Shooting of a riot police column in Chechnya. Attack on a column of Perm riot police near Zhani-Vedo

On the evening of March 28, 2000, the temporary Vedensky District Department of Internal Affairs, staffed by police officers from the Perm region, with the Perm consolidated riot police assigned to it, received an order from the commander of the Eastern Group of Federal Forces, Major General S. A. Makarov, to clear the village of Tsentaroy in the neighboring Nozhai-Yurtovsky district.

Early in the morning of March 29, a column of 50 people (42 riot police from Perm and Berezniki, 8 military personnel of the commandant company of military unit 83590 of the Taman division) moved from Vedeno to their destination to conduct a special operation to check the passport regime and carry out other activities. The column consisted of three vehicles: BTR-70 (driver Gennady Obraztsov, commandant company, captured, executed), Ural-4320 car (driver Vyacheslav Morozov, Sverdlovsk district police department, died in battle) and ZIL-131 car (driver Yuri Shishkin, the only surviving soldier of the commandant company). Not reaching a few hundred meters to the village of Zhani-Vedeno, at height 813, the ZiL boiled and the column was forced to stop.

Shortly before this, a detachment of militants under the command of Abu Kuteib entered the same village. In addition to the Chechens, the gang also included people from the republics North Caucasus and foreign mercenaries (Arabs). The bandits settled in houses for rest. The riot police commander, Major Simonov, decided to inspect the last house. Going inside, he found two armed militants there. In response to Simonov's order to drop his weapon, shots were fired and Major Simonov was killed. At the same time, shelling of the convoy began from small arms and grenade launchers.
Burnt Urals

RPG shots knocked out an armored personnel carrier (the cumulative projectile hit the engine compartment) and both vehicles. The gunner (presumably the gunner's place was taken by one of the policemen, who later died from burns on the battlefield) of the burning armored personnel carrier turned the turret and opened fire on the hill, allowing the riot police to take more convenient positions for defense. The riot police and servicemen of the commandant's company took the fight and fought back until the last bullet. As the bandits approached from different parts of the village, the fire on the column intensified. The last radio message from the police asked them to shoot single shots. In all likelihood, they were running out of ammunition.
Damaged armored personnel carrier

At about 10:00, a detachment of servicemen from the commandant’s company (contract soldiers) and Perm policemen was sent from Vedeno to help the riot police who were ambushed. The second column, headed by the commandant of Vedeno Colonel V. Tonkoshkurov, the head of the Vedeno VOVD Colonel Yu. Ganzhin, his deputy, former riot policeman Lieutenant Colonel K. Strogiy, the commander of the Perm OMON Lieutenant Colonel S. Gaba, tried to break through to the surrounded policemen, but did not reach several hundred of them meters, she herself was ambushed. Almost immediately, the lead armored personnel carrier of the commandant company (driver Roman Muranov, shooter Dmitry Zyablikov) was hit. Fearing being trapped, the command gave the order to retreat. After approximately 6 hours, the convoy returned to Vedeno. The losses of the second column were: the commandant's company - 15 wounded, the combined detachment of the Perm riot police - one wounded.

Thanks to the fact that some of the militants were diverted to the second column, six people from the first column were able to escape from the encirclement. On March 30, a group of six people - five riot police and a soldier from the commandant's company - went out to their own.

Only March 31st federal troops(according to some sources - battalion of the 66th regiment internal troops and three battalions of the 104th Guards Airborne Regiment of the 76th Guards Airborne Division of the Airborne Forces) were finally able to reach height 813 and remove the bodies of the dead policemen and soldiers of the commandant company. The bodies of 31 dead and one riot policeman Alexander Prokopov, seriously wounded in both legs, were discovered (Alexander’s leg was subsequently amputated, but he remained to serve in the riot police). The fate of the remaining fighters by that time remained unknown. It later turned out that twelve people (seven Berezniki riot police, four seconded Perm police officers and a soldier from the commandant’s company) were captured and executed the next day in response to the refusal to exchange them for Colonel Yu. D. Budanov, who was arrested for the murder of a Chechen woman. The burial of 10 fighters was discovered on April 30 (according to other sources - May 1) in the area of the village of Dargo, and information about the burial place of 2 riot police soldiers had to be purchased from local residents. Almost everything
Their bodies showed signs of abuse and torture. As it turned out later, the police were not captured immediately. A small group of them tried to get out of the encirclement, constantly firing back, but they were only able to reach a small river, which they no longer had time to cross. Here they apparently ran out of ammunition. Found around large number shell casings and an unexploded grenade. One riot policeman was hit by machine gun fire near the bridge over the river and finished off with blows from a rifle butt. The rest were executed not far from this place.

In the following days, this area was combed and demined by internal troops, paratroopers and police officers.

On April 19, 2000, a large-scale special operation began in the Vedeno region to eliminate the formations of Basayev and Khattab concentrated here. Russian artillery attacked enemy targets in the areas of the villages of Zone, Shalazhi, Grushevoe, and Tsa-Vedeno. About 500 additional military personnel and military equipment. Su-25 attack aircraft made 22 combat missions, Su-24M bombers - 4. Mi-24 fire support helicopters took to the air more than 50 times.

Losses

36 Perm policemen and 7 military personnel of the commandant company were killed in battle, captured and executed. The number of wounded is 2 and 15, respectively.

The militants' losses are unknown. Several corpses of foreign mercenaries were taken from the battlefield and buried near the then location of the commandant's company (the mansion of Shamil Basayev, the house was later destroyed by sappers federal forces) for the purpose of subsequent exchange for the bodies of missing police officers. The exchange did not take place.

On March 31, the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Vladimir Rushailo and the first deputy chief visited the scene of the incident General Staff The RF Armed Forces, Colonel General Yuri Baluevsky, conducted an internal investigation. In February 2001, the materials were transferred to the main department of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus.

During the judicial investigation, it was found that there was no special ambush on the convoy. This was confirmed by the testimony of the militants who participated in that battle ( trial passed over them in Makhachkala in the spring-summer of 2001) and a diagram of the battle site (sometimes the militants had to shoot up the slope, which would most likely have been excluded if the position had been chosen in advance). Also in favor of the absence of an ambush is the fact that the shelling of the column intensified over time, as groups of militants approached from other houses in the village. But a fatal set of circumstances - a car breakdown, the discovery of a group of militants in a house on the outskirts of the village - led to tragic consequences. Perhaps, after resting, the militants would have gone into the mountains unnoticed. Or perhaps their goal was to attack the “heart of Ichkeria” - Vedeno. In this case, the Perm policemen and soldiers of the commandant's company, by their death, prevented an attack on the regional center and destroyed all the plans of the militants.

Six people were in the dock, none of whom pleaded guilty. Four received 14, 16, 19 and 21 years of strict regime, and two were subsequently released (they were initially sentenced to 2, 5 and 3 years in prison, and then amnestied).
Ratings and opinions

The shelling of checkpoints has become more frequent. Due to inconsistency and lack of necessary skills, a detachment (40 people) from the Perm riot police was ambushed and suffered losses. The column marched without reconnaissance of the route and organization of interaction with units of internal troops and artillery. Management was carried out through open communication channels. These omissions led to trouble. And such examples, unfortunately, were not isolated.

In February, when I was on a business trip to Perm, a combined riot police detachment - exactly 100 soldiers and officers led by commander Sergei Gaba - was escorted to Chechnya. There were no usual tears and sorrowful sobs on the platform - the command assured that this time the police reinforcements would not participate in hostilities, the guys had the usual task - to ensure public order in the Vedeno region

This happened on Wednesday, March 29th. A column of Perm riot police - 41 people - in two Ural vehicles and one armored personnel carrier moved early in the morning to the village of Dargo: they were to clear one of the villages in the mountains. Not reaching a kilometer before the village of Zhani-Vedeno (the Dzhanei-Vedeno mountain tract on the border of the Vedeno and Nozhai-Yurt districts), the column was suddenly attacked by several hundred militants. The massacre continued for several hours: cars and armored personnel carriers were hit, a barrage of fire pinned the policemen to the ground. They could not send any messages for help - none of the officers even knew the call signs and radio frequencies of the troops stationed in the convoy's lane. But at the checkpoint in Vedeno they could clearly hear the negotiations of the riot police. The last interception is at 16.45: “To all the guys who can shoot, hit singles!” It is clear to anyone what this meant: the surrounded soldiers were running out of ammunition.
The second column of Perm riot police - 107 people - was already rushing to the aid of their comrades. At the same time, a battalion of the 66th regiment of internal troops and three parachute battalions approached the scene of the tragedy. According to some reports, from the 104th regiment of the 76th Airborne Division from Pskov, whose company was almost completely destroyed on March 1. They didn’t make it - at height 813 they were also ambushed by militants.
Much is still unknown: how many hours did the battle last? Why didn't helicopters come to help? And most importantly: how many soldiers from the two riot police columns were killed, how many were wounded, how many were missing? The day after the first battle, March 30, at the next briefing, Sergei Yastrzhembsky assured that the first column of riot police had lost three soldiers, 16 “were safe,” and the fate of the rest was unknown. On the same day, the acting commander of the joint group of federal forces, Colonel General Alexander Baranov, reports something else from Khankala: four dead, 18 wounded. There is silence about the losses of the second column, internal troops and paratroopers. Although no - the same Yastrzhembsky estimates the losses of the landing force and explosives at 20 people wounded.
It is useless to call the press service of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Perm Region: its chief, Igor Kiselev, asked journalists back on March 30 not to write a word about the riot police tragedy - all the information received before seems to him either unreliable or unverified.
And therefore he corrects both Baranov and Yastrzhembsky: in the detachment there are only two wounded and one shell-shocked.
This lie is primitive and pathetic: if fate had been so merciful to the Perm residents, it is unlikely that Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Rushailo, having barely flown from Chechnya to Moscow, immediately flew to Mozdok again. It is unlikely that the same Baranov, the commander of the group of internal troops, General Mikhail Labunets, and the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, General Igor Golubev, would have rushed to the scene of the execution of the Perm riot police. And finally, on Friday, March 31, the Main Directorate of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasus opened a criminal case into an attack on a convoy of Perm riot police - the grounds must be too serious.
March in Chechnya already seems to me cursed and terrible - we live from tragedy to tragedy, the last one is already the third. Everything is the same: words about negligence, carelessness, confusion are heard. Everything is much more tragic - lies about the regions of Chechnya liberated from militants, lies about the end of the active phase of the military operation, and absolutely stupid chatter about the almost universal craving of Chechens for Russia.
...Both at the building of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of Perm, and at the riot police base not far from the famous Goznak factory, dozens of people have been standing for days - wives, fathers, mothers and children of those shot by riot police militants.
On Friday, March 31, at 16.30, Governor Vyacheslav Igumnov and two vice-governors arrived at the base. They conferred for several hours with the deputy commander of the riot police, Valery Kazantsev. The authorities did not approach the crowd of relatives.
Did they know that on the same day the bodies of 32 dead riot policemen were discovered in the Zhani-Vedeno area? Are their names finally known?
Let's get ready for silence and lies. It's time to get used to it.

The shooting case revealed murderous facts
Yesterday in Makhachkala, during the trial of the execution of Perm riot police in March 2000, sensational testimony from one of the accused, Eduard Valiakhmetov, was made public. He said that Andrei Babitsky was exchanged for soldiers captured by his detachment. The captured riot police, he said, were executed even though they asked to serve with the militants. With details - YURIY-SAFRONOV.
Defendant Valiakhmetov said that he came to Chechnya in early February 2000 at the insistence of his parents: “My mother and father wanted me to study the Koran and the basics of Islam.” This was confirmed to a Kommersant correspondent by Edward’s mother, Saniyat, who arrived in Makhachkala, dressed in accordance with all the rules prescribed by the Koran for a Muslim woman. “We really thought that only in Chechnya could our boy learn the purity of Islam,” she complained. In one of the camps, Valiakhmetov was given the name Abdulla, since the name Eduard, as they explained to him, was of non-Muslim origin. Even in a letter to his parents, he called himself Abdullah. After three weeks of training, Valiakhmetov, together with another accused Shamil Kitov, ended up in the detachment of the Arab Abu Kuteib. But just a couple of days later, the militants suspected that the recruits were FSB agents.
According to Valiakhmetov, under torture he was forced to admit that he was an FSB lieutenant. Together with Kitov, he was held with prisoners, among whom was one policeman from the Novolaksky region of Dagestan and several military personnel. The policeman, according to Valiakhmetov, was released for a ransom, and two soldiers were exchanged for Radio Liberty correspondent Andrei Babitsky. So, in any case, those who guarded him told Valiakhmetov. During this time, he recognized many militants, among whom were Tatars, Dargins from the Dagestan village of Karamakhi, and even Arabs who came from England.
The detachment of militants constantly moved and took prisoners with them everywhere. Valiakhmetov described the route in detail, clearly named settlements and even the regions of Chechnya that they crossed. At the end of March, the detachment in which he was located ended up near the village of Zhani-Vedeno.
“We were settled not far from the village in two abandoned houses. One morning I woke up from the noise of machine gun fire. Sleepy militants, dressing and loading weapons as they went, ran towards a small height (near it a column of Perm riot police was attacked. - Kommersant). Among them, I saw Shamil Kitov, who had a grenade launcher in his hands and three shots fired at him,” Valiakhmetov said during the interrogation, which was recorded on video and shown at the trial. All the riot police captured, he said, were taken to a small gorge, where they were guarded by Arabs. Meanwhile, the battle continued half a kilometer away. The Karamakhites who had previously guarded Valiakhmetov were not there - they took part in that battle. Already in the evening, when the detachment united, Valiakhmetov witnessed the execution of one of the riot police. “On the ground, leaning on a shovel, a warrant officer stood. When the militants began to loudly shout “Allahu Akbar!”, the policeman fell to his knees and began to ask not to kill him. He said that he would fight on their side. But the enraged Wahhabis no longer heard anything They took off the warrant officer’s shirt, then one Chechen came up and hit him on the head with the butt of a machine gun and cut his throat as he was already lying on the ground.” Thus, Valiakhmetov confirmed the federal data that Shamil Basayev was bluffing, offering to exchange prisoners for Colonel Budanov, who was arrested for the murder of a Chechen girl. By the time the demands were made, the riot police had already been executed.
However, in his other testimony, Valiakhmetov excluded the episode with Kitov. Based on this, the investigator did not charge the latter with direct participation in the attack on the Perm riot police. During the video interrogation, Valiakhmetov, and then Kitov, listed in detail the names of the Karamakh residents who participated in the raid and their signs. Later, according to investigators, they identified them from photographs. However, at the trial, both unexpectedly stated that they were mistaken, since completely different people were sitting in the dock. One of the participants in that battle Perm riot policeman, could not stand it and told the judge: “There they were all dirty, overgrown, with beards, and today they are trimmed and shaved. Naturally, in this situation, these are different people.”
When asked by the judge and the state prosecutor what caused the changes in their testimony, both defendants replied that they were subjected to physical pressure and acted according to the investigator’s script even before they were interrogated during video filming. According to them, the names of the defendants were suggested to them by police officers. Immediately, one by one, the lawyers began to raise their defendants and arrange impromptu confrontations, asking the same question: “Have you seen this man among the militants before?” The answer was a sluggish denial: “I only saw these people at the trial.”
Today the court will hear testimony from other defendants.

36 Perm policemen and 7 servicemen of the commandant company were killed in battle, captured and executed...

Early in the morning of March 29, a column of 50 people (42 riot police from Perm and Berezniki, 8 military personnel of the commandant company of military unit 83590 of the Taman division) moved from Vedeno to their destination to conduct a special operation to check the passport regime and carry out other activities. The column consisted of three vehicles: an armored personnel carrier (BTR-80) (driver Gennady Obraztsov, commandant company, captured, executed), a Ural-4320 vehicle (driver Vyacheslav Morozov, Sverdlovsk district police department, died in battle) and a ZIL-131 vehicle "(driver Yuri Shishkin, the only surviving soldier of the commandant company). Having passed near Zhani-Vedeno, at height 813, ZIL began to boil and the column was forced to stop.

Shortly before this, a detachment of militants under the command of Abu Kuteib entered the same village. In addition to the Chechens, the gang also included people from the North Caucasus republics and foreign mercenaries (Arabs). The bandits settled in houses for rest. The OMON commander, Major Simonov, decided to inspect the house, located tens of meters from the column’s stop. Going inside, he found two armed militants there. In response to Simonov's order to drop his weapon, shots were fired and Major Simonov was killed. At the same time, shelling of the convoy began with small arms and grenade launchers.

Initially, the militants fired only from small arms, but due to the fact that when the column stopped, the police did not disembark from the back of the vehicle and did not disperse on the ground, in the very first minutes of the battle, fire was opened on the policemen landing from the back, which led to numerous injuries and casualties . RPG shots knocked out an armored personnel carrier (the cumulative projectile hit the engine compartment) and both vehicles. The gunner (presumably the gunner's place was taken by one of the policemen, who later died from burns on the battlefield) of the burning armored personnel carrier turned the turret and opened fire on the hill, allowing the riot police to take more convenient positions for defense. The riot police and servicemen of the commandant's company took the fight and fought back until the last bullet. As the bandits approached from different parts of the village, the fire on the column intensified. The last radio message from the police asked them to shoot single shots. In all likelihood, they were running out of ammunition.

At about 10:00, a detachment of servicemen from the commandant’s company (contract soldiers), Perm police officers and Perm riot police was sent from Vedeno to help the riot police who were ambushed. The second column, headed by the commandant of Vedeno Colonel V. Tonkoshkurov, the head of the Vedeno VOVD Colonel Yu. Ganzhin, his deputy, former riot policeman Lieutenant Colonel K. Strogiy, the commander of the Perm OMON Lieutenant Colonel S. Gaba, tried to break through to the surrounded policemen, but did not reach several hundred of them meters, she herself was ambushed. Almost immediately, the lead armored personnel carrier of the commandant company (driver Roman Muranov, shooter Dmitry Zyablikov) was hit. For fear of being trapped, and due to the lack of combat experience actions in such situations, the command gave the order to retreat. After approximately 6 hours, the convoy returned to Vedeno. The losses of the second column were: the commandant's company - 15 wounded, the combined detachment of the Perm riot police - one wounded.

Only on March 31, federal troops (according to some sources, the reconnaissance group of the 255th motorized rifle regiment was finally able to reach height 813. The bodies of 31 dead and one riot policeman Alexander Prokopov, seriously wounded in both legs, were discovered (Alexander’s leg was subsequently amputated, but he remained to serve in the riot police). The fate of the remaining fighters by that time remained unknown. Later it turned out that twelve people (seven Berezniki riot police, four seconded Perm police officers and a soldier from the commandant’s company) were captured and executed the next day in response to the refusal to exchange them for Colonel Yu. D. Budanov, arrested for the murder of a Chechen woman. The burial of 10 fighters was discovered on April 30 (according to other sources - May 1) in the area of the village of Dargo, and information about the burial place of 2 riot police soldiers had to be purchased from local residents. Almost all the bodies had signs of abuse and abuse. torture.

As it turned out later, the police were not captured immediately. A small group of them tried to get out of the encirclement, constantly firing back, but they were only able to reach a small river, which they no longer had time to cross. Here they apparently ran out of ammunition. A large number of shell casings and an unexploded grenade were found around. One riot policeman was hit by machine gun fire near the bridge over the river and finished off with blows from a rifle butt. The rest were executed not far from this place.

One of the riot police, Sergei Udachin, had a video camera with him that day, with which he filmed the movement of the column until the very beginning of the battle. As a result of the ensuing shootout, he was killed, but the video camera continued to work. The camera lay in the grass and continued recording for another fifteen minutes.

Eternal memory...

List of losses of federal forces
36 Perm policemen were killed in battle, captured and executed:

police major Valentin Dmitrievich Simonov (06/12/1965 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Berezniki police department),
senior police lieutenant Vasily Anatolyevich Konshin (01/14/1967 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Perm Region),
senior police lieutenant Evgeniy Stanislavovich Turovsky (9.09.1963 - 29.03.2000, riot police at the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Perm Region),
senior police lieutenant Metguliev Albert Gurbandurdyevich (07/18/1965 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Perm Region),
police lieutenant Zazdravnykh Alexander Viktorovich (01/24/1966 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Internal Affairs Directorate of Berezniki, Perm Region),
police lieutenant Kananovich Albert Vladimirovich (11/24/1972 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Internal Affairs Directorate of Berezniki, Perm Region),
police lieutenant Kuznetsov Yuri Anatolyevich (09/05/1966 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Internal Affairs Directorate of Berezniki, Perm Region),
senior police warrant officer Sergei Borisovich Sobyanin (04/19/1971 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Berezniki police department),
senior police warrant officer Yuri Igorevich Avetisov (08/2/1970 - 03/29/2000, OMON at the Internal Affairs Directorate of Berezniki, Perm Region),
police warrant officer Andrey Vyacheslavovich Annenkov (02/06/1969 - 03/29/2000, Department of Internal Affairs of the Okhansky district of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Perm region),
police warrant officer Zyryanov Andrey Vyacheslavovich (12/20/1970 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Internal Affairs Directorate of Berezniki, Perm Region),
police warrant officer Mikhail Valerievich Lomakin (10/26/1974 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Berezniki police department),
police warrant officer Muntyan Valery Vladimirovich (10/31/1975 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Internal Affairs Directorate of Berezniki, Perm Region),
police warrant officer Sergei Viktorovich Malyutin (01/24/1975 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Berezniki police department),
police warrant officer Evgeniy Vladimirovich Prosvirnev (05/14/1975 - 03/29/2000, Department of Internal Affairs of the Gornozavodsky district of the Perm region),
police warrant officer Shaikhraziev Marat Farsovich (01/08/1965 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Internal Affairs Directorate of Berezniki, Perm Region),
police sergeant Aleksandr Viktorovich Kistanov (03/24/1970 - 03/29/2000, Department of Internal Affairs of the Perm district of the Perm region),
police sergeant Yuri Egorovich Permyakov (03/21/1973 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Internal Affairs Directorate of Berezniki, Perm Region),
police sergeant Alexey Nikolaevich Ryzhikov (07/08/1978 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Berezniki police department),
police sergeant Vitaly Yurievich Sergeev (08/12/1967 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Berezniki police department),
police sergeant Sergei Igorevich Udachin (05/24/1962 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Berezniki police department),
senior police sergeant Zyuzyukin Alexander Borisovich (10/1/1977 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Internal Affairs Directorate of Berezniki, Perm Region),
senior police sergeant Morozov Vyacheslav Valerievich (12/17/1972 - 03/29/2000, Department of Internal Affairs of the Sverdlovsk district of Perm),
senior police sergeant Okulov Vladimir Ivanovich (07/2/1974 - 03/29/2000, Department of Internal Affairs of Tchaikovsky, Perm Region),
senior police sergeant Pervushin Alexander Yurievich (01/5/1976 - 03/29/2000, Department of Internal Affairs of the Cherdynsky district of the Perm region),
senior police sergeant Vadim Vyacheslavovich Pushkarev (12/7/1971 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Internal Affairs Directorate of Berezniki, Perm Region),
police sergeant Vitaly Anatolyevich Efanov (08/31/1977 - 03/29/2000, Department of Internal Affairs of the Krasnovishersky district of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Perm region),
police sergeant Dmitry Viktorovich Makarov (01/3/1973 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Berezniki police department),
police sergeant Eduard Ivanovich Tarasov (08/26/1974 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Berezniki police department),
junior police sergeant Vladimir Yuryevich Emshanov (10/6/1978 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Berezniki police department),
junior police sergeant Evgeniy Ivanovich Kireev (02/28/1977 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Berezniki police department),
junior police sergeant Evgeniy Vladimirovich Tostyakov (10/6/1978 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Berezniki police department),
junior police sergeant Grigory Mikhailovich Uzhegov (09/12/1977 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Berezniki police department),
junior police sergeant Oleg Anatolyevich Davydov (09/25/1965 - 03/29/2000, riot police at the Berezniki police department of the Perm region police department),
junior police sergeant Sergei Vitalievich Igitov (06/29/1977 - 03/29/2000, Department of Internal Affairs of the Motovilikha district of Perm),
Private police officer Evgeniy Vyacheslavovich Rzhanov (06/10/1977 - 03/29/2000, Department of Internal Affairs of the city of Kungur, Perm region).
Soldiers of the commandant's company killed in battle, captured and executed:

Corporal Obraztsov Gennady,
Private Nikolenko Sergei Anatolyevich,
Private Karpukhin Andrey Petrovich,
Private Sasin Sergei Viktorovich,
Private Nizamov Zenur Adlyamovich,
Private Efimov Dmitry Yurievich,

Perm OMON: we were set up

Andrey NIKITIN, Boris POVARNITSYN

Vedeno was the last stronghold of Imam Shamil in Chechnya.

Shamil's fortress was surrounded by a wall made of stones held together with egg whites, clay and horsetail hair. Then, during the first Caucasian war, the abrek Zelimkhan from the other side of the gorge killed the Russian colonel Tumanov with a shot from a gun. The mountaineers still remember this well-aimed shot in their legends.

Now in Vedeno, the houses of Basayev and Khattab are shown as historical value. Not too damaged during the second Caucasian campaign.

In 1997, when the 200th anniversary of Shamil was celebrated, the fortress wall was restored. At the holiday they cooked lamb. Aslan Maskhadov and Zelimkhan Yandarbiev gave speeches. Shamil Basayev closely watched the action. The same one who dreamed of becoming the second Shamil for so long.

It was a strange experiment. A column of Perm police, without any combat cover, following the gorge, entered Vedeno and settled in the Shamil fortress. From now on, the Temporary Department of Internal Affairs (VOVD), formed entirely from Perm police officers, began to operate in the Vedeno region. Temporary, because sooner or later the Perm police officers must be replaced by Chechen ones.

Half a month later, a school opened in Vedeno and a hospital began operating.

The first alarm bell sounded on February 29. On this day, the Perm police were declared on combat readiness 1. They expected an attack by militants. Perhaps the intelligence was not mistaken. But on the night of the 30th it snowed. As much snow as falls on the snowiest days in the Urals. It seems that the militants did not dare to attack the Perm garrison that had grown into the Shamil fortress. On white snow-covered slopes visibility is too good. The second incident, which made us think about the situation of Perm police officers in Vedeno, occurred on March 6th. The day before, in the town of Selmentauzen, 40 kilometers from the regional center, after negotiations, a group of militants surrendered. The Permians went to receive her.

Almost half of the surrendered group, more than 20 people, were wounded. VOVD doctors provided assistance to them on the spot, after which the entire group was taken to the Vedeno hospital.

The next morning, when those who had surrendered were about to be taken to Chernokozovo, the hospital was surrounded by a crowd of local women. The Permyaks, who were supposed to accompany the prisoners, suddenly saw that from nearby houses the barrels of machine guns, machine guns, and grenade launchers were pointed at them. Among the Chechens who took up arms were local militia fighters.

The police found themselves in a siege, which could at any moment turn into an assault on the hospital. The confrontation with weapons at the ready continued throughout the first half of the day. Only after they discussed the procedure for handing over the wounded militants to local residents as bail, was it possible to extinguish the conflict.

And it became clear to everyone that the Perm policemen in Vedeno were hostages. Including militias who are changeable in their moods.

It’s worth saying something special about the militia. Vedeno district is the first place in Chechnya where it was created. The militia received permission to legally wear military weapon. Everyone was checked for loyalty, even passed certification. They, together with the police, maintain order and are on duty at checkpoints.

In general, the unification of armed formations of warring parties is an integral part of almost all modern programs ending civil wars. Therefore, the real, not just for the record, success of such an attempt in Vedeno can only be welcomed.

But the conflict on March 6 showed that in a crisis situation, the militia’s loyalty to its own people outweighs. According to VOVD soldiers, it happened that at a checkpoint the militia forbade Perm residents to inspect “their” cars. It would be good if these cars really were our own. It’s good that none of the militias who grabbed their machine guns on March 6 pulled the trigger. But how many times will this “good” be repeated?

Another three weeks passed, and the presidential elections approached. To ensure their implementation, the Perm Vedensk police were sent throughout the entire region. They drove UAZs (of course, again without any military cover), guarded polling stations in groups of four, with only machine guns.

The militants' threats to disrupt the elections here in Vedeno seemed far from joking. The risk was exorbitant. Although somewhere in the depths of my soul there was a glimmer of hope that it would carry through. When you are very afraid and wait it doesn’t happen. It blew by. It didn't happen. It’s as if peace has really come to Chechnya, and the sight of a police uniform is enough to restore order. And this is in the very South-Eastern outskirts of the republic, where, according to General Troshev, the surviving militants are gathering.

The “military support” of the elections in the region strongly resembled a direct provocation against the militants. In the event of attacks on police officers, there was a reason for harsh “cleansing” operations.

The election results were encouraging: not a single provocation. In addition, the Vedeno district, together with the whole of Chechnya, unanimously voted for Putin. However, the residents of Chechnya voted strangely: you can’t talk to anyone - for Zyuganov. And the official results received a day later than expected exact copy all-Russian.

On March 28, important and distinguished guests arrived in Vedeno. The head of the regional Main Department of Internal Affairs, Lieutenant General V. Sikerin, and the mayor of Perm, Yu. Trutnev. Despite the fact that the Perm policemen had already been treated kindly by the arrival of the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs V. Rushailo himself, their fellow countrymen were greeted solemnly.

The guests toured the location of the VOVD. We didn’t forget to look into “Gorchak” - an armored autonomous combat point, which, however, they forgot to equip with the required weapons. "Gorchak" proudly stuck out almost in the center of the camp and was dubbed "toilet" by wits. We visited the Vedeno school, solemnly presenting dolls, ABC books, and candies to the stunned children. Of course, there were not enough gifts for everyone, but the teachers, who had never received a salary yet, courageously thanked the bosses who had fallen from the sky.

We stopped at the hospital and talked with the head physician and staff. They wrote down the requests of the Vedenians in notebooks: they needed slate, lumber, medicine. They promised to help. Suddenly the idea arose that the Perm region should really take patronage over Vedeno. Cultural connections, training of local youth in Perm universities, assistance in opening new jobs.

The official part of the visit ended at the location of the riot police, who settled in a two-minute drive from the VOVD. The guests took pictures with the riot police as a souvenir...

The memory didn’t take long to arrive.

On March 28, 20 minutes before midnight, an order from the commander of the Eastern Group, Major General Makarov, arrived in Vedeno. On the morning of the 29th, 40 riot police were supposed to go to clear the village of Tsentoroy, adjacent to Vedensky Nozhai-Yurtovsky district. The order was dated March 26 (??). What happened after was sadly replicated by all Russian media. With a traditional delay of two or three days.

We are forced to make adjustments. There were 50 people in the first column. Including 41 riot police. Driver from Perm-Vedensky VOVD. 8 people from the commandant's company.

The second column, led by the commandant of Vedeno, Colonel V. Tonkoshkurov, the head of the Vedeno VOVD, Colonel Yu. Ganzhin, his deputy, former riot policeman, Lieutenant Colonel K. Strogiy, and the commander of the Perm OMON, Lieutenant Colonel S. Gaba, was unable to get through to the first column. All the commanders were rushing into the thick of it, and only the sobriety of one of them made it possible to prevent a repeat of the fate of the first column. However, almost half of the militants, about 200 people, were diverted from the battle with the riot police. Losses of the second column 16 wounded. (Including one policeman from the VOVD).

After the departure of this column, airborne units fought their way to Hill 813 for two days, where a detachment of the Perm riot police was fighting.

The outcome of the battle was predetermined. Despite the belated support of aviation and artillery, the first column had almost no chance of surviving.

On March 30, a group of six people - five riot police and a soldier from the commandant's company - went out to their own people. The mountains were shrouded in fog.

We were set up, a hundred pounds... While we were still sleeping, we were betrayed...

At the headquarters they caught two interceptions on the radio: “A column is coming. Standing. Take it.”

The commander (Valentin Simonov author) approached the shed, opened the door, shouted:

“Throw the knife, then I won’t shoot...” Then a howl: “Allah Akbar!” and the battle began.

This guy from the commandant’s office, who climbed onto the burning armored personnel carrier, he knew that he was going to his death. He covered us.

The battle went on for about eight hours, but it seemed like five minutes flew by...

If it weren’t for the second column, we would have simply been soaked. When we escaped, we ran along the streams for half an hour. And we immediately agreed: we won’t leave each other.

The “spirits” are killing, they’re killing their own you won’t understand where they’re shooting from.

They lay under our NURS, mortars, and dryers. Almost everyone was hooked on Sushki.

But I'm so grateful to them. And exactly one day later the general arrived. He brought notebooks, promised wallpaper, linoleum... Why do we need linoleum?

Don't write about us. Write about those guys who died.

They were introduced to “Courage”. And they need to be given a “Hero”.

Why did we go out? Why didn't they kill us? How can they look their mothers in the eye now?

Those who were conscious would not be taken by the “spirits”. The riot police do not surrender. Some take a grenade to the stomach, some take the barrel to the head. So we lay there...

The “spirits” didn’t expect us to come out. They thought we all died there. And we left.

On March 31, when the paratroopers finally reached Hill 813, 31 dead and one wounded were found. Alexander Prokopov from Berezniki survived miraculously; the wounded were finished off with a control shot to the head.

At the end of winter there was a lot of talk about the end of the military operation in Chechnya. It seems that at some levels of power there were figures who took wishful thinking.

As a result, an experiment on living people began. Policemen were sent to the most partisan part of Chechnya without army cover; at one time there was not even a commandant’s company in Vedeno. Doctors on suicide bombers travel around the Vedeno district to respond to calls, policemen on suicide bombers help conduct elections in the region, firefighters on suicide bombers restore the local fire department.

Did it work out? Was it successful? We can say that the forecasts were justified. The world has come.

War suits many people, no matter how creepy it sounds. Many on both sides of the front. One more side of the Vedensky experiment can be seen.

The few policemen, not equipped and not armed for a real war, demonstratively pushed into Basayev’s fiefdom, are a teasing, provoking bait for the militants. Surround, assault, fire...

Then there will be a reason to again send troops into the gorge, shoot and bomb, tighten the screws and establish emergency forms of control. Here he is, they say, a Chechen "hound" - no matter how much you feed him, he keeps looking at the mountains.

“We were set up,” say the Perm police.

Perm police officers were framed at least twice. Making them a symbol of the coming peace. And a reason to resume the war.