Vladimir Shamanov was returned to the Ministry of Defense
Return to duty. General Vladimir Shamanov, who seemed to have been forgotten, suddenly emerged from the shadows. And How! On March 26, 2007, he was received by US President George W. Bush, which caused a real scandal. The human rights organization Human Rights Watch protested, accusing the general of war crimes. In November, Shamanov was already the head of the Main Directorate for Combat Training and Service of Troops. The case is unique: a general, officially dismissed from the Armed Forces three years ago, is suddenly returned to service. Just like that, they don’t return to the Ministry of Defense
During the election battle for the governor's post in Ulyanovsk, Vladimir Shamanov said that when he was already enrolled in the Tashkent Higher Command School in 1974, his mother came to take the oath. And the future cadet suddenly burst into tears: “Mom, the army is not for me, take it home!”
In 1976, his training company was transferred to the Ryazan Higher Airborne School, from which Shamanov graduated in 1978.
First stars
Apocrypha says: for the successful command of the company, by the decision of the commander of the Airborne Forces, Shamanov was appointed commander of the battalion - bypassing the post of chief of staff. Another source clarified: during the training of the command staff of the Airborne Forces, the then commander of the 76th division Georgy Shpak liked the efficient captain Vladimir Shamanov. From a battalion commander, it’s a stone’s throw to an academic bench: in 1986, Vladimir Shamanov entered the Frunze Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1989.
The service of the future general flowed smoothly, without growth delays. One of The New Times' interlocutors who knew Shamanov said: a good combatant, but such progress without failures is an indicator of friendship with political workers and special officers. And he gave the example of Aleksey Lebed, the younger brother of Alexander Lebed: he got into a fight with “political workers” and went to Abakan instead of the academy, although he served in Afghanistan (but after the “exile” he still ended up in the academy).
While Shamanov was studying and raising his political maturity, the Afghan war ended, for which he never got a ticket (although the officers themselves often submitted reports to the Airborne Forces with a request to be sent to Afghanistan).
After the academy, Shamanov's service was just as measured: in 1990, he was appointed to Chisinau as deputy commander ("castle") of the 300th parachute regiment of the 98th airborne division. Shamanov's regimental commander was Alexander Kolmakov (now First Deputy Minister of Defense); The divisional commander is a legendary figure at all: Hero of the Soviet Union, General Valery Vostrotin. But in this division, our hero obviously did not work out, he did not stay there. Why didn't Vostrotin like the "castle" of the 300th regiment? It is possible that the polished track record and the glamor of the characteristics alerted. And even the “castle” itself was taken out by offensive officer conversations over a glass of tea: while we were pulling the strap in Bagram, some were sitting in the rear. In 1991, Shamanov was transferred to Ganja (Azerbaijan) to a classmate at the academy, Valery Shcherbak, commander of the 104th Airborne Division. There Shamanov was given command of the 328th Airborne Regiment.
First blood
The paratroopers of the 104th "pacified" then Karabakh - our hero has the first experience of sweeps. Until its withdrawal in 1993, the division "played" on the Azerbaijani side. Alexander Cherkasov from Memorial said that he encountered Shamanov's subordinates in June 1992: in the Mardakert region, paratroopers broke open the Armenian defense for the Azerbaijanis. A number of division officers then flaunted with Azerbaijani orders. A similar order on the chest can be seen in Shamanov's ceremonial photographs.
In March 1995, Shamanov, chief of staff of the 7th Airborne Division, went to Chechnya at the head of a task force. In April - the first real battle in his life. Leafing through the folder of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, we also find the first mention of Shamanov in the central press: on June 8, 1995, he will be named in the general list of commanders whose soldiers took Vedeno. On June 20, 1995, General Gennady Troshev, commander of the Defense Ministry grouping in Chechnya, will talk about him in the same Red Star: he escaped from the hospital to his unit, a hero ... Many people talk about the personal courage and even recklessness of our hero, usually adding: business of the commander in hand-to-hand walk. But maybe Vladimir Anatolyevich was making up for lost time in Afghanistan?
First case
In addition to glorious cases, there were ... criminal ones: The Chief Military Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal case No. 29/00/003495. One of the main defendants is Vladimir Shamanov. On October 24, 1995, he led the operation at the Ingush airport Sleptsovsk: he landed troops with the support of combat helicopters - there was information that militants were there. There were no militants, and the military opened fire on people: three civilians were wounded, one was killed, riddled with cars along the way and robbed a cafe. The investigation dragged out the case until the State Duma decreed an amnesty. In the meantime, Shamanov received a major general, rose to a deputy, and then acting. MoD group commander.
The then style of the general's work characterizes the next episode very vividly. Major Vyacheslav Izmailov in the summer of 1996 helped journalists get into the village of Gekhi, which had been defeated by troops, the general called the officer and said in front of witnesses: “I will put you in a hole and bury you.” At the same time, Izmailov was privately informed: the general gave the order to liquidate him.
At the end of July 1996, Shamanov left for the Academy of the General Staff. Hard study did not prevent our hero from writing and in 1997 defending his Ph.D.
big blood
In July 1999, Shamanov took over the 58th Army, then Dagestan, Chechnya. But in the media, they began to promote the commander long before real successes: “So the Caucasus Mountains saw the birth of a new Russian commander ... Then they will call ... General Suvorov of our days,” Red Star choked with delight 1 . The general's PR chronologically coincided with the promotion of the future successor: the new leader Putin and his generals.
The Ermolovs, however, did not get along very well with each other. Gennady Troshev has an eloquent description of how Shamanov shouted at the commander of the North Caucasian Military District, Colonel-General Viktor Kazantsev: “It’s not for you to teach me!”, Switching to obscene language. Shamanov did not stand on ceremony at all with his subordinates. Which, again, is confirmed by Troshev: “I was internally jarred when I heard the offense of officers against Vladimir Anatolyevich: he could easily insult, humiliate, swear, and in public.”
The tactics of the generals also differed: the Western group, Troshev noted, "smashes everything in its path", regardless of the losses among the military personnel. And the population... From Anna Politkovskaya's interview with Shamanov: "A militant's wife?" - Bandit. - "Is the child of a bandit also a bandit?" - "Same". And his entourage loved to repeat: you can win only by rolling the whole of Chechnya together with the population into asphalt.
The effect of an exploding bomb was then produced by Shamanov's words that an attempt to stop the troops could lead to a civil war. The Kremlin reacted by awarding Shamanov the title of Hero of Russia, and in January the country heard the famous words already acting. president: such generals are not scattered. In February, Shamanov was already a lieutenant general.
Shamanov's career was crippled by the case of Colonel Budanov 2 . It became clear that Shamanov's service in the Caucasus was coming to an end. The generals of Putin's career did their job, the Kremlin no longer needed heroes-atamans.
Of particular note is the conflict with Akhmat Kadyrov, whom Moscow appointed head of Chechnya (the shaman officers casually called him a “gangster muzzle”). However, another question is what served as the main stumbling block: rejection of the ex-separatist or a fight with his clan for control over the "black" oil business...
Shaman-style privatization
The transfer of the general to the Ulyanovsk governors suited many: the Kremlin removed the poorly controlled military leader from the army, but gave him the province to feed. The general got a chance to keep himself in the federal elite. The choice of the Ulyanovsk region is almost ideal - it is not a pity: the state of the region after 15 years of Yury Goryachev's rule was so terrifying that it seemed that no general could spoil anything. The federal district (Privolzhsky) is also convenient: if the others were led by generals with whom Shamanov would certainly grapple, then there was a civilian Sergei Kiriyenko. Which the hero of the war did not see point-blank.
At the beginning of the election campaign, the regional press was surprisingly polite towards Shamanov. In Ulyanovsk Pravda, for example, in October-December 2000 there was only one "anti-Shaman" material, and even that was correct. That did not prevent the winner from changing editors. The unofficial press subsequently also got it, some of the journalists even received corrective work. Otherwise, nothing new: Shamanov tried to manage the region almost like a regiment. Sometimes it worked, more often it didn't. In Shamanov's "Varangian" team, former political workers and "Mikhalkovites" played the first violin - this is how the locals nicknamed officials associated with the family of Nikita Mikhalkov (Albert Bakov, son-in-law of Nikita Sergeyevich, was vice-governor for two years). "Mikhalkovtsy" were very interested in Ulyanovsk enterprises, therefore, the regional prosecutor's office is still dealing with privatization in a shamanic way. Something else is more important: the economic situation in the region has not changed for the better during the shaman's rule. In 2004, Shamanov's rating fell to 3%. The general responded to proposals to voluntarily leave in the way he knew how and was used to. For example, together with the guards, he brutally beat his former friend, businessman Khamza Yambaev. At the same time, he promised to hang the Jews on an aspen... In the same autumn, the Kremlin decided it was time to take them to Moscow.
New rise
For two years Shamanov was quiet and mute. In 2006, he was transferred from Prime Minister Fradkov's assistant to Defense Minister's adviser. And suddenly, in February 2007, Shamanov spoke. For example, about missile defense: he spoke about options for a forceful response to American initiatives. The speeches are not of an adviser on military pensioners, but of a minister! And after all, not only was Shamanov not reprimanded, but for several months Russian official agencies referred to his words with enviable constancy. So, not a gag - got the go-ahead.
In June, a new outbreak of activity: Shamanov compared the United States to Nazi Germany and described how American installations in Eastern Europe "automatically become targets for destruction." Then speeches about the CFE Treaty. And in early November, the general gave a detailed plan-prospect of the situation in the Caucasus: the war will continue, since it is connected with the election campaign in ... the United States. A few days later, Shamanov was already at the Ministry of Defense.
It is clear that the general, who had been polished in the governor's offices and government corridors, was not returned to service in order to butt heads with him again. According to our experts, the way it is carried along the steps of the ministerial hierarchy, even bringing it to the international level in advance, testifies to only one thing: it is a long-range shot. A possible prize is the chair of the Minister of Defense, maybe through an intermediate post of Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, maybe through another. And that there are two stars on shoulder straps - this is fixable. They even give approximate dates for the special operation: April-June 2008 is the most troubled time when the ruler needs to retain control over the military at any cost.
On October 29, 1999, in the area of responsibility of General Shamanov, a column of thousands of refugees was covered by attack aircraft. The European Court of Human Rights recognized this as a war crime. In December 1999, shamanists "frolic" in the village of Alkhan-Yurt, plundering it and killing dozens of residents. In the village of Katyr-Yurt (besides the militants there were thousands of refugees), according to Memorial, they beat them with everything possible, up to vacuum ammunition, hundreds of dead. The European Court also recognized it as a war crime.
From the decision of the European Court of Human Rights of 21.01.2003 in the case of Isaeva, Yusupova and Bazaeva v. Russia (Nos. 57947/00, 57948/00, 57949/00) ... All three complaints relate to the events of October 29, 1999, when a convoy of vehicles with civilians heading from Grozny to Ingushetia... was detained near the checkpoint "Kavkaz-1" on the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia and then attacked from the air by aircraft of the federal armed forces... ...International Committee The Red Cross claimed ... that on October 29, a convoy of vehicles, among which were five Red Cross vehicles, came under rocket attack from the air. All five vehicles were clearly marked and had a red cross on the roof of the truck. As a result of the attack, 25 civilians were killed and about 70 were injured. (The Kavkaz-1 checkpoint belonged to the area of responsibility of General Shamanov, controlled there by Shamanov's subordinate Anatoly Khrulev, now commander of the 58th Army. - The New Times.)
From the decision of the European Court of Human Rights of 24.02.2005 in the case of Isayeva v. Russia (no. 57950/00) ... The court concluded that the military operation in Katyr-Yurt was not spontaneous. ...Major General Nedobitko said that the use of artillery and aviation was envisaged as an option and was discussed with Major General Shamanov. ... In the operational plan discussed with Major General Vladimir Shamanov on the evening of February 3, 2000, the presence of refugees was mentioned. ... The population of Katyr-Yurt during the described events ranged from 18 to 25 thousand people. There is no evidence that ... any serious calculations were made to evacuate the civilian population ... witnesses stated that they were not released through the checkpoint ... and that the soldiers referred to the order of General Shamanov.
____________________________ 1 August 28, 1999. in 1999. 2 Shamanov's subordinate. Accused of kidnapping, rape and murder of a Chechen girl. Sentenced to 10 years in a strict regime colony.
