Blood

The life and mysterious murder of General Lev Rokhlin, who planned to send tanks to Moscow 25 years before Prigozhin

He was the first to openly decide to say that the war could not begin, that the special services deceived the president. He was the first to talk about the injustices that the military endure from power. He occupied the borders of 200 km from Moscow. And then he was mysteriously killed. No, we are not about Prigozhin - this one is more alive of all living things. We are talking about General Rochlin, who had serious intentions to turn the history of Russia in a fundamentally different direction - and died in the summer of 1998, exactly 25 years ago.

Combath's dad

Like most Soviet high-ranking military, Lev Rohlin passed Afghanistan-in 1982 he was appointed commander of the 860th separate motorized rifle regiment. The future general-then the lieutenant colonel-was, as they say, the “battleship-combat”: he often personally participated in march-brushes and clashes. His memories of this period have been preserved, and they very eloquently speak of the Life Life Life at the front: “I came to Afghanistan a healthy, well -fed commander. Weighed 105 kilograms. Although I was an athlete, the loads were very high. And in the end, I have sixty -nine kilo left. ”

In just a few months of service, the Rochlin’s advanced military officers and soldiers became an idol of military officers.

Interestingly, not only successful special operations, but also failures worked on the reputation of Rokhlin. So, for example, in July 1983, Rokhlin received an order to check the results of an aviation blow inflicted on the strengthening of Koran-o-Mujan in the gorge, and, if necessary, finish off the surviving enemy forces. However, the weather prevented the execution of the order: the fog did not allow to raise the “turntables”, and the armored vehicles could not pass along blurry roads. In addition, the regiment was scattered on the ground, so Rokhlin simply did not have human resources to solve the problem invented by the command. The lieutenant colonel reported to the operational headquarters that the sortie is very risky, that he lacks soldiers and fuel. However, the authorities insisted.

Of course, Rohlin also personally headed that special operation.

Having reached the gorge, the Rokhlinsky detachment was ambushed. Everything that the lieutenant colonel warned of the higher authorities warned was coming up.

Due to the lack of fuel of the car, one after another they began to stall, and to the place where the column stood up, the Mujahideen began to tighten. The forces were obviously unequal.

“I had to force soldiers by force on positions. They lie. And I walk and kick them: “Move, do not lie, shoot - the end.” In such a desperate situation, I have never been before .... Then I did not even have a sense of danger. I only thought about the fact that I should either bring the battalion or die, ”Rochlin, Rochlin, later, already being a deputy, to his press secretary Andrei Antipov. Antipov published these memories in the book "Leo Rokhlin: the life and death of the general."

To save the soldiers, Rokhlin ordered to blow up the stalled vehicle and, hiding behind a firing curtain, retreat. In that battle, the battalion of Leo Rokhlin lost 12 people and eight BMPs. Of course, the generals considered the completion of the task by failed. “[Marshal Sergey] Sokolov flew in later. And he asks: “How did it work out?” I answered unrestrainedly: “As ordered, it happened.” I remembered these words well, ”Rokhlin also quotes these memories.

After that, the reputation of the rebel was fixed behind Rochlin - which, of course, only contributed to strengthening his authority among soldiers. However, he was nevertheless unclenched and sent to the post of deputy commander of the 191st motorized rifle regiment, deployed in the city of Gazel between Kabul and Kandahar. But here, fate gave him a chance to stay on the surface: in January 1984, the headquarters of the military unit was surrounded, and the regiment commander, in fact, ran away - he simply flew right in the middle of the battle by helicopter. Rohlin took over the command, and the garrison managed to fight back. This event was rehabilitated by Rokhlin: he was restored with the rank, returned to him the post of regimental commander.

Who knows how many more battles in Afghanistan the commander of the 191st OSMP would be noted in Afghanistan, but in the fall of 1984 he received a severe wound: during the Urgun operation (by the way, an extremely successful for Soviet units), a helicopter on which Rokhlin was moving, it was hit, the lieutenant colonel received fractures of both legs and spine. For a long time, he underwent rehabilitation - first in Kabul, then in Tashkent. The return to the advanced speech could no longer, and Rokhlin was distributed away from the front, to quiet borders, to command the 152nd motorized rifle division in Kutaisi, and a year later-the 75th motorized rifle division in Nakhichevan. However, at that moment there were no longer any quiet borders in the Soviet Union, and Rokhlin became a witness and a participant in many significant events in the history of the dying state. He saw the actual decomposition of the army and mass desertion, the pogrom in Sumgait and the first flashes of the civil war in Georgia. By the way, from large -scale participation in Georgian events, the fate that favored Rochlin, again saved him:

In the summer of 1991, he entered the Academy of the General Staff in Moscow, and neither the campaign in South Ossetia, nor the Abkhaz campaign left traces of his reputation.

In June 1993, Lev Rokhlin, by that time, was already a general, became the commander of the 8th Guards Corps in Volgograd-a legendary who inherited the 8th Guards Army, defending Stalingrad. It was here, in one of the units of the corps, that Rohlin began his service - and it was the Volgograd Corps that will later play a decisive role in the fate of the general.

Here, in Volgograd, he finally decided to try on the role of a quiet business executive and keeper of memory. Throughout 1994, he was transported with the organization of the holiday on the Mamaev Kurgan - in honor of the coming anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. But soon it was no longer before the holidays: in November 1994, the 8th Guards Army Corps under his command was sent to Chechnya. The first Chechen.

"War in Chechnya - the trouble of Russia"

Rokhlin became one of the four generals who led the tragic New Year assault on Grozny. His group struck the north-eastern direction. It was this group that turned out to be the only one that managed to gain a foothold in the capital of Chechnya.

After this success, the general was also transferred to the command of the North. As a result, almost all the key and strategically important points of the city took precisely the parts of Rokhlin. Including captured the presidential palace of Johar Dudaev. For participation in this operation, Rochlin was awarded the title of Hero of Russia.

So the whole country recognized his name.

Quite quickly, the Kremlin’s political technologists came up with the idea of ​​using the image of a military general, beloved by soldiers, to raise the ranking of power. At the Rokhlin, which had been held in 1995 in 1995, was elected to the parliament on the lists of the Party of power “Our House - Russia”. This political force was created in 1995 "in support of the political course of Boris Yeltsin." It was headed by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.

Having received the deputy mandate, Rohlin naturally became the head of the defense committee. However, very soon the general left the NDR, distanced himself from the country's top leadership, actually turned into opposition and defiantly abandoned the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, awarded to him for the capture of Grozny. He explained his decision by the legendary phrase: "The war in Chechnya is not the glory of Russia, but its trouble."

There is a version according to which Rokhlin agreed to go to parliament, as he was promised to provide the housing of his officers in Volgograd. But this promise turned out to be just an election lies, and Rokhlin was very offended.

But as the chairman of the Duma defense committee, he gained access to documents that compromise the close circle of Yeltsin, and began to openly call the names of the beneficiaries of this war.

First of all, the name of the “gray cardinal” of the Kremlin Boris Berezovsky, who was related to oil transit and illegal supplies of weapons to Chechnya. In an interview recorded at that time, answering the question of what the soldiers died in the Chechen war, Rohlin said: “My opinion is for the interests of the mafia. With Dudaev, one could agree without problems. Offer him the conditions as Tatarstan at that time - and, without a doubt, there would be no war. It would be one of the devoted vassals of Russia ... The life of soldiers and the life of civilians was a bargaining coin in the huge bribes that turned out. ”

By the way, in the same interview, words were made that, today, today any novice rebel can cut and hang in the frame (and some seem to use ready -made formulations).

“It would be the most faithful not to carry it out at all,” says Rokhlin about the Chechen war, which was then streamlined to be called a “campaign”. - It was impossible to start a war at that state of affairs. First: no intelligence existed. We did not know the true situation. Here we have a GRU, and there is SVR, and there is a KGB, but they were all destroyed to such an extent that Russia did not know the true state of affairs in Chechnya. Second: the army was destroyed. Years. <...> She was unable to fulfill any task. Third: the operation was not prepared. Everything went spontaneously. “Let's take [the troops] to the border with Chechnya - maybe they are frightened. Let's take it to the Terrible - maybe scare.”

On June 24, 1997, Rokhlin made an appeal to the Supreme Commander -in -Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and to the Russian military. The reason for this was the authorities of the authorities in two years to sharply reduce the number of army and expenses for it. And the head of the Duma defense committee asked the Supreme Commander -in -Chief if he had the right to make sole decisions “with his experience in the military field, having done nothing over the past six years for the country's military security.” Rochlin called for military personnel to rally, in each part to hold officer meetings, develop legal requirements for them and send them to the Kremlin.

In the same 1997, Rokhlin organized a movement in support of the army, defense industry and military science (DPA) with an eye to participate in the Duma elections in 1999. The main goals of this movement - and here is another interesting parallel with today's day - the defense of the army and the restoration of justice against military personnel were declared. The association included famous and influential retired security forces with a sign reputation. Among them were, for example, the former Minister of Defense Igor Rodionov, a member of the GKChP and ex-head of the KGB Vladimir Kryuchkov, a former commander of the Airborne Forces, an active participant in the 1993 October events on the side of the Supreme Council Vladislav Achalov. The “red-brown” leaders, later tamed by the Kremlin, but at that time still had their own voice.

They say that Yeltsin, having learned about the initiative of the military unification, said in the hearts: “We will smash these Rochlins ...”.

Preparation for the coup

However, Rokhlin was obviously obviously a plan for the reorganization of Russia. And he acted as any rebel in modern Russia would act. In the summer - in the fall of 1997, the general visited more than 20 cities throughout Russia: he sat on the plane, flew to the next settlement, spoke on behalf of the DPA, met with the local military, and “closed” conducted conversations with generals who could influence the course of events. According to the same data, the aircraft was provided by the heads of large enterprises of the defense industry, which was then in decline, according to others - the oligarch Vladimir Gusinsky.

“I was with Rokhlin on several business trips - in Kazan, other places,” General Achalov recalled in a conversation with the “Russian reporter” , “he heard performances, saw how he was perceived. He was expressed extremely hard.

It is inconceivable to hear this today from the federal deputy. And all of him were scared then - not only the Kremlin, but also the Communist Party, the LDPR ... "

In the same interview, Achalov determined the main power resource of Rokhlin: "In any questions, he could rely on the Volgograd 8th Corps." Rokhlin, who headed the corps in 1993, who passed with him the first Chechen, grew tight with him. And even after the election to the Duma, he did not forget about the combat comrades. It was thanks to friendship with Rokhlin that Volgograd 8th Corps turned into one of the most combat-ready divisions of Russia.

Nobody will tell us the exact plan of seizing power, however, according to the memoirs of Colonel Nikolai Batalov, a friend and like -minded Rokhlin, who fought with him in Chechnya - it was assumed that first to the center of Volgograd, to the Square of the Fallen Warchers and the Renaissance Square, the forces of the corps, Loyal Rochlin. Next, other large units with which an agreement have already been reached will be notified. “In Sevastopol, a team of marine infantrymen was ready. Naturally, the Ryazan Higher School of Airborne Forces. Cadets were canceled. They were somewhere at the training grounds, but by a certain moment they were returned to Ryazan. Because Ryazan is 200 kilometers from Moscow. The school was 100 percent for us. And the agreement was with the leadership of the Taman and Kantemirov divisions that they at least do not oppose us, ”Batalov told the same“ Russian reporter ”.

Versions of the murder

The country will never be able to evaluate how effective the plan was prepared by General Rokhlin. On the night of July 2-3, 1998, he was killed. In its own cottage in the village of Klokovo, Naro-Fominsky district of the Moscow region.

According to the official version, his wife Tamara Rokhlin shot in sleeping Rochlin after a family quarrel. The reasons for the murder were allegedly purely everyday: Tamara, until then the humble garrison wife, began to lack the attention of the husband and father of the family - at first he “belonged” to the army, then politics. Igor’s son’s illness aggravated the problem: after the adolescent, the teenager had problems with mental health in her childhood, her mother could not cope with her son. In addition, she allegedly added to alcohol, and with her husband they often accused each other of betrayal.

After the police arrived, Tamara pleaded guilty, but three days later she refused the initial testimony, explaining that she was forced to give them. According to Rokhlina, on the night of July 3, unknown people penetrated their house. They demanded her husband’s award pistol, and shot the general from this weapon. And then, threatening to deal with her children - the couple also had daughter Elena - forced Tamar to give conference.

Neither on clothes nor in the hands of Tamara Rochlin was found traces of a shot. There were no prints on the pistol.

Indirectly, the words of the woman were confirmed by the results of the autopsy of Leo Rokhlin. As it turned out, the bullet hit that part of the brain, with damage to which instant death occurs. It is at this place that snipers and professional killers shoot, but in no way in a state of affect, a woman.

When examining Tamara Rochlina herself, numerous bruises were discovered on her body.

The day after the murder, 500 meters from the cottage Rokhlin, three corpses were found in a charred car. Men died from shots in the chest and head. When identifying, it was found that this is the Odintsovo bandit Vladimir Pronin and his friends Alexander Shcherbina and Anatoly Kramarenko from the Chernihiv region. According to the official version, they died three days before the murder of Rokhlin - they did not share control of the company's trade materials trade companies with other "brothers". However, Rokhlin's associates believed that in reality these were real killers, and they, “noticeing traces”, eliminated the special services.

The daughter of Lev Rokhlin Elena in an interview with Radio “Freedom” in 2016 said: “The man was removed because he had the opportunity to make a military coup. And he was going to commit it for the sake of the people. ”

Nevertheless, Tamara Rochlina received eight years of colony. After filing a cassation appeal, the court halved the deadline. In 2001, the case began to be reviewed at all, and the general’s widow was released, but in 2005, the court, launched again in connection with changes in the Code of Criminal Procedure, again pleaded her guilty, and Tamara was again sentenced to four years in prison, this time conditionally.

And in 2010, the book of former Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Poltoinin “Power in Trotilov Equivalent” was published, in which he spoke about the conversation that was allegedly held between him and Lev Rokhlin shortly before the tragedy: “Lev Yakovlevich said that, according to his agents from the Family Security Service, the four of Boris Yeltsin. Tatyana Dyachenko, head of the administration, Valentin Yumashev and the deputy, head of Alexander Voloshin, discussed the options for eliminating the leader of the DPA. Any solutions - a car accident or a sniper bullet in a crowded place - was considered unacceptable, dangerous to the authorities. It is necessary to organize a cunning household carrier, so that it is with a “highlight”. They decided who to entrust. Tatyana Dyachenko and Yumashev told Yeltsin that there is a suitable person with a good training - quiet. Таким псевдонимом (Рохлин до разговора со мной не вычислил его) они нарекли одного кремлевского чиновника. «У него холодные глаза и холодный рассудок». Работайте, сказал им Ельцин, сделает — рассчитаемся. Если надо, пусть подключит грушников».

Так закончилась история первого (неудавшегося) мятежа в истории новой России.

Интересно, что в июле 1998-го по совпадению начался стремительный карьерный взлет Владимира Путина, прежде неприметного чиновника Кремля. Уже в июле его назначили на пост директора ФСБ.А после — на пост премьер-министра.

Тамара Рохлина после освобождения продала свою квартиру на Рублевском шоссе и, судя по рассказам прежних соседей, перебралась в ветхую хрущевку-однушку. Новый адрес она никому не оставила. На публике женщина не появляется, в соцсетях ее нет.

Непубличный образ жизни ведет и Михаил Полторанин. Николай Баталов сейчас в Волгограде, работает на одном из химических заводов города. Владислав Ачалов в 2011 году умер.