SIEGE OF A MILITARY TOWN

ARMY

In the village of Dorozhnoye, which is 30 kilometers from Kaliningrad, there is a super-secret military garrison. Of course, I do not give out the secret, because everyone knows about it anyway: in Moscow they are proud, but in NATO, probably, they are afraid. There is a reason...

In the village of Dorozhnoye, which is 30 kilometers from Kaliningrad, there is a super-secret military garrison. Of course, I do not give out the secret, because everyone knows about it anyway: in Moscow they are proud, but in NATO, probably, they are afraid. There is a reason: a whole division, which is armed with the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system (SAM), capable of hitting any aircraft at an altitude of 25 meters to 27 km. Not a joke, especially considering that a high-explosive fragmentation warhead can be replaced with a nuclear one.

However, if you get to this place and walk around, you get the impression that it is not the potential enemy, but the Russian Ministry of Defense, who should be afraid of such modern weapons, first of all. Domestic military power is guarded here ... by one soldier with a bayonet-knife.

And this is not a secret either. Reserve Major Yuri Grozmani, the author of an article unpleasant for the military in the Kaliningrad New Wheels newspaper, told me this:

- Until my dismissal in the late nineties, I was the deputy commander of this division. In Soviet times, everything was as it should be: the rockets were guarded by submachine gunners, guards, divorce, signaling. And in the early 90s, the reduction of troops began. And they reduced it to such an extent that it became impossible to ensure the guard duty according to the charter - there were not enough personnel. Even from the small number of soldiers that remained, it was difficult to choose those who could be trusted with weapons.

Out of harm's way, the authorities ordered the machine guns to be handed over to the warehouse. The guardhouses were liquidated. But the S-300 air defense systems remained. So we had to organize the protection of missiles by patrolmen with bayonet-knives. It got to the point of absurdity. There was a period in the mid-90s when there was only one soldier in the division. Now there are about twenty conscripts in the division, but this is still not enough to organize guard duty.

Actually, it's amazing. So many people are called, but you can’t scrape together to guard. Either everyone is building generals' dachas, or the generals have already built everything for themselves and there is no incentive for mental activity at all.

I went to the Road. At the checkpoint - a conscript soldier. One. Without weapons and even without a bayonet-knife. Although the missiles are behind the fence, if you wish, you can jump over it easily and without proper sports training. The closed military camp itself is across the road. However, it is closed only formally - it is not fenced in anything, it is not provided with any protection.

Through the gates of the checkpoint, a clean parade ground was visible, behind it were two cows that made up the divisional farm. Soldiers get fresh milk. And in general, as the duty officer said, the food here is good.

There is one building for the entire division. It has a headquarters, a barracks for soldiers, and a dining room.

But the conversation with the commander did not work. Lieutenant Colonel Zayats said that he had no right to explain anything to journalists without the permission of the higher command. Indeed, it is still a strategic object. But I managed to communicate with the missile officers. Outside part.

Learned the following. The so-called closed military town is home to 20 family members of active officers and ensigns, and about the same number of family members of military pensioners. And more than 100 people who have nothing to do with the army at all. How they settled here is actually the subject of investigation by military prosecutors and special officers. Especially when you consider that some of the residents, according to officers and a local district police officer (police lieutenant, one for several settlements), are very prone to crime.

Actually, such a neighborhood is the only thing that allows you to keep the garrison on high alert. In April, May and July, the town was attacked by criminal gangs. Garages belonging to officers were broken into, cars were stolen, and those that could not be stolen were smashed with improvised means.

The regional police department is 50 km away, in the city of Zelenogradsk, but they have enough of their own there: not up to rapid response teams and detectives with dogs. Therefore, the division commander, Lieutenant Colonel Gennady Zayats, tried to investigate the robbery himself.

The investigation was stopped at the very beginning: a certain Konstantin Basyuk (who has nothing to do with the Armed Forces) who lives in a closed military town, beat the lieutenant colonel, and the officer had to heal his injuries permanently, in a military hospital.

The raids on the town continued, and the officers had to agree on collective defense: they installed lighting at their own expense (the military pensioners living in the garrison also invested money). And they began to complain. As a result, publications appeared in the press.

Unfortunately, reading people work in the local military prosecutor's office - they “reacted”. The battalion commander, lieutenant colonel Gennady Zayats, and his chief, the commander of the missile brigade, colonel Yuri Popov, received prosecutorial warnings for failing to properly protect military facilities (?!). And to a certain Konstantin Basyuk, not to mention the lazy policemen, the prosecutors did not write anything - because it is not their area of ​​​​responsibility. Pride in our Armed Forces probably doesn't allow talking to your civilian colleagues.

A warning is, of course, a serious document. Therefore, I recommend that the military prosecutor's office not stop there and (at least a carbon copy) write a similar paper to the Ministry of Defense. After all, the Hare did not reduce itself, this is - firstly. And secondly, you can’t hang a warning as a talisman on the gate behind which missile systems are stored. For example, a certain Konstantin Basyuk wanted to spit on him.

Of course, it is inconvenient to write to Moscow - what will people think? Well then, one could sternly hint to the commander of the Baltic Fleet, Admiral Vladimir Valuev. After all, it is in his subordination that all military personnel and military units located on the territory of the Kaliningrad region.

True, as the officers say, the commander of the fleet, for all the nonsense with which they turn to him, likes to repeat one phrase: "I am a submariner." Like, I was taught to command submarines, and not to breed guards.

But there are many such problematic garrisons, as in Dorozhny, on the Baltic Fleet. And if the highest military commanders do not pay attention to this, then the guards will be bred by a certain Konstantin Basyuk or, for example, Shamil Basayev. With such an organization of the service of the troops, it can be considered a miracle that this has not yet happened.