The most ultra-modern section of the Russian state border, no doubt, is now in the Magaramkentsky district of the Republic of Dagestan.
It was here that the implementation of the Federal Target Program "State Border Russian Federation 2003-2010".
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Photo by Magomed Umalatov.
Photo by Magomed Umalatov.
And on July 15, 2005, Vladimir Putin came here to meet with border guards and open a new Jepel outpost. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief then gave a positive assessment of the arrangement in this area. In less than three years, nine more complexes of departments (border outposts) and three checkpoints were built and put into operation here. These are modern military camps, equipped with the latest weapons, the most modern technology and means of protection, decent social infrastructure.
- Five years ago, no one could have imagined that we would begin the rapid construction of new modern border outposts here, - Musaefendi Velimuradov, head of the administration of the Magaramkent region, said in a conversation with me. Our acquaintance took place in the department of "Chakh-Chakh" named after Nikolai Golubnitsky.
- 15 years ago, after the relocation of the border detachment to the city of Derbent, at first the border guards even had to live in tents, - recalls M. Velimuradov. “They settled down as best they could. But sometimes things did not move beyond the construction of dugouts for personnel from improvised materials and half-decayed barracks allocated for housing or wooden trailers for officers and ensigns. It is clear that we helped the border guards, but our joint efforts with the command of the detachment were clearly not enough. Time passed, and the appearance of the border remained far from perfect, and even more so from modern requirements. Three years ago, Vladimir Putin said that civilized countries have long been guarding their borders with the help of high-tech equipment, minimizing the military component. And here, they say, the borders of the Fatherland are still covered by border guards with dogs, as in the days of the legendary Karatsupa ...
The state decision to develop a concept for the formation of a system for ensuring the national interests of the Russian Federation in the border area, as well as the very definition of a set of measures for their implementation, turned out to be timely. The "inventory" of the border, which showed the extreme deterioration of the border infrastructure, prompted the immediate development of new approaches to the organization of the border service. Despite the fact that the main burden just lay on the people who served in completely unsuitable conditions.
The work carried out to equip the southern borders has already made it possible to close the loopholes that terrorists used to penetrate our territory, as well as to increase the readiness of border guards to repel a potential threat. At the moment, in the Derbent sector, the border is guarded with a 100% guarantee. A big contribution to this belongs to the commander of the unit, Colonel Yuri Lobachev, who once served in Stavropol. He is a holder of the Order of Military Merit. In this award there is a piece of military labor of each of his subordinates, including our countrymen: officers Stepan Sumsky from Pyatigorsk, Viktor Kokhanov from the village of Divnoy, Apanasenkovsky district, Alexander Petkov and Nikolai Katsuba from Budennovsk, private Sergey Kholyavko from Arzgirsky district, private contract service Alexander Zablotsky from the farm of the Middle Aleksandrovsky district (he served just at the frontier post "Chakh-Chakh"), as well as many other Stavropol residents.
“Implementation of the federal targeted program at our site has given a lot,” Yuri Lobachev stressed. - Firstly, the conditions for the deployment, life and operational activities of personnel, allowing you to devote yourself entirely to protecting the border and training personnel. There is no longer such a situation when the lion's share of time was spent on solving economic issues, including the preparation of firewood, water, drying uniforms in the end. Now all this is in the past. Secondly, the current border protection technique allows to bring the efficiency factor to a maximum. And when we also complete the recruitment according to the new look, when real specialists (ensigns, contract servicemen) form the basis, then our sector can become a model for all border troops.
Preface.
I have long wanted to write a memoir about my service. I'll start with Dagestan. This is due to the fact that the memory is erased and I can forget a lot. And maybe someone will just be interested in my memories. Moreover, having dug through the Internet, I practically did not find any information in any media about the events that I want to talk about, with the exception of individual isolated episodes.
In addition, I wanted to talk about the border guards. This special caste of people with their own customs, customs and habits. And to say with this story many thanks to all the officers, warrant officers, sergeants and soldiers with whom I had to serve there for a little over four months.
We are talking about the 487 special purpose border detachment (military unit 3810).
A bit of history (many thanks for this information to Sergey M.).
The detachment was formed on June 30, 1994 by Order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Border Troops of the Russian Federation with a permanent deployment point in Zheleznovodsk. The detachment was organizationally part of the grouping of troops of the Caucasian Special Border District. Designed to solve special problems.
According to the latest data, the detachment was finally disbanded in July 2006, and training has been in its place since October of the same year.
Everything that will be written below, I saw (heard) personally or learned from the words of eyewitnesses. All names will be changed just in case. But those who remember me or who witnessed those events will easily recognize these people.
In 199 ... a business trip to Chechnya, despite the understanding of the events that took place there, with all the benefits and money, did not appeal to any of my colleagues. And I didn’t particularly aspire to go there, what to hide (and even more so my family). But since it was military service, where orders are not discussed - naturally went. One thing calmed me - I knew that I was going to Dagestan. And this, as it seemed to all of us, was not Chechnya.
However, upon arrival at the detachment, it turned out that the war, it turns out, was going on in Dagestan, in addition to Chechnya. Certainly not in such forms and volumes. But the threats to life for the soldiers of the detachment were real, and at the time of my arrival there had already been three clashes with militants. Unfortunately, with losses.
The first battle took place on the night of December 29-30, 1994 near the Grebensky bridge of the Khasavyurtovsky district of the Republic of Dagestan. Border guards (10 fighters of 2 outposts of 1 MMG detachment and two officers) assisted the encircled battalion internal troops in repelling an armed attack by militants of illegal armed formations of Chechnya, in the evacuation of the wounded.
Here is how one of the eyewitnesses describes this fight. “The first night at the outpost, darkness, and suddenly red rockets and tracers one after another into the sky. No brainer - there is a fight, asking for help. Let's go, headlights on GAZ 66 for the whole. VVshniki were stunned. Who are you? We are border guards. How many of you? We are 10. How did you get on? Are we surrounded? We - and the devil knows!
The second battle took place from 18.00 on June 17, 1995 to 01.00 on June 19, 1995. During the battle, a surprise attack by militants of Chechen illegal armed formations (numbering about 400 people) was repelled at the Ziberkhali outpost of the detachment (Botlikh district of the Republic of Dagestan). Four servicemen of the detachment died in that battle: corporal Asadulin I., junior sergeant Vasiliev V., private Krasroglazov S. and private Ryabov S. the departure of the outfit and the occupation of all-round defense by the personnel of the outpost), by Order of the FPS of Russia No. 294, 1 POGZ of the 3 MMG detachment was assigned.
The third story is the saddest, since the death of the border guards was the result of negligence (I will not use other epithets, and everything is clear) of individual officers of the detachment.
On August 24, 1995, the head of the 1st MMG detachment returned from vacation with the rank of lieutenant colonel (and he went on vacation as a major). And so, with the chief of staff of the detachment and two more officers (a doctor and an FSB officer), it was decided to “wash” this matter by going to Blue Lake (Lake Kezenoy-Am, the administrative border of the Vedensky and Botlikh regions of the Chechen Republic and the Republic of Dagestan). Moreover, on the way to this lake, they met a shepherd who warned them that there might be militants ahead. However, the officers continued to move (very, probably, they wanted to drink vodka in a beautiful place), eventually fell into an ambush, and, due to numerical superiority, surrendered to the militants without a fight.
On August 25, 1995, at 6 am, a convoy of three pieces of equipment (an armored personnel carrier, a GAZ 66 with fighters and a GAZ 66 with a mortar crew) moved from the second outpost of the 1st MMG to search for the missing. Having approached the boarding house at about 8 o’clock, the armored personnel carrier, which was walking ahead of the column by 400 meters, fell into an ambush set up by militants and was cut off from its own by heavy fire from three sides ...
Several border guards also died in that battle: Lieutenant Sisenko Vyacheslav (scout), junior sergeant Nikolaev Sergey, privates Maksimov Sergey and Semyonov Mikhail (all three of the 2nd outpost 1 MMG), but the officers could not be released.
In the future, as far as I know, after a year in captivity, all of the above officers were bought from the militants. They were in an extremely emaciated state, their health was seriously undermined. How their life developed in the future is unknown. In this regard, I specifically do not name their names ...
During the period when I was seconded to him, the detachment carried out tasks to cover the border of Dagestan with Chechnya in Botlikh and other regions of Dagestan.
The detachment's servicemen served at checkpoints, risked their lives daily, inspecting cars and other vehicles. Moreover, the frontier post in the village of Ziberkhali, which I mentioned above, was shelled almost weekly from Chechnya (it was located on the border of Chechnya and Dagestan in the mountains).
And this despite the fact that the detachment was actually on the territory of Dagestan illegally and performed tasks that were clearly not characteristic of them. No one could show me the document on the basis of which the detachment was redeployed to the territory of Dagestan, everyone spoke only about the request of the leadership of Dagestan to send troops to the territory of the Republic. After all, the border troops are designed to protect the state border, and in Dagestan, the military personnel of the detachment guarded the internal borders between the Republics of Russia. All this ultimately resulted in the fact that none of the military personnel who fought on the territory of Dagestan is currently entitled to receive the title of "Veteran of Combat Operations". Even those who actually participated in the clashes.
However, none of them whined, and in the end, the detachment coped with the task.
After all, it was only after the departure of the border troops from Dagestan on August 7, 1999 that one and a half thousandth group under the command of Shamil Basayev invaded the territory of Dagestan. The militants immediately captured a number of villages in the Botlikh and Tsumadinsky districts. There were no Russian garrisons there, and the small local militia offered no resistance. The second Chechen war began.
About how I went directly to Dagestan
The way I got from Zheleznovodsk (the place where the detachment was permanently deployed at the time I arrived on the twentieth of September 1996) to the place of the business trip requires a separate story, because already here I was struck by some things and began to respect the border guards.
In my opinion, a day or two after my arrival in the detachment, a column of four Urals was formed and early in the morning we moved to Dagestan. I had to drive non-stop along the border with Chechnya, as far as I remember, more than 600 km. First by Stavropol Territory, then through the territory of Dagestan. The column was headed by Lieutenant Colonel Kipchakov Kakhramon Yakhievich. There will be a story about him later. He also went to the detachment on a business trip to replace (for the period of vacation) the head of the second motorized maneuver group (hereinafter referred to as MMG) of the detachment, Lieutenant Colonel Chuvalkin Vasily Mikhailovich. I also followed this MMG.
The first shock - 600 km, the vast majority of the military had to go in the back (who drove - knows what it's like in the back). I actually rode in the cockpit. But never before had I traveled such distances in the cabin of the Urals. In the end, we drove more than 10 hours to the headquarters of the 2nd MMG (there was an overnight stay, in the morning the whole column went further - to Botlikh).
The second is mountains. Having passed Khasavyurt, the ascent into the mountains along the serpentine to the Dylym pass began. Although I was in the mountains as a child (in Kyrgyzstan on the Tien Shan), we climbed the mountains on foot. And here by car ... On a narrow mountain road (in some places two cars did not pass. In these cases, according to the “unwritten rules”, the one who went down stopped and let the car moving up. It is always more difficult to start moving up in the mountains). When, some time after the start of the ascent, I accidentally looked down - the hair on my head began to stir ... Down below, far away, rams roamed far and they were the size of a match head. And we're on the side of the road. Only one reassured - the driver. He said - "Comrade Major, everything will be fine," and I believed him. He rode confidently and only his dirty hands on tiptoe testified to what it was like to serve as a driver in the detachment. Then I got used to the mountains and even "driving around" the drivers who came to serve in the MMG again.
In the evening we arrived at the headquarters of the 2nd MMG. It was located between the villages of Argvani and New Argvani (we called them upper and lower Argvani) at an altitude of more than 1500 meters above sea level on the territory of the former airport at a distance of about a kilometer from the main road.
Together with the headquarters, 2 frontier posts were stationed. Officers and warrant officers lived in an adobe house, and soldiers and sergeants (hereinafter referred to as conscripts) lived in one common dugout. Conscripts ate in the dining room in the open air, there was only a canopy in case of rain or snow.
I got a seat on the lower tier in front of a TV with a VCR. The last one surprised me for the third time. And then I was finally finished off with a bathhouse and washing machines in it. But more about this story later.
Outposts and their chiefs
The chiefs of outposts require special mention. At that time, the shortage of officers was also felt in the border troops. And they simply solved this problem there - young people with higher education and ensigns. After completing the courses, they were assigned a junior lieutenant (in everyday life "mamley") and sent to the troops. Including appointed chiefs of outposts. Our chief food officer Pashka Duplov (one of the ensigns) and the deputy chief engineer Dima Strelnikov (one with a higher education) were such officers. And two chiefs of the outpost - the third was called Oleg, and, unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of the chief of the first. The head of the second outpost was a career officer.
The outposts were located in the following places in the Gumbetovsky region of Dagestan (this region, according to one of the local residents of another region of Dagestan, was considered one of the poorest, “Because the people who lived in it could eat horse meat. Residents of rich regions eat only lamb”).
The first one is higher from us in the mountains near the village of Danukh, closer to the Dylym pass. There was a spring next to it, and we sometimes went there for water for our needs. If you look directly through the mountains - three kilometers. Actually, on mountain roads, 10-15 kilometers, I probably don’t remember exactly. It took about 40-50 minutes to get there. Despite the fact that the difference in altitude between us and the outpost was only 100 m, the weather differed dramatically. For example, the sun was shining in our country, and we were sunbathing, and there it could snow at that time ... What do mountains mean ...
The third one, below the village of Mekhelta, covered the road to the Andi pass (the most dangerous section from which militants from Chechnya could appear). It was basically a suicide bombing. In the best case, when militants attacked her, help from us could come only after an hour. The road to Mehelta, for example, was a serpentine with 14 turns. Urals entered some of the turns only from the second time, and armored personnel carriers from the third ...
Regularly at the outpost there should be a chief, a political officer, a foreman and about 30 fighters with one armored personnel carrier. In reality, the head of the outpost was either a political officer or a foreman. Moreover, in the event of their illness or vacation, the head of the outpost generally remained alone. And I never once heard moans and whining from them about the difficulties of life. Outposts lived independent life, cooked their own food, guarded themselves .. Moreover, the mode of life for conscripts of all outposts (including ours) was the following - 8 hours of service (guard or outfit), 8 hours of work and 8 hours of sleep. And so every day. Officers and conscripts from other outposts came to us only for the bathhouse and for meetings.
Also, for the entire time that I was in the detachment, there was not a single case of "self-propelled" (unauthorized absence from the place of service), and not a single case of desertion. In general, the discipline was in order. Although, of course, there were dreams at the posts, alcohol and other violations (as in all military units). We had one treatment at the outpost - the culprit (s) put on a full ammunition load, body armor (and he weighed enough) and the fighters "stormed" several times near the mountain lying ... The result was good ...
Herds of sheep often passed through the checkpoints. As a rule, there were 1000 heads or more of them, the shepherds were far away, or they were not visible at all, and it seemed that one of the sheep could be "requisitioned" on the sly. As the fighters themselves told me, after one such attempt, the shepherds immediately revealed the theft ... How they did it remained a mystery to them, and they did not experiment anymore.
About the local people and their manners and customs
Somehow, among others, he was invited to visit one of the local residents. Look, some men are sitting. Well, out of habit, I - “Where is the hostess, why is she not at the table?” I was immediately remarked. And I realized that despite the fact that it was the 20th century in the yard, the attitude towards a woman in the Caucasus remained as to “service personnel”. They ate separately from the peasants and only after the first had eaten. They age very quickly, I have not seen one beautiful woman over the age of 30. Maybe it was good, the fighters did not have the thought of getting acquainted with local girls. And besides, everyone knew that for insulting a woman (and even “flirting” with them was regarded in this way), retribution would be tough (at best, they would cut off “manhood”).
One evening in a GAZ 66 (“shishige,” as we called them among ourselves), I returned to the MMG headquarters. And the headlights highlighted the following picture: a woman is walking, on her bag with horse "cakes" (they used them to heat the stoves). A woman leads a donkey, on which is the same bag with "cakes". And a man sits on a donkey ....
Passing through the village I saw that women are constantly at work. And the men could squat for hours (in the pose of an eagle) and do nothing. In Mekhelta, their favorite place was near the military registration and enlistment office and the mosque.
At first, leaving the car in the village (to the store or for some other reason), for security purposes I took a machine gun with me. However, they immediately explained to me that walking around the village with a machine gun is not welcomed by the locals, it offends them. While the serviceman was in the territory of the village, he “was visiting” and his safety was guaranteed.
Mostly Avars lived in Mekhelta, the most numerous nationality of Dagestan. In general, according to local residents, there are more than 80 nationalities in Dagestan. And everyone speaks their own language. Two nearby villages could speak different languages. And the language of communication between the peoples was, oddly enough, Russian ...
They don’t know how to drink in moderation at all ... The first time I encountered this was at the celebration of the Day of the Police. There were at least 20-30 policemen... There was a lot of meat and only one case of vodka. When I asked one of the local leaders - “Why is there so little vodka, obviously there won’t be enough?”, He answered me: “If we bring everything at once, everyone will drink it.” And then they brought vodka as needed.
Reckless ... Somehow I return to the headquarters. Shishiga is overtaken by a Zhiguli and the driver asks to stop. I'm leaving. The driver gets out of the car "none" and offers a drink. And from the snack one water. I tell him, let's go to the outpost, we'll have a drink there. In the end, I gave in to him (did not want to quarrel with the locals), drank a little. So he also drank, got into the car and drove further down the serpentine ...
They disgracefully love weapons... And to shoot from them, especially the boys... There were a lot of weapons (including machine guns) in the hands of local residents.. They turned to us only with requests to sell cartridges.
On January 5, there was a call from the 3rd outpost .. There was shooting in Mekhelta ... They went out, listened .. Indeed, they were shooting ... While they were gathering and preparing to leave for help (10 minutes passed), the shooting stopped ... As it turned out later, it was a wedding ....
Somehow, soldiers of the third outpost during the inspection in one of the cars in the trunk found and confiscated a machine gun. Noise was all over the area. The head of the district and the police came with a request to give the machine gun of a “respected person” (as it turned out, the head of the security of the local hydroelectric power station). Gave away. Then comes an order from the leadership of the detachment to withdraw the machine gun. The locals brought it back, but with a sawed-off striker... That's it, there is a machine gun, but no weapons...
As I said above, at the headquarters of the MMG were:
- a video recorder with a TV (in the dugout at the fighters too);
- bath;
- electric washing machines.
Moreover, the officers could use the bathhouse and washing machines mainly only from Monday to Friday, since on Saturday and Sunday the soldiers bathed and washed their clothes.
In general, our bath was a kind of outlet in life in the field and we washed and steamed several times a week (if there was firewood).
By the way, firewood was brought from Buynaksk (200 km away). You can imagine how much one bathhouse cost the state ... The existing stoves were not adapted for coal. Food was prepared in field kitchens, which worked either on wood or diesel fuel.
Electricity was stationary - connected to local networks. Well, when such light disappeared (which happened quite often), diesel generators were used. A lot of attention was paid to everyday life at the MMG, which was somewhat unexpected for me (after all, it was like a war).
Even guests from among the locals bathed in our bathhouse. Moreover, they themselves did not have baths in their houses, and where they cleaned the body - also remained unclear. There was a bathhouse in Mekhelta, but according to the locals, they allegedly did not visit it.
What stunned me was that the fighters only had one set of underwear. And if they washed their underwear, they wore uniforms on their naked bodies. If they washed their uniforms, they walked in underwear. For this, in general, rear services should have been prosecuted.
There was no butter at all ... Pasta of the first grade, gray.
Once a package arrived to one of the contractors, who had already left for another place of service.
There was only stew from the meat .. And we were still lucky, we had both meat and chicken stew .. But anyway, the stew got bored very quickly .. And we began to cook cutlets from it (and, of course, there was no meat grinder and the meat was just very finely cut with a knife) and prepared dumplings several times... At least some variety.. A couple of times we bought fish from the locals and fried it. for gasoline) sheep.
Moreover, most of the sheep went into the cauldron for the fighters. That's when I realized - what does fresh lamb mean, what kind of shish kebab is made from fresh lamb and what kind of lamb is sold to us in our markets. Shurpa from fresh sheep - it was something ...
Once, a local resident Murtuz gave us a goat. It turned out that it is very difficult for goats to remove hair from the meat and only the insides (liver, lungs, etc.) can be freely eaten.
They prepared food for officers and ensigns separately, a fighter was specially allocated, but from the same products that were given to everyone else. The chef assigned to us cooked, in principle, not bad, but he really liked to put bay leaves in food ...
In general, the food was certainly not very good. We envied the detachments of riot police who periodically passed through our posts. They were prepared local authorities for a business trip carefully and from the food was everything. Including good flour and pasta, which they sometimes shared with us. For which special thanks to them.
As a good thing from this thread - we had a lot of fresh cabbage. The MMG command established good relations with local entrepreneurs who grew cabbage in the mountains. They allowed us to take cabbage from their warehouse in the mountains. Of course, we did not abuse this, because we saw what work it took to grow cabbage in the mountains. For example, entrepreneurs delivered water for irrigation of cabbage to the fields in tank trucks. Cabbage itself, after being grown for sale, was taken all the way to Siberia ... But sometimes we also helped them either with diesel fuel or in repairing their cars. They have always been welcome guests with us and never empty handed didn't come.
Several men, not residents of Dagestan, guarded the fields with this cabbage .. Yes, there were actually slaves there .. True, in conversations with us they stated that they arrived in Dagestan voluntarily ... could get to his homeland in Ryazan .. (according to him, he had a wife and two children there), but for some reason he refused ...
And on New Year we were pleased with sponsorship gifts .. Two dozen boxes of tangerines were brought to the group .. Now we all came off ...
And now I want to tell you about armored personnel carriers - weapons ... Somehow Yakhieich decided to shoot the KPVT.
For reference: KPVT - a 14.5-mm Vladimirov heavy tank machine gun with a tungsten carbide core, penetrates a plate of armored steel up to 50 mm thick from a distance of 500 m. Optical sight…
Somewhere at a distance of about 400 - 500 meters from the armored personnel carrier, they put a notebook sheet. And they started shooting. I had never been inside an armored personnel carrier before, so I also took some part in this process, or rather, fired several shots. Surprised by the complexity of loading a machine gun. It was necessary to have quite a lot of physical strength in order to load a machine gun with a special lever. I could not. The fighters said that the most cunning turned over head down, rested their feet on the roof of the armored personnel carrier and thus created the necessary physical effort for charging. I immediately imagined - but in a real battle ... Maybe something has already changed now.
But the accuracy of the KPVT firing after zeroing was high. Even I was able to get into this notebook sheet ...
In addition, sniper rifles and other personal weapons were often targeted. Fortunately, there were a lot of cartridges and they were not spared. Under my bed, for example, lay personal zinc with cartridges.
But I did not take part in this because of superstition (if you start shooting just like that, not in battle, you yourself will fall under fire). Often, by the nature of my service, I had to visit other outposts and Mekhelta, you go, and your head, like a pilot’s, works in a circle - they could fire from any hill. But thank God it worked out...
This person also requires a separate short story. He fought in Angola (we knew little about this war). A tanker by military education, I don’t know how he got into the border guards. The real Officer capital letter. He had psychic abilities, healed someone ... He told me, in particular, that I have a strong protector angel and that I myself have psychic abilities, but I don’t know how to use them ... He was a demanding, but at the same time a very caring commander ... Tough stopped all signs of hazing in the group ... Competent and fearless officer. He had something to learn… He left Dagestan ahead of schedule (there was a misfortune in the family).
Video recorder
As I wrote above, there was a VCR in our house. On the one hand, this made our life easier, but on the other hand ...
The fact is that 2 MMG was a transshipment base for the movement of columns from Zheleznovodsk to Botlikh and back. In one light day it was impossible to cover the entire route at once. Therefore, the columns stopped with us, personnel spent the night and moved on in the morning. The officers came to our house and began watching the videos available in the group. And we had to watch these films many times.
I especially remember the film “Peculiarities of the National Hunt” (it had just appeared at that time and was a huge success). After a month of being in the group, I knew by heart not only the content of the film, but also all the lines of the characters ...
Our saviors ... At night in the mountains, even gouge out the darkness of the eye. And a road passed by the group, and local residents drove (moved on foot) along it both during the day and at night.
So the dogs of strangers calculated by smell and immediately gave a signal about this. We had three of them. Everyone took care of them and pampered them in every possible way.
These dogs also played a negative role. Often the fighters at guard posts dozed at night. When they were convicted of this, they declared: “So the dogs will still hear and will not allow anyone to approach the outpost secretly.”
Safety
What surprised me unpleasantly was the fact that the command of the detachment did not take any measures to protect data, including confidential ones, transmitted over radio networks. Such negligence created serious prerequisites for the militants to leak information about the activities carried out in the detachment and made it easier for them to prepare various kinds of terrorist and other similar actions. And this despite the fact that the communication channel of the field headquarters of the detachment stationed in Botlikh, with the headquarters in Zheleznovodsk, passed through the territory of Chechnya and was easily intercepted.
As it turned out, for conducting radio conversations, classified communications equipment (ZAS) of temporary stability was used. The strength of the encryption keys used in such equipment is several hours. In this regard, they had to change daily. They actually change once a month.
Map coordinates were also not encrypted. All coordinates, at the request of operational duty officers, were transmitted real. It came to conflict once. Reporting on the departure of one of the reconnaissance raids to the border with Chechnya to identify and destroy possible members of the illegal armed groups of Chechnya who had penetrated the territory of Dagestan, I took responsibility for refusing to inform the operational duty officer of the coordinates of the border section that they planned to enter. What kind of threats against us that day from the starley - the operational duty officer, we did not hear.
The main thing is that from that exit we all returned alive and healthy and completed the task.
Therefore, leaving for the outposts, only the head of the MMG knew where I was going. And about the departure from the outpost to the detachment, I reported the conditioned signal.
The following fact (according to eyewitnesses) speaks of the "careless" (you can't call it otherwise) attitude of the detachment command to the security of communications. When the battle began on Ziberhali (as described above), one of the officers told the outpost in plain text about the withdrawal of the reserve, thereby practically warning the militants. The reserve was ambushed and was able to reach the outpost only by 4 o'clock in the morning.
About the rest
Several times, in order to get more complete impressions of Dagestan, we went for walks in the vicinity of the group's headquarters.
Once we went down into the gorge and looked at the artificial gardens created by human hands. As the locals explained to us, such a garden has been created for several decades. They are watered from the slopes.
We learned how trails and ditches for water in the mountains are created. If it is necessary to pave a path (aryk), then a donkey (donkey) is allowed from top to bottom. They turn out to be so lazy or smart that they will always move only down a gentle (non-steep) trajectory.
In the gorge we tried apples, and found large bushes of sea buckthorn and barberry. Moreover, it was not clear how the animals (we saw cows) eat sea buckthorn berries, because they were actually hidden between the needles. We took a few branches with us, we wanted to drink tea with sea buckthorn .. But after we realized that even a razor blade does not help in cutting berries (and it was impossible not to prick), we gave up this attempt.
And the second time they were invited by one of the local residents on an excursion to his native village of Gadari, which was also located in the gorge. Moreover, as we were told, the sun in the territory of this village happened only a couple of hours a day. But there grew delicious vegetables. We went down to the village and went up from there on a Belarus tractor. The ride was still the same, especially on the descent. I was just sitting on the left in the cab and saw how the left big wheel of the tractor often drove strictly along the edge of the cliff.
In the village we saw real sakli without windows. Only one family lived there. From there, as a gift, I brought a whole bag of walnuts, which we then ate.
In addition, it turned out that the locals do not eat mushrooms at all ... At that time in September, there was a lot of butter in the mountains and we fried them several times with potatoes ... Delicious ...
More about sad
On November 16, 1996, a terrorist act was committed in the Dagestan city of Kaspiysk. As a result of a powerful explosion, two entrances of a large-panel nine-story residential building collapsed. 106 people were taken out from under the rubble of an apartment building blown up by terrorists, 41 of them were children. 67 people died, including 54 servicemen of the FPS of Russia and members of their families. Pashka Duplov was also supposed to die from this explosion (he was in Kaspiysk that day and planned to spend the night with his friend in this house). But when meeting with fellow soldiers on the territory of the Caspian border detachment, as they say, he "went over" a little, and stayed overnight in the detachment ... And so he escaped.
But Yakhieich was not lucky ... One of the officers of the detachment who died from this explosion was carrying a significant amount of money (debt), which, of course, disappeared.
In addition, with me there was a small clash of military personnel of the 3rd MMG at the Andi pass. As a result of the explosion of a land mine laid on the road (remote detonation, by wires), a GAZ 66 with military personnel was blown up, and then a short-term battle took place. One of the soldiers was wounded. Then it turned out - it was handed over " final exam» Pupils of the Khattab demolition school....
In January 199 ... the task of guarding the border with Chechnya was actually removed from the detachment and we began to prepare for the exit from Dagestan. In addition, my business trip was coming to an end and in early February, together with one of the columns, I returned to Zheleznovodsk, and then home. From the return I remember how we were met in one of the villages of Stavropol. The column was stopped by local residents and they let us go only after everyone was fed. It's worth it… Thank you….
On Monday night, a large gang of militants (according to various sources, there were from 40 to 60 people) attacked the mountainous Dagestan village of Shauri. The terrorists took 4 local residents hostage and shot 9 border guards from the nearest frontier post Mokok. The terrorists cut off the head of the commander of the outpost, who was killed in a shootout. At first, representatives of the Russian special services claimed that they completely surrounded the village and the militants would not go anywhere from there. However, by the middle of Monday it became clear that the militants had split into groups and left with the captured hostages in different directions. Part of the militants moved towards Chechnya, the other part - towards Georgia. Chechen fighters are attacking Dagestan villages for the third time. And in 1996, and in 1999, and in 2003, this happens on the eve of the presidential elections. One hospital, and one without a telephone The village of Shauri is located only 15 kilometers from the border with Georgia, at an altitude of 1500 meters above sea level. Until 1992, it was the regional center of the Tsuntinsky district. However, then the district authorities moved 40 kilometers into the interior of the republic - to the village of Kidero. It is not known exactly how many people live in the village of Shauri. But thanks to the recent elections, it is known that there are exactly 120 voters in the village, that is, people who have reached the age of 18. Of the objects of regional significance in Shauri, only the hospital remained. However, even with her there is no telephone connection. Previously, the phone was only in the administration building. When the officials moved, they took the phone with them. "Wounded border guards were finished off with knives" Basyr Magomedov, head of the Tsuntinsky district administration, and Amil Nazhmudinov, head of the district police, told Izvestia about what happened on Monday night in the village of Shauri. “Most likely, two detachments of militants united in Shauri,” says Basyr Magomedov. - One group, according to eyewitnesses, got here by 4-5 cars from the neighboring Tsumadinsky district, that is, from Chechnya. They certainly had one white "Volga", two "Niva" and one or two "UAZ". These cars were seen the day before at about 12 midnight in one of the villages of the Tsumadinsky district. unknown people , armed with machine guns and grenade launchers, bought food at a local shop. Another group allegedly moved on foot from Georgia. Apparently, these groups planned to meet in Shauri and decide where to go next. According to the latest data, about 60 militants met in Shauri. It is not yet known for certain how the militants attacked the border guards and why they managed to shoot them all. According to one version, the terrorists approached the Mokok outpost, fired several shots, and thereby provoked the border guards into pursuit. According to another version, a local resident of the village of Shauri ran to the outpost at 3 o'clock in the morning and reported that the village was captured by Chechens armed to the teeth, and those, expecting a possible attack, put up patrols. 150 meters from the village of Shauri, a detachment of border guards, consisting of 9 people and led by the commander of the outpost Mokok Rahim Khalilov, was ambushed. Heavy crossfire fell on the privates, sergeants and the captain. Most of the border guards died without having time to jump out of the car. The wounded militants finished off cold weapons. They cut off the head of the outpost commander Rahim Khalilov. "Bandits broke into houses and dragged men out of their beds into the street." Further events, according to the head of the district administration Basyr Magomedov, developed rapidly. The fight between militants and border guards lasted only a few minutes. After that, the terrorists seized four hostages in the village and, divided into three or four groups, disappeared into the mountains at about five in the morning. Basyr Magomedov refuted the initial information that the bandits seized the local hospital, which could house up to 50 local residents. “Perhaps, the seizure of the hospital was part of the militants' plans, because from the place of the battle with the border guards they moved in the direction of the hospital,” says Basyr Magomedov. But they didn't reach her. The bandits broke into several residential buildings and practically dragged four men out of their beds into the street. Their names have already been established. They are hospital nurse Zhuzhu Abdurakhmanov, hospital stoker Shamil Talgatov, unemployed Magomed Gamidov and law student of Dagestan State University Gapar Gadzhiev. Gapar came from Makhachkala the day before to visit his parents. "Each group of militants took a hostage" On Monday, not only Russian armed forces and police flocked to the Tsuntinsky district of Dagestan, but also self-defense detachments created back in August 1999, after the attack on Dagestan by the detachments of Khattab and Shamil Basayev. The security forces claim that all roads leading to the village of Shauri, other regions of Dagestan, the Chechen Republic and Georgia have been blocked. However, at the time of signing, the numbers of the militants could not be found. Most likely they will try to break through the mountain passes towards Chechnya or the Russian-Georgian border. - It is known that the militants were divided into three or four groups, each of which took a hostage with them, - says Basyr Magomedov. - Eyewitnesses say that in the morning they saw a small group of armed people moving towards the village of Echeda in the Tsumadinsky district. There is a path to the mountains along which you can go to Chechnya. Other groups could move in the opposite direction - towards Georgia. Again, according to eyewitnesses, part of the militants headed towards the village of Makhamatli, this is just in the direction of the Russian-Georgian border. Perhaps now the militants will not dare to cross the border. They can hide in the mountains. Our region is 40 percent covered with forest, mostly pine. The military is circling over the forest in helicopters, but the weather is overcast here now, and visibility from the air is poor. Toward evening in the mountains of Dagestan, the weather deteriorated completely, which made it almost impossible to search from the air. However, as Izvestiya was assured at the FSB's North Caucasian Border Guard Department, all routes were blocked for the militants in all areas and soon the search ring would close anyway. "Definitely not from Georgia" Where exactly the militants came to Shauri is still unknown to the law enforcement agencies of Russia. At first there were unofficial assumptions that they came from Georgia, but in the afternoon this information was denied. According to the official representative of the State Department for the Protection of the State Border of Georgia, Shalva Londaridze, the militants definitely did not cross the Georgian border. “This is confirmed by both Russian colleagues and OSCE observers who monitor the Dagestan section of the Russian-Georgian border,” Londaridze said on Monday. A rare case, but yesterday the words of official Tbilisi did not differ from official version Moscow. The North Caucasian Border Guard Department of the FSB of Russia told Izvestia on Monday: “The militants entered Dagestan, definitely not from Georgia. According to one version, they could make their way here from Chechnya by mountain paths, according to another, the militants had long been holed up in the mountains of Dagestan, but now they tried to make a breakthrough into Chechnya. "This is a red herring" In Dagestan itself, the new incursion of militants caused a real shock. “The events in the Tsuntinsky district are a distraction, somewhere we will again see a serious action of militants,” Gadzhi Makhachev, a State Duma deputy from Dagestan, who in 1999 headed the Dagestan militia, told Izvestia. - This may be followed by attacks on Novolaksky, Kazbekovsky, Botlikhsky districts. Now the goal of the terrorists is to divert attention, to look at the reaction. This is the first bite. Everything is going to shake Dagestan up again by the time of the presidential elections in Russia. Izvestia's sources in the leadership of Dagestan say that even if the militants came from Chechnya and not from Georgia, the connection of these events with Georgia is still obvious. The Tsuntinsky region does not border on Chechnya, and since they ended up here, it means that they moved, if not from Georgia, then to Georgia. On Monday, the top Russian leadership did not make any harsh statements, although, according to Izvestia, Viktor Kazantsev, presidential envoy to the Southern Federal District, was recently informed of the possibility of provocations in Dagestan. Meanwhile, in Dagestan they are already going on a "campaign against Georgia." “On Tuesday I will gather all the militia,” Gadzhi Makhachev told Izvestiya, “and we will decide what to do. It is impossible to endure further. The militants take over either the maternity hospital or the hospitals. We are insulted, humiliated every time, we are already tired of it. It is necessary to mobilize the militias, 20-30 people from each village. No one knows these mountains and paths better than our guys. List of dead border guards 1. Captain Khalikov Radim Abdulkhamitovich - head of the border outpost. 2. Private contract service Guseynov Magomed Shamoutdinovich, called up by the Khunzakh RVC of the Republic of Dagestan. 3. Private Kurgeev Leonid Vladimirovich, called up by the Shakhtinsky RVC of the Rostov Region. 4. Private Salomatin Roman Sergeevich, called up by the Kamensky RVC of the Altai Territory. 5. Corporal Filippov Vyacheslav Alexandrovich, called up by the Martynovsky RVC of the Rostov Region. 6. Private Gladkikh Evgeny Vladimirovich, called up by the Priargunsky RVC of the Chita Region. 7. Private Sergei Vladimirovich Pankratov, drafted by the Velikoluksky GVK of the Pskov Region. 8. Private Ryabov Yuri Anatolyevich, called up by the Khvorostinsky RVC of the Samara Region. 9. Private Sidorov Roman Sergeevich, called up by the Salavat RVC of the Republic of Bashkortostan.
In order to implement Article 16 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On the State Border of the Russian Federation" 1 and create the necessary conditions for the protection of the state border of the Russian Federation, I order:
1. The border zone on the territory of the Republic of Dagestan, adjacent to the state border of the Russian Federation with the Republic of Azerbaijan and Georgia, the sea coast of the Russian Federation, shall be established within:
1.1. Strips of terrain up to the line passing:
in the municipality "Tarumovsky district" - excluding the railway track of the North Caucasian railway, railway station Kochubey of the North Caucasian railway, reservoir;
in the municipality "Kizlyarsky District" - including the settlement of Tushilovka, the bridge across the Bryansk Canal, excluding the settlement of Oguzer, including the hutan of the collective farm named after Gadzhiev, the settlement of Mangulaul, excluding the Mad Reservoir, the settlement of Novy Biryuzak;
in the municipality "Babayurtovsky district" - excluding the Grass Reservoir, including the kutan of the Khurinsky state farm, the settlements of Karayaraul, Gubechaul, Asaul, the bridge over the Brick Canal, excluding the section highway Babayurt - Sulak, bridge over the river Sulak;
in the municipalities "Kumtorkalinsky district", "City of Makhachkala" - excluding the bridge over the Sulak River, the section of the Sulak - Makhachkala highway, the bridge over the Krivaya Balka canal, including the Krivaya Balka canal, the coast of the Caspian Sea, the Agrakhan Peninsula;
in the municipal formation "Karabudakhkentsky district" - excluding Cape Sapun, including Lake Maloye Turali, excluding the section of the Kaspiysk - Derbent highway, the settlement of Manaskent, including the settlement of Achi, the bridge over the Kalichi River;
in the municipality "Kayakentsky district" - excluding the bridge over the Kalichi River, the section of the Izberbash - Derbent highway, the settlement of Gerga, the Oyakant kutan;
in the municipality "Derbent District" - excluding the railway station Papa of the North Caucasian Railway, the settlements of Delichoban, Mamedkola, including the kutan Ogni, excluding the settlements of Aladash, Belidzhi, Nyugdi, Azadolgy;
in the municipality "Magaramkentsky district" - excluding the railway bridge over the Samur River, the settlement of Samur, including the settlements of Takirkent-Kazmalyar, Chakhchakhkazmalyar, Gazardkam-Kazmalyar, Khodjakazmalyar, excluding the settlements of Butkazmalyar, Gaptsakh, the ruins of Bilbilkent, including the settlements of Khorel, Kirka , Mount Keleg, settlement Maka-Kazmalyar;
in the municipality "Dokuzparinsky district" - excluding the section of the Maka-Kazmalyar - Akhty highway, the settlements of Usukhchay, Miskindzha;
in the municipality "Akhtynsky District" - excluding the bridge over the Gurkam River, the section of the Miskindzha-Akhty highway, the settlements of Akhty, Kaluk, the Samur River;
in the municipality "Rutulsky district" - excluding the Samur River, the settlements of Khlyut, Kicha, Rutul, Kufa, Kala, Amsar, Luchek, the Kara-Samur River, the settlement of Dzhilikhur, the bridge over the Kara-Samur River, a section of the Luchek-Nizhny highway Katrukh, Ikhrek settlement, Khultaychay river, Guntutsa pass, Dyultychay river, Mount Archib-Khudun;
in the municipality "Tlyaratinsky district" - excluding the Archib-Khudun mountain, including the Khalahurkats pass, the settlements of Kamiluh, Genekolob, Gerel, Betelda, Gortnob, Ulgeb, Salda, people, Tohota, Garakolob, Sikar, Khamar, Tokh-Orda, Ukal, height with a mark of 1914.6;
in the municipality "Tsuntinsky district" - including the height with a mark of 1914.6, the settlement of Tlyadal, the Khzanor River, the settlements of Khasharkhota Bezhta, Genukh, Kidero, Zehida, Gutatli, Mokok, Gulatli, Tlyatsuda, Metluda, Sagada;
in the municipality "Tsumandinsky district" - including the height with a mark of 1484.1, the Andiyskoe Koisu River, the Gakko River, the village of Sildi, Mount Zunukh, Mount Omar-Vahunaubeter, the Yagodak Pass, a height with a mark of 2761.0.
1.2. The islands of the Caspian Sea belonging to the Russian Federation.
2. Exclude from the border zone of the territory municipalities"City of Makhachkala", with the exception of the territory specified in paragraph 5 of subparagraph 1.1 of this order, "City of Kaspiysk", "City of Izberbash", "City of Dagestan Lights", "City of Derbent".
3. The Caspian Border Department of the FSB of Russia to organize the installation of warning signs at the entrances to the border zone on the territory of the Republic of Dagestan.
4. To impose control over the execution of this order on the Border Guard Service of the FSB of Russia.
Director N. Patrushev
1 Gazette of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation, 1993, N 17, art. 594; Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation, 1994, N 16, Art. 1861; 1996, No. 50, art. 5610; 1998, N 31, art. 3805; 1999, N 23, art. 2808; 2000, No. 46, art. 4537; 2002, N 1, Art. 2; No. 52, Art. 5134; 2003, N 27, Art. 2700; 2004, N 27, Art. 2711; No. 35, art. 3607; 2005, N 10, art. 763.
In the divisions of the Border Directorate of the FSB of Russia in the Republic of Dagestan, the first stage of the competition for the best head of the department (outposts) has ended. For the third year now, the head of the Garakh branch has been among the winners. The leadership of the service in the village of Akhty emphasizes that the very nature of the area entrusted to the outpost makes its officers constantly improve themselves and keep the bar high.
The "Garakh" border department is located relatively close to the highway and settlements. Specific weather- an important detail of the situation.
“A wide variety of physical, geographical and other conditions of protection are presented on the site,” says the head of the department, officer Alexander Gennadievich. – First of all, these are mountains and, as a result, the presence of formidable obstacles. Part of the section of the state border runs along the bed of the Samur River. The simplified checkpoint across the state border located on the site and the international route running close to it also have a certain impact on border activity. There are two settlements in the immediate vicinity of the border.
The head of the department in Usukhchay, officer Dmitry Grigorievich, positively assesses the activities of his subordinates. Not only well-trained, but experienced officers were appointed to serve in a special sector.
Experience helps border guards in building relationships with the local population. The village of Garakh is located near the state border, and who, if not the inhabitants of the border village, can know all the features of their native area?
The desire of local residents to help the border guards was repeatedly supported by specific significant information. A month ago, according to villagers, two violators of the state border regime were detained. And in November last year, "Ivanovo jewelers" were taken two kilometers from it. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a few days earlier, the criminals stole items worth about three million rubles from the Almaz jewelry store in the Ivanovo region. A local resident told the border guards that two unknown persons were found moving towards the border in the border zone. The alarm team moved out to search for them. Covering all possible directions of movement of violators, the border guards ruled out the possibility of illegal crossing of the state border. The decision was made by the senior border detachment to let the unknown people come closer. The hawthorn bushes served a good remedy disguise. The violators were taken by surprise - they did not even have time to understand anything.
By the way, the border guards themselves local residents treated with warmth. The representative of the department, who literally lives the life of the people of Garakh, is a participant in all rural events, both joyful (holidays and weddings) and sad ones. The border guards repeatedly helped the villagers - together with the residents they pulled out cars stuck in mud, built a road, and cleaned the water supply. The village itself literally revived due to the fact that families of border guards appeared in it, who came from other regions of the country. Certain work is being carried out in rural general education school. There are currently seven schoolchildren in the group of young friends of the border guards. For them, "green caps" conduct lessons of courage and demonstrative detentions of violators. And the German Shepherd Akbar, a repeated winner of cynological competitions, has long been a good friend for the guys.
In general, a peaceful and calm border is the result of the continuous work of both border guards and the local population. Each call of violators is answered here with coordinated actions. And this once again proves that the employees of the branch in Garakh are professionals in their field.
Andrew SOLOVIEV
