Who fired from tanks at the white house. Yeltsin delayed it, they should have shot at the White House earlier

The topic of “bloody October 1993” is still under seven seals today. No one knows exactly how many citizens died in those troubled days. However, the figures cited by independent sources are terrifying.

Scheduled for 7:00

In the fall of 1993, the confrontation between the two branches of government - the president and the government, on the one hand, and the people's deputies and the Supreme Council, on the other - reached a dead end. The Constitution, which the opposition so zealously defended, tied Boris Yeltsin’s hands and feet. There was only one way out: to change the law, if necessary - by force.

The conflict entered a phase of extreme aggravation on September 21, after the famous decree No. 1400, in which Yeltsin temporarily terminated the powers of the Congress and the Supreme Council. Communications, water and electricity were cut off in the parliament building. However, the legislators blocked there were not going to give up. Volunteers came to their aid and defended the White House.

On the night of October 4, the president decides to storm the Supreme Council using armored vehicles, and government troops converge on the building. The operation is scheduled for 7 am. As soon as the eighth hour countdown began, the first victim appeared - a police captain, who was filming what was happening from the balcony of the Ukraina Hotel, was killed by a bullet.

White House victims

Already at 10 am, information began to arrive about the death of a large number of defenders of the residence of the Supreme Council as a result of tank shelling. By 11:30 a.m., 158 people required medical attention, 19 of whom later died in hospital. At 13:00, People's Deputy Vyacheslav Kotelnikov reported large casualties among those who were in the White House. At approximately 2:50 p.m., unknown snipers begin shooting at people crowded outside the parliament.

Closer to 16:00 the resistance of the defenders was suppressed. A government commission assembled in hot pursuit quickly tallies the victims of the tragedy - 124 killed, 348 wounded. Moreover, the list does not include those killed in the White House itself.

The head of the investigation group of the Prosecutor General's Office, Leonid Proshkin, who was involved in the seizure of the Moscow mayor's office and the television center, notes that all the victims are the result of attacks by government forces, since it was proven that “not a single person was killed by the weapons of the White House defenders.” According to the Prosecutor General's Office, cited by deputy Viktor Ilyukhin, a total of 148 people died during the storming of parliament, with 101 people killed near the building.

And then, in various comments on these events, the numbers only grew. On October 4, CNN, relying on its sources, said that about 500 people had died. The newspaper Argumenty i Fakty, citing soldiers of the internal troops, wrote that they collected the remains of almost 800 defenders, “charred and torn by tank shells.” Among them were those who drowned in the flooded basements of the White House. Former deputy of the Supreme Council from the Chelyabinsk region Anatoly Baronenko announced 900 dead.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta published an article by an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who did not want to introduce himself, who said: “In total, about 1,500 corpses were discovered in the White House, among them women and children. All of them were secretly taken from there through an underground tunnel leading from the White House to the Krasnopresnenskaya metro station, and then outside the city, where they were burned.”

There is unconfirmed information that a note was seen on the desk of Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, which indicated that 1,575 corpses were taken out of the White House in just three days. But what surprised everyone the most was Literary Russia, which announced 5,000 dead.

Difficulties in counting

Representative of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Tatyana Astrakhankina, who headed the commission to investigate the events of October 1993, found that soon after the shooting of the parliament, all materials on this case were classified, “some medical histories of the wounded and dead” were rewritten, and “dates of admission to morgues and hospitals” were changed. . This, of course, creates an almost insurmountable obstacle to accurately counting the number of victims of the storming of the White House.

The number of deaths, at least in the White House itself, can only be determined indirectly. If you believe the assessment of Obshchaya Gazeta, about 2,000 besieged people left the White House without filtering. Considering that initially there were about 2.5 thousand people there, we can conclude that the number of victims definitely did not exceed 500.

We must not forget that the first victims of the confrontation between supporters of the president and parliament appeared long before the White House attack. So, on September 23, two people died on the Leningradskoye Highway, and since September 27, according to some estimates, casualties have become almost daily.

According to Rutsky and Khasbulatov, by mid-day on October 3, the death toll reached 20 people. In the afternoon of the same day, as a result of a clash between oppositionists and Ministry of Internal Affairs forces on the Crimean Bridge, 26 civilians and 2 policemen were killed.

Even if we look up the lists of all the dead, those who died in hospitals and those missing in action during those days, it will be extremely difficult to determine which of them became victims of political clashes.

Ostankino massacre

On the eve of the storming of the White House on the evening of October 3, responding to Rutskoi’s call, General Albert Makashov, at the head of an armed detachment of 20 people and several hundred volunteers, tried to seize the television center building. However, by the time the operation began, Ostankino was already guarded by 24 armored personnel carriers and about 900 military personnel loyal to the president.

After trucks belonging to supporters of the Supreme Council rammed the ASK-3 building, an explosion occurred (its source was never determined), causing the first casualties. This was the signal for heavy fire, which began to be fired by internal troops and police officers from the television complex building.

They fired bursts and single shots, including from sniper rifles, just into the crowd, without distinguishing whether they were journalists, onlookers or those trying to pull out the wounded. Later, the indiscriminate shooting was explained by the large crowding of people and the approaching twilight.

But the worst thing began later. Most people tried to hide in the Oak Grove located next to AEK-3. One of the oppositionists recalled how the crowd was squeezed into a grove on both sides, and then they began to shoot from an armored personnel carrier and four machine gun nests from the roof of the television center.

According to official figures, the fighting for Ostankino claimed the lives of 46 people, including two inside the building. However, witnesses claim that there were many more victims.

Can't count the numbers

Writer Alexander Ostrovsky in his book “The Shooting of the White House.” Black October 1993" tried to sum up the victims of those tragic events, based on verified data: "Before October 2 - 4 people, on the afternoon of October 3 at the White House - 3, in Ostankino - 46, during the storming of the White House - at least 165, 3 and on October 4 in other places of the city - 30, on the night from October 4 to October 5 - 95, plus those who died after October 5, in total - about 350 people.”

However, many admit that official statistics are several times underestimated. To what extent, one can only guess, based on eyewitness accounts of those events.

Moscow State University teacher Sergei Surnin, who observed the events not far from the White House, recalled how after the shooting began, he and about 40 other people fell to the ground: “Armored personnel carriers passed by us and from a distance of 12-15 meters they shot the people lying down - one third of those lying nearby were killed or injured. Moreover, in the immediate vicinity of me there are three killed, two wounded: next to me, to my right, a dead man, another dead man behind me, at least one killed in front.”

The artist Anatoly Nabatov saw from the window of the White House how in the evening after the end of the assault a group of about 200 people was brought to the Krasnaya Presnya stadium. They were stripped, and then near the wall adjacent to Druzhinnikovskaya Street, they began to shoot them in batches until late at night on October 5th. Eyewitnesses said that they had previously been beaten. According to deputy Baronenko, in total at least 300 people were shot at the stadium and near it.

A well-known public figure, who in 1993 headed the “People's Action” movement, Georgy Gusev, testified that in the courtyards and entrances of the detainees, they were beaten by riot police, and then killed by unknown persons “in a strange form.”

One of the drivers who transported corpses from the parliament building and the stadium admitted that he had to make two trips in his truck to the Moscow region. In a forested area, corpses were thrown into pits, covered with earth, and the burial site was leveled with a bulldozer.

Human rights activist Evgeniy Yurchenko, one of the founders of the Memorial society, which dealt with the issue of secret destruction of corpses in Moscow crematoria, managed to learn from the workers of the Nikolo-Arkhangelsk cemetery about the burning of 300-400 corpses. Yurchenko also drew attention to the fact that if in “regular months,” according to statistics from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, up to 200 unclaimed corpses were burned in crematoria, then in October 1993 this figure increased several times - to 1,500.

According to Yurchenko, the list of those killed during the events of September-October 1993, where either the fact of disappearance was proven or witnesses to death were found, is 829 people. But obviously this list is incomplete.

September 21, 1993 Yeltsin a coup d'état was carried out. In accordance with the Constitution and the opinion of the Constitutional Court, Yeltsin and security ministers are legally removed from their duties. Rutskoy and the new ministers began to fulfill the duties assigned to them by law. The defenders of parliament had practically no weapons! In total, automatic weapons were issued: 74 AKS-74U assault rifles, 5 RPK-74 assault rifles. Starting from September 24th, Yeltsin almost every night he tried to organize an armed assault on parliament; the massacre was postponed and postponed until the next night due to circumstances beyond his control.

The first official warning that the White House would be stormed if they refused to comply was made on September 24th. On the same day, the X (extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies decided on simultaneous re-elections of deputies and the president no later than March 1994.

The Russian House of Soviets was surrounded by " Bruno's spiral", machine gunners and armored personnel carriers, a complete blockade of parliament was carried out: on September 21, all types of communications were turned off, on September 23, electricity, heat and hot water were turned off, on September 28, the entry of people and the entry of vehicles, the supply of food and medicine was completely blocked (for example, September 27), Ambulances were not allowed through, even to people with, for example, diagnoses: “acute cerebrovascular accident” (09/27), “cervical spine fracture” (09/28), “unstable angina” (10/1). The temperature in the building dropped below 8 degrees, outside during the day - to -9 and -12 degrees Celsius.

“Conclusions: In medical terms, the emergency situation in the White House arose not on October 4, but on September 27, when several thousand people, due to their convictions, did not leave the besieged area, were on duty around the clock at the barricades in any weather, deprived of basic amenities due to power outages , communications, heating, subject to constant nervous and physical stress, were, by the will of the leadership of the Main Medical Directorate of Moscow and the Center for Emergency Medicine, deprived of the right to medical care. We can't call it anything other than malfeasance. We assert that if the State Medical University and the Center for Emergency Medicine organized the timely delivery of medicines necessary for medical care. equipment, organized constant duty in the cordoned off zone, and not outside, ambulance teams, even if they were simply neutral in providing assistance to the victims, the number of victims during the events of October 3-4 would have been significantly less.” (Information material on the state of medical support for defenders of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation from September 21 to October 4, 1993. From a report prepared by doctors of the Rescue Center of the Moscow Medical Academy named after I.M. Sechenov)

On September 29, the government of the Russian Federation and Moscow presented an ultimatum - everyone must leave the House of Soviets by October 4, otherwise there will be “grave consequences.” On September 30, 62 constituent entities of the Federation supported parliament and presented Yeltsin with an ultimatum demanding simultaneous re-elections. The decisive meeting of the Federation Council is scheduled for 18.00 on October 3. The continuation of negotiations under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church was scheduled for 16.00 on October 3.

Yeltsin spoke out against the idea of early simultaneous re-elections. Chernomyrdin also refused the demand for a peaceful solution, saying that they had “another solution.” Solution shoot parliament October 4 was decided between September 29 and 30, preparations were carried out openly. September 30 Shahray appointed head of the group for legal support of Decree No. 1400 with instructions to complete the work by October 4. October 1 Poltoranin sent a letter to the editors-in-chief with an order demanding “to treat with understanding the measures that the President will take on October 4th” and “not to dramatize their possible consequences.” On the afternoon of October 3, all Moscow hospitals, at the direction of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate, received telephone messages from the Moscow Main Medical Directorate about the planned arrival of the wounded.

The shooting of parliament had to be justified by a specially prepared provocation; by order of “acting Peerage" to the MVD officers was entrusted with the stick war provoke demonstrators to retaliatory violence. On October 3, between a third and half a million unarmed citizens came out in support of parliament from Moscow's Oktyabrskaya Square. Demonstrators in an organized column went to the White House and Ostankino. After the demonstrators broke through to the White House, machine-gun fire was opened on people on the main staircase and at the 20th entrance of parliament. The Ministry of Internal Affairs submachine gunners from the mayor's office, on orders, launched an attack on the White House. Shooting from the city hall and the Mir Hotel at the doors of the White House killed 7 people and wounded 34. This was the first mass shooting and the beginning of the storming of parliament. The unexpected pause of 15 hours was caused both by the defection of two companies of the Sofrinsky brigade to the side of parliament, along with 200 OMSDON military personnel, and by the decisive actions of the demonstrators.

At 15.00 on October 3, Erin ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to open fire on hundreds of thousands of unarmed people. At 16.00 Yeltsin signed decree No. 1575 and exempted the army from criminal liability for violations of the law, A Grachev ordered army units to join the executioners from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Shooting of parliament supporters was sanctioned by Yeltsin and the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and everything that followed from 16.00 on October 3 no longer mattered.

At 16.05 after the shelling of parliament and the killing of the first people Rutskoy gave the order to storm the city hall and go to Ostankino. City Hall (from the moment the first demonstrator entered its doors) was taken without a single shot being fired. On October 3, a categorical order was in effect Rutskogo And Achalova O non-use of weapons. Bloodshed at City Hall was avoided thanks to Makashov. The road to Ostankino was blocked by superior armed units of the Dzerzhinsky Ministry of Internal Affairs division in trucks and armored personnel carriers. A convoy of demonstrators stopped in front of them. By order of the commander of the VV A.S. Kulikova The Ministry of Internal Affairs troops voluntarily allowed this column to pass. The Ministry of Internal Affairs knew that there were only two dozen people with weapons in the column.

Having missed the column at Ostankino, near Chekhov Street, the Ministry of Internal Affairs troops in trucks and 10 Vityaz armored personnel carriers overtook the column of demonstrators and went ahead into an ambush at Ostankino, where they positioned themselves behind the technical center building. On October 3, at the Ostankino television center, from 5:45 pm to 7:10 pm, a peaceful rally was held for an hour and a half demanding the provision of airtime to parliament. Demonstrators made no attempts to storm or enter the television center building. Despite the requirement Makashova enter into negotiations Bragin didn't show up. Demonstrators with official credentials warned everyone about responsibility for any shot, paying special attention to special forces. They were informed that there was an unarmed demonstration of two hundred thousand people. Makashov guaranteed the commander of the Vityaz armored personnel carrier group that not a single shot would be fired from the demonstrators.

By the time the execution began at Ostankino, there were less than 4 thousand unarmed demonstrators who arrived by vehicle; they were guarded by 18 armed people. The television center was guarded by 25 armored personnel carriers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and more than 510 (690) machine gunners of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. At about 19.00, the leadership of the police guard of the ASK-3 technical center, on their own initiative, entered into negotiations, where they announced Makashov about readiness to come under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council and transfer the technical center to its official representatives. The police officer was seized on the street by an officer from Dzerzhinsky's division and was forcibly held in the technical center building. The Vityaz special forces opposing the police avoided negotiations. After a truck rammed the entrance doors to the technical center, General Makashov without a weapon, he went out into the lobby alone to negotiate. He invited the special forces not to interfere with the legitimate authorities and gave them time to freely leave the building. He sternly warned about the inadmissibility of any shot.

The first shot was fired at Ostankino from the roof of the television center ASK-1 special forces "Vityaz"! They shot without warning. The order to open fire was personally given by Major General VV Pavel Golubets. A demonstrator at the entrance to the ASK-3 technical center was seriously wounded by a shot. The technical center police from the end of the building announced for the second time that they had gone over to the side of parliament and called Makashova. Two minutes after the first shot, special forces from the Ministry of Internal Affairs from the ASK-3 hall threw two or three grenades at the feet of the crowd and began to shoot people on Korolev Street from two buildings in a coordinated manner. From the technical center they fired to kill with machine guns and machine guns, and four machine gunners fired from the roof of the television center. A group of people at the entrance to ASK-3 was completely destroyed, only one person survived there.

More than half of the armed guards of the convoy were killed on the spot; those who survived during the lull left Ostankino through the grove by 21.00. Makashov did not give the order to return fire and none of the demonstrators fired. The shooting of the Ministry of Internal Affairs soldiers at unarmed people, the wounded and orderlies continued until the approach of a two hundred thousand peaceful demonstration. Shooting at emerging and moving targets at night in conditions of limited visibility - the head of shooting at the site is a lieutenant colonel Lysyuk. After the shooting of demonstrators near the ASK-3 building (technical center), a two hundred thousand strong column of unarmed demonstrators from Oktyabrskaya Square approached the building of the ASK-1 television center. The peaceful demonstration was met with machine gun and machine gun fire at point-blank range.

Six delegates-demonstrators from officers and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs came to negotiations with Vityaz and demanded an immediate ceasefire, explaining that there were only unarmed people on the street. The “Vityazis” ceased fire for half an hour and, as a condition for continuing negotiations, demanded that everyone leave the fence of the television center building. As soon as the deceived people left the fence, they began to methodically shoot them with small arms and armored personnel carriers. The execution continued until 5.45 on October 4th. Single shots were heard until 12.00. They shot the wounded, the orderlies, and the ambulances. The storming and shooting of parliament on October 4, 1993 began suddenly, without any announcement or prior warning. The attackers made no offers to surrender or remove the women and children from the building. No ultimatums of surrender were issued to parliament. The first bursts from the armored personnel carrier killed about 40 unarmed people.

According to Rutskogo, in the “White House” at the time of the attack there were up to 10 thousand people, including women and children. Repeated demands Rutskogo stopping fire on the “White House” and allowing women and children to be taken out of the building of the House of Soviets had no effect on the stormers - the fire did not stop for 10 hours! During this time, the leaders of the action did not make a single offer to the people shot in the House of Soviets to surrender; they were not given the opportunity to remove women and children from under fire, which they had to do under fire, with losses.

On October 4, armored vehicles and troops were sent to shoot parliament with an unprecedented and unjustified superiority: For each machine gun of the defenders of parliament, exactly three units of armored vehicles were thrown into battle - two cannons and two tank machine guns (one heavy machine gun and one machine gun Kalashnikov), one sniper each. To kill an individual child, woman or man in the House of Soviets, an entire platoon or squad of drunken machine gunners was assigned. Only about 121-145 people did not give up and escaped alive from the “White House”, of which about 71 (95) people escaped through underground communications on October 4th and 5th in different directions, about 50 people fought their way through the top 4- October 1st in the direction of the Krasnopresnenskaya metro station.

There is no statute of limitations for murder! On October 4th the order was in force Erina-Kulikova(Ministry of Internal Affairs), Gracheva(My Barsukova(GUO): – destroy those in the “White House”! Orders for complete destruction and shooting to kill were openly transmitted over radios by the assault commanders. Barsukov officially ordered Alpha to destroy those in the White House, Grachev- tank crews, Tula and Taman residents, Erin- Riot police and Dzerzhinsk residents. Korzhakov After the prisoners were taken to the stairs of the White House, he publicly demanded that the defenders of parliament be shot: “ I have an order to eliminate everyone in uniform!”

After the deputies left with the Alpha, this order was carried out exactly. All remaining defenders of the parliament were destroyed, with the exception of those arrested on the afternoon of October 5 in the basement - four policemen of the OSN Department of Security and several local workers, as well as sixteen defenders from the barrier of the 14th entrance (arrested at 3.30 on October 5 on the 6th floor of the White House ). The bodies of those executed were secretly removed and destroyed.

Proof that the order was carried out is that, according to official data, not a single wounded person or corpse was found in the parliament building. Those killed on the street, collected by medical teams, were officially declared as dead in the “White House” Y. Kholkhina and A. Shestakova. Recognizing the fact of the mass murder of the people remaining in the “White House” and the fact of the secret removal and burial of their bodies, the question of the exact number of exterminated people cannot be answered without a special investigation. In any case, we are talking about hundreds of executed in the White House building.

October 3-5th mercenaries Yeltsin They died only from their own bullets! Almost all of those killed, according to official data, from among those who shot the parliament or demonstrators in Ostankino were killed in units Erina(Ministry of Internal Affairs) and Barsukova(GUO). Official data on losses and the number of troops participating in the coup d'etat and massacres: State Department of Defense (18,000) - only 1 killed: killed by a sniper of the State Department of the Russian Federation from a room completely controlled by the State Department of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs! Moscow Region (more than 9,000) - a total of 6 killed, of which 6 were killed by Yeltsin’s units (1 - riot police, 1 - MVD from an armored personnel carrier, 3 - GUO, 1 - captured and, apparently, shot on the orders of the commanders of the MVD or GUO )! Ministry of Internal Affairs and Internal Troops (more than 40,000) - a total of 5 killed (and one mortally wounded), of which 3 were killed or died due to the fault of Yeltsin’s units, 2 were not identified, 1, together with the entire crew of the armored personnel carrier, was destroyed from a grenade launcher 119 pdp.

The defenders of parliament practically did not shoot! Not a single person is known to have died from their bullets! The circumstances of the death of only 2 military personnel - mercenaries - have not been clarified.

Yeltsin's decree No. 1400 is an act of coup d'etat!!!

The truth about the 1993 White House shooting

More details and a variety of information about events taking place in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of our beautiful planet can be obtained at Internet Conferences, constantly held on the website “Keys of Knowledge”. All Conferences are open and completely free. We invite everyone who wakes up and is interested...

Based on all open sources of information, we tried to find out, down to a few minutes, what happened in the center of Moscow 20 years ago.

16:00 Moscow time. A man in camouflage uniform told reporters. That he is a fighter of the Alpha special forces and will enter the White House to begin negotiations on the surrender of its defenders.

15:50 Moscow time. It looks like the confrontation has come to an end. Leaflets entitled “The Testament of the White House Defenders” are scattered around the White House. The message says: “Now, when you read this letter, we are no longer alive. Our bullet-riddled bodies are burning within the walls of the White House.”

“We truly loved Russia and wanted order to be restored in the country. So that all people have equal rights and responsibilities, so that everyone is prohibited from breaking the law, regardless of position. We had no plans to escape abroad."

“Forgive us. We also forgive everyone, even the boy soldiers who were sent to shoot us. It's not their fault. But we will never forgive this devilish gang that sat on Russia’s neck. We believe that in the end our Motherland will be freed from this burden.”

15:30 Moscow time. Troops loyal to President Yeltsin resumed shelling the White House.

15:00 Moscow time. The Alpha and Vympel special forces received orders to storm the White House. However, the command says that it will continue to negotiate for some time, trying to convince the defenders of the building to surrender.

14:57 Moscow time. White House defenders say they have no idea what kind of snipers were on the roof.

According to the former First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR Andrei Dunaev, before his eyes a police officer was shot by a sniper. “We ran to the roof, where a shot was heard, but there was no one there anymore. Judging by how everything happened, neither the KGB nor the Ministry of Internal Affairs were to blame for this. This was done by someone else, maybe even a foreign intelligence agent,” Dunaev suggested.

14:55 Moscow time. One of the Alpha Group officers is killed by a sniper.

“One of our soldiers, young lieutenant Gennady Sergeev, died. His group drove up to the White House in an infantry fighting vehicle. A wounded soldier lay on the asphalt; he had to be evacuated. However, at that very moment the sniper shot Sergeev in the back. But the shot did not come from the White House - that's for sure. This shameful murder had only one goal - to provoke Alpha, so that the fighters would burst into the building and kill everyone there,” said the commander of the Alpha group, Gennady Zaitsev.

14:50 Moscow time Unknown snipers are firing indiscriminately into the crowd around the White House. Yeltsin's supporters, police officers, and ordinary people are becoming targets for shots. Two journalists and a woman were killed, two soldiers were wounded.

14:00 A short lull at the White House. Several defenders of the building came out to surrender.

13:00: According to former MP Vyacheslav Kotelnikov, there have already been many victims on different floors of the White House in Moscow.

“When I walked from one floor of the building to another, I was immediately struck by how much blood, dead and mutilated bodies there was everywhere. Some of them were beheaded, others had their limbs torn off. These people died when tanks started shooting at the White House. However, pretty soon this picture stopped shocking me, because I had to do my job.”

12:00: The Public Opinion Foundation organized a telephone survey of Muscovites. As it turned out, 72% of respondents supported President Yeltsin, 9% were on the side of parliament. 19% of respondents refused to answer the questions.

11:40: Due to the uncoordinated actions of the police security cordons, several teenagers managed to break into the parking lot in front of the White House. Aggressive youth tried to take possession of weapons abandoned by the wounded. This was announced by the commander of the Taman division. Several cars were also stolen.

11:30: 192 victims required medical assistance. 158 of them were hospitalized, 19 subsequently died in hospitals.

11:25: Heavy gunfire resumed in front of the building. The ceasefire agreement was violated. At the same time, people remained in the White House.

11:06: Crowds of people gathered on Smolenskaya Embankment and Novy Arbat who wanted to watch the storming of the Supreme Council. The police failed to disperse the onlookers. According to photographer Dmitry Borko, there were many teenagers and women with children in the crowd. They stood right next to the building and seemed not at all concerned about their safety. 11:00: A ceasefire is declared to allow women and children to leave the White House.

10:00: Defenders of the White House said there were many dead in the building as a result of tank fire.

“When the tanks started shooting, I was on the 6th floor,” said one of the eyewitnesses of the events. - There were a lot of civilians there. All unarmed. I thought that after the shelling the soldiers would rush into the building and tried to find some kind of weapon. I opened the door of the room where a shell had recently exploded, but I couldn’t get in: everything was covered in blood and strewn with fragments of bodies.”

09:45: Supporters of President Yeltsin, using megaphones, convince the White House defenders to stop resisting. “Drop your weapon. Give up. Otherwise you will be destroyed." These calls are heard again and again.

09:20: Tanks fire at the upper floors of the White House from the Kalinin Bridge (now Novoarbatsky Bridge). Six T-80 tanks fired 12 salvos at the building.

“The first salvo destroyed the conference room, the second destroyed Khasbulatov’s office, the third destroyed my office,” said former Vice President and one of the leaders of the White House defenders, Alexander Rutskoy. “I was in the room when a shell flew through the window. It exploded in the right corner of the room. Luckily, my desk was in the left corner. I ran out in complete shock. I don’t know how I even stayed alive.”

9:15: The Supreme Soviet is completely cordoned off by troops loyal to President Yeltsin. They also occupied several neighboring buildings. The building is constantly being shelled with machine guns.

09:05: A televised address by President Boris Yeltsin was broadcast, in which he called the events taking place in Moscow a “planned coup” organized by communist revanchists, fascist leaders, some former deputies, representatives of the Soviets.”

“Those who are waving red flags have once again stained Russia with blood. They hoped for surprise, that their impudence and unprecedented cruelty would sow fear and confusion,” Yeltsin said.

The President assured the Russians that “the armed fascist-communist rebellion in Moscow will be suppressed in the shortest possible time. The Russian state has the necessary forces for this.”

09:00: Defenders of the White House responded with fire to shots fired by the president's supporters. As a result of the shelling, a fire started on the 12th and 13th floors of the building.

08:00: Infantry fighting vehicles opened targeted fire on the White House.

07:50: A shootout began in the park adjacent to the White House.

07:45: The wounded defenders of the White House and the bodies of the dead were transferred to one of the building's lobbies.

“I saw about 50 wounded. They lay in rows on the floor in the lobby. Most likely, the bodies of the dead were also there. The faces of those lying in the front rows were covered,” recalled Nikolai Grigoriev, a surgeon and former Minister of Health of Chuvashia, who actually led the makeshift medical unit of the besieged Supreme Council.

07:35: White House security personnel are called to leave the building.

07:25: Five infantry fighting vehicles destroyed the barricades erected by the defenders of the White House and took up positions on Free Russia Square - directly in front of the building.

07:00: Shooting continues outside the White House. Police captain Alexander Ruban, who was filming everything that was happening from the balcony of the Ukraina Hotel, was mortally wounded.

06:50: The first shots are heard near the White House in the center of Moscow.

“We were alerted at 06:45. Still sleepy, we ran out of the building and immediately came under fire. We lay down on the ground. Bullets and shells whistled just ten meters from us,” said one of the White House defenders, Galina N.

Former Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev died in Moscow at the age of 65. However, he became famous not as a warrior, but as a punisher who led the shooting of parliament in October 1993. The Interpreter's blog decided to see how the fate of other prominent punishers who received the “Hero of Russia” for the execution of Russian citizens turned out.

The cause of Pavel Grachev's death is said to be mushroom poisoning - on September 12, in serious condition, he was admitted to intensive care, and never came to his senses.

Grachev reached the nomenklatura along a typical Soviet path. Born in the village of Rva, Tula region, he chose the only possible career option in the late Soviet era for a man of his class - through the army. Airborne troops, Afghanistan, were one of the first to betray the oath and defect to the side of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. But Grachev was remembered not for these tricks, but as the architect of a system that turned the army into a punitive appendage to the “vertical of power.”

The first step on the path of the Soviet-Russian army to an analogue of the German SS formations was the confrontation between the Supreme Council (the Supreme Council, whose symbol was the White House) and the administration of President Yeltsin in the fall of 1993. Let us briefly recall that then Yeltsin, with his decree No. 1400, trampled on the Constitution of the Russian Federation, deciding to disperse the Armed Forces. The Constitutional Court decided to remove Yeltsin from power, but the president (that’s right, the former president), angry at the demands of the two branches of government to respect the rule of law, shot the parliament and the civilians who defended it. According to official data, about 200 people were killed on October 3-4, according to unofficial data - about 2000. And on the territory of the Krasnaya Presnya stadium, for some time, a concentration camp was even set up for the defenders of the White House.

The Moscow police, riot police, FSK (as the KGB-FSB was then called) and even civilian citizens of liberal persuasions, armed with Yegor Gaidar’s team, took part in punitive operations at that time. For the first time since the Civil War of 1918-1922, the army also took part in the execution of representatives of two branches of government.

In September 1993, Minister Pavel Grachev hesitated for a long time on which side to take (he tried to guess, as in August 1991, who would be the winner in the confrontation), but in the end he chose Yeltsin’s side. Within a few days, he put together a punitive brigade, which, for money and other material assets (apartments, as well as the right to plunder the premises of the Supreme Council), decided to participate in the execution of Russian citizens.

The punishers did not even hide themselves. For example, they did not wear masks (as special forces do now); they were awarded the title of Hero of Russia for dirty work by an open presidential decree.

The seeds of evil quickly sprouted: an army consisting of punitive forces usually ceases to fulfill its direct functions - to defend the Motherland. Pavel Grachev, who liked to use a rabble of mercenaries in operations, was convinced of this already in 1994. That year, the Minister of Defense decided to quickly deal with rebellious Chechnya, and he sent a punitive vanguard into this republic - “heroes of Russia” who were directly involved in the shooting of the White House. But killing unarmed citizens is not the same as fighting against well-trained militias. The results were not long in coming:

“On October 4th, volunteer officers of the Kantemirovsky division Bashmakov S.A., Brulevich V.V., Ermolin A.V., Maslennikov A.I., Rudoy P.K., Petrakov A.I., Seryabryakov V.B. ., Rusakov and some others, led by Polyakov, Birchenko and Bakanov, proved to the whole world that for a small amount of “wooden”, at the request of our rulers, they will shoot anyone from tanks: children, women, the House of Soviets.

The officers of the 12th Tank Division of the 4th Tank Division, who distinguished themselves in Moscow on October 4, continued along the “Western contract” path. On November 26, 1994, the crews of three tank columns that entered Grozny with the money of Yeltsin and the FSK to storm the local “White House” abandoned their tanks at the first shots and surrendered. Of the mercenary officers who shot for money on October 4, 1993 from T-80 tanks at the House of Soviets, on November 26, 1994, 4 commanders of those Kantemirov tank crews immediately ran over to the Dudayevites. Demonstrating the typical behavior of mercenaries, the “tankers” betrayed all their employers (they were hired to shoot from tanks for 6 million rubles per nose), telling offendedly that the FSK promised them a safe walk and an easy victory (apparently, as in Moscow in 1993 - over women and children), and “those” suddenly started shooting too.

(Aerial photograph of the bombed presidential palace in Grozny, January 1995)

Among the mercenaries who surrendered to the Chechens was Captain Rusakov (in October 1993, senior lieutenant of the 12th Tank Division, 4th Tank Division). In October 1993, it was this tank mercenary who smugly admitted from the TV screen that back at 17.00 on October 4, 1993, he was hitting the White House with might and main from his T-80 tank, and when asked by the Aty-Bata TV commentator about his fate women and children in the House of Soviets answered simply: “And my wife sits at home and doesn’t go anywhere...”

Unlike Pavel Grachev, most of the punishers who received the title of “Hero of Russia” for the shooting of the White House still live happily. Here are short, post-execution biographies of some of them.

Alexander Kishinsky. Participated in the Chechen war. In 1997 he retired to the reserve. Director of the private security company.

Nikolay Belyaev- rose to major general of the Airborne Forces.

Valery Evnevich. He rose to the rank of colonel general. He wandered around “hot spots”, crushing people in Tajikistan, Kosovo, the Caucasus, and Transnistria. He developed a plan for a campaign against South Ossetia as part of “peace enforcement.”

Victor Erin- he was dragged to the level of deputy chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Service, under Putin he was appointed a businessman - to the board of directors of the Motovilikha Plants.

(Viktor Erin is still in the rank of Colonel General; his last rank is Army General)

Nikolay Ignatov– killed Russian people with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Then he was transferred to Kosovo (“the famous attack on Pristina”). Lieutenant General, Deputy Airborne Forces Commander:

Sergey Lysyuk- On October 3, 1993, the Vityaz detachment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Lysyuk opened fire on the people besieging the Ostankino television center, as a result of which 46 people were killed and 114 were wounded. Now he heads the Association for the Social Protection of Military Personnel and chairs other public offices:

Alexander Kishinsky- now the director of the private security company.

Sergey Seliverstov. He rose to the rank of colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 2009, he was appointed first deputy head of the 2014 Olympics Center at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.

But the state took into account the merits of not all punishers. Many of them tried in vain. For example, Captain Grishin, being in the place of a tank gunner, personally fired at the White House, but was excluded from the list of those nominated for the Order of Courage. Due to alcohol abuse, he was dismissed from the Armed Forces under the article “inadequacy for the position.” Now he is a pensioner, head of the security service of a small bank. Major General Polyakov, commander of the Kantemirovskaya division in the fall of 1993, was dismissed from the army literally a couple of years later as “unreliable.” Army General Konstantin Kobets, despite zealously carrying out the order to shoot Russians, was placed in a pre-trial detention center in the late 1990s on charges of bribery and other crimes (he was released under an amnesty in 2000)

Here we must also add that in October 1993, and not only in Chechnya, these mercenaries often showed themselves to be completely inadequate. And they received the title of Hero of Russia for being completely inadequate - shooting at each other:

“At 7 a.m., Dzerzhin residents, advancing in armored vehicles to the parliament building, fired at people from the Union of Afghanistan Veterans, who expressed a desire to defend democracy on Yeltsin’s side. One of the veterans was seriously wounded. The Tamans, deciding that these armored personnel carriers had gone over to the side of the enemy, opened fire on them. Thus, a real battle broke out between the two armored columns, during which a Lithuanian citizen who happened to be at the epicenter of madness was killed.

But these turned out to be only flowers. The Dzerzhinsky armored personnel carrier number 444, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Savchenko, caught fire after an accurate shot from the craftsmen from the Taman division, and the commander, unable to leave the burning vehicle, died. A soldier was killed in another armored vehicle.

Around the same time, another armored group of internal troops flew into the territory of the Krasnaya Presnya stadium. At the same time, they did not spare cartridges: everyone around was generously poured with lead. And nearby were the same fighting guys from the 119th Parachute Regiment, who first hid from the fire, and then decided that these newly arrived warriors were certainly supporters of the Supreme Council, so they should be destroyed immediately. One of the airborne battalion commanders fired at the Dzerzhinsk residents with a grenade launcher. They answered adequately - from all trunks. The result was deplorable: the captain and corporal were killed, several people were injured.

At about 10 am, two armored personnel carriers from Dzerzhinsk received orders to take positions on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment. And the Tamans were already standing there. And what do you think they did when they saw the cars approaching? That's right, they met them with dagger fire. A major, two senior officers, and a private were killed, and many people were injured.

The command appreciated the exploits of both sides. Two became heroes of Russia (one of them - 19-year-old soldier Oleg Petrov, posthumously; Major Sergei Gritsyuk, also posthumously - approx. BT), many were awarded orders and medals. For “wetting” each other.”

It is impossible not to mention one more conclusion from that crime. For some reason, in the sovereign-patriotic environment they firmly believe that in case of mass unrest, “Russians will not shoot at Russians”, “the army is with the people” (or neutral). The events of 1993 showed that the military (not to mention representatives of other security forces) can easily shoot at their people, torture and burn. And these were still people with Soviet training, when in some corners of their brain the remnants of a humanistic upbringing remained. Today, a generation has grown up free from such sentiments: if they have to, they will start shooting not only at their own people, but also at their own mother.