Going to fulfill the "sacred war"

What people who came to say goodbye to the dead artists of the ensemble Alexandrov said. Report "Medusa"

On the night of December 25, the Tu-154 of the Russian Ministry of Defense crashed, flying to Syria. There were 92 people on board, among them 64 participants in the Aleksandrov song and dance ensemble (main team of the collective), employees of three Russian television channels (the first, NTV and Stars) and the Executive Director of the Fair Assistance Foundation Elizabeth Glinka. In the afternoon, people began to come to the building in Moscow, where the Aleksandrov ensemble was located. "Medusa" says what they said.

The building where the Aleksandrov military ensemble is located is located in the farm lane in the Moscow district of Khamovniki, near the main buildings of the Ministry of Defense - the General Staff, the combined arms academy. The artists of the ensemble are often here at rehearsals. Residents of the nearest houses call the building "House of Alexandrov."

Opposite the building, a square was broken, in which a monument to Alexander Alexandrov, the founder of the ensemble, was erected, he headed it from 1928 to 1946. From 10 a.m. employees of the ensemble, fans of artists, politics began to approach the monument and to the entrance. Almost immediately, about 30 wipers and two tractors arrived. They began to urgently remove snow in the square.

Most of the artists refused to communicate with reporters. One of the employees of the ensemble told Medusa that all youth had died in the plane crash. The man said that on December 25, an urgent meeting will be held in the ensemble.

Employees of Channel Channel arrived to shoot their plot - their colleagues correspondent Dmitry Runkov, operator Vadim Denisov and sound operator Alexander Soydov died in a plane crash. In a conversation between themselves, they discussed that they "did not want to fly on an urgent business trip." “Why so fast? No one knew before, what would the ensemble fly? - said one of the employees of Channel One. “In general, they said: *****, again Syria, they will also throw there on some helicopter.” “What do you think happened?” Asked the man standing nearby. “Either they looked on them, or they put explosives at the airport,” one of them said.

An employee of the ensemble, who refused to name his name, told Medusa that the artists should have performed in Aleppo in the coming days. On December 23, Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu announced the liberation of the city from militants. The Ministry of Defense had already held a concert in Syria in May 2016, when the Syrian army, with the support of Russia, liberated Palmyra (in December 2016, the militants of the Islamic State again captured the city). Sources of Novaya Gazeta reported that in Aleppo they threw a battalion formed from the natives of Chechnya; He had to prepare the site for the performance.

The grandson of the founder of the ensemble, Evgeny Alexandrov, who came to the building, told Medusa that the team was supposed to support Russian soldiers in Syria, the artists were going to perform classical works, including the “Holy War”, which was written by Alexandrov. “This is a terrible grief, the whole color of the ensemble died. He said. - All the best soloists, the whole choir. Grandfather said: "There is no choir - there is no ensemble." The same number of artists remained in Moscow, but the best died. They flew a lot around the world, and crashed in Russia. ”

Several women laid red carnations at the door of the building and lit candles. “My son was engaged in childhood here, so I know everyone who died, spun braids and make -ups to many girls,” Medusa told Medusa one of them, Natalia.

Two reanimobiles drove up to the building, the doctors quickly went inside. Several men in military uniform went after them.

Following them, Metropolitan Ilarion, head of the department of external church relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, drove up to the “Alexandrov’s House”. When he got out of the car, the guard opened the trunk and handed him a basket of flowers. The metropolitan read the memorial prayer and laid flowers. After that, he said that he knew the deceased head of the ensemble Valery Khalilov well. “We traveled several cities of America with them,” said the Metropolitan. - On board was still the father of the singing temple, where I served today. There we lifted a prayer for the repose of all those who died aboard this aircraft. Elizabeth Glinka, whom we all knew as Dr. Lisa, did a lot of good, she is in our hearts. ”

The man in a jacket is not in size and with a shabby plastic bag knelt before entering the Aleksandrov’s House. "Valera?" Khalilov? Alive? He asked the journalists and cried. He introduced himself as an anatoly company and said that he worked as deputy head of the ensemble from 1982 to 1993. “I traveled with him half a world, earlier, 250 people went,” he said.

By noon, the head of the Moscow Department of Culture, Alexander Kibovsky, approached the “Aleksandrov’s House”. “In recent years, they have been called the Kremlin’s singing weapons on tour. So it was. Yes, they performed in uniform, fulfilled their duty, and could not refuse if they were sent to fly to perform, most of them performed in hot spots more than once, ”he said and added that“ such groups have not been made for years, for decades, we lost such a wonderful team for decades. ”

Daniil Turovsky

Moscow