View of the Army from the "Vankin Bug"

The Ministry of Defense did not want to pay 4 million rubles to soldiers, fired in exercises. Now 6 million will pay

Three conscripts were injured from shelling by combat shells during the studies of the West-2017 exercises in the Leningrad Region. They demanded compensation from the Ministry of Defense - 6 million rubles. The military authorities did not want to pay. In September of this year, the Luga City Court of the Leningrad region recognized the correctness of the soldier, but reduced the amount to 4 million. The guys were satisfied, because they were not really counting on it.

“The military’s position was originally not to pay anything at all,” the lawyer of the plaintiffs, the representative of the Zone Law, Dmitry Gerasimov, comments on the situation. - Like, they paid insurance - that's all. And the fact that the insurance did not cover and half of the funds spent on treatment did not worry representatives of the Ministry of Defense.

The legal department of the Western Military District (ZHO) did not agree with the position of the Luga court and appealed the decision to the regional court.

The tragedy occurred in September 2017 during joint teachings of the troops of the Western Military District and the military units of the Republic of Belarus. A week before the beginning, September 7, training began before the maneuvers. It included artillery shooting at the educational and tactical training ground in the Luzhsky district of the Leningrad region.

In the statement of claim, what happened is described like this. A landfill called Vankin Bugor is a gentle slope, six tanks stood at its top, simulation teams were based. One consisted of four soldiers: Andrei Wittich, Dmitry Pakhmutov, Arsen Osmanov and Vadim Gabidullin. They had to undermine pre -laid shells to portray that the enemy had opened fire. At the same time, the real tanks should have shot combat.

Denis Gorevshev, a participant in the Syrian campaign, was responsible for the imitation of the imitation of the engineering forces of the 6th Army. He made a mistake: in the area of ​​the imitation team, he did not put a distinctive sign - the red flag. The location of the flags was to be controlled by the head of the 33rd combined arms artillery training ground (there is Vankin Bugor) Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Krivoshein. But he did not control. The tanks took a position and opened fire on command.

Their commanders did not know that in the tanks there were not imitation, but living people in front of the tanks.

They were not visible, there were no red flags that were supposed to warn tankers. The fragmentation-fugus 125-mm shell exploded ten meters from the soldiers in the trench.

Andrei Wittich died on the spot, the fragment struck him the iliac artery and the guy bleeding. Dmitry Pakhmutov torn his left hand, his internal organs were damaged and the spine was broken. Arsen Osmanov received fractures of the ribs, the lung was damaged. Valim Gabidullin received a fracture of the cervical vertebra, multiple wounds and fractures.

A criminal case was instituted under an article on criminal negligence, and on February 26, 2019, the Great Garrian Garrison Military Court found Gerelyyshev and Krivoshein guilty. Everyone was sentenced to three years conditionally without a ban on the profession. That is, they remained in the service.

The injured soldiers did not demand compensation from the lieutenant colonels. At first they were simply treated, they were not up to the vessels. And then the Ministry of Defense filed a lawsuit for 6 million rubles.

“The lawsuit is not to the officers, but to the ministry, more logical,” said the lawyer Gerasimov. - The court of Veliky Novgorod admitted that as a result of the criminal negligence of Gerelyyshev and Krivoshein, the plaintiffs caused serious bodily harm and moral suffering. At the time of the damage, all the persons involved were in the service, followed the instructions and the provisions of the Ministry of Defense. Moreover, they ended up there at the call of the Ministry of Defense. So to whom, if not the ministry, to be responsible for the oversight of officers? Young people were serious injuries, they need rehabilitation, and money needs it.

Representatives of the Ministry of Defense believed that the department should not be responsible for the military. But on September 5 of this year, we repeat, the Luga City Court partially satisfied the lawsuit of young people, putting them in a total of 4 million rubles. The plaintiffs were satisfied.

“My right hand does not rise upward now,” said Vadim Gabidullin “New”. “They told me to restore it anymore.” And how if all the muscles were torn there? But I am satisfied with the court decision.

I asked for 2 million, they will give a million. I will spend on payment of a mortgage "Odinok". Though there will be its own housing.

Dmitry Pakhmutov, who suffered the most, was also not going to appeal the decision. He believes that the court took into account not only the shelling itself, but also the heavy, painful treatment.

“The left hand was cut off to me in the hospital in the meadow, then they transported to the Military Medical Academy,” Pakhmutov said. -Due to the fragmentation wound of the abdomen, there were problems with urination. They put a catheter to withdraw urine, but he gave inflammation. I could not urinate on my own, they put a catheter again, called a urologist, he prescribed pills, they did not help, called the urologist again, he had to wait a week. While waiting, I often lost consciousness, tried to go to the toilet and damaged two seams on my hand. Bleeding has opened.

Urgently Pakhmutov operated on the hand. All the time, while he was in the hospital, he could neither turn, nor just to lie comfortably: there were 5 medical tubes in his body. He slept, he says, 2-3 hours a day and then only under strong painkillers. When he was allowed to get up, he began to learn to go again. There was no strength to stay on his feet for more than two minutes. Due to the fracture of the vertebra in the body, three tubes remained.

In December 2017, Pakhmutov was discharged from the hospital of the Military Medical Academy. In the extract, the doctors indicated that for further treatment and prosthetics it is necessary to contact the Vishnevsky Clinical Hospital. Pakhmutov appeared with all confirming documents, but they answered him:

“You are no longer a military man, which means that you cannot be treated with us. There is no money for prosthetics. ”

The Committee of Soldiers' Mothers helped Dmitry get to the operation in the Burdenko hospital, but the noticeable effect did not work out. Only after an expensive 8-hour operation in a paid medical center, a young man can normally use the toilet. He demanded 3 million rubles from the Ministry of Defense, the Luga court decided to pay him 2.5 million, and Dmitry was glad that he would at least receive so much.

Representatives of the Ministry of Defense did not appear in court. They only sent a notification by mail that they did not recognize the claim, and did not intend to pay the department. Having received a decision not in their favor, they appealed him to the regional court. Now the MO should be young people exactly those amounts that they asked initially: three million rubles to Dmitry Pakhmutov, two million Vadim Gabidullin, one million Arsen Osmanov.

“My clients were not going to appeal the September decision,” says lawyer Gerasimov. - But having learned that the Ministry of Defense appealed, we decided to file the oncoming person, in which we demanded to satisfy the lawsuit in full.

The plaintiffs were supported by the prosecutor's office. As a result, the Leningrad Regional Court sided with the victims. The representative of the Ministry of Defense, who this time decided to participate in court, said that the Western Military District would give a cassation. According to the lawyer Gerasimov, this will not affect the sum of the claim. But it can delay time payments. That is, for some time the Ministry of Defense is tormented by the soldiers.