"seven simeons". how a children's ensemble turned into the main terrorists of the USSR. "Seven Simeons". The tragic story of the Soviet Ovechkin family that hijacked a plane
It happened almost 30 years ago, on a holiday on March 8, 1988. The large and friendly Ovechkin family known throughout the country - the mother-heroine and 10 children from 9 to 28 years old - flew from Irkutsk to a music festival in Leningrad.
They brought with them a bunch of instruments, from a double bass to a banjo, and everyone around them smiled happily, recognizing the “Seven Simeons” - Siberian nugget brothers playing incendiary jazz. 
But at a 10-kilometer altitude, people's favorites suddenly took out sawn-off shotguns and a bomb from their cases and ordered them to fly to London, otherwise they would start killing passengers and generally blow up the plane. An attempted hijacking turned into an unheard-of tragedy 
“Wolves in the shoes of the Ovechkins” – this is how the stunned Soviet press later wrote about them. How did it happen that sunny, smiling guys turned into terrorists? From the very beginning, the mother was blamed for everything, allegedly raising her eldest sons as ambitious and cruel. Plus, a noisy glory somehow easily and immediately fell upon them, and it completely blew their heads off. But also some saw Ovechkin as sufferers, victims of an absurd Soviet system who went to the crime just to "live like a human being."
Shine and poverty
Discontent and anger accumulated among the Ovechkins for another reason: All-Union glory did not bring any money. Although the state allocated them two three-room apartments at once in good home, leaving the old suburban area, they did not heal, as in a fairy tale, happily ever after. The family quit agriculture, and it was impossible to earn money with music: they were simply forbidden to perform paid concerts. 
"Seven Simeons" with his mother near his rural house
The abandoned Ovechkin house today
The Ovechkins dreamed of their own family cafe, where the brothers would play jazz, and the mother and sisters would be in charge of the kitchen. In a couple of years, in the 90s, their dreams could come true, but so far private business in the USSR was impossible. The Ovechkins decided that they were born in the wrong country, and they set about moving away forever to the “foreign paradise”, which they got an idea about after having been on tour in Japan in 1987. Simeons spent three weeks in the city of Kanazawa, Irkutsk’s sister city, and received a cultural shock: shops are bursting with goods, showcases shine brightly, sidewalks are illuminated from underground, vehicles drive silently, streets are washed with shampoo and even flowers in toilets, as their sons enthusiastically told mothers and sisters. Part of the family, according to the then principle, was not released, so that the guest performers would not think of running away to the capitalists, dooming those who remained in their homeland to shame and poverty.
The result of the tragedy
9 people died - Ninel Ovechkina, four eldest sons, a flight attendant and three passengers. 19 people were injured - 15 passengers, two Ovechkins, including the youngest 9-year-old Seryozha, and two riot police. Only six of the 11 Ovechkins who were on board survived - Olga and 5 of her underage brothers and sisters. Of the survivors, two went to court - Olga and 17-year-old Igor. The rest, by age, were not subject to criminal liability, they were transferred under the care of a married sister, Lyudmila, who was not involved in the capture. An open trial took place in Irkutsk that autumn. The hall was crowded, there were not enough seats. Passengers and crew were witnesses. Both defendants, testifying, stated that they "somehow did not think" about the passengers when they planned to blow up the plane. Olga admitted her guilt in part and asked for leniency. 
Olga in court. She was 7 months pregnant at the time.
Igor sometimes recognized partially, then completely denied and asked to be forgiven and not be deprived of his freedom.
Moreover, at the trial, Igor, whom his mother described in his diary as “too self-confident and roguish,” tried to put all the blame for what happened on the former head of the ensemble, the Irkutsk musician-teacher Vladimir Romanenko, thanks to whom the Simeons got to jazz festivals. Like, it was he who inspired the older brothers with the idea that there is no jazz in the USSR and that recognition can only be achieved abroad. However, the teenager could not stand the confrontation with the teacher and admitted that he had slandered him. 
Vladimir Romanenko is rehearsing with his brothers. Igor is at the piano. 1986
The court received bags of letters from Soviet citizens who were eager for a show of punishment. “Shoot with the performance shown on TV,” writes a veteran Afghan. “Tie them to the tops of birches and tear them apart,” a woman teacher calls (!). “Shoot so that they know what the Motherland is,” advises the party secretary on behalf of the assembly. The humane Soviet court of the era of perestroika and glasnost decided otherwise: 8 years in prison for Igor, 6 years for Olga. In reality, they served 4 years. Olga gave birth to a daughter in the colony, she was also given to Lyudmila. 
Olga with a child in prison
The further fate of the Ovechkins
The last time journalists asked about them was in 2013, on the 25th anniversary of the tragedy. Here's what was known at the time. Olga traded fish in the market, gradually became an inveterate drunkard. In 2004, she was beaten to death by a drunk cohabitant during a domestic quarrel. Igor played the piano in restaurants in Irkutsk and drank himself. In 1999, a journalist from MK talked to him - then he was indignant at the fresh film Mom with Mordyukova, Menshikov and Mashkov, based on the story of the Ovechkins, and threatened to sue director Denis Evstigneev. He eventually received a second sentence for selling drugs and was killed by a cellmate. 
One thing is clear as the years go by. Whether from pride, lack of intelligence, or lack of information, the Ovechkins sincerely believed that they would be welcomed abroad with open arms, and not considered dangerous terrorists who had taken innocent people hostage. The “Simeons” were dazzled by the reception in Japan – full houses, applause, promises of fame and fortune from local journalists and producers… They didn’t realize that they aroused the interest of foreigners more like circus monkeys, a funny souvenir from a closed country with its Siberia and “gulags” than like musicians. As one Irkutsk publication concluded, “these were simple, rude people with simple, rude dreams - to live like a human being. This is what killed them."
Almost a quarter of a century after the verdict of the court public opinion is still not ready to answer unequivocally: Are the Ovechkins bandits or sufferers?
A message about that tragic spring day in 1988 appeared 36 hours later: "An attempt to hijack an airliner was foiled. Most of criminals destroyed. There are dead. Assistance was rendered to the victims on the spot. The Prosecutor's Office of the USSR initiated a criminal case. "On the third day, it turns out: the stewardess and three passengers were shot dead, four terrorists and their mother committed suicide, dozens of people were maimed, the plane burned to the ground. And - incredible: the hijackers are a large jazz family, the famous Irkutsk "Simeons" .
In the feature film version of Denis Evstigneev's "Mama", none of them, who rushed three years before the collapse of the country to transcendental happiness, die. Those who remained at liberty and those who lost it for a while, at one fine moment gather around their mother, and while the final credits are running, you involuntarily think: what if in real life Has the era of change come early? Maybe then there would be no deaths, no prison, no subsequent losses at all?
Gunpowder Legacy
Did you see what was left of the hut of their childhood on Detskaya Street, 24? A terrible metaphor. And at first, happiness there seemed to be in full swing ...
Tatyana Zyryanova, a lecturer at Irkutsk State University and editor of the East Siberian Newsreel Studio in the early 1980s, essentially discovered the Ovechkins.
So about happiness... Terrible stagnation, melancholy, suddenly at one of the amateur performances I see seven brothers creating jazz! Nine-year-old Misha - on a small trombone bought in a circus of midgets, five-year-old Seryozhka - on a tiny banjo! I immediately said to myself: "Shoot - immediately!" I turned the idea to documentarians Hertz Frank and Vladimir Eisner, and we began to make the film "Seven Simeons", which (as well as the tragic continuation - "Once upon a time there were Seven Simeons") will go around the world. They came home to the guys - the whole friendly team mows the grass, drags water into the barn. After all, they lived on the outskirts of Rabochey, and this, although in the city, is a village. They grew vegetables on eight of their acres, kept three cows, five pigs, chickens, rabbits. Ninel Sergeevna met kindly. She shared: I want, they say, that the children keep warm in their souls and always be together. During filming, however, hardened. Put forward the condition: "Pay for my false teeth." We signed her up as a consultant. She demanded an increase in fees. They also registered their daughter, Olga. As a result, the mother still did not like the film. "You humiliated us," she said. "Ovechkin's artists, not peasants." But you won’t get into the soul - we didn’t argue ...
The soul of the head of the family will remain in the dark. However, some of the origins of her iron character will still become clear. The fact, for example, that in 1943 the mother of five-year-old Ninel, the widow of a front-line soldier, was shot dead by a drunken watchman. For eight potatoes dug up in a collective farm field. The girl will realize the dream of a big relative after the orphanage in her own offspring. When the second daughter appears dead, she firmly decides not to have abortions. And despite diseased heart and asthma, will give birth to ten more. He will never slap anyone, he will never raise his voice at anyone. She screamed only when her drunken husband started firing at them with a gun. And then - only one word-command: "Lie down!" “Father died, she was both for mom and dad,” Tatiana, who has matured, will say. “She was affectionate, but also strict: we didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, didn’t run to movies and dances.”
Both neighbors and classmates confirm: the world behind the fence was not important for them - only family.
red calendar day
She smiled at everyone. Mother-heroine, proud of herself and her horde of different ages - from nine to thirty-two years old. Three of the four daughters were now walking alongside the seven brothers, who in the waiting room, of course, were recognized and greeted with enthusiasm. The contrabass case did not fit into the fluoroscope. “Yes, come on in already, artists,” the girl waved tenderly at the inspection.
It was the eighth of March. Red day calendar. Who would have thought that this time the equivalent of a holiday date was destined to take on a literal meaning. It is still hard to believe in the timekeeping restored by the investigation, which recorded a mixture of naive calculation, madness and cruelty.
13.09. Tu-154 tail number 85413, following the route Irkutsk - Leningrad, makes an intermediate landing in Kurgan. Sasha and Oleg play chess. Dima shows stewardess Tamara Zharkay family photos. 13.50. After takeoff, he gives her a note for the crew: "Go to England - London. Do not descend, otherwise we will blow up the plane. You are under our control." She laughs, "Is this a joke?" He takes out a sawn-off shotgun from the case: "Everything - in place!" 15.01. Earth - to the commander: "Sit at the military airfield Veshchevo near Vyborg, misinform the hijackers - in exchange for the release of passengers, a flight to Helsinki is guaranteed." 15.50. The plane is tilting. “This is a maneuver,” the flight attendant reassures. “There is not enough fuel, we are going to refuel in the Finnish city of Kotka. and kills point-blank. 16.24. "Don't talk to anyone! mother screams. - Get a cab! We have nothing to lose!"
For more than two hours, they unsuccessfully destroyed the armored pilot's door with a folding ladder. It will open suddenly: the "stormtroopers" who made their way through the observation windows are amateurs, ordinary fighters internal troops, - hiding behind shields, they will break into the salon, flooding it with chaotic heavy fire. At the same time, others who have penetrated the tail hatch attack from behind.
Clamped by a wild hustle, Igor manages to hide in the toilet. Teenagers Tanya and Misha, kids Ulyana and Sergey, wounded by a stray bullet, huddle in horror against the pregnant Olga. In front of their eyes, Vasily will end his mother by shooting him in the head on her own orders, after which, clasping hands with Dmitry, Oleg and Sasha, he will close the wires of the bomb. But the explosion will only scorch the trousers and set fire to the chairs. Then each of the four, in turn, according to the age range, will point the barrel at himself and pull the trigger. 26-year-old Vasily will be the last.
In the meantime, people jumping out of a burning plane on the ground were met with blows from soldiers' boots and rifle butts. “The Ovechkins’ mother behaved like a she-wolf,” Marina Zakhvalinskaya, who lost her leg in this hell, will later say. “But what the stormers did ...”
Three passengers died, 36 were injured, 14 of them were hospitalized with severe fractures, including the spine. However, when the chief of staff of the capture group is asked for an interview, he will suffocate with indignation: "For the police to comment on you?! It won't happen! I'll call the regional committee now!"
For almost three weeks, the former ticket office of the Irkutsk airport was adapted for an off-site session of the Lenoblsud. Surviving adults - Olga and Igor - were brought to criminal responsibility. Despite the letters of the once grateful spectators, who demanded "Hang! Tie to the tops of birches in the square and shoot!", He was given eight years, she - six.
Soon, in captivity, Olga will give birth to Larisa, who, like the day before and brothers and sisters - Misha, Seryozha, Tatyana, Uliana - will be taken into her large family by Lyudmila. The oldest of the Ovechkins, having married, she long ago moved from her childhood home in Irkutsk to a house near a cemetery on the outskirts of the mining town of Cheremkhovo. On the eighth of March, she rested from labors on enrichment plant, the ninth was going to visit everyone ...
Illusions little orchestra
The name of the team was invented by Vasily, who remembered a fairy tale from "Native speech" about seven brothers, each of whom did his job. It is he who, catching the prospect, will turn to an experienced teacher Vladimir Romanenko, who has prepared self-taught people for jazz festivals in Tbilisi, Kemerovo, Moscow. He will refuse Romanenko's services before the Riga festival: "I will direct myself."
The local authorities are inspired: the instantly famous Dixieland family, a kind of Siberian souvenir-matryoshka - unique example benefits of the Soviet way of life, bold tick in the reports. Ovechkins are not allowed to give paid concerts, but they are given two three-room apartments, shortage coupons, help with instruments. Seniors without exams are "registered" in Gnesinka. But a year later, Vasily proudly throws out to the dumbfounded mentors: "There is no one to teach here, our place is in Amsterdam." And brings the brothers back.
Having lost her garden and living creatures, the mother knocks on the Obkom's thresholds: "We have nothing to live on! The guys' salaries are 80 rubles, my pension is 52, and I refuse it!" In the midst of Prohibition, she demonstratively sells vodka. Daytime at the market. At night - in their own courtyard: a special window in their fence was known to the whole district.
In May 1987, the ensemble was dressed up and, as part of the Irkutsk delegation, was sent to the sister city of Kanazawa. Hotel "Pearl of Asia", advertising extravaganza of the streets, luxury shopping shocked. After the concert, the English record company also offered a major contract. "We're going to Tokyo, to the American embassy, we'll ask for asylum," Oleg fired up. But while he was catching a taxi, he cooled down: "And mother, sisters - can you leave them?"
Returned from Japan excited. "There," whispered little Seryozha, "there are flowers in the toilets!"
Let's leave together or die, - summed up the mother.
Six months of preparation. The case for the double bass was built up so that it would not pass into the inspection apparatus. A sawn-off shotgun was made from a 16-gauge hunting rifle purchased from a friend for 150 rubles. Explosive devices were tested in a wasteland. The turner of the regional consumer union for a bottle of vodka made threads and plugs, a master of industrial training turned metal glasses for 30 rubles. The poultry farm locksmith supplied gunpowder...
We filmed not just about the life and death of this, in many respects, typical family, in which, I'm afraid, no one read anything except the fairy tale about Simeonov, - Yevgeny Korzun, cameraman of the sensational documentary dilogy, tells RG. - We ended up filming about a totalitarian country, in which an individual can be thrown to an unattainable height, or you can be thrown into a hole. But I still most clearly remember a piece of rural idyll in the middle of the regional center: boys bent over green beds, freshly cut grass under the sun. And the city apartment, from where a few days ago, in a hurry to the airport, they left forever: scattered miserable things, a pot on the stove with sour, foaming cabbage soup ...
Wolves and sheep
Of course, no one in Irkutsk guessed about the terrible plan. However, a timid foreboding that the rolling praising shaft would not end well, arose more than once. I know for sure: one local newspaper tried to say this carefully. The material was made up in the issue, but the censors reported it to the regional committee of the CPSU. “What are you doing?” the party chief asked the editor sternly on behalf of the almighty state. “You don’t like people?!” The layout had to be disassembled. A few months later on behalf of loving people of the state, the commander of the fighter squadron, Colonel Sleptsov, will be given the order: "Accompany the plane with criminals. In case of an attempt to cross the state border, destroy the plane."
..."This is the choice - to break through or explode," Frank's voice-over sounds in Once Upon a Time There Were Seven Simeons, who later formulated this thought even more specifically: "The Ovechkins decided to break through or commit suicide, but not to surrender alive. Killers , marauders, terrorists do not act like that, they fight for their lives to the last."
Tatyana Zyryanova goes through old photos:
Do you know what their peers called them? "Sheep, flock." They were "sheep", a simple peasant family. Real wolves dressed up in sheepskins. There are no less of them even now. My daughter was recently attacked in the gateway. And in Akademgorodok, students (one of the medical institute!) for several weeks in a row beat old people and pregnant women with hammers ...
So what would happen to the family "star" if it rose in our free days?
Yes, everything would be fine, - assures the musician, who, together with Igor Ovechkin, who served his first term, worked part-time in a restaurant orchestra. What were they dreaming about? About a family cafe where brothers would play their jazz, and mother and sisters would cook meals. They would feed the people, play and grandmothers would do it. And then none of this shone, so they rushed into the cast-iron wall ...
Well, of course, - Oleg Malynkikh, an old acquaintance, enters into an absentee dispute. - The wall, the prison country, the victims of the regime...
In the late 80s, from rural poverty and the tragedies that fell on his head, he also rushed for happiness. Chauffeur at the city firmach. Tried to feed on professional bowling. Cleaned Baikal from plastic bottles. Then he brought together amazing craftsmen who were able to cast both a funny figurine and a rare monogram from metal. Almost all the main squares and squares of Irkutsk were framed with fancy wrought-iron fences.
He lives, not particularly counting on anyone, but also without substituting anyone. House built. I planted a pine tree. Raising a daughter, a son.
And Lyudmila Dmitrievna Ovechkina is still in her mining town of Cheremkhovo, all in the same outer house near the cemetery. One of these days I am waiting for her at the gate - she is taking little Vasya from school. She walked out the gate, returned, sat down on a bench.
What can I say ... Our three were given with a spouse higher education, four grandchildren grow up. Sister Tanya studied here at the technical school, moved to Irkutsk a long time ago. But others ... Mom did not save the family, and I could not. I raised Olga Larisa, who was born in prison, she is finishing the institute, now Vasya has become my son. Oli is no longer there - a roommate killed on a drunken basis. And there is no Igor. A pianist from God, after his release, he both played and composed music, but received a second term for drugs and died there from a cellmate. Ulyana, unhappy, although alive, drank, threw herself under a car, became an invalid. We haven’t been able to find Seryozha for a long time, and Misha doesn’t let us know anything about himself. It seems that in Barcelona, somewhere on the street, he moonlights with his trombone ...
Denis Matsuev, Honored Artist of Russia:
No one in my native Irkutsk could believe what had happened. I was then thirteen. I remember all the "Simeons" very well, with one of them, Mikhail, later studied in parallel groups of the art school - a very talented trombonist ...
Many will say: they say that only a few years were not enough for them before the time of freedom. But, in my opinion, everything is much more complicated. It is not known, after all, what was actually going on inside this family, what prompted them (and most likely, I think, after all, the mother) to take that terrible step. It is, of course, impossible to justify him, however, as far as I know, no matter how favored the Ovechkins were with power, surrounded by universal admiration and support, they lived in horrific conditions, in constant lack of money.
But the problem is often not in modest prosperity, but in the change that happens instantly with some parents and teachers. A small spark needs to be unobtrusively protected from illusions, temptations and gradually, by everyday joint work, cut, and they immediately begin to hammer into her head: "You are a star!" They draw fantastic tours, huge money.
Or vice versa: they are specifically not allowed to develop - for fear of missing out on family profits. Any such story is extremely dangerous. How many guys who showed promise went to day labor, to restaurants, went out forever, or even just drank ...
COMPETENT
Anatoly Safonov, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for international cooperation in the fight against terrorism and organized crime, Colonel General:
That harsh lesson forced us to radically revise not only the procedure for screening air passengers and baggage, but also the algorithm of anti-terrorist operations. After Veshchevo, where, due to severe time pressure, the assault was carried out by absolutely unprepared soldiers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in such circumstances only professionals of the special services began to act. At the same time, the main thing was clearly indicated: the safety of the hostages. Thanks to the new strategy, it was possible to avoid casualties in December 1988, when the criminals who captured schoolchildren were provided with an Il-76 transport and allowed to fly to Israel. And in 1990, when under the threat of hijackers from June 7 to July 5, six passenger aircraft of our domestic airlines were forced to change course and land in Turkey, Finland, and Sweden.
A month and a half later, I myself had the opportunity to lead a special operation: 15 prisoners who were transported from Neryungri to Yakutsk then seized a Tu-154 along with guards and passengers. Landing for refueling in Krasnoyarsk, they demanded machine guns, walkie-talkies, parachutes. We were ready for the assault, however, having repeatedly calculated the pros and cons, we decided not to risk it. Colleagues in Tashkent did exactly the same, releasing a plane in Karachi.
Of course, each of the perpetrators of these incidents was also "strung for happiness." But all were neutralized or put on trial, which categorically rejected the monstrous principle: "The end justifies the means." Incidentally, in the tolerant West, even attempts to discuss the reasons that pushed a terrorist to commit a crime are now considered bad manners. Unequivocal rejection of the very nature of the terrorist attack is also recorded in UN documents. To the realization of this truth - from the justification of the Russian "rebel" Vera Zasulich to the condemnation of the suicide bombers who brought down the American twin towers - mankind has been advancing for more than a century.
Help "RG"
For the first time in Soviet history Pranas Brazinskas and his son Algirdas managed to hijack the flight board over the cordon. On October 15, 1970, having killed the flight attendant Nadezhda Kurchenko, wounding two crew members and a passenger, they forced the An-24 to land in Trabzon, Turkey, where they received eight years in prison. In total, in the USSR from June 1954 to November 1991, there were more than 60 attempts to capture and hijack civilian aircraft. AT new Russia from February 1993 to November 2000 - seven capture attempts and one hijacking.
Boarding the Tu-154, which was flying along the route Irkutsk - Kurgan - Leningrad, many passengers made plans for the evening: someone was flying home, someone was visiting or on business. At Ninel Ovechkina and her children too special plan, for which the exemplary family was preparing for almost half a year - hijacking and a daring escape from the Soviet Union.
"Poor" Ovechkins
The Ovechkins lived modestly, their father liked to drink, so the mother, Ninel Sergeevna, was mainly involved in raising 11 children. A woman has always been an authority for all members of a large family, but becoming a widow in 1984, she further strengthened her influence on her family. It was she who noticed that her boys - Basil, Dmitry, Oleg, Alexander, Igor, Michael and small Sergey- Incredibly musical. In 1983, the sons organized the Seven Simeons jazz ensemble. The success was enormous. Filmed about gifted musicians documentary. The state, from whose strong embrace they later want to escape, gave the mother of many children two three-room apartments. The talented seven were accepted out of competition at the Gnessin School, but due to tours and constant rehearsals, the Simeons left their studies after a year. In 1987, Ovechkin had an incredible chance for those times - a trip to Japan, where young talents had to perform in front of a huge audience. Perhaps it was these tours that subsequently pushed the brothers to a terrible crime. Having escaped from the Union, they no longer wanted to live "in a country of queues and shortages." Later, one of the surviving Ovechkins will tell the investigation that during the tour abroad, young people were made a profitable offer - a good contract with an English recording company. Even then, the brothers were ready to say yes and stay in a foreign land. But having done this, they could forever say goodbye to their mother and sisters, who would never have been released from the Soviet Union. Then the musicians decided that in the near future they would leave the Scoop at any cost, and began to prepare to escape from the country.
The amateur jazz orchestra of the Ovechkin brothers on the street of their native city. Photo: RIA Novosti / Pyotr Petrovich Malinovsky
I will move to London
For about six months, the exemplary family developed an escape plan, honed the details. They planned to board the plane with several pipe bombs and sawn-off shotguns. To transport the latter, the enterprising Ovechkins specially changed the shape of the case for the double bass - so much so that it could not fit on the X-ray machine during the inspection. But their efforts proved unnecessary. Many of the airport workers knew Seven Simeons by sight, so on March 8, 1988, when the musicians decided to commit a crime, no one thought to check their luggage. A family of eleven people boarded the Tu-154 without hindrance. According to the official version, the ensemble flew on tour to Leningrad. In fact, the Ovechkins were going to London.
Amateur Orchestra of the Ovechkin Brothers. Photo: RIA Novosti / Pyotr Petrovich Malinovsky
Seriously
The flight on the route Irkutsk - Kurgan - Leningrad passed smoothly. But when the aircraft landed in Kurgan for refueling and took off again, it became clear that the plane would not reach the northern capital that day. The Ovechkins began to act quickly, according to the previously worked out scheme. Through the stewardess, the brothers gave the pilots a note in which they demanded to change the route abruptly and fly to London. Otherwise, the invaders promised to blow up the plane. At first, the pilots thought that the musicians were joking. However, when the older Ovechkins took out the sawn-off shotguns and began to threaten the passengers, it became clear that the criminals were determined.
It was necessary to neutralize the armed terrorists as soon as possible before they killed someone, but how was this done? The second pilot offered the commander to deal with the invaders on his own. The crew had a personal weapon - Makarov pistols. In case of danger, the pilots had the right to shoot to kill. However, fearing the consequences, they decided to abandon the risky plan and wait for instructions from the ground. There, the KGB officers took over the operation. At first, they tried to negotiate with the young terrorists: they were offered to disembark all passengers in exchange for refueling the plane and a guaranteed flight to Helsinki. But the Seven Simeons, led by their mother, did not want to make concessions. Then he entered into negotiations with armed criminals aircraft flight engineer Innokenty Stupakov. The man was given clear instructions - to convince the Ovechkins that the fuel was running out, which means that they urgently needed to land. The young people believed Stupakov and were ready to land anywhere. Anywhere but outside the Soviet Union. After some conferring, the invaders gave the command to head for Finland. The next to negotiate with the brothers was flight attendant Tamara Zharkaya. She told the frantic criminals that the plane would soon land in the Finnish city of Kotka. From that moment on, the task of the flight crew was to simulate a flight to Finland. It was decided to land at the Veshchevo military airfield, near Leningrad, the crew hoped that the Ovechkins would not notice the deception and, as soon as the aircraft landed, the terrorists would be neutralized.The play is over
At 16:05 the plane landed safely in Veshchevo, everything was going well. The newly minted terrorists did not suspect that they were still in their homeland. But then something happened that broke the coup of the entire capture operation. Suddenly, the Soviet military began to approach the aircraft from all sides. It dawned on the Ovechkins - all this time they remained in the “fucking Sovok”, the stories about Finland were lies! In anger, 24-year-old Dmitry immediately shot at point-blank flight attendant Tamara Zharkaya. At the same moment, Ninel Ovechkina gave the command to storm the cockpit. But the attempt to break through to the pilots failed, then the brothers threatened to start shooting the passengers if the plane was not refueled and would not be allowed to take off quietly. The terrorists flatly refused to let even the women and children go. When the family saw the tanker, they let the flight engineer outside to open fuel tanks. In fact, there was a gas station, but it worked as a kind of screen - a whole performance was taking place outside. Everything was subordinated to one goal - to play for time until two capture groups approached the plane. According to the plan, several armed fighters of the special group were supposed to get on board the Tu-154 through a window in the cockpit, others through the entrance in the tail. When the plane took off and began taxiing to the runway, the operation to capture and neutralize the Ovechkins began.Terrorist back-up plan
In 1988 the system law enforcement The USSR was not yet designed to counter terrorists, whose targets are civilians. Simply because the attacks themselves or attempts to carry them out were extremely rare one-time actions. Accordingly, the mechanisms for capturing terrorists and releasing hostages were not developed. There were no units specially trained for such actions in each major city, regional center. Patrol officers acted as special forces. This explains how they acted in an attempt to neutralize the Ovechkin brothers. The fighters in the cockpit were the first to launch the attack. They opened fire, but the unfortunate arrows did not hit the brothers, but managed to injure four passengers. The Ovechkins turned out to be much more accurate; in the return firefight, the terrorists wounded the fighters, who eventually disappeared behind the armored door of the cockpit. The assault from the tail was also unsuccessful, opening the hatch, the special forces began to shoot at the legs of the invaders, but everything was in vain. According to eyewitnesses, the terrorists rushed around the cabin like animals driven into a cage. But at some point, Ninel gathered four sons around her: Vasily, Dmitry, Oleg and Alexander. The passengers did not immediately understand what these people were trying to do. Meanwhile, the Ovechkins said goodbye to each other and set fire to one of the pipe bombs. It turns out that even before the hijacking of the plane, the family agreed in case of failure of the operation to commit suicide. A second later, an explosion thundered, from which only Alexander died. The plane caught fire, panic began, a fire broke out. But the terrorists continued their work. Ninel ordered her eldest son Vasily to kill her, he shot at his mother without hesitation. Dmitriy was next at the barrel of the sawn-off shotgun, then Oleg. 17-year-old Igor did not want to say goodbye to life and hid in the toilet - he knew that if his brother found him, he would not survive. But Vasily had no time to look, there was very little time left. Having dealt with Oleg, he shot himself. In the meantime, one of the passengers opened a door not equipped with a ladder; fleeing from the fire, people began to jump out of the plane, all of them received serious injuries and fractures. When the capture group finally got on board, the fighters began to take people out. At eight o'clock in the evening, the operation to free the hostages was completed. Four killed in attempted hijacking civilians— three passengers and a flight attendant. 15 people received various injuries. Of the seven Ovechkins, five died.
Retribution
The investigation into the hijacking case lasted almost 5 months. The younger children were given to their sister Lyudmila, who did not participate in the capture and did not even know about it, since she had long lived with her husband separately from the whole family. 28-year-old Olga was sentenced to 6 years in prison, and 17-year-old Igor to 8. But in fact, both served only half of their sentences and were released. However, the lives of both did not work out. Soon Igor was arrested for drug distribution, he died in a pre-trial detention center under strange circumstances. Olga drank herself and died at the hands of a drunken roommate. The youngest of Ninel's daughters, Ulyana, also began to drink. Being in a state of intoxication, she several times threw herself under the wheels of a car and eventually became disabled. Mikhail did not leave his passion for music, he moved to live in Spain, but after suffering a stroke he also became disabled. Tatyana got married, but today her traces, like her brother Sergei, are lost.
Only a few years remained from the moment the plane was hijacked to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Perhaps, if Ninel Ovechkina knew this, she would not have dared to take such a desperate act and would not have crippled the lives of her own children. But the thirst for fame and a good life turned out to be stronger for her. common sense more important than other people's lives.
The case of an attempted hijacking by the Ovechkin family is the loudest and most resonant in the late 80s of the last century. It was widely covered in the press, discussed in every Soviet family. Ordinary citizens were outraged not so much by the audacity of the hijackers as by their very personalities. If Ovechkin were recidivists, hardened criminals, the case would not have received such publicity.
Jazz Ensemble "Seven Simeons"
The hijackers turned out to be the most common Soviet “cell of society”. Ninel Sergeevna Ovechkina was a heroine mother of many children, raising 11 children almost alone. Her husband, Dmitry Dmitrievich, drank heavily during his lifetime and paid little attention to his offspring. He died 4 years before the events described and left his wife to cope with a huge family.
Ninel Sergeevna performed this role well. Moreover, many of the children were already adults and actively helped her raise the kids. By Soviet standards, the Ovechkins lived mediocre lives. They had 2 three-room apartments in Irkutsk itself and a house with a plot in the suburbs, but the mother's pension and the salaries of older children were very small.
The sons of Ninel Sergeevna were incredibly musical and therefore organized a jazz ensemble called "Seven Simeons". A documentary was made about them. "Simeons" were very proud and even sent on tour to Japan. This rare success was a turning point in the fate of the Ovechkins themselves and many people who found themselves on board the plane they hijacked in 1988.
The desire to break out of an impoverished country of total scarcity
During the tour, a very tempting offer was made to young musicians from a London record company. "Seven Simeons" even then could ask for asylum from Great Britain and stay abroad forever, but they did not want to leave their mother and sisters in the USSR. They would never have been released abroad; Yes, and they would have persecuted at home.
Returning home after the tour, the boys offered their mother to flee the USSR. There must have been stories about beautiful life Abroad. That's when the plan to hijack the plane matured. Ninel Sergeevna not only supported this idea, but also fully supervised the preparation. The plan was implemented on a holiday - March 8, 1988.
How did the capture
The Ovechkins prepared very carefully for the hijacking. Specially changed the shape of the cases for musical instruments so that weapons can be carried into them. Already after the tragic events on board the TU-154 (tail number 85413, flight Irkutsk - Kurgan - Leningrad), 2 sawn-off shotguns, about a hundred rounds of ammunition and several improvised explosive devices were found.
It was easy for the Ovechkins to carry such an arsenal. The musicians were well known in their hometown and were practically not inspected. All Ovechkins participated in the capture, except for the eldest daughter Lyudmila. She was married, lived in another city (Cheremkhovo) and did not know about the impending escape from the USSR.
When the Ovechkins, led by their mother, were on board, they waited for the intermediate landing of the plane in Kurgan for refueling. Then they demanded that a course be set for London. At first, the pilots took the demand as a joke. The situation immediately changed when sawn-off shotguns appeared in the hands of the older Ovechkins. "Simeons" threatened to blow up the plane in case of disobedience.
Outcome of the case
No one was even going to let the hijackers go abroad. The plane was landed at a military airfield in Veshchevo, after which they took it by storm. During the capture, 9 people were killed (five of them were terrorists), 19 were injured. The failed hijackers were determined. In case of failure, they decided to commit suicide so as not to be judged as traitors to the Motherland. The eldest son Vasily (26 years old) shot his mother, after which he committed suicide.
24-year-old Dmitry did the same, having previously killed the flight attendant T. I. Hot. Oleg and Sasha (21 and 19 years old) passed away in a similar way. At the trial, 17-year-old Igor was sentenced to 8 years in prison. His pregnant 28-year-old sister Olga is 6 years old. She was the only one against the hijacking of the plane and until the last she tried to dissuade her relatives from the criminal undertaking.
Ludmila, eldest daughter Ninel Sergeevna, became the guardian of her younger sisters and brothers. She also adopted a newborn niece, whom Olga gave birth to in prison. Thus ended the case of the first hijacking in the USSR in order to escape abroad.
It happened almost 30 years ago, on a holiday on March 8, 1988. The large and friendly Ovechkin family known throughout the country - the mother-heroine and 10 children from 9 to 28 years old - flew from Irkutsk to a music festival in Leningrad.
They brought with them a bunch of instruments, from a double bass to a banjo, and everyone around them smiled happily, recognizing the “Seven Simeons” - Siberian nugget brothers playing incendiary jazz.
But at a 10-kilometer altitude, people's favorites suddenly took out sawn-off shotguns and a bomb from their cases and ordered them to fly to London, otherwise they would start killing passengers and generally blow up the plane. An attempted hijacking turned into an unheard-of tragedy 
“Wolves in the shoes of the Ovechkins” – this is how the stunned Soviet press later wrote about them. How did it happen that sunny, smiling guys turned into terrorists? From the very beginning, the mother was blamed for everything, allegedly raising her eldest sons as ambitious and cruel. Plus, a noisy glory somehow easily and immediately fell upon them, and it completely blew their heads off. But also, some saw Ovechkin as sufferers, victims of the absurd Soviet system, who went to crime just to "live like a human being."
"Family-sect"
A huge family lived in a small private house on 8 acres on the outskirts of Irkutsk: mother Ninel Sergeevna, 7 sons and 4 daughters. The eldest, Lyudmila, got married early and left; she had nothing to do with the story of the theft. The father died 4 years before these events - they say he was beaten to death by his grown-up sons Vasily and Dmitry for his drunken antics. From childhood, under the command of the mother "Lie down!" they hid from dad's gun, from which he tried to shoot at them through the window. Ovechkin in 1985. From left to right: Olga, Tatyana, Dmitry, Ninel Sergeevna with Ulyana and Sergey, Alexander, Mikhail, Oleg, Vasily. The seventh brother Igor with a camera remained behind the scenes.
Mother - a woman "affectionate, but strict" (according to Tatyana) - enjoyed unquestioning authority. She herself grew up as an orphan: during the hungry war years, her own mother, the widow of a front-line soldier, was killed by a drunken watchman when she was secretly digging up collective farm potatoes. Ninel developed an iron character and raised her sons the same way, only with them all this turned into ruthlessness and unscrupulousness.
Ninel Sergeevna Ovechkina
The Ovechkins were not friends with their neighbors, they lived apart by their own clan, they led a subsistence economy. Later, their unanimity and self-isolation began to be compared with sectarian fanaticism.
Siberian nuggets
All the guys in the family studied at a music school, played instruments, and in 1983 founded the Seven Simeons jazz ensemble, named after the Russian folk tale about twins-craftsmen. Two years later, after participating in the Jazz-85 festival in Tbilisi and the broadcast of the Central Television "Wider Circle", they became all-Union celebrities.
"Seven Simeons" on the streets of Irkutsk, 1986
A documentary film was made about an amazing family, the pride of all Siberia. The guys behaved wonderfully, the film crew was delighted with them, but it was hard with their mother. One of the editors of the tape, Tatyana Zyryanova, later said that Ninel Ovechkina was already filled with pride at that time, she was indignant that the family was “showed as peasants” and not “artists” and decided that they wanted to humiliate them that way.
Ninel Sergeevna. Frame from the film.
However, the adult sons also had pride. In her diary, the mother somehow gave them all characteristics, and so she wrote about the elder Vasily: “Proud, arrogant, unkind.” It was under his influence that the brothers contemptuously rejected their studies at the famous Gnesinka, where they were admitted without exams. "Simeons" imagined themselves as extraordinary talents, ready-made professionals who lacked only world recognition. They actually played very well - for amateur performances, but over time, without experienced guidance, under the tutelage of their mother, who already considered them geniuses, they inevitably degraded. The audience was rather impressed by their fraternal cohesion and touched by Seryozha, who was as tall as his own banjo.
Shine and poverty
Discontent and anger accumulated among the Ovechkins for another reason: All-Union glory did not bring any money. Although the state allocated them two three-room apartments at once in a good house, leaving the old suburban area as well, they did not live happily ever after, as in a fairy tale. The family quit farming, and there was no way to make money with music: they were simply forbidden to perform paid concerts.
"Seven Simeons" with his mother near his rural house
The abandoned Ovechkin house today
The Ovechkins dreamed of their own family cafe, where the brothers would play jazz, and the mother and sisters would be in charge of the kitchen. In a couple of years, in the 90s, their dreams could come true, but so far private business in the USSR was impossible. The Ovechkins decided that they were born in the wrong country, and they set about moving away forever to the “foreign paradise”, which they got an idea about after having been on tour in Japan in 1987. Simeons spent three weeks in the city of Kanazawa, Irkutsk’s sister city, and received a cultural shock: shops are bursting with goods, showcases shine brightly, sidewalks are illuminated from underground, vehicles drive silently, streets are washed with shampoo and even flowers in toilets, as their sons enthusiastically told mothers and sisters. Part of the family, according to the then principle, was not released, so that the guest performers would not think of running away to the capitalists, dooming those who remained in their homeland to shame and poverty.
"We'll blow up the plane!"
Returning with a completely changed consciousness, the brothers started an escape, and their mother, impressed by the stories about a well-fed and beautiful foreign country, supported them. Decided that if you run, then all at once. The only way they saw the armed hijacking of the aircraft - by that time there were numerous stories of hijackings, including successful ones. In case of failure, there was a firm agreement - to commit suicide. Under their plans, the Ovechkins chose the flight Irkutsk - Kurgan - Leningrad, the Tu-154 plane, departure on March 8. On board, in addition to 11 hijackers, there were 65 passengers and 8 crew members. The weapons - a pair of sawn-off hunting rifles with a hundred rounds of ammunition and homemade bombs - were carried in a double bass case. From previous trips, the brothers learned that the tool does not pass into the metal detector, and that, having recognized the Simeons, the luggage is inspected superficially, just for show. And here - the checkers have a festive mood, and the youngest children, Seryozha and Ulyana, are trying with might and main, distracting them with ridiculous antics.
The first part of the journey, the "artists" behaved cheerfully and peacefully. We made friends with flight attendants, especially with 28-year-old Tamara Zharka, showed them family photos. According to one version, Tamara was a friend of Vasily and for his sake she flew not on her shift. When, on the second leg of the route, 24-year-old Dmitry Ovechkin handed her a note: “Go to England (London). Don't go down or we'll blow up the plane. You are under our control,” she took it all for a joke and laughed lightheartedly. Then, until the very end, Tamara did everything possible to calm the terrorists, who every minute threatened to start killing passengers and blow up the cabin. She managed to convince them that the plane, which did not have enough fuel to reach London, would land for refueling in Finland, when in fact it landed at the Veshchevo military airfield near Vyborg, where the capture team was already ready. On the gates of one of the hangars, AIR FORCE was specially written large, but the hijackers saw a fuel truck with the Russian inscription “Flammable”, they recognized Soviet soldiers and realized that they had been deceived. Enraged, Dmitry shot Tamara point-blank.
Tamara Hot
The mother begins to command her sons: “Don’t talk to anyone! Get a cab!" The older brothers unsuccessfully try to break open the armored door of the pilots with a folding ladder. Meanwhile, amateur attack aircraft - simple police patrols with no experience in dealing with hostage situations - penetrate through the observation windows and hatches into the front and rear of the aircraft and, shielding themselves with shields, open indiscriminate fire, falling into innocent passengers. Realizing that there is no getting out of the trap, the mother resolutely orders to blow up the plane - to die for everyone and immediately, as agreed. But the bomb did not even hurt anyone, only caused a fire. Then the four older brothers take turns shooting from one sawn-off shotgun, before committing suicide, Vasily puts a bullet in his mother's head, again on her orders. All this is happening in front of the younger children, who, in horror and incomprehension of what is happening, cling to their 28-year-old sister Olga. 17-year-old Igor manages to hide in the toilet. Everything could have ended with the death of half the family of terrorists, but the assault squad aggravated the tragedy. Passengers who jumped out of the burning plane onto the concrete runway in panic were greeted with warning bursts of machine-gun fire and beaten indiscriminately with rifle butts and boots. A dozen and a half people were injured and maimed, some were disabled. Four hostages were wounded by a special group during a firefight in the cabin. Three more died, suffocating in the smoke. The plane burned down. The remains of the stewardess Tamara were identified only the next morning by a melted wrist watch.
Remains of a burned-out Tu-154, April 1988
The result of the tragedy
9 people died - Ninel Ovechkina, four eldest sons, a flight attendant and three passengers. 19 people were injured - 15 passengers, two Ovechkins, including the youngest 9-year-old Seryozha, and two riot police. Only six of the 11 Ovechkins who were on board survived - Olga and 5 of her underage brothers and sisters. Of the survivors, two went to court - Olga and 17-year-old Igor. The rest, by age, were not subject to criminal liability, they were transferred under the care of a married sister, Lyudmila, who was not involved in the capture. An open trial took place in Irkutsk that autumn. The hall was crowded, there were not enough seats. Passengers and crew were witnesses. Both defendants, testifying, stated that they "somehow did not think" about the passengers when they planned to blow up the plane. Olga admitted her guilt in part and asked for leniency.
Olga in court. She was 7 months pregnant at the time.
Igor sometimes recognized partially, then completely denied and asked to be forgiven and not be deprived of his freedom.
Moreover, at the trial, Igor, whom his mother described in his diary as “too self-confident and roguish,” tried to put all the blame for what happened on the former head of the ensemble, the Irkutsk musician-teacher Vladimir Romanenko, thanks to whom the Simeons got to jazz festivals. Like, it was he who inspired the older brothers with the idea that there is no jazz in the USSR and that recognition can only be achieved abroad. However, the teenager could not stand the confrontation with the teacher and admitted that he had slandered him.
Vladimir Romanenko is rehearsing with his brothers. Igor is at the piano. 1986
The court received bags of letters from Soviet citizens who were eager for a show of punishment. “Shoot with the performance shown on TV,” writes a veteran Afghan. “Tie them to the tops of birches and tear them apart,” a woman teacher calls (!). “Shoot so that they know what the Motherland is,” advises the party secretary on behalf of the assembly. The humane Soviet court of the era of perestroika and glasnost decided otherwise: 8 years in prison for Igor, 6 years for Olga. In reality, they served 4 years. Olga gave birth to a daughter in the colony, she was also given to Lyudmila.
Olga with a child in prison
The further fate of the Ovechkins
The last time journalists asked about them was in 2013, on the 25th anniversary of the tragedy. Here's what was known at the time. Olga traded fish in the market, gradually became an inveterate drunkard. In 2004, she was beaten to death by a drunk cohabitant during a domestic quarrel. Igor played the piano in restaurants in Irkutsk and drank himself. In 1999, a journalist from MK talked to him - then he was indignant at the fresh film Mom with Mordyukova, Menshikov and Mashkov, based on the story of the Ovechkins, and threatened to sue director Denis Evstigneev. He eventually received a second sentence for selling drugs and was killed by a cellmate.
Igor Ovechkin
Sergey, together with Igor, played in restaurants and helped with the housework older sister Lyudmila. Then he went missing.
Igor and Serezha at a rehearsal in 1986.
9-year-old Seryozha is a witness in court, autumn 1988.
Ulyana, who at the time of the hijacking was 10 years old, gave birth to a child at 16, went down and drank herself. She thinks that flight ruined her life. Because of drunken quarrels with her husband, she twice threw herself under a car. Receives a disability pension.
Frame from documentary program 2013
Tatyana, who was 14 in 1988, lives near Irkutsk with her husband and child. She managed to establish a life more or less safely.
Shot from a 2006 shoot
And, finally, Mikhail, the most talented of all, who played the trombone, according to the teacher, “like a real black man,” is the only one of the Ovechkins who managed to escape abroad. In Spain, he performed in street jazz bands, lived on alms. He later suffered a stroke and ended up in a wheelchair. As of 2013, lived in rehabilitation center in Barcelona and ... dreamed of returning to Irkutsk.
One thing is clear as the years go by. Whether from pride, lack of intelligence, or lack of information, the Ovechkins sincerely believed that they would be welcomed abroad with open arms, and not considered dangerous terrorists who had taken innocent people hostage. The “Simeons” were dazzled by the reception in Japan – full houses, applause, promises of fame and fortune from local journalists and producers… They didn’t realize that they aroused the interest of foreigners more like circus monkeys, a funny souvenir from a closed country with its Siberia and “gulags” than like musicians. As one Irkutsk publication concluded, “these were simple, rude people with simple, rude dreams - to live like a human being. This is what killed them."
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