20 years ago, the Pskov paratroopers were surrounded and died in the Mountains of Chechnya. The father of one of them conducted his own investigation

In the history of the Second Chechen, this tragedy entered as “a fight at a height of 776”. Within two days, the 6th and small part of the 4th company of the 76th Airborne Forces division-only 90 people-fought with many times superior enemy forces. According to various sources, there were up to 2.5 thousand people. The paratroopers tried to occupy a strategic height in the area of ​​the village of Ulus-Kert. As a result, the height was occupied by militants. In the battle, 71 soldiers and 13 officers of the Russian army were killed. Such victims could have been avoided. On the anniversary of the tragedy, we recall the material of our Sobkor Yuri Moiseenko about the investigation of the death of the paratrooper of the 6th company Alexei Vorobyov and his comrades, conducted by his father and journalists of the Novaya with today's introduction of our observer Major Izmailov

Preface
Then the tragedies in Chechnya fell on one another. On the same days when the sixth company of the Pskov paratroopers died, a column of Sergiev Posad riot police was shot in Grozny, abandoned by the militants. 22 riot police and 30 were killed. This happened on March 2, 2000, not in the mountains near Ulus-Kert, where the paratroopers were killed, and in the Promoslovsky district of Grozny, where the Podolsk riot police served at the 53rd checkpoint, which was replaced by the Russian flag in the front car, the Sergiev Posad rocker rode.

The leaders of the Ministry of the Interior lunned that the militants shot fighters, but they themselves believed in this lies and ... dealt with local residents. The Novaya Gazeta journalist Minat Abdullaev, who was not dead, pregnant with her child’s only, is also for her daughter, also 20 years old, too, is also 20 years old.

Then it was possible not without the help of the Security Committee on the Security of the State Duma and the Prosecutor General’s Office to find out the truth: the column of the Sergiev Posad riot police was shot by their fellow countrymen from the Moscow Region-the Podolsk riot police.

No, there was no betrayal, but there were panic and cowardice, carelessness and indifference to people, the complete incompetence of the military and police chiefs in military affairs. This is related to the tragedy near Ulus-Kele, where in the summer the fogs, with the tragedy in the old crafts of the Terrible, where it is clear in winter.

And one more, perhaps the main thing: there was no replacement for the incompetent large bosses, because the competent bosses did not go to Chechnya for war. So there was no competition incompetent ... in patriotism.

Major Izmailov , participant in Afghan and Chechen tragedies.

PS , which led 2.5 thousand militants near Ulus-Kilet Hattab, I can neither confirm nor refute. But as for Basayev, it is doubtful. He, I think, had not yet recovered from a torn leg.

"What the 6th company did not know about"

The paratrooper officer conducts his own investigation: how his son and fellow soldiers of his son died. 2001 material

We will talk about the sixth company of the 104th parachute-long regiment of the 76th (Pskov) airborne division, the anniversary of the death of which was marked with large pump. There is no doubt that the paratroopers who took an unequal battle with the superior enemy forces at the entrance to the Argun Gorge earned all the honors released by the official power. And, nevertheless, no matter what the bosses say in large uniforms, everyone who was sitting at the memorial table said again and again: was everything done to save the guys?

When the gun salute thundered, and Mark Evtyukhov, his friend Major Alexander Zapavalov, fell to the foot of the captaces of the battalion commander, their combat comrades lay fresh flowers, the same question was asked General Polkatikov Georgy Shpak. Then, in the cemetery in the eagles, under Pskov, the commander of the Airborne Forces gave the following answer: "We analyzed the battle and came to the conclusion: everything ..."

The reserve colonel, the father of the Hero of Russia Alexei Vorobyov Vladimir Nikolaevich Vorobyov is convinced that this is not so. The personnel officer, he interviewed the colleagues of Alexei, other paratroopers who visited this unfortunate gorge, and on the basis of all the meetings made Gorky for himself: such losses that the 6th company suffered, could be avoided.

More than once, the author of these lines with Vladimir Nikolayevich talked, and, already sitting at the table with a pencil in his hands, we mentally passed the mountain route that led the company to death mentally. The text proposed below is a kind of chronicle of the last two days that have become fatal for the unit.

February 28, 2000

The 104th Parachute-Passenger Regiment, reaching the line of the Abazulgol River, is fixed to saddle the prevailing heights, take control of the passage to the Argun Gorge. In particular, the third company of the senior lieutenant Vasiliev occupies a height on the left bank. The paratroopers are dug up especially carefully: the trenches were dug in a full profile, a fire system was organized, which allowed to completely control the entire floodplain under control. Such prudence helped them a lot. Before they had time to gain a foothold, the advance detachment of the militants, who tried to go out to the gorge, was noticed below. Meeted by dense automatic fire, he rushes in a hurry. The attack is repeated twice, but the strengthening is so insurmountable that the militants roll back, carrying significant losses. An important remark: on our part there is only one lightweight.

Other units of the regiment are also reliably strengthened. Apparently, it was then that Khattab decides to bypass the positions of paratroopers along the other side of the river. Meanwhile, the regiment commander, Colonel S. Melentyev, orders the commander of the 6th company to Major Molodov: to occupy another dominant height-the Korda-Kord near Ulu-Kert.

This can be considered the first mistake of the command: the height was at a distance of more than 14.5 kilometers from the checkpoint. Thus, in a highly crossed area, the company lost contact with the main forces, lost the opportunity to quickly get reinforcements.

And the second , this time the main thing:

Pre -reconnaissance was not carried out. Thus, the company went into the unknown.

Nevertheless, the order is an order, and together with the unit, the commander of the first battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Evtyukhin, the commander of the first battalion. Sergei Molodov has recently been transferred to the unit, he does not yet know all the soldiers, relations with his subordinates are just established. Therefore, the battalion commander decides to go with him so that in case of a difficult situation, it is helped to help. At the same time, Yevtyukhin is convinced that by the evening of the 28th he will return to the location of the battalion, and even gives the order to his foreman to prepare dinner.

However, the march was not easy. The fighters loaded with weapons and ammunition carried tents, heavy stoves-stoves-in short, everything necessary for a large camp. According to Vladimir Nikolaevich, it was their third mistake .

“The march had to be carried out lightly and not to take excess with you,” my interlocutor explains. - If they came to a height, fixed so that no one could smoke them from there, only then could be sent for tents.

Immediately we can talk about the fourth serious miscalculation . Leaving the location of the first battalion, the company stretched greatly. The march in the mountains along a narrow path turned out to be much more complicated than the battalion commander thought. Nevertheless, Mark Evtyukhin informs Melentiev that they have already reached a height of 776.0 to continue moving to the Korda. In fact, they will go to her almost all night, and scouts, led by Senior Lieutenant Alexei Vorobyov, will be the first to be there. A group of five people move quickly and when the commander transfers the message that the 776th is clean, goes forward. Only by 11 o’clock in the morning the first platoon of the company rises there. The second is slowly pulled. The third will not be able to reach the top: the militants will shoot him from behind when the ring is finally closed.

And this circumstance can already be considered a fifth mistake - it was impossible to stretch out. There were less than a day to the tragedy ...

February 29, 2000

So far, on altitude, the fighters on the orders of the commander collected firewood, prepared a simple soldier breakfast, the intelligence group Alexei Vorobyov had already reached the foot of the height of the Korda, where she discovered the first hidden firing point of the enemy. Having quietly picked up to her, they threw her grenades. The throw was so unexpected for the militants that almost no one left. One prisoner was even captured, but the paratroopers discovered themselves, and now they have to fight off the militants who have gone to them. A battle ensued, the threat of the environment arises, and scouts, among whom are wounded, begin to retreat to an altitude of 776.0. They are pursued literally on the heels. To support their own, paratroopers come towards them with Major Molodov. They join the battle, but a company dies from a sniper bullet. So, carrying the wounded and murdered major, the fighters go to a height, and the militants are already climbing after them. The strongest mortar shelling begins.

Mixing the chronology of events, one cannot but pay attention to the following fact:

The mortars beat in height not only from the positions of the militants, but also ... from the village of Selmentazen, who was in the rear of the sixth company.

Two 120 mm mortars! They continued to work until the militants went to height. The sixth mistake ... command? And mortars, meanwhile, continued to work.

Feeling that the forces are unequal (against the company, as it would be calculated later, more than 2.5 thousand militants fought), the battalion commander asks to call the helicopter for fire support. After some time, a pair of Mi-24 really appears above the height, but, without making a single volley, they fly away. As it turned out, the company did not have an aircraft carrier. According to the same Vladimir Nikolaevich, it was the seventh mistake, the consequences of which became truly tragic.

- If these very turntables were not even aimed, they could scatter suitable militants. And that would weaken their onslaught! - Vladimir Nikolaevich is already getting excited.

My interlocutor also attributed the fact that the radio operator of the battalion commander did not have a special prefix, which encrypts negotiations on the air. Thus, the militants knew what was happening at the height. They heard Lieutenant Colonel Evtyukhin several times addressed Colonel Melentiev with a request for a help, which each time he received the same answer:

"Mark, do not panic, will be ..."

What he had in mind, uttering these words, is unknown, but the company did not wait for the reinforcement of the company. She did not wait for artillery support either. Again, the question is: why? The answer to it has not yet been found. It is also incomprehensible to the refusal of Colonel Melentyev to bring the tank company to the firing position (his commander addressed him several times with this request) in order to shell the advancing militants. Later, when the so -called analysis of flights begins to justify the inanimate of aviation and artillery, the fog would be invented, which allegedly prevented to raise front and army aviation into the air. Apparently, the “fog” prevented Melentyev from seeking help to Tulyak neighbors, to a nearby regiment of howitzer artillery. They heard that there was a battle, requested a walkie -talkie: what is happening, do you need help? But all their proposals were rejected. Why? Nobody answered this question either.

Meanwhile, the battle continues. The situation is also complicated by the fact that the fighters did not have heavy weapons (“they didn’t forget to take the tents, and the easel grenade launchers did not think of it,” Voroshka remarks with bitterness). This also complicated the already critical situation. The wounded, meanwhile, was added, they were demolished in a small hollow to evacuate at the first opportunity, but this did not happen: one of the mines sent by the militants did not leave anyone alive. Only at night, about three o’clock, the battle fell a little. Two hours of respite ... What did the soldiers and officers think, being in the west? Today we can only assume that hope was still: they continued to believe that the regiment commander would not leave them. And the help came ...

It was like a miracle when, under cover of night, Major Alexander Zapavalov suddenly climbed to a height, bringing 14 reinforcements with him. How, with the help of what the Holy Spirit they went around the barriers is unknown. The height was already in a dense ring. Apparently, the militants simply could not believe in the audacity of the paratroopers, and therefore weakened vigilance.

This fantastic throw of the major is still surprised by everyone who was interested in the real picture of the battle.

Without waiting for help from the main forces of the regiment, Yevtyukhin got in touch with Zasalov and conveyed only one word: “Help out!”

This was enough to rush to the aid of a friend. Of course, the major could sit out (his unit was well strengthened and was out of reach), but he went, most likely, realizing that he was waiting for a faithful death. In fairness, it should be noted that Melentyev sent a unit of 40 people to help. The scouts, having made a seven -kilometer march in the mountains, went to the foot of the height 776.0, but, without even trying to break through, went away. Another riddle: why?

The surviving paratroopers told how frantic joy covered the fighters of the 6th company when they saw their guys! Unfortunately, reinforcements were enough for only fifteen to twenty minutes of the resumed battle. In the dawn hours of March 1, it was all over: by 5 o’clock in the morning, the elite battalions of Hattab and Basayev “White Angels” had already reached the height, each of which was promised to take 5 thousand dollars for its capture. Presumably, they received them.

Epilogue

According to the memoirs of the surviving senior sergeant of Suponinsky, they met the last onslaught of militants only by four machine guns: Kombat, Alexander Zasyalov, Lieutenant Alexei Kozhemyakin and he.

Mark Evtyukhin was the first to die: the bullet entered him exactly in his forehead. Later, the bandits, capturing the height, lay out the pyramid from the dead bodies, put them on the top of the commander, hang the headphones from the broken walkie -talkie on his neck and put him, no longer living, one more: in the back of the head.

The second will die. And then Dima Kozhemyakin (until his twenty -fourth birthday in his birthday he will not live exactly one month) will order the senior sergeant and crawled out an ordinary piston to jump from an almost steep cliff. Until the last cartridge, he will cover his soldiers until his heart stops ...

At about 10 in the morning, an unexpectedly waking artillery strikes a volley blow by uncontrolled shells in height, where there was no one. And by hour of March 1, Colonel Melentyev learned the whole picture of the battle: six miraculously surviving fighters of the company came out to the location of the unit: Suponinsky, Vladykin, Tymoshenko, Porshnev, Khristolubov and Komarov. They told how heroically the sixth guards company fought heroically. That same night, a group of volunteer officers rose to the height.

Having studied the battlefield, they did not find a single living one:

The soldiers and officers were mutilated (Hattab ordered no one to take anyone alive), and some had their heads cut off.

Even then, timid notes began to appear in the press relative to the number of victims. At first they talked about 10, then about 30 dead, but unexpectedly the veil of silence was torn by the unknown city newspaper “Pskov News”, which was the first to report the date of the tragedy and the exact number of the dead. So, as she did after the death of the special forces units. And it was a shock for all of Russia. The editorial office called from the capital's media and even from the New York Times. Confusion and grief became the destiny of the living, but, I repeat, the questions remained. They have not yet been removed. Apparently, no one is going to answer them. For example:

• Why, giving an order to master the height of the end of the end, was not intelligence? Two and a half thousand militants could not appear out of nowhere;

• Why did the front and army aviation inactive? The weather these days was extremely sunny;

• Why did the company, already falling into the ring did not provide more powerful fire support for artillery? Did the commander of the eastern group General Makarov that ninety paratroopers fought for almost a day with the superior enemy forces?

... questions, questions. They remain, not allowing mothers, wives, growing up their sons. During a meeting with the families of the dead children, President Vladimir Putin was forced to admit the guilt "for rude miscalculations that have to pay for the life of Russian soldiers." Nevertheless

Not a single surname of those who allowed these “rude miscalculations” has not yet been named.

Many regiment officers continue to believe that the “corridor” was purchased for the passage of the Huttab gang, and only the paratroopers did not know about the deal.

Yuri Moiseenko, Sobtor

New Gazeta, No. 29 (672), April 23-25, 2001.

REFERENCE

Vladimir Nikolaevich Vorobyov, reserve colonel. Born in the Orenburg region. In 1969 he entered the Ryazan Higher School of Airborne Forces. He began the service in the 103rd (Vitebsk) airborne division. He graduated from the Academy named after MV Frunze, took part in military operations in Afghanistan. He was awarded the orders of the Red Star and the Battle Red Banner; He served as a military adviser in Syria. Последнее место службы: командир 104-го полка 76-й (Псковской) воздушно-десантной дивизии.

In this special issue:

— Чечня присоединила Россию. Началось все 25 лет назад, когда Россия попыталась присоединить Чечню. From the editorial office

- How it all began: nameless officers and no one needed prisoners

- An interview with General Dudaev, to whom President Yeltsin “could not” be called to save Russian soldiers. “New” on the same day contacted the head of Chechnya on a regular phone, which took exactly five minutes - while the adjutant was looking for a general

- reports of our special correspondents Dmitry Muratov and Sergey Sokolov (Mikhalych) from the formidable first days of the war

— воспоминания Анны Ивановны Пясецкой о том, как она искала тело своего сына, похороненного под чужим именем на Алтае

— интервью с полковником Бенчарским о том, как искали и меняли пленных. Today, December 11, 2019, their charity fund has officially died - no money

- Memoirs of Major Izmailov: 2/3 of the losses in this war were not fighting - as they were afraid of their own than their militants

- Essay on the teacher Elvira Goryukhina about the warring Chechnya 1995