45th Special Purpose Regiment of the Airborne Forces of the Russian Federation. About special intelligence officers. 1st Regiment of the Airborne Forces: Key Facts
A year ago, when I heard the song “To the Special Forces Scout of the Airborne Forces” in the tent of the 45th Separate Guards Regiment of the Airborne Forces, at first I thought that it was performed by a professional musician, it sounded so good.
In response to a question about the author of the hit, the fighters showed me a photo of a tall, strong man in a field uniform and a blue beret: “This is our scout, he served in a special detachment! Slava Korneev is his name, Leshy is his call sign. He is a holder of the Order of Courage, a medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 2nd class, and two medals of Courage. Not mummers, not fake, the real one. And he sings about a thing that he really knows.
Veteran of intelligence, singer-songwriter Vyacheslav Korneev tells about himself, about his service, life and songs.
I was born on February 25, 1976 in the polar city of Kovdor, in the Murmansk region. School years flew by unnoticed, and in the spring of 1994 I was drafted into the army. Despite my passionate desire to serve in the airborne troops, they brought me to artillery training in Pargolovo, near St. Petersburg. They learned to be the crew commander of the MT-12 anti-tank gun, awarded the rank of junior sergeant and assigned to the 134th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 45th Motorized Rifle Division of the peacekeeping forces, which was based in the village of Kamenka, Vyborgsky District. The commander of our regiment was Guards Colonel Mikhail Yurievich Malofeev. On January 17, 2000, he will die in Grozny with the rank of major general and will be posthumously awarded the high title of Hero of Russia.
One night, on duty at the soldier's canteen, I introduced myself to a passing general and asked to be sent to the Caucasus. Was it recklessness? Don't know. Only in response did I hear: “Which division? Hand over the outfit, run-march to the location! And it spun! Getting, equipment, food. Building personnel. The commander reads out the lists of those who are leaving, but my last name does not sound on this list! Why? Seeing my intransigence, the commander disabled the tear-filled guy, and I took his place. So I became the deputy commander of a platoon leaving for the war.
First Impressions
The next day, as part of the battalion, they flew to Mozdok, unloaded on the take-off. Cold, mud, crowds of armed people scurry back and forth. Seeing musician Yuri Shevchuk among the soldiers, he made his way to him and asked for an autograph. He did not refuse and signed on the top deck of my guitar. We even sang a couple of verses from "Last Autumn" with him.
Having moved to the field next to the take-off, we spent the night. And in the morning, look - our battalion is gone! And we, 22 fighters in body armor and helmets, with weapons and equipment, were left alone, without officers. Wanted by no one, wanted by no one!
After three days without hot food and water, having managed to chew dry rations and burn all gas masks, overcoats and felt boots, they got hold of cartridges and grenades. We just got into some kind of ammo-receiving formation and received half a cap of ammo! They didn’t ask us for our last names, they didn’t force us to sign anywhere. And we dragged two boxes of grenades at night from an unguarded caponier stuffed to the brim with this stuff.
One day we met a colonel who stopped us with a menacing voice: “Who are these? What herd? I introduced myself and explained. The colonel ordered us to follow him and led us to the bathhouse. After washing, he sent us to the dining room. Clean and well-fed, we boarded the bus and went with the colonel, as it turned out later, to the city of Prokhladny, to the 135th motorized rifle brigade.
In the brigade, we were fed, changed, re-equipped, and a day later we were sent in a column to Chechnya. We didn't drive long, often avoiding public roads and leaving a few broken cars along the way. Here are the artillery positions… Howitzers and self-propelled guns are deafeningly hitting where our column is crawling, drowning in mud.
Jumping off the Ural to the ground, I slipped. Taking a stable position, I realized that I was standing on a corpse, rolled out in a road rut. Helping the others out of the car, he warned them to be careful. A mutilated corpse - that's what we saw in Chechnya in the first place.
The task assigned to our division led us to the central market of Grozny. The trucks crowded tightly into the courtyard adjoining the market building, and while we unloaded dry rations, duffel bags and sleeping bags from them, they despondently waited for their sad fate.
Some man running past, hung with “Flies”, grenades, knives and pistols, nervously adjusting the sawn-off shotgun dangling on his hip, attacked me: “You ... on ... why did you drive the equipment on ... here, your mother on ...? She will be burned all over."
Our only armored personnel carrier, it turns out, was burned on the way. Having finished unloading and leaving Mikola Pitersky to guard the dry rations, I went to reconnoitre the market building. The personnel were dying of thirst, and I discovered deposits of cans of compote! Mines, occasionally penetrating the roof, no longer frightened, but my heart was restless.
And then it began! One of the first mines flew into the dry rations, burying Mikola Pitersky in them! Dug up. Alive! Our Urals, meanwhile, were already on fire! Too bad the guitar burned out in the cockpit. Someone's cry: "They knocked out a tank!" We run to watch. Carefully look out the windows. Here he is! Very near! Lit. And suddenly a deafening shot! The shell hits the five-story building. They say that paratroopers stormed it at that time. Then - as in a dream. Explosion! We are thrown on broken glass! When the dust settled, we saw that the tank was gone. Everlasting memory…
After sitting in the market building for a day, we finally received the task of capturing a high-rise building along Karl Liebknecht Street, adjacent to a small market square.
Our new platoon leader described the task to us in a very lucid way: “Run fast without tripping over corpses. Stop is death! Let's run into the house - we'll figure it out!
Let's run. The first of the three nine-story buildings was already occupied by paratroopers, and we got the second one without a fight. No tenants, no militants, empty.
My platoon was instructed to gain a foothold on the sixth floor and prevent the enemy from entering the house through the roof of the neighboring five-story building.
The apartment, whose windows overlooked the roof of this five-story building, was impressive, it was a very rich apartment.
We emptied the refrigerator and laid an impromptu table in the hallway, but did not have time to pick up open cans of condensed milk for the recent New Year and housewarming, as something serious got into the house. The building shook and a fire started. The fire spread so quickly that we barely jumped out of the apartments into the entrance, when they burned to the ground, and while the apartments were burning, we sat on the flights of stairs, choking in smoke, because there was death on the street. There were "spirits" in the third nine-story building.
Sausage
The next day, the commander set the task: “In connection with the destruction of the entire food supply of the battalion by the enemy, it is necessary to break through to the market with the help of four volunteers and a miraculously surviving infantry fighting vehicle of unknown origin. Find and then take out the maximum amount of food there!
I was the main volunteer. I decided to involve my squad commanders in this task. Good guys. Reliable. They went down, found in the ruins of the BMP house and even its driver. There was no one else in the crew, and the guy had no idea where his unit was located. After listening to the task, the mechanic nodded: “We will do it, but ... the car does not turn left. Tractions are broken! Let's waltz! Well, turn left, spinning 270 degrees to the right!
Loaded into the landing and rushed. First turn to the left… spinning… scary. Forward! The second turn is spinning. There is no light in the car, we don’t know how to open hatches from the inside, if anything, horror! And now, through the roar and clang of trucks, bullets pounded on the armor! And suddenly a blow! Crashed! "Everyone is alive? We've arrived! - the mechanic shouted. As it turned out, he rode all the way in the “stowed” position! Under bullets! Well gives! And he told me: “What? The triplexes are broken, not a damn thing is visible! Hero man!
We ran through the market. Empty, our troops have gone somewhere, and what to expect is unknown. The products were found quickly. Sausage! There were many. Having stuffed the mouths of Krakow and throwing machine guns behind their backs, they quickly loaded the airborne compartments of the BMP and their own duffel bags and pockets with sausage. Childish greed played a cruel joke on me. Realizing that there was not enough food for the battalion, I decided to leave my guys at the market and, climbing into the turret of the car, personally deliver the cargo and return for the second batch. "Go!" I yelled at the mechanic as soon as I reached the hatch. And he went. Surely so, with afterburner! And he did not know, did not know that behind his back I, in a bulletproof vest stuffed with sausage and with a plump duffel bag, was trying to get into the tower. By the time we got to the treasured house, I didn’t have a single whole store left! And I threw empty ones on the armor.
Having made three raids in a row, we completed the task. Thank you bro mechanic!
Storm
On Friday, January 13, my platoon received an order to occupy one of the houses on Rue Rosa Luxembourg. He stood at the end of the presidential palace, and attempts to capture it have not yet been successful. The paratroopers who held out to the last were squeezed in his basement, and the "spirits" were in charge in the house.
They ran to our house through a wasteland between five-story buildings, came under fire. There was nowhere to hide, except behind the burnt BMP. The whole platoon was packed for her, it's scary to go further. But it is necessary, otherwise they will put everyone from the flank. They rushed to a brick booth, such a thermal center with pipes and valves, took cover behind the wall.
We sat behind the booth for more than an hour, waiting for the Shilka. She was supposed to cover us by shooting at the windows of the palace. And we had to run right under the barrage of her fire! Before our eyes, three fighters from another unit jumped out from somewhere and rushed headlong to our house! To our porch! One of them fell a meter from the door, shot by a sniper, and two jumped inside. One threw a rope from the entrance door to the wounded man, but he could not cling to it, the bullets hit him one after another. The second fighter fired with the fighters inside the house.
Suddenly, twenty meters away from us, with a characteristic whistle, a mine arrives and explodes! One of our shrapnel hit the leg. Well, I think, bandaging the wounded, it began! He suggested to the commander to place a platoon inside the house: “Probably, the “spirits” are correcting the fire of their mortar at this moment!” The platoon commander voiced the proposal to the battalion commander. The answer is bright: “No, wait, now there will be a team! Better check this house for a sniper. I got it, sir!"
Well, they broke up into three groups, three people each, ran around the house from the opposite side and jumped into the windows. Purely. When they returned, they heard two strong explosions in a row on the second floor. Approximately where we had just left our platoon. Throw down! And there ... Blood, smoke, groans! Squad leader Dan Zolotykh and his troika finished the inspection of his entrance before us, got out, and he was covered - he was lying in blood! The commander, Stas Golda, is wounded. Later, doctors counted eighteen shrapnel wounds on his body, and the Motherland awarded him the Order of Courage.
Where is the signalman, is the station alive? Our P-159 on Mikola Pitersky's chest took on several fragments, but it worked properly! "Freza," I shout. - "Freza-12", I have "200" and "300", I specify the number, and the commander is wounded! Please help me evacuate!" And the battalion commander calmly replies that the command was given for the assault and that I gather the healthy ones and complete the task. And he promises to evacuate the wounded, without even asking how many there are. The platoon is consolidated, who was assigned and from where - it is not known, addresses were not exchanged with everyone, we do not know the names of many. This is how they fought for their country.
Indeed, to the left of us, the Shilka went on direct fire and roared with fire. I had no choice but to send "Freza" to hell and start helping the bleeding guys. I still managed to get them evacuated. And we completed the task. Blood and sweat. So I became a platoon leader. Platoon of nine. Minus thirteen!
Then everything went easy. Ready, Freza-12? Ready, I answer! "Forward!" - a cry from the radio. And what is it like to storm a house with nine men, without cover with smoke, without understanding where are your own and where are strangers? Now all this is remembered, like a bad dream or stills from a movie. Covered in blood, black with dirt and soot, behind his back seven machine guns left over from the evacuated guys, in the hands of the PKM, shredding the house from forty meters away, to which my guys are running! Tactics? What the hell is a tactic? We ran to the fifth floor, throwing grenades at the doors on the move and sometimes shooting. entrenched. Counted. All.
Later, when it was necessary to pull the main forces on ourselves, we cleared all the apartments in our entrance from top to bottom. Walking down the street at that time was in bad taste, so the main forces pulled up to us through the wall, in which we punched a hole with a grenade launcher, some mother and a sledgehammer from nowhere!
It was in this house, having “borrowed” his SVD from a friend of Sashka Lyutin, on the butt of which there were already three cuts with a bayonet-knife, I became a sniper. Equipped a wonderful, tactically competent position. I settled down in the bath, on a stool. For emphasis - a pre-empty refrigerator. From there, through a small hole in the wall pierced by a shell, they shot through an impressive section of the area in front of the house, namely, an extension to the presidential palace and part of the palace itself.
Once, marines ran into our house: two officers and a sailor. The sailor, as it turned out, was a real one, from a warship! Maybe that's why he almost shot me when I changed position. But the Marines impressed me differently. Hunting for live! One, standing in the window opening, began to fan the palace with tracers, and the second, in the back of the room, having prepared an RPG-18 for battle, was waiting. As an artilleryman, I understood that the guys were walking on a razor's edge, but they were stubbornly lucky. The bite on the live bait was excellent, and soon I joined this "fishing artel", and the sailor made sure that none of the fighters went out to my bullet, moving around the apartment.
Combat Commonwealth
There was a day when the company commander gave me the task of taking three volunteers and with them to find and evacuate from the rubble of the street the bodies of two dead - Sergei Les and Dima Strukov from the third platoon. They died a few days ago. Attempts to find them have already been made by the foreman of the company, Ensign Purtov. Then the “spirits” squeezed him and the fighters behind a pilaster (this is such a ledge from a house the size of two bricks) and began to methodically destroy the shelter, firing incredibly dense fire at it from the house, which we then occupied with a platoon. Together with my countryman Pomor, we pulled them out, covering the retreat with our fire. I will never forget how ensign Purtov, making a dash, stumbles, falls, and in the place where he had just been, an automatic burst bites into a brick ...
In general, the task is clear. I am a machine gun on my shoulder, a helmet on my head. I suggest one fighter go, the second, the third, and they - some with a stomach, some with a sudden headache, some from the post. They do not want to take risks, even crack. But when the search for volunteers reached the guys from Dagestan, they, without further ado: helmet on a hat and went, commander! But they did not know the dead, for whom we had to go! And with this composition, I, two Dagestanis and a Kazakh went on a search.
We quickly found Sergei's body, carried it to the same booth, and then - stop. The fire is so dense that it becomes clear that in the light of day we will not pass. Even zadymy this damn area. Tried. They managed to return to the house only in the morning, leaving Sergei in place, but placing the body so that it could be seen from our windows. They were able to pick up and transfer the body to the rear not earlier than a few days later, when the militants left the palace without a fight.
Somehow, in the midst of fighting in our area, the battalion commander needed to go to the rear, and he took me with him to guard. The rear units were then in the park named after Lenin. I, left to myself for a while, wandered around the park, wondering how they live here, in tents? What if it's a mine? And suddenly something seemed strange to me. Everywhere, wherever I passed, everyone froze, abandoned the harvesting of firewood, cleaning, and silently looked at me. And there was some reverence in those views, respect interspersed with compassion. "Look, look, with the advanced guy!" - I heard and, as if waking up, looked around. Then invitations for heating in the tents rained down, questions, congratulations on being alive! "What's the matter?" I ask. “How do you know I’m from the front lines?” "Did you see yourself in the mirror?" one asks. "Of course not! Where are the mirrors in the city? Everything is burned and destroyed!” - I laugh. “Here, look! People like you are only brought to us dead!” - Embarrassed, the fighter handed me a mirror. Well, I took a look. I looked and got scared. A monster in a dirty, torn black cap with a black, sooty face, burnt stubble and eyebrows, and red watery eyes was looking at me from the mirror.
A little later, when the fighting for the city moved to other quarters, we decided to visit the less damaged entrances of our house. Find something like mattresses. My platoon was transported to burned-out apartments, and for the last week I slept on two boxes of VOGs, without a sleeping bag, of course. Having collected junk, on the way back to our "temple" we saw an interesting picture: Dudayev's palace was famously stormed by guys in white camouflage robes and in hitherto unseen unloading. Special Forces, not otherwise, I thought evilly, a couple of days ago you would have come here!
A decade and a half later, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the 901 Special Operations Special Forces with fellow soldiers, we were watching the Chechen chronicle, when suddenly ... The end of our house and the hole pierced by a shell through which I once fired my first shot from the SVD flashed in the frame. So those guys in camouflage turned out to be my current friends! It's a small world!
Then our war began to decline. For a month we were in the village of Andreevskaya Dolina at the Central Bank of Ukraine, then in Shali. In May, when the war went to the mountainous regions, our battalion, which had lost more than half of its personnel, was taken to Khankala for rest and resupply.
At a shooting range in a quarry, I met fellow countryman Dima Koksharov. We got talking. He served in the 45th Airborne Regiment. And the stern guys who descended on ropes down into the quarry and performed tactical exercises that were incomprehensible to me at that time with “screw cutters” unprecedented in the infantry turned out to be his colleagues. Cool scouts, I thought, where can I go before them!
New life
In September the war ended for us. The battalion departed in a column to the point of permanent deployment in Prokhladny. I rode on the armor of the closing infantry fighting vehicle, and all the way behind us a broom tied to the armor was dragged, never to return here. Sign!
Retired to the reserve. He came to his parents in the Smolensk region. And there is darkness! A depressing impression of a dying village. Unemployment, alcoholism, drug addiction. The youth engaged in stupid self-liquidation.
The only right decision was to return to the army, and seriously and for a long time. The commander of the 45th OPSPN, Colonel Viktor Kolygin, to whom I came for an attitude in 1996, told me: “We don’t take a contract from a citizen, sign up for the Tula division, and from there we will transfer.”
In the 173rd separate reconnaissance company in Tula, I heard something similar: "Let's go to the regimental reconnaissance company first, and then we'll see." So, as a reconnaissance officer of the reconnaissance company of the 51st Airborne Regiment, I began my combat path in the Airborne Forces.
For a year of service, I managed to go on a three-month business trip to Abkhazia. For several years in Gudauta, the paratroopers carried out a peacekeeping mission, and I made a small contribution to the restoration of peace on the southeastern coast of the Black Sea.
After Abkhazia, Major Sergei Konchakovsky, Assistant Chief of Intelligence of the division, paid close attention to me. He asked provocative questions, followed my answers and actions. Soon Konchakovsky suggested that I go to Sokolniki and talk with the commander of the special detachment of the 45th regiment, where I left, having secured the necessary recommendations.
Special Squad
Service in a new place captivated and absorbed with his head. I liked everything: people, equipment, weapons, equipment, approach to conducting training sessions.
When I arrived in Tula for the weekend with a whole backpack of spetsnaz bells and whistles and in a fashionable padding polyester, I told the officers about everything I had seen and learned during my month of service in special intelligence, most of them fired up to transfer there. Which they soon did.
the appearance of my call sign - Leshy - is very funny. The commander of the reconnaissance group, Captain Stanislav Konoplyannikov, having built us, young scouts, ordered us to come up with call signs. I came up with "Leshy", but did not voice it, afraid to get into an awkward situation, suspecting that such a call sign already exists in the regiment. And when the commander, bypassing the formation and writing down invented call signs, stopped in front of me, I told him: “I didn’t think of it, Comrade Captain.” To which he replied: “Well, then you will be Leshim!” Since then, since 1998, I have been Leshy.
In September 1999, they flew to Dagestan, in the heat of a flaring war. They performed various tasks of reconnaissance, search and destruction of militant bases. In October, working in the interests of the 61st Separate Kirkenes Red Banner Marine Brigade of the Northern Fleet, they were the first to reach the Terek.
On October 14, having completed the task of conducting optical reconnaissance of the settlement of S., our group advanced to the evacuation area. Went with great care. It always seemed that something was wrong on the left of the course, as if someone was looking at us.
And here is the armor! It became calmer. Suddenly the radio station comes to life. An order follows, which radically changed our plans, and many fates. We had to inspect the forester's house, which was nearby, but in the opposite direction.
Two of our armored personnel carriers (group commander Pavel Klyuev rode in the first eldest, V. on the second) went along a narrow road along the Terek. The bank of the river is low, the places are overgrown, wild, beautiful. To the right of the road there are four-meter reeds, to the left - a turn and thick green grass on a one and a half meter artificial shaft.
At the entrance to the right turn, in front of a huge puddle, the car slowed down, and something made me turn back. It seemed that with my peripheral vision I caught something similar to a grenade launcher target. Three seconds passed before I realized - this is really a grenade launcher! Bearded, disguised with branches, he prepared to shoot from his knee, and it seemed that he was aiming straight at my forehead from some fifteen meters! I did not want to allow this in any way, therefore, with a cry: “There he is, ...!”, I turned the SVD in his direction. My next cry: “Attention! Left”, drowned in the roar of the shot and the explosion that killed the armored personnel carrier. How we ended up behind the armor, I don’t remember, apparently, persistent tactical training had an effect. Overpressure in the engine compartment vomited and raised the power hatches. I think this saved the lives of many of our group, because at least a dozen militants were shooting point-blank at our lifeless car from a roadside rampart, while their grenade launcher was preparing for the second shot. Having landed around the store, the machine gunners lay down to reload, and the grenade launcher again planted a "flea" in the stern of our car. And again lead downpour! And so three times in a row. And all three times the grenade launcher hollowed into the stern.
Hiding under the nose of the "box" with a rifle useless at a distance of 10-15 meters, I had no idea what was happening with the group. Are the boys alive? Near Novosel. And the rest? Abrek crawled up to us from the side of the road and gestured upwards to the armor, and there was Klyuev. He lay, collapsed on the bleeding Igor Salnikov - Gosha. Believing that we would save them, Abrek and I carefully pulled them off the armor. Gosha's head was pierced, but the signs of life gave us hope. I tried to find signs of life in the group commander, but, alas. "How is Pasha?" - asked Abrek, bandaging Gosha. "No more Pasha!" I answered, dropping the useless bandage. Gosha died a few days later, already in the hospital. On the day when Pasha was buried.
The "spirits" themselves suggested how to deal with their attack, starting to throw grenades at us. Abrek stayed with Gosha and Pasha, and I returned to Novosel under the nose of an armored personnel carrier, when suddenly an F-1 flies out from behind the shaft and falls on the road five to seven meters away from us! They were endless seconds, like in slow motion. I shout: "New settler, grenade!" "What grenade?" he rolls his eyes. "In my opinion, efka!" - and I fall between Pasha and Gosha, covering my head with my hands. I stretch my tightly clenched legs to the center of the explosion and wait - where will the fragment fly to me? Explosion. It's gone! And a confident dash back to where the damn grenade had just exploded.
We fall, take out all our grenades from the unloading and calmly, methodically, with the shooting of the checks, confidently transfer them to the other side of the shaft! How do you like that, fighters?
Helped! Novosel guessed to get into the armored personnel carrier and, using a mechanical descent, empty the PKT box. There was a turning point in the combat situation, the shooting subsided for a while, the groans of the wounded and the crackling of branches began to be heard. Vetok! So, the militants were preparing to evacuate. Then a second armored personnel carrier rolled up, for some reason it lagged behind, and its appearance forced the militants to accelerate their retreat, covering it with active fire. So dense that two of our machine gunners, who climbed onto the rampart, had to leave their positions and slide down to the road. Then again, as in slow motion of a movie action movie: V. rises to the shaft in full growth, raises his AKMS with a drum for 75 rounds, branches beveled by enemy bullets fall nearby, and he, as if spellbound, shoots at greenery until the drum jams. Bark and pieces of foliage fly into his face, but he shoots without bending down!
V. is a man of unparalleled courage, will and uncompromisingness. A real Russian officer. I am glad that his numerous exploits were noticed, and by the Decree of the President of Russia he was awarded the title of Hero of Russia. After few years.
The fight is quiet. "Who?" V. briefly asked. “Pasha, Gosha,” Novosel and I answered. They also brought Vitya Nikolsky, a bullet pierced his thigh right through. We approached the guys lying on the ground. I squeezed the wrist of the group commander in my hand, hoping to feel the pulse, and suddenly: there is! I shout: “Comrade Major! There is a pulse." V. touched Pasha's neck and silently shook his head. It turns out that from excitement I squeezed my hand too hard and felt my pulse.
An infantry fighting vehicle with scouts from the Stavropol regiment flew up to the battlefield. Dismounting, they took up defensive positions around us, moving their heads in disbelief in search of the enemy. Tired, probably, the whole day we were evacuated, evacuated, all the same. Then our second armored personnel carrier turned around and began to back out in order to take a wrecked colleague onto a trailer and drag him to the regiment's location. The wheel of an armored personnel carrier drove into a puddle on the side of the road. There is a mine. A knock, a powerful explosion, and a multi-ton machine jumped up. Everyone was thrown by the blast wave in different directions!
For a moment, silence, I am lying in the middle of the road, looking in surprise at the black rubber snow - this wheel of an armored personnel carrier, split by a mine explosion into rubbish, slowly and sadly waltzed small black snowflakes to the ground, settling on the faces of living and dead scouts. Thank you, I think, brother-driver of the first armor, you listened to our advice not to run into puddles. If we had run into this mine first, no one would have survived.
As soon as hearing returned, through the ringing in my ears I heard a painful moan. Minenkov from Stavropol was lying on the rampart. The leg was torn off, but he himself is conscious, he even tries to apply a tourniquet. "How is your leg?" - asks. "It's all right, you'll be walking!" - I answer, and I imperceptibly move the torn off leg, which lies next to his head, down. The blood was stopped, the man was saved.
I will add that by decree of the Acting President of Russia dated January 17, 2000, Mikhail Minenkov was awarded the title of Hero of Russia.
Having removed the machine guns from the broken armored personnel carriers and shot the on-board radio stations, we decided to blow up the vehicles. We didn’t have the opportunity to pull them out that day, and we shouldn’t leave them to the militants. I was preparing our car to be blown up, and tears flowed from my eyes. From that moment began my other, adult life. Life in the special forces of the Airborne Forces.
The group that carried out the inspection of the clash area and the evacuation of the armor found several more mines and land mines planted on the road. Apparently, the militants were preparing a powerful ambush, and we were not their target at all. It is very likely that that battle prevented a great tragedy, since a column of one of the parachute regiments was expected to pass along this road.
Well, we, a handful of intelligence officers who remained relatively unharmed, shell-shocked and tired, with stern, gloomy faces, appeared before the formidable eye of Major General Popov, who personally met at the side of the helicopter that delivered us to the CBU. His welcoming speech shocked the guys: “So, fighters, of course, I understand everything, the war is on, but the uniform must be observed! Where are your caps, fellow scouts?”
A few days later we gathered in our tent to commemorate our fallen friends. We were just informed that Gosha had died in the hospital. When the third toast was raised in memory of the dead brothers, the deputy commander of the 218th special forces battalion, Major Pyotr Yatsenko, picked up a guitar and put a sheet of text in front of him, sang his new song about our group. As he sang, it felt like we were reliving that short but brutal fight again. Many furtively, turning away, wiped a stingy male tear.
Pyotr Karlovich was sitting right in front of me, and when the song ended and everyone came to their senses, I asked him for a piece of paper with the text to copy it into my notebook. I never had a chance to return Yatsenko's paper. On the next task, which we took on in two groups, Petr Karlovich, commanding a special-purpose reconnaissance group, died a heroic death in battle with superior enemy forces. By decree of the President of Russia dated March 24, 2000, Petr Yatsenko was awarded the title of Hero of Russia (posthumously).
The leaflet with the song is now stored in the Museum of Military Glory of the OOSN 45 OPSpN Airborne Forces.
"Spetsnaz chuyka"
There were many interesting tasks. In November we go out to ambush. Two groups. Our guide. Two nights. Charged, checked the connection, jumped. Team: "Patrol, forward!" We moved. With the first step, fear fades into the background, giving way to attention and caution, cold calculation and lightning-fast reaction. But the fear does not disappear completely. Who said that the scout is not afraid of anything? Lies! How scary too! But a real scout knows how to manage his fear, directing it in the right direction so that fear becomes caution. Let's go. As before, all five senses are clenched into a fist and work to the limit. But for some reason, it was on this task that another, sixth sense was added to them - the so-called "special forces chuyka." This is when you go to a task and know in advance that something will happen, and sometimes you even understand at what moment. So it is this time.
Stumbling at every step, I walk and try to remain calm. Who walked at night on a mowed corn field, he will understand me. It is only six hundred meters to the edge of the forest covering the ridge through which we have to cross, but what meters were those?! We walked them for four hours! The feeling that someone is watching us did not leave me for a minute! And then I heard two blows with a metal object on a gas pipe that ran parallel to our route on the left, below. Stop! Attention!" I report on the strikes to the commander. He didn't hear any knocking. "Forward!" We didn’t have time to move, as again: “bammm-bammm” ...
Hurry to save the forest! Having dissolved in brilliant green, they got in touch, took a breath, and again: “Head patrol - forward!” The commander stubbornly did not want to go along the night road, preferring rough terrain, namely, dense thickets of thorny acacia, through which two reconnaissance groups with artillery gunners and radio operators attached from the Marine Corps and dressed in shaggy Leshy suits made their way with a deafening crash! But time was running out, and I still managed to convince the commander to go along the road!
Quickly, without unnecessary noise and adventures, they went to the right edge and dispersed to their areas to organize ambushes. The main object of our attention was the primer about forty meters from the edge. It was on it that Mole installed the MON-50 mine. But for some reason, on this day, the "spirits" categorically did not want to use the roads and tactically competently went along the edge, almost stepping on the trunk of my VSS! Communicating enthusiastically, one pair of militants with machine guns at the ready passed over me, with an interval of fifty meters - the second. I managed to notice in the bag of one of them something round, resembling an anti-tank mine.
Where is the team to work out the enemy? When the "spirits" walked over me, I covered the radio station with my hand and felt that something was being said into it, but what? Having given the bandits a couple more minutes of life, we let them through to the ambush of another group. Of course, having warned the brothers that guests were hurrying to them.
What if it's just a gang banger? What to do? Reflections were interrupted by fierce shooting in the area of the second ambush! Work has gone! Left engine hum! A handsome cherry Grand Cherokee drove into the sector of destruction of our mine! In the sight, I clearly saw a healthy bearded uncle. Clutching the machine gun in his hand, he concentratedly looked ahead. Explosion! The jeep was covered with a cloud of dust mixed with smoke, from which the car never left. The veil lifted, and my gaze fixed on the target. Well, I think you arrived, Mr. Basayev, I shoot at the doors, I hear the sound of crumbling glass.
Looking to the right, to find out how our people were, I saw that the group had begun to withdraw. How? What for? After all, in the car ... One could only guess what and who could be found during the inspection of the jeep. But a retreat is a retreat. I give a command to the observers on the left and retreat to the last. Preliminary collection point - 200 meters to the rear. In front of me is Lekha the radio operator. The star is his call sign. Zvezda is running, adjusting her backpack with a radio station on one shoulder. Unexpectedly, well, very unexpectedly for us, RMB started working on the left side of the group! I got ready for battle, the Star to the right broke through the thorns, got stuck. The bushes have already begun to crumble under a hail of bullets! Drop that damn backpack, friend! Threw. Gone. God bless!
Somehow gathered at the collection point. We count. All? There is no one - Sentry. We call on the station - clicks in response. Clearly, it works only at the reception, the village food. Oriented. I was sent to meet him! I meet. I look - running, but not alone! Behind some villain with a machine gun was attached, and does not lag behind! Well, I think they decided to capture our Olezhka alive? We will not allow this! I take the villain at gunpoint, let me get closer, take out the idle. Stop! Yes, this is ours, Ryazan! Hey commander! Now it's all in the right place.
"Star, let's get in touch!" the commander growls. “Yes, what a Star I am now, we no longer have a station,” the radio operator replies dejectedly. We recall the radio operator of the Marine artillery gunner. Immediately before the task, I reinforced 300 grams of PVV-5 explosive with a ZTP-50 fuse on his Historik radio station and instructed: “In the event of a threat of the station falling into the hands of the enemy, transfer the igniter cap to the firing position and pull out the ring, understand?” He got it, yeah! With the very first shot, the boy thought that all the Basmachi from the surrounding villages rushed to the attack in order to take over his radio station, and bravely blew it up as he retreated! Affairs!
Having entered the evacuation area, somehow the radio stations designed to work within the group called for armor, and to increase the communication range, the radio operator had to climb a tall tree! And laughter and sin. The evacuation was beautiful. With dashes and indispensable smoke. And the commander of the second group, as it turned out, was a very lazy person! Or very smart. He did not go to the evacuation area on foot, but flew into it in a comfortable Mi-8 helicopter! It's more convenient, he explained, supervising the unloading of trophies and their former owners from the board. By the way, that round one in a bag, reminiscent of an anti-tank mine, turned out to be quite tasty lavash.
But the task didn't end there. The intelligence chief of the group, who arrived on a turntable, ordered the group to fly out with him and show the jeep destroyed in the battle. There is. Flying over the ambush site, we find that the cars and the trail are cold! We clearly see the angle of attack of our mine plowed by the explosion and that's it! It turns out that the "spirits" dragged the car into the forest and carefully disguised it with branches. But we found! During the inspection of the jeep, I worked in tandem with Anatoly Lebed, a legendary scout, the future Hero of Russia, who absurdly died in 2012 in an accident. The commanders were satisfied with the results of the inspection: documents, radio stations, weapons and equipment. Listening to the broadcast helped us uncover ninety-two correspondents working in our intelligence area, and the identity of a field commander who was killed in battle. About this ambush in 1999, a short news item was written by the magazine “Brother”: “November. As a result of search and ambush actions, the closest associate of Salman Raduev with a call sign was destroyed by the 45th separate regiment of the special forces of the Airborne Forces ... "
The joy of victory and the pain of defeat
I remember the death of the signalman of the detachment of senior warrant officer Alexei Ryabkov.
We went to work near Kharachoy, in the Vedeno district, in two groups. One on turntables was thrown far into the mountains, the second on the BMD rolled towards the paratroopers who had completed their task, providing them with an exit from the operation area.
Ryabkov was in the group on the armor. The road serpentine stretched along the mountain slopes. There was no more than five minutes left before the checkpoint when they stumbled upon an ambush of militants. The explosion behind the head car of the column thundered suddenly, followed by bursts of automatic and machine-gun bursts. A bullet hit Alexei in the neck. He managed to release the entire magazine from the machine before he fell, whispering that he was wounded.
The fight was short. BMD guns deployed in the direction of the attackers fired a volley. Soldiers' machine guns chirped. "Spirits" hurried to retreat.
In the Vedeno region, our special detachment gave good results in 2002 and 2005. We blew up several residential bases and destroyed militants of different hierarchies. Previous experience, knowledge of the geography of the trails and the psychology of the enemy's behavior helped.
Once my non-standard appearance was successfully used by security officers. I, shaved bald, but with a solid beard, looked like a Chechen, and the employees of group "A" of the Central Security Service of the FSB of Russia, dressing me in civilian clothes appropriate for the place and hanging a pendant with the image of a mosque around my neck, let me out into the street to monitor the house in a private sector. The information given by me was used by the Chekists for its intended purpose - the leader of the local bandit underground was neutralized.
Creation
In 2005, immediately after returning from a business trip, I received injuries incompatible with service in the special forces, and in 2007, after completing a course of treatment, I retired from the reserve. And now, not being able to make parachute jumps, go on missions as part of a reconnaissance group, all that remains for me is to write, sing, talk about special forces to the younger generation and cooperate with military-patriotic clubs.
He wrote his first poems in Chechnya back in 2004. Somehow, in the summer of 2005, my good friend, singer-songwriter Vitaly Leonov, was carried by a fair wind to us in Khatuni with a concert. The joy of the meeting knew no bounds! For his residence, of course, the tent of our reconnaissance group was chosen. Leafing through my notebook, Vitaly shared his thoughts that good songs could come out of my poems. In the vicinity of the New Khatuni airport, Vitalya gave several concerts for the fighters and even sang for the reconnaissance groups departing on the night of the task. He had plenty of impressions from the trip, and soon after returning from the Caucasus, Vitaly came up with a wonderful song about intelligence with the same name. I, having heard my poems that became a song, thought: “Why not?” - and decided to try his hand at creativity.
I sincerely consider 10 years of service in the special forces of the Airborne Forces to be the best years of my life. The video for the song about the 45th Special Forces Regiment of the Airborne Forces was filmed by my friend Igor Chernyshev, a former intelligence officer of the Special Forces. Many years ago, when it was time for Igor to leave the service, it was from him that I adopted the good old Vintorez. Now Igor is not only a wonderful cameraman and director, but also a talented theater and film actor.
I am very glad that my songs instilled in the hearts of the listeners the love for the army and the desire to serve the Fatherland in the special forces of the Airborne Forces and other units and divisions of the Armed Forces. Remember, friends, it's not you who give years of your life to the army! This army gives you years that make you real men!
It is fully called like this: 45th Separate Guards Orders of Mikhail Kutuzov and Alexander Nevsky Special Purpose Reconnaissance Regiment of the Russian Airborne Forces. For those who are close to military subjects, there is no need to explain anything here. Let us explain to the general reader:
- The 45th regiment is the youngest unit in our airborne troops.
- The 45th regiment was the only one in Russia that received the title of Guards in peacetime (after the end of the Great Patriotic War).
- The regiment simultaneously trains special forces, paratroopers and scouts - there is no other such unit in the country.
- The regiment is stationed in the city of Kubinka, Moscow Region.
- The motto of the regiment: "The strongest wins." The talisman is a wolf.
Today - and this is a reason for pride - in the elite unit serves 101 Belgorod. And in 2005, only one of our fellow countrymen left for the regiment - Alexey Krasovsky. And then he could not have gone: flat feet of the III degree, parents - invalids of the II group ... But he wanted to serve, and at the same time he decided for himself: either in the 45th, or nowhere. Alexey was helped by sports achievements (CCM in football, winner of numerous karate competitions) and the fact that he was the best draftee in the city in terms of physical and educational indicators. The reputation of his uncle, who used to serve in an elite regiment and now works in the Alpha special unit, also played a role.
Krasovsky did not let down either a relative or a small homeland - he was demobilized with the rank of senior sergeant, and was awarded the Margelov medal. He does not lose contact with the regiment - he always comes to the unit on Airborne Forces Day, and in autumn and spring he meets in Belgorod the commander of a special forces company, senior lieutenant Sergei Ishtuganov.
“He visits all the military registration and enlistment offices, studies in detail the personal files of conscripts, selects the most deserving ones, and forms a team out of them,” says Aleksey. - A few days the guys pass the standards. Moreover, physical training is, although the most important, but not a decisive indicator. Not just strength is needed - brains are also needed, the reed woodpecker will not go there. Therefore, candidates are tested on basic knowledge of the Russian language, mathematics, physics, geography and other basic subjects.”
Many want to break into the elite of the armed forces, the competition in the 45th regiment is more abrupt than when entering universities. Last summer, 300 Belgorod guys wanted to leave with Sergei Ishtuganov, but only 60 passed the selection. The commanders are satisfied with our conscripts - they send letters of thanks to the governor and to DOSAAF. Belgorod residents even deserve a curious carte blanche: those who, after a successful service, express a desire to become an officer, can go to the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School out of competition - on the recommendation of the regiment command.
Knowledgeable people explain the achievements of Belgorod residents by high-quality pre-conscription training. Most of the military-patriotic clubs (VPK) in the field of airborne orientation, and the guys go to the army already with a solid store of knowledge and skills.
“Many cadets of our clubs have 5-6 parachute jumps behind them,” explains Deputy Chairman of the regional branch of DOSAAF Viktor Pogrebnyak. - And in the 45th regiment, as far as I know, according to the service program, you need to make 12 jumps. There, of course, they do not jump from the An-2, but from more serious aircraft, but when there is such experience, it is much easier to perform complex tasks.
Last January, Viktor Alekseevich visited Kubinka to take the oath. Together with the leaders of two military-industrial complex - "Rusichi" and "Fatherland" - he congratulated and admonished the recruits. He says that the conditions for life and service in the regiment are excellent: comfortable beds, wardrobes with individual keys, showers, tea rooms ... In general, not a stereotypical army at all.
Do you want one like this? Get ready. For you, we got the minimum requirements of the 45th regiment. Do not want or have already left the military age? Just try what it's like to hit forty-five.
On the arrival in Novoazovsk of special forces from the 45th ObrSpN of the Airborne Forces of the RF Armed Forces.
“The transfer to the settlement was confirmed. Novoazovsk units of the 45th Separate Special Purpose Brigade (Kubinka, Moscow Region) of the Airborne Troops of the RF Armed Forces, in connection with which it is expected to intensify the sabotage and reconnaissance activities of the Russian occupation forces in the Mariupol direction, ”the intelligence report said.
In June 2016, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine named several names of Russian servicemen from the 45th Brigade Special Forces of the Airborne Forces of the RF Armed Forces, providing their photographs and personal data. At the same time, the scouts, as always, limited themselves to only words without any photo or video evidence of the presence of military personnel in the occupied part of Donbass. We hope that secrecy will be removed from such evidence in the future, and these materials will be presented to the general public and will be reflected in the cases of the international court.
In the meantime, this has not happened, the InformNapalm team presents its information about the presence of Russian saboteurs from the 45th Brigade of the Airborne Forces of the RF Armed Forces in Ukraine.
The photo uploaded on 08/31/2016 and subsequently deleted was taken on the roof of the building of the Utes boarding house, 3 km from the settlement Shirokino (47.109467, 37.8733277).
It should be noted that this boarding house, as well as the Parus and Donchanka nearby, have long been no longer places of rest for civilians, but barracks and positions of Russian “vacationers” who constantly come on “Ukrainian business trips”.
In the photo below, Mikhail Rusinov measures the depth of the Sea of Azov near the recreation center of the KKTs plant named after. Ilyich "Alexandria" (settlement Bezymennoye) (47.101058, 37.934254).
And in June 2016, he even met with local representatives of the opposite sex in the settlement. Khreschatitskoye (former Krasnoarmeiskoye) Novoazovsky district. The dating site apparently finally helped (47.233526, 37.926393).
Thus, we can state that representatives of the 45th ObrSpN are directly involved in hostilities in the Donbass. Let's not forget that the same unit was directly involved in the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. As you can see, since 2014 it has been carrying out sabotage and reconnaissance operations in the occupied part of Donbass.
Material prepared
Among the units of the domestic special forces of the Airborne Forces, the 45th Separate Guards Order of Kutuzov Order of Alexander Nevsky Special Forces Regiment, or military unit No. 28337, occupies a special place. Firstly, the part belongs to the elite special forces troops, almost completely transferred to a contract basis. Secondly, among the recruits who want to join the ranks of military unit 28337, there is simply huge competition. And, thirdly, the 45th Special Purpose Regiment is the youngest of the Airborne Forces of the Russian Federation.
Official sleeve insignia of the regimentStory
The military unit, formed on the basis of two separate battalions in February 1994, is currently stationed in the city of Kubinka, Moscow Region (former academic town). In 2007, the unit was reorganized into the line 218th Special Forces Battalion, but in 2008 it was again given the name of the 45th Separate Guards Regiment.
Despite the fact that military unit 28337 was formed 10 years ago, its soldiers and officers took part in the fighting in Chechnya and South Ossetia (August 2008).
Stand "Combat route of the 45th separate reconnaissance regiment of the Airborne Forces" Youth competitions are regularly held on the basis of the military unit. The special forces group, formed on the basis of the regiment, has also been participating in international competitions between special forces units since 1995. The military unit regularly holds parachute jumping and hand-to-hand combat demonstrations at events in Moscow and the region.
Memorial complex in memory of the soldiers of the regiment who died in the performance of combat missions Awards
1996 - 3rd place in the overall standings of the competitions of the program "Partnership for Peace" (Bulgaria);
1997 - champion of the competitions of the program "Partnership for Peace" (Bulgaria);
2005 - challenge battle flag, title "Guards", Order of Alexander Nevsky (from the disbanded 119th Guards Airborne Regiment);
February 2011 - Order of Kutuzov "For the successful completion of combat missions of the command and the courage and heroism shown by the personnel of the regiment."
Presentation of the Order of Kutuzov to the 45th OGPSN eyewitness impressions
At present, there are practically no conscripts in military unit 28337, it is being transferred to a contract basis. The contract is concluded for a period of three years, the criteria for selecting fighters are moral, physical and psychological preparation, as well as the ability to respond in difficult situations and the desire to serve in special conditions.
Regiment fighters training on the obstacle course In order to conclude a contract for military service in the 45th Guards Regiment, the candidate is required to:
- Be between the ages of 18 and 40 and Russian citizenship;
- Have a certificate of form A-1 for health reasons;
- Submit a report or statement of desire to serve in the special forces of the Airborne Forces indicating the unit;
- Come to the unit itself and have an interview with the regiment commander and the head of the personnel department;
- Pass physical fitness tests (standards for pull-ups, cross-country, etc.);
- Pass psychological tests for service compatibility in special units of the Airborne Forces.
Passing an obstacle course Such requirements do not stop almost anyone - military unit 28337, judging by the reviews, even attracts girls. True, few people want to go to “hot spots” and pass physical training standards, but there are plenty of people who want to work in a first-aid post, a psychologist or a radio operator in a unit.
Those rare representatives of the fair sex who serve in the ranks of the 45th Separate Guards Regiment undergo the same training as men and live in similar conditions. However, many contract soldiers with families are provided with housing in the garrison.
Parachute jumping and helicopter landing simulators The paratroopers do not have part of the barracks, its function is performed by the soldiers' hostel. It consists of several blocks (two adjacent rooms for 4-6 people each). There are showers, bathrooms, a gym, a rest room and classes for military training in the soldier's hostel.
Eyewitnesses say that military unit 28337 currently has two battalions. One of them is engaged in providing the regiment, and the second - in the training of fighters.
Those who served in the military unit also note that telephone conversations with relatives are allowed here in the evening.
Training room in part For the period of training, mobile phones are with the company commander.
Shoes are issued along with the uniform, but you can buy it yourself. Jump boots of the model of the armies of foreign countries are allowed.
As for classes, the special forces paratroopers of military unit 28337 master not only practical skills, but also the theoretical course of military affairs. However, more attention is paid to the physical training of soldiers, for example, forced marches over long distances, when the fighters wear equipment and equipment.
The specific working conditions of the unit require knowledge of certain military equipment and weapons. Therefore, both domestic models of machine guns and a collection of captured weapons from the Armored Museum in Kubinka are carefully studied by soldiers. Scouts are also trained in the military unit, so exercises are regularly conducted in the field.
Celebrations on the occasion of the anniversary of the regiment
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The 45th regiment is one of the youngest units of the Russian army; it was formed on the basis of the 218th and 901st special-purpose battalions, which celebrated their tenth anniversary this year. During the years of the Cold War, when the troops were preparing for a "fight to the fullest", using weapons of mass destruction, the army special forces had to solve the corresponding tasks. These units were intended for deep reconnaissance and sabotage (primarily against nuclear facilities) behind enemy lines. And if necessary, they could ensure the landing of troops on enemy territory. Despite the fact that the Special Forces of the Airborne Forces was created after the end of the Cold War, it is fully prepared to solve such problems in the interests of the Airborne Forces. But this is only one side of the coin.
non-lethal weapon
Since the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, our Armed Forces have been continuously involved in various wars and conflicts. So, by the time the formation of the 45th regiment began, the scouts of the Airborne Forces had accumulated a wealth of combat experience. And this experience, together with rethought foreign developments (a lot was borrowed from the British SAS, including the motto "The strongest wins"), was fully implemented when creating a new part. So the main task of the Special Forces of the Airborne Forces is to solve any problems in the conditions of local conflicts. In this sense, the 45th regiment is unique, the only unit in the Russian Armed Forces that has everything necessary for this. In addition to two special-purpose battalions, it includes a detachment of unmanned aerial vehicles, a detachment of psychological operations, and a special detachment, staffed only by officers, ensigns and contract soldiers, designed to solve extremely complex and especially responsible tasks. Including anti-terrorist ones. A sort of "mini-Alpha" for the destruction of terrorists at the facilities of the Ministry of Defense.
The purpose of psychological operations is to disorientate, demoralize the enemy, undermine faith in victory, and force him to end resistance. In addition, the population of the combat area, neutral or hostile, can be the object of psychological operations. The significance of the psychological impact on the enemy has been great throughout military history, but it has especially increased in our information age. Especially in "low-intensity" conflicts, where there is no front line, and the definition of people on the basis of "friend or foe" can be very arbitrary. This is well understood, for example, by the Americans, who annually spend several times more on "non-lethal weapons" than on nuclear weapons. And this approach pays off. Take, for example, the actions of US troops in Panama and Haiti, where the forces of psychological operations played a decisive role.
The Russian Armed Forces are seriously lagging behind the West in these matters. All the more valuable is the unique experience of the psychological warfare unit created within the 45th regiment.
In addition to a field printing press and equipment with sound amplification equipment, the psychological operations unit has a television station capable of broadcasting and rebroadcasting programs within a radius of 10 km. There is a small studio where you can edit and sound a TV program. All equipment is located in GAZ-66 kungs, which ensures high mobility and efficiency of work. Thus, the detachment has serious opportunities to influence public opinion in the combat zone.
What can special forces do?
But the core of the 45th regiment is, of course, spetsnaz units. In this sense, the part did not arise from scratch. The 218th and 901st special-purpose battalions brought into it already had considerable experience and brilliant victories behind them. So the fighters of the 218th battalion carried out the operation of "peace enforcement", which, in fact, put an end to the bloody Transnistrian conflict. The 901st battalion was stationed in Sukhumi just before the beginning of the Georgian-Abkhazian war, and immediately found itself in the very epicenter of the unfolding events. The paratroopers ensured the evacuation of refugees - mainly vacationers caught in the war.
But, fortunately, the special forces have the opportunity to prove themselves not only in such a dramatic environment. For several years in a row, at the international special forces competitions that take place in Bulgaria, the soldiers of the 45th regiment take first place, far leaving behind both the Green Berets and the SAS team.
Forge of universal soldiers
The main contingent of special forces battalions are conscripts. If a few years ago the officers of the regiment had the opportunity to choose the best among the conscripts, today the situation has changed. A quota has been set for the special forces of the Airborne Forces - up to 10% of the recruits sent to the regiment may have a criminal record. The officers of the regiment state that compared to previous years, recruits are less and less consistent with the level required for service in special forces. Until quite recently, almost all recruits had sports ranks, but today there are only a few of them. Previously, almost every third had a higher or secondary technical education. And now a recruit with a completed secondary is already a gift.
But even from such problematic material, the regiment is made into a super-soldier in the full sense of the word. First of all, a recruit undergoes a series of psychological tests and physical tests here to determine his degree of readiness for service in special forces. Depending on his personal characteristics, his future military specialty is determined. For example, people who are calm, balanced and psychologically stable, phlegmatic, are the best suited to work as a sniper or a sapper. Some of the recruits are screened out immediately - they fall into support units, or are transferred to other units.
Then the training begins. To say that service in special forces is "not honey" is, in general, almost nothing to say. March throws are replaced by night shooting, flowing into tactical exercises, which end with facade climbing, or, say, sapper training. Not everyone can stand this rhythm either. As a result, after six months, no more than 40% of the “young” remain in spetsnaz companies: someone himself begins to ask for a transfer to another unit, someone is expelled by the commander. The vacancies that have arisen are filled by the best fighters of the airborne divisions. And by the end of the first year of service, the green “newbies” turn out to be competent fighters who are able to perform any task, who are fluent in weapons, means of communication and subversive equipment.
I must say that, despite the huge workload, those who want to get into the 45th are not getting smaller. Firstly, young guys are simply interested here. Secondly, the prestige of service in the special forces of the Airborne Forces is very high. And, thirdly, there is no "hazing" in its classical form. The officers of the regiment are convinced that human dignity and self-respect are the necessary qualities of a special forces officer, who, due to the specifics of his service, is obliged to take responsibility and show initiative. And the person is broken, psychologically depressed, for intelligence - ballast. And, finally, the very fact of serving in the 45th separate is an excellent recommendation for entering the service in other law enforcement agencies to work in the security service or security structure.
From Chechnya to Sokolniki
The precious combat experience accumulated by the regiment, as is usually the case with us, is almost not in demand. But the command of the regiment decides this issue on its own. Fortunately, the psychological operations detachment has its own printing house - the special forces print their own instructions and training manuals. In addition, a certain training center arose on the basis of the regiment, where not only paratroopers are trained.
Today, when full-scale hostilities in Chechnya have ceased, the role of special forces capable of effectively conducting raids, searches and other reconnaissance activities is increasing many times over. Consequently, the withdrawal of the 45th regiment from Chechnya is not expected in the foreseeable future.
Now the special forces operate as part of a combined detachment stationed in the mountainous part of the republic near the village of Khatuni. This place, where the Vedeno and Sharoargun gorges meet, is of great importance. Therefore, the responsibility is great, and the range of tasks solved by the combined detachment is wide. In addition to the fighters of the Special Forces of the Airborne Forces, it includes units of the FSB, special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Internal Troops and the Ministry of Justice. All have their own functions within the framework of a common task. Combat coordination begins even in preparation for the planned replacement, on the basis of the 45th regiment. The main emphasis is on special tactical and fire training, as well as on life support issues. The loads are very significant - in three months of training, fighters lose from 5 to 8 kg of weight, despite the fact that they receive enhanced nutrition.
It is known that SOBRs and riot police in the Caucasus very often have to perform tasks that are not characteristic of them. As the experience of the "Khatuninsky" detachment shows, employees of police special forces, after joint training with their fellow paratroopers, successfully operate in emergency, "non-police" situations. In addition, having met and made friends before arriving in Chechnya, having worked out in detail all aspects of the upcoming operations, people act as a single team. Regardless of departmental subordination.
Part of the units of the regiment is stationed in Sokolniki in the barracks of the Preobrazhensky regiment. But not only this circumstance makes the special forces fight for the high honor of being officially called the "Preobrazhensky Regiment".
As you know, the Preobrazhensky Regiment was the first regiment of the regular army of Russia. And the 45th is also, in a sense, the first regiment of the Armed Forces of the future, which has yet to be created. This is both a completely new, comprehensive approach to solving problems, and a completely different attitude towards personnel, not as consumables, but as professionals of great value. It is known that Peter I considered his "amusing" as the backbone of the future Russian army. A separate reconnaissance regiment of the Airborne Forces, like the old Preobrazhensky Regiment, became a forge of experienced special forces officers. Many of those who went through his school today serve in Alpha, Vympel, Omega, and other special forces of the Defense Ministry, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, and the FPS. But along with this, officers who have served in the regiment for several years do not want to be transferred to other units, even though career opportunities in the regiment are very limited. Indeed, for many, he is a real family, to break the connection with which they cannot and do not want to.
A special psychological climate has developed in the unit, the leading values of which are absolute professionalism, corporatism, one might even say nepotism in the best sense of the word. This is best seen in the example of those who have retired. Those of them who have managed to get a good job in life have taken on the material support of the warring in Chechnya today. Thanks to their "sponsorship", the special forces are probably best equipped in the group: jackets and trousers made of membrane fabrics, light warm sleeping bags, comfortable waterproof boots, modern optics and night vision devices, communications equipment.
But veterans of the regiment help not only with money. There was also such a case: by the winter of 1999, the time had come to replace the fighters who had been fighting in the Caucasus since the rebel invasion of Dagestan. But there was really no one to change. In the "interwar period" the regiment was reduced by one battalion, and most of the personnel were in Chechnya. The situation is critical: you can’t send just called up and untrained soldiers to war?
Then, retired veterans of the regiment decided to "shake the old days" and help their native regiment. Leaving prestigious, highly paid places, signing semi-annual contracts, and forming their own special group, they went to the Caucasus. The first thing for them was the battle near Zandag, where the "veteran" group occupied an important height and repelled fierce enemy attacks for four hours. Thanks to the veterans, the regiment got the opportunity to be understaffed and qualitatively prepare a replacement.
For all ten years of its existence, the special forces of the Airborne Forces have not come out of wars. Transnistria, Abkhazia, Dagestan, both Chechen campaigns, Bosnia, Kosovo - not one armed conflict can do without the participation of fighters of the 45th separate. During this time, there was everything: the pennant of the Minister of Defense "for courage and military prowess" and five heroes of Russia from among the fighters of the regiment. There were, oddly enough, moments when various accusations were made against the unit.
But, in spite of everything, the regiment was, is and remains the true elite of the Russian Army. And in the second campaign, the special forces of the Airborne Forces proved to be the best. Dozens of destroyed gangs and discovered bases of militants, hundreds of gun barrels, kilograms of explosives and drugs seized from secret warehouses - all this was included in the track record of the Separate Intelligence. This combat unit now lives and develops solely thanks to the enthusiasm, and even the "quixoticism" of its officers. The result of their labors is a perfectly functioning combat organism, a universal tool for solving the most difficult tasks. A real regiment of the future.
Sergey SMIRNOV
The story continues...
In order to preserve military traditions in September 2005, the regiment was given the Battle Banner, an honorary name and a state award of the disbanded 119th Guards Airborne Order of Alexander Nevsky Regiment. Since that time, the regiment became known as the 45th Separate Guards Order of Alexander Nevsky Reconnaissance Regiment.
On February 1, 2008, the 45th Separate Reconnaissance Regiment was reorganized into the 45th Separate Guards Order of Alexander Nevsky Special Purpose Regiment.
In August 2008, units of the regiment took part in the operation to force Georgia to peace. The officer of the regiment Hero of Russia Anatoly Lebed was awarded the Order of St. George IV degree for the skill and courage shown in this operation.
On July 20, 2009, in accordance with Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of December 18, 2006 No. 1422, the St. George banner was awarded to the regiment as an official symbol and military relic, the personification of honor, glory and military traditions.
In April 2010, the battalion tactical group of the 45th regiment carried out a combat mission to ensure the security of citizens of the Russian Federation, including members of the families of military personnel and civilian personnel, on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic.
For courage and heroism shown in the performance of command assignments, more than two thousand servicemen were awarded state awards. 10 servicemen of the regiment were awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. These are Lieutenant Colonel Vadim Alekseevich Gridnev, Senior Lieutenant Vitaly Yuryevich Ermakov (posthumous), Captain Zhidkov Dmitry Vasilievich (posthumous), Private Lays Alexander Viktorovich (posthumous), Captain Lebed Anatoly Vyacheslavovich, Lieutenant Colonel Andrey Anatolyevich Nepryakhin, Lieutenant Colonel Vadim Ivanovich Pankov, Colonel Aleksey Viktorovich Romanov , Captain Rumyantsev Alexey Viktorovich (posthumously), Major Yatsenko Pyotr Karlovich (posthumously).
Scouts of the 45th Separate Guards Order of Alexander Nevsky Special Purpose Regiment are true to the glorious combat traditions of the Airborne Forces and their motto: "The strongest wins!"
In April 2011, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the 45th Separate Guards Order of Alexander Nevsky Special Purpose Regiment of the Airborne Forces was the first in the modern history of Russia to be awarded the Order of Kutuzov. The regiment was awarded this high award for the successful fulfillment of combat missions of the command and the courage and heroism shown by the personnel.