| According to the main version, soldiers of the special battalion “Vostok” fell victim to a domestic accident Today in Chechnya the first funeral will be held for the victims of a powerful explosion that on Tuesday evening completely destroyed the barracks of the Vostok special battalion in the Chechen village of Kurchaloy. As a result of the emergency, 13 people died - 12 contract soldiers and a woman cook. Another 35 people, four of whom are in serious condition, were hospitalized. These are the heaviest losses of federal forces in Chechnya over the past year. But yesterday morning investigators announced that these losses were by no means combat losses. According to the main version put forward by experts after examining the ruins of the barracks, the cause of the tragedy was a domestic gas explosion in the kitchen. And the President of Chechnya, Alu Alkhanov, immediately placed part of the responsibility for the death of the battalion soldiers on the local gas service, which, as it turned out, never inspected the premises. Meanwhile, the separatists themselves immediately chalked up the emergency in Kurchaloy to their own account, reporting that they had carried out another major sabotage.
The GRU special forces battalion "Vostok" is considered one of the best military special forces in Chechnya today. It was formed in 2003 from ethnic Chechens and became part of the 42nd motorized rifle division of the Russian Ministry of Defense. The battalion is commanded by the former “Brigadier General of Ichkeria”, and now lieutenant colonel of the Russian army, Hero of Russia Sulim Yamadayev. It was thanks to the four Yamadayev brothers that in the fall of 1999 Gudermes surrendered to federal forces without firing a single shot. For this, the separatists declared the Yamadayev clan traitors to Ichkeria, and the Sharia court sentenced them to death. (In March 2003, the militants managed to get to one of the brothers, Dzhabrail Yamadayev, he was blown up in his house by a planted mine.) The staffing level of Vostok is not officially disclosed. According to some reports, about 5 thousand soldiers serve in the battalion. The Vostok battalion took part in many important operations against militants, and the separatists have repeatedly declared their intention to take revenge on every traitor.
According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Chechnya, an explosion in a two-story barracks building in Kurchaloi, where the 4th company of the Vostok battalion was stationed, occurred at about 20.30 on Tuesday. The building was completely destroyed, and the ruins were immediately engulfed in fire. The fire was localized only an hour later. At first, rescuers cleared the rubble manually, then the concrete slabs began to be pulled away by cranes. About 200 people and 20 pieces of equipment worked at the scene of the emergency. During the night, the bodies of the dead and wounded were pulled out from under the rubble of the barracks. In total, at the time of the explosion, as it was later established, there were 43 people in the barracks. 12 were removed from the basement without signs of life. (Representatives of the investigation team later said that the explosion occurred in the basement of the building where the kitchen was located.) Another wounded soldier died Wednesday morning in the hospital. According to the latest data, the company commander, three warrant officers, a female cook and private contract soldiers were killed.
By 11 a.m., rescuers completed clearing the rubble. About 30 specialists from the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, the military prosecutor's office of the Joint Group of Forces in the North Caucasus, the FSB, and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, who were part of the investigation team, worked at the scene until evening yesterday. Almost immediately, investigators voiced two main versions of the tragedy - a domestic gas explosion and the detonation of explosives. But after explosives experts discovered three propane gas cylinders at the scene of the emergency, including one that burst along a weld seam, the version of a gas explosion became the main one.
According to preliminary data, due to a technical malfunction of the gas water heater, a gas leak occurred in the basement of the building. In addition, experts believe that the explosion was intensified by the detonation of one of the three gas cylinders that were in the dining room. As a result, the prosecutor's office yesterday opened a criminal case specifically for “violation of fire safety rules” and “negligence.”
According to the republic's prosecutor Valery Kuznetsov, the ill-fated cylinders found under the rubble of the barracks were sent for examination yesterday, and it has already been established where they were purchased. “It is possible that one of them could have expired and when it was brought from the cold into a warm room, the gas expanded, the cylinder could not withstand the pressure drop and a leak or even rupture occurred along the seam,” the prosecutor noted.
The Vostok fighters who lived in this barracks also confirmed that at least three propane cylinders were delivered to them a few days ago. After the gas pipeline accident in Chechnya, which occurred on January 27, the main gas was often turned off. The doctors also noted that the victims did not have any shrapnel wounds associated with the detonation of landmines. Mostly the soldiers suffered fractures and burns. Despite this, a message from the “headquarters of the Military Committee of the GKO-Majlisul Shura of the ChRI” was posted on the website of the Chechen militants, which took responsibility for the incident.
The version of the explosion of domestic gas was also supported by the President of Chechnya Alu Alkhanov and acting President of Chechnya who visited the scene of the tragedy. the head of the government of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who interrupted his Moscow business trip and flew to the republic. Mr. Alkhanov, without waiting for the final conclusions of the investigation, has already accused employees of local gas services of carelessness. “I am one hundred percent sure that the district gas services have never visited and looked at how the gas systems work there. We did not find a single note in this journal,” said Mr. Alkhanov. The republic's leadership also promised to provide temporary housing to the servicemen of the Vostok battalion and pay 50 thousand rubles to the families of the dead and injured military personnel. Tatiana GRITSENKO |
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