Vranya and Pressing machine

Almost all journalists investigating the death of the Pskov paratroopers were faced with threats and attacks

The funeral of military personnel in the Pskov cemeteries in crosses and rabute caused a stormy resonance, as they became the first more or less real confirmation of rumors that the Russian armed forces were interfering in the military conflict in Ukraine. It is still unknown how Leonid Kichatkin, Alexander Osipov, Alexey Karpenko and Anton Korolenko (he was buried in the Voronezh region) died, just as their connection with the 76th Airborne Forces division was not officially confirmed. But one thing is completely clear: the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is not able to give a convincing explanation of what is happening, and the media independent attempts to find out the circumstances of the death of paratroopers come across an aggressive opposition to unknown, but consolidated forces.

Video of the incident: one of the attackers lay on the hood of the car.

On the evening of August 29, unknown people attacked the publisher of the Pskov Province, the policy of Leo Schlosberg . The deputy of the Pskov Regional Assembly ended up in a hospital with a concussion and a short -term loss of memory, fortunately, nothing threatens his life. Lev Markovich is sure that the attack is related to the investigation of the circumstances of the death and funeral of military personnel. This physical reprisal was the last chord in a whole series of threats that the journalists who worked last week in Pskov faced.

"There are a lot of swamps under Pskov ..."

On Tuesday, August 26, the correspondents of the rain television channel Vladimir Romensky and the socio-political portal “Russian Planet” Ilya Vasyunin called one of the apartment buildings in the Central District of Pskov. In the family they were going to visit, according to their information, there were just recently a funeral. “We knew about the address where we went, it was likely that relatives of a person who is buried in Pskov and who are directly related to the Airborne Forces can probably live there,” Vladimir says. The name of this person was known to them.

Journalists also knew the names of his wife and mother, so "completely calmly called the intercom." Having guessed from the second time the name of the woman who answered the call, they entered the entrance, climbed and called the apartment. However, there they were met by two men, one older, the second younger who refused to talk about the deceased.

"We said:" We came here to talk about him. " “We can’t tell you anything,” says Vladimir Romensky.

Vladimir and Ilya lingered on the street near the house, while they called up with colleagues and agreed on a meeting. No more than ten minutes passed, two young people dressed in ordinary black training suits approached them. Their appearance did not promise hospitality.

“They said that we ask too many questions that there are a lot of swamps under Pskov, we will not be found in case of something and that we have to go to the station, buy tickets for the nearest 6-hour train to Moscow. They said that they would personally control our departure, ”the correspondent of Rain retells the conversation.

• Who were they similar to? Just some gopniks or more like special forces?

• They did not look like strong guys from the landing. Probably at 30 years. I have not seen any identification marks, tattoos.

Just in case, “they know where our bodies later look for, if that,” the journalists recorded what happened on Twitter, called the Echo of Moscow and went on the air of the rain. And they went to a meeting with colleagues, whom we agreed in advance.

"It was not necessary for them to call their eyes"

Vladimir and Ilya gathered to meet with Nina Petlyanova , the Novaya Gazeta Soborrome in the North -West, and Irina Tumakova , the Fontanka.ru correspondent. A day earlier, they visited the Baby - a little later than our colleagues Aleksey Semenov and Leo Schlosberg - and found people in military uniforms there, emitting the Earth around fresh graves, and a man with marigles of the major. He admitted two strangers in black that yesterday he buried his son.

Video of the incident: The second striker held the hood, covering his face.

Nina Petlyanova described this meeting in her report, published in Novaya Gazeta on August 27.

“We stand in front of the second fresh grave. On the plate the inscription: “Alexander Sergeevich Osipov. 12/15/1993 - 08/20/2014 ".

“The boys are completely,” breaks out when looking at the dates.

“It’s my son here, the only one, I served in my regiment, I myself sent him there,” the major says.

I held out my hand:

- Nina.

He shook her:

- Sergey.

- Father?

He nodded.

- Will we remember?

On the table nearby there are two open bottles of vodka, bread, tomatoes. We drank without clinking. "

Major Sergei Osipov was not aware of what he was saying with media representatives. That's why he talked. And that's why the meeting in the Baby did without excesses.

In the new Pskov cemetery in the crosses, everything went not so smoothly.

In the morning of August 26, Nina Petlyanova and Irina Tumakova went to the crosses, where, according to their information, the next military funeral took place. They really found the wake, friends and relatives around the fresh grave. And they made a mistake - took out a camera.

“My colleague and I made a mistake, it was not necessary to behave like that in the cemetery, because still people bury loved ones, they didn’t have to call their eyes,” Irina comments. - They can be understood that in this situation they did not want to see journalists. Indeed, they were not affectionate with us, but their rudeness is clear. ”

The federal media wrote about this incident that "the girls were taken to the forest." In fact, there was no forest, says the Fontanka.ru correspondent: when they saw the equipment, the participants in the funeral entered the journalists to the minibus, who was just about to take people off the cemetery, they took the photographs and deleted all the photos, and also carefully studied the documents, says Irina.

• They demanded that we passports and certificates, photographed them. But since neither my certificate nor my passport is a state secret, I see nothing terrible here at all.

• That is, it does not scare you that your passport data have been in the hands of strangers?

• Listen, your passport data receives much more dangerous creatures, such as credit agents! Somewhere in the middle of the road we were landed, and finally, one of them said that if he sees a photograph of the grave of their loved one somewhere, then he will get us out of the ground. Well, you understand that for a journalist this is the most reliable way to make him take a picture. So we were going to return there in the evening to take a picture.

"I did nothing bad, the oil was poured"

On the evening of August 26, this return to the crosses “to take a picture” in itself became a large media recovery-due to the aggressive attack of unknown people.

Vladimir and Ilya decided to draw up a company to colleagues from St. Petersburg. They met and four of them went to crosses by Irina’s personal car.

In the crosses, journalists did not have time to make a single frame.

“We drove into the cemetery itself, drove a little further, got up and at that moment saw that they were driving in the cemetery, or two cars. After some time, we decided to stop, wait for what would happen next, ”says Vladimir Romensky.

On the dashboard "Voltsvagen" just a light bulb caught fire, that it is time to change the oil. Irina found that this is a good reason, opened the hood, took a bottle of butter and went to mess with the motor. But literally a minute later, colleagues said that someone was running to them.

“At first I did not take it seriously, because I did not feel at all that there could be some kind of threat. Moreover, I did not do anything bad, the oil was poured, ”says Irina.

“Never in my life I could assume such a wild situation that we encountered,” comments Nina Petlyanova. - We did not even have time to do anything. We wanted to fill the oil into the car, it ended, took out the canister with butter and at that time we saw two large young people running on us. Who clearly had unkind intentions. "

• They did not ask you anything, did you say nothing?

• You know, we realized that we will not ask us about anything. Because when we got into the car and tried to leave, they began to block the road. We were not allowed to leave simply elementary. They grabbed the hood, as a result, one rushed to the hood, of course, we did not press it, we stopped.

What happened next, everyone could see in a video instantly replicated "rain" and all Internet media. When it was not possible to turn around and leave the sand quickly, and the attackers took the car “into the ticks”, going around the front and behind, Romensky took out his video camera and began to shoot, “because I thought it was better.” Two men in the hood stretched to the middle of the face throw stones into the car, try to knock out glasses, beat along the tires with some object. Journalists, closed inside, shout: “We are leaving! We are already leaving! "

• It seemed to me that they ran professionally, - Irina later recalled. - Their faces were completely gopnic.

• There was no form or identification marks on them?

• No, they were in some kind of such completely gopnic clothes like sports pants.

Then, at the next gas station, where the car stopped, breaking out of the cemetery, seven holes were counted in the tires - five in one wheel and two in the other. A certain dexterity is required in order to break through the tires seven times in a matter of moments ... They again went on the air, called friends. They called the police.

The capital’s colleagues evaluate the work of the Pskov police perfectly.

“I would like to express my gratitude to your police, the Investigative Committee and the prosecutor’s office, how quickly and efficiently they work,” says Novaya Gazeta correspondent.

“It seemed to me that the entire Pskov police worked that evening for us,” the Fontanka correspondent comments. - It was flawless. If the St. Petersburg police at one time was looking for my bicycle, then it would have been found. ”

“They took up the case very at some point responsibly,” the rain also confirms the colleague from the Rain television channel.

It is worth emphasizing that the Pskov Province collected all the comments separately. That is, colleagues did not assent to each other, and each expressed his opinion. The editors of the PG sincerely hopes that the high -assessment of the work of the Pskov police will be confirmed by the results of the investigation.

"Get out, otherwise we will call the older"

The Pskov police and editor-in-chief of the Internet Gazeta Sergey Kovalchenko praised the Pskov police. He and the photojournalist Sergey Zorin had a chance to talk with the “self -defense cemetery” on the same day, only in the bastards.

“We approached the graves. Finding them is very simple, because the cemetery is small and they are separate, these three graves. So, they approached, accordingly, they took out a camera, began to take pictures, and at that time two young people left Nissan Qashqai with Pskov numbers, approached us. You need to understand the situation: without twenty -seven, evening, a cemetery, and no one. Here we are - and they. Strong guys: "Why are you shooting here?" - The next day, Sergei Kovalchenko told on the air of the Echo of Moscow in St. Petersburg.

“Strong guys” took the editorial camera and demanded to delete all the photos from it. At the same time, the guards called someone to get further instructions. Seeing such a thing, Kovalchenko called all familiar journalists and the Pskov police. The police arrived quickly and took the Telegraph employees to write a statement.

The next morning, the correspondent of the Reuters news agency Denis Pinchuk was explained with the self -defense cemetery. The episode is described in his publication of August 28 "Fresh graves under Pskov left questions about the paratroopers of the Russian Federation in Ukraine":

“It turned out to be difficult to approach graves on Wednesday - a jeep blocked the cemetery road, from which two well -built shaven -headed young people jumped out in sportswear.

“Turn from here! Here is a forbidden zone, and you will not go there, ”one of them demanded. “Get out, otherwise we’ll call the elder and go with him.”

The police officers on duty at the cemetery promised to take young people to the department to clarify the personality, and Reiter demanded an explanatory about the purpose of the visit, after which they allowed to go to the burial.

“We'll be on duty here so that there are no such fights that were yesterday,” the Reuters said the police captain, who asked not to name his name. ”

Reuters on August 27 managed to take pictures of graves. These photos are at the disposal of the Pskov province. They are practically no different from those that we made ourselves two days earlier. With one exception: on the crosses there are no more tablets with names.

"The military confirmed all suspicions with their brainless actions"

It can be understood that friends and relatives do not want outsiders to trample near their graves. No need to think that the journalists themselves do not understand this.

Video of the incident: In the hand of one of the attackers is a sharp metal object, which he pierced the tires 7 times.

“Collecting other people's tears is unpleasant. When you shoot other people's graves, in whatever circumstances this happens, it does not become better on your soul. And if it were not for the social significance of this episode, I would never have done such a work, ”Vladimir Romensky admits.

“I am doing my job,” says Nina Petlyanova. - My work is to find out what is happening with the Pskov division in Ukraine, who is not alive, who is not, why the command of the division does not give any information to relatives - they have been on the nerves for two weeks. They just feel sorry for them ... "

The police do not yet comment on the progress of the investigation. But not one of the interlocutors of the Pskov Province doubted that behind the "self -defense cemetery" are people related to the Airborne Forces.

“You know, even if we had doubts about the fact that this was connected with Ukraine, the military confirmed all suspicions with their brainless actions,” says the Fontanka correspondent. - Because if this is not Ukraine, then why is it easier to explain that this all means? Everything else can have some reasonable explanation. ”

Officials, despite the noise in the press, despite the rumors, cruising in the country, have not yet made any comment. When the Fontanka and Novaya Gazeta correspondents arrived at the division headquarters to ask their questions, they simply put them out, Irina said: “We waited a long time, finally the sergeant who met us, apologizing for us, said that he received an instructions from the division through the adjutant to drive us out. I clarified: exactly to drive out? Yes, he said to be expelled. "

Such persistent silence of the state can have only two explanations: either the state does not give a damn about the anxiety of its people, who saw the ghost of the war in front of itself, or the situation is such that it is scary to talk about it.

Recall, by the way, that Russia officially does not recognize its participation in hostilities in Ukraine. Moreover, on Sunday, the presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Novorossia should remain in Ukraine, and Kyiv should determine its status.

"They say that everything was scary there"

The story of the attack itself is not worth the big noise, Irina Tumakova believes: "These are not the things that journalists should be proud of." But there are moments that do not allow to shut up the circumstances in which journalistic investigations are underway. This applies to the families of military personnel, primarily the wives of contractors who conducted their husbands on the next business trip and lost contact with them.

“This story has surfaced, everything already understands everything, all the evidence has already appeared, reasonable people are clear. It is already known that there are women who cry who need information, ”says the St. Petersburg journalist. -Well, give them some kind of information, well, modern something. What do they do instead? They take up arms about journalists. They begin to do everything so that this information does not spill further. It is clear that she will still spill out, it is impossible to stop it, but they turned on this of their usual lies and pressure. They put pressure on women, they threaten women, and some threats are completely wild. I talked with women, they say that threats are: if you open your mouth, then your husband will not return to you at all. Well, how can you say that? You can ask for this: do you specifically lie down or do you know exactly that he will not return? Then tell me about it. ”

On August 28, the story of Olga Alekseeva , the wife of the contractor of the 76th division, the mother of two children, was released in Novaya Gazeta. She says that she knew all the dead paratroopers. She told how her husband unexpectedly broke on the next business trip: “The husband was on the exercises in the plugs, was supposed to return on Saturday, August 16. They flew on Thursday at night, he managed to leave something in his backpack and said: "We are flying away." He came at 4 in the morning, and at 6 in the morning they already had a fee. Then he called the 16th, said: "We arrived, it is very hot here." And all. Where "here" - did not say. They were only told that they fly to the Rostov region. ”

Since then, Olga’s husband did not get in touch: “We were told that they took phones there. That is, not even phones, but batteries pulled out. This was told by the boy alone, he is in the hospital now, his legs interrupted. He also said that my Ruslan, when all this happened, dragged him to the car. And he does not remember anything else. Another hand was torn off. They say that everything was scary there. And the causes of death are written to them - a heart attack, a stroke. "

After the article came out, the car arrived behind Olga and took her with a two -year -old child to meet with the military command. An involuntary witness of this was the correspondent of the Pskov province. “After that, we did not talk to her, but only wrote off by the SS,” says Irina. - The only thing I asked: "They intimidated you?" She says: "You just do not intimidate me."

Наконец в пятницу вечером, 29 августа, кто-то напал на Льва Шлосберга, в чьем блоге были впервые обнародованы фотографии могил Леонида Кичаткина и Александра Осипова.

Нам очень не хочется верить, что к этому нападению причастны те же, кто стоит за самообороной кладбищ.

Дежурства на кладбищах еще можно понять. А вот чего нельзя понять, так это безымянные могилы служивших по контракту солдат, погребенных без почестей, без памяти, без достойных надгробий в атмосфере мёртвого молчания…

«Псковская губерния» будет следить за ходом расследования нападений на журналистов.