protests against the outbreak of war in Chechnya. By 12 o'clock, when the rally began, Moscow finally woke up. There are already several thousand people on the square in front of VDNKh, red banners are waving. What would a rally in Moscow be without Viktor Anpilov – “the agitator, the loudmouth, the leader.”

“England... America... The bourgeoisie...” Anpilov drowns out Tanechka Bulanova’s loud cry from the nearest “lump.” Two men make their way through the crowd with an imported television, just bought at an exhibition somewhere. Some old women with pots and spoons in their hands. This is with the shelves of Moscow stores bursting with abundance. The Ostankino Needle peeks timidly out of the clouds. The leaflet said that after the rally there would be a march to Ostankino.

V. Anpilov gives the word to the “national heroin” of the USSR - Sazha Umalatova. She just came from Chechnya, where her father died under the tracks of Russian tanks. The crowd gets even more excited.

Deacon Viktor Pichuzhkin takes the floor. So harmless in appearance, and his surname is more than modest, but how much energy this man has! At one time he would have been a commissar in the Chapaev division instead of Furmanov, and not a deacon in our days. If the soldiers had not allowed Vasily Ivanovich to die then, how folklore would have been enriched after his commissarship!

– Long live Soviet power! – the deacon exclaims from the bottom of his heart.

After the speech of the representative of Ukraine, a call is heard over the square:

– Glory to socialist Ukraine!

V. Anpilov invites those gathered to quickly move to Pushkinskaya Square. Several metro changes along with crowds of people, mostly lively grandmothers. Anpilov has already perched himself on the pedestal of the monument to Pushkin. There are also groups of people from “Russia’s Choice”:

- This is our place! Go to your Manezhnaya!

V. Boxer builds a chain of determined men so that the “Reds” do not take their place, but in vain, the crowd of Anpilovites keeps arriving.

The Democrats move a little to the side, tricolor flags and slogans appear: “Boris, wake up!”, “Boris, this time you are wrong!”, “The military framed the president.” Portraits of B. Yeltsin and A. Sakharov, the slogan of the Democratic Union: “Independence for Chechnya!” The “Reds” have a slogan: “Freedom for the Chechen people!” There are several groups from the Chechen diaspora, all wearing new sheepskin coats, but standing silently.

The situation was heating up every minute.

- Shoot, shoot and shoot! – a man in a shabby coat growls towards the “reds”.

“I remember you, damn democrat, I’ll hang you first!” – shouts a woman with a portrait of Lenin.

Two old women grappled:

– It’s all your fault, communists!

– It’s you, Democrats, who ruined everything!

Both probably fulfilled the same five-year plans, and they receive the same pensions.

“I’m not a citizen, but a gentleman,” a man from the “New Russians” mutters through clenched teeth when some woman asked him to step aside.

– I defended the White House twice! - some old man shouts.

- What an old fool! - the lively granny answers him.

The Democrats are trying in vain to organize their rally here, but it is impossible to shout over Anpilov, and they retreat to the steps of the Rossiya cinema. Many of the crowd move back and forth to listen to speakers from both camps. It turns out that both sides are against sending troops into Chechnya, and both sides condemn the president.

- Let's unite, if we are together now!

- With the communists? Never!

- Guy-dar! Guy-dar! - the crowd chants. Yegor Timurovich appeared, saying something into three megaphones at once, but Anpilov’s throat was like tinned. S. Yushenkov, K. Borovoy, and several other State Duma deputies speak one after another. Everyone condemns the entry of troops into Chechnya.

Valeria Novodvorskaya appeared, in a luxurious fur coat, with a group of gray-haired boys. And she is also against the president’s decision: “The introduction of troops into Chechnya is the collapse of democracy in Russia!”

– I want to go on vacation to the Caucasus! - some woman yells, about 6-7 pounds in weight.

The “Reds”, having heard the speech of Gaidar and Novodvorskaya, are pressing harder and harder and are now pushing the Democratic rally away from the area in front of the cinema. It was a miracle that there were no contractions, the passions were so inflamed.

“I ask the police major,” says Novodvorskaya, “why don’t you disperse the communists, they are having an unauthorized rally.” So he answers me: “We are afraid of them!”

They carefully take her down the stairs, supporting her by the elbows.

“Let’s leave, otherwise they’ll start shouting about the Judeo-Masonic conspiracy again,” she says. Her supporters are fussing around her: “Lera! Lera! Hurry up to the car!”

The Anpilovites gain the upper hand, accompanying the victory with various exclamations. One group sang “Get up, branded with a curse...”, another “Get up, huge country...”, but also some went to the forest, some for firewood. For another hour or two, passions were in full swing, people were proving to each other that it was impossible to send troops into Chechnya.

And Alexander Sergeevich stood and sadly looked at his descendants...