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Today is a tragic date in Russian history: the 19th anniversary mass destruction White House defenders
Tonight, three streets in the center of Moscow adjacent to the White House will be closed to vehicle traffic. And there will probably be drivers who will be, literally speaking, very unhappy with this. Again, they say, they are holding a rally - it would be better if they got down to something...
But the reason for the mass “festival” (by the way, very modest in size: the authorities allowed two public events with a maximum number of 1,000 and 300 people, respectively) is still special. After all, these rallies are timed to coincide with the 19th anniversary of the events that took place in Moscow in September-October 1993. Events that, without any exaggeration, determined the entire further move Russian history.
Meanwhile, these events remain one of the least studied pages of our history. Television and the central press annually limit themselves to reading official information and brief news stories. Most of the documents that could shed light on what really happened are still classified. Moreover, many of the documents appear to have already been destroyed. And after 19 years, we don’t even know how many lives of our fellow tribesmen were claimed by that “Black October”.
True, relatively recently (on the 16th anniversary of those tragic events), historian Valery Shevchenko prepared, in fact, the first study that systematized scattered media publications of those years and eyewitness accounts. And the picture that appeared in the end, as they say, makes your hair stand on end. Full text Those interested can find his work “Forgotten Victims of October 1993” on the Internet. We will reproduce only some excerpts.
“September 21 - October 5, 1993,” writes the historian, “the tragic events of modern Russian history took place: the dissolution of the Congress by presidential decree No. 1400 people's deputies And Supreme Council Russia, in violation of the Constitution in force at that time, had an almost two-week confrontation that ended with mass executions of defenders of the Supreme Council on October 3-5 at the television center in Ostankino and in the White House area. More than 15 years have passed since then memorable days, but still remains unanswered main question- How many human lives carried away by the October tragedy.
The official list of the dead, announced by the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia, includes 147 people: in Ostankino - 45 civilians and 1 military personnel, in the "White House area" - 77 civilians and 24 military personnel of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs...
The list, compiled based on materials from parliamentary hearings in the State Duma of Russia on October 31, 1995, includes 160 names. Of the 160 people, 45 were killed in the area of the Ostankino television center, 75 in the White House area, 12 were “citizens who died in other areas of Moscow and the Moscow region,” 28 were killed military personnel and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Moreover, the 12 “citizens who died in other areas of Moscow and the Moscow region” included Pavel Vladimirovich Alferov with the indication “burnt down on the 13th floor of the House of Soviets” and Vasily Anatolyevich Tarasov, according to statements from relatives, who participated in the defense of the Supreme Council and went missing.
But in the list published in the collection of documents of the State Duma Commission for additional study and analysis of the events that took place in Moscow from September 21 to October 5, 1993, which worked from May 28, 1998 to December 1999, the names of only 158 victims are named. P.V. was deleted from the list. Alferov and V.A. Tarasova. Meanwhile, the commission’s conclusion stated: “According to a rough estimate, in the events of September 21 - October 5, 1993, about 200 people were killed or died from their injuries.”
The published lists, even when examined superficially, raise a number of questions. Of the 122 civilians officially recognized as dead, only 17 are residents of other regions of Russia and neighboring countries, the rest, not counting several dead citizens from far abroad, are residents of the Moscow region. It is known that many out-of-towners came to defend the parliament, including from rallies at which lists of volunteers were drawn up. But loners prevailed, some of them came to Moscow secretly...
Many Muscovites and residents of the Moscow region, who remained near the parliament building behind barbed wire during the days of the blockade, went home to spend the night after it was broken on October 3. Out-of-towners had nowhere to go. Parliament defender Vladimir Glinsky recalls: “In my detachment that held the barricade on the Kalininsky Bridge near the city hall, there were only 30 percent Muscovites. And by the morning of October 4, there were even fewer of them left, because many had gone home to spend the night.” In addition, with the breakthrough, other visitors joined the defenders of the House of Soviets. Deputy of the Supreme Council, surgeon N.G. Grigoriev recorded the arrival of a civil column, consisting mainly of middle-aged men, at the parliament building at 22:15 on October 3...
In order to establish the true number of those killed in the House of Soviets, continues Valery Shevchenko, it is necessary to know how many people were there during its assault on October 4, 1993. Some researchers claim that there were a maximum of 2,500 people in the parliament building at that time. But while it is still possible to determine a relatively accurate number of people who were in and around the White House before the blockade was broken, difficulties arise in relation to October 4th.
Svetlana Timofeevna Sinyavskaya was involved in the distribution of food coupons for people who were in the defense ring of the House of Soviets. Svetlana Timofeevna testifies that before the blockade was broken, coupons were issued for 4,362 people. However, the defender of parliament from the 11th detachment, which consisted of 25 people, told the author of these lines that their detachment did not receive coupons.
To the question of how many people were in and around the White House in the early morning of October 4, only an approximate answer can be given. As a parliamentary defender who came from Tyumen testifies, on the night of October 3-4, many people, more than a thousand, slept in the basement of the House of Soviets. According to P.Yu. Bobryashov, no more than a thousand people remained in the square, mostly around fires and tents. According to ecologist M.R. approximately 1,500 people were scattered in small groups around the area in front of the White House."
Thus, the following picture emerges: there were about 5,000 people inside the White House on the night of October 4, 1993, and another 1,000-1,500 on the street around the Supreme Council building. And so the “valiant” government troops (the order was given by the then Minister of Defense Pavel Grachev) began storming the building and firing at it from tank guns. Here is what Valery Shevchenko writes further:
“When the shelling of the square began, many people fleeing the massive fire of armored personnel carriers took refuge in the basement shelter of a two-story building located not far from the House of Soviets. According to military journalist I.V. Varfolomeev, up to 1,500 people crammed into the bunker. Marina Nikolaevna Rostovskaya also names the same number of people gathered in the bunker. Then they walked along an underground passage to the parliament building. Many people were taken to different floors. According to Moscow businessman Andrei (name changed), some of the women and children taken from the dungeon were taken to the fourth floor of the House of Soviets. “They began to take us up the stairs, to the third, fourth, fifth floors and into the corridors,” recalled Alexander Strakhov. Another eyewitness testifies that 800 people who came out of the basement were captured in the hall of the 20th entrance to the paratroopers of the 119th Naro-Fominsk regiment and at about 14:30 they were “released.” A group of about 300 people, whom the paratroopers sent to the basement when the shelling intensified, left the parliament building at 15:00.
Deputies, staff members, journalists and many unarmed defenders of parliament gathered in the hall of the Council of Nationalities. From time to time there were proposals to remove women, children, and journalists from the building. The list of journalists to be removed from the House of Soviets consisted of 103 names. There were about 2,000 deputies, staff members, and civilians (including refugees who found themselves in the hall).
It remains unclear how many people were on the upper (above the seventh) floors of the White House during the assault. It should be noted that in the first hours of the assault, people feared, first of all, capture lower floors special forces. In addition, some of them survived the attack by armored personnel carriers. Many, when intense shelling began, went to the upper floors, “because it seemed that it was safer there.” This is evidenced by Captain 3rd Rank Sergei Mozgovoy and Professor of the Russian State Trade and Economic University Marat Mazitovich Musin (published under the pseudonym Ivan Ivanov). But it was on the upper floors that tanks fired, which significantly reduced the chance of survival for the people there...
Throughout the day, despite the ongoing shelling, people broke into the parliament building. “And already, when there was no hope,” recalled deputy V.I. Kotelnikov, - 200 people broke through to us: men, women, girls, teenagers, actually children, eighth-tenth grade schoolchildren, several Suvorov officers. As they ran, they were shot in the back. The dead fell, leaving bloody footprints on the asphalt, but the living continued to run.”
Thus, Shevchenko concludes, many hundreds of mostly unarmed people found themselves in the House of Soviets and in the immediate vicinity of it on October 4, 1993. And starting at approximately 6:40 am, their mass destruction began.
The first casualties near parliament appeared when the symbolic barricades of the defenders were broken through by armored personnel carriers, opening fire to kill. Galina N. testifies: “At 6:45 a.m. on October 4 we were alerted. We ran out into the street, sleepy, and immediately came under machine-gun fire... Then we lay on the ground for several hours, and armored personnel carriers were firing ten meters away from us... There were about three hundred of us. Few survived. And then we ran to the fourth entrance... I saw on the street that those who were moving on the ground were being shot.”
“Before our eyes, armored personnel carriers shot unarmed old women and young people who were in and near the tents,” recalled Lieutenant V.P. Shubochkin. - We saw how a group of orderlies ran to the wounded colonel, but two of them were killed. A few minutes later the sniper finished off the colonel too.” Deputy R.S. Mukhamadiev saw women in white coats running out of the parliament building. They held white scarves in their hands. But as soon as they bent down to help the man lying in the blood, they were cut off by bullets from a heavy machine gun.
Journalist Irina Taneyeva, not yet fully realizing that the assault was beginning, observed the following from the window of the House of Soviets: “People were running into a bus standing opposite that had been abandoned by riot police the day before, climbing inside, hiding from the bullets. Three infantry fighting vehicles drove at the bus from three sides at breakneck speed and shot it. The bus lit up with a candle. People tried to get out of there and immediately fell dead, struck by dense BMD fire. Blood. The nearby Zhiguli cars, packed with people, were also shot and burned. Everyone died."
The shooting also took place from the direction of Druzhinnikovskaya Street. People's Deputy of Russia A.M. remembers Leontyev: “On the alley opposite the White House there were 6 armored personnel carriers, and between them and the White House behind barbed wire... lay Cossacks from the Kuban - about 100 people. They were not armed. They were simply in Cossack uniforms... Out of hundreds of Cossacks, no more than 5-6 people reached the entrances, and the rest all died.”
According to a minimum estimate, several dozen people became victims of the armored vehicle attack. According to Evgeniy O., there were many killed in the square from those who came to the barricades or lived in tents near the building of the Supreme Council. Among them were young women. One lay with her face completely covered in bloody wounds...
In the parliament building itself, the death toll increased several times with every hour of the assault. Deputy from Chuvashia, surgeon N.G. Grigoriev at 7:45 am on October 4 went down to the first floor into the hall of the 20th entrance. “I noticed,” he recalls, “that on the floor of the hall (and the hall was the largest in the House of Soviets) lay in rows of more than fifty wounded, possibly killed, since the first two and a half rows of lying people were covered over the head."
After a few hours of the assault, the number of dead increased noticeably. In the transition from the 20th to the 8th entrance, more than 20 dead were piled up. According to Moscow businessman Andrei (name changed), in their sector alone there were about a hundred killed and seriously wounded.
“I left the reception area on the third floor and began to go down to the first floor,” testifies a person from A.V.’s entourage. Rutskogo. - On the first floor there is a terrible picture. All on the floor, side by side - dead... There were mountains of them piled up. Women, old people, two murdered doctors in white coats. And the blood on the floor is half a glass high: it has nowhere to drain”...
According to the artist Anatoly Leonidovich Nabatov, in the hall of the 8th entrance, from 100 to 200 corpses were stacked. Anatoly Leonidovich climbed to the 16th floor, saw corpses in the corridors, brains on the walls. On the 16th floor, he noticed a journalist using a radio to coordinate fire on the building, reporting a crowd of people. Anatoly Leonidovich handed him over to the Cossacks.
After the events, the President of Kalmykia K.N. Ilyumzhinov said in an interview: “I saw that in the White House there were not 50 or 70 killed, but hundreds. At first they tried to collect them in one place, then they abandoned this idea: it was dangerous once again move. Most of them were random people - without weapons. By the time we arrived, there were more than 500 dead. By the end of the day, I think that number grew to a thousand.” R.S. Mukhamadiev, at the height of the assault, heard from his deputy colleague, professional doctor, elected from the Murmansk region, the following: “Already five offices are filled with the dead. And the wounded are countless. More than a hundred people lie in blood. But we have nothing. There are no bandages, not even iodine...” The President of Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, told Stanislav Govorukhin on the evening of October 4 that under his watch, 127 corpses were taken out of the White House, but many still remained in the building.
The number of dead was significantly increased by the shelling of the House of Soviets by tank shells. You can hear from the direct organizers and leaders of the shelling that they fired at the building with harmless blanks. For example, former Russian Defense Minister P.S. Grachev stated the following: “We fired six blanks from one tank at the White House at one pre-selected window in order to force the conspirators to leave the building. We knew there was no one outside the window."
However, statements of this kind are completely refuted by witness testimony. As correspondents of the Moscow News newspaper reported, at about 11:30 am the shells, apparently of cumulative action, pierced The White house right through: from the opposite side of the building, simultaneously with a shell hit, 5-10 windows and thousands of sheets of stationery fly out.
Here are some testimonies from eyewitnesses of the deaths of people in the parliament building as a result of shells hitting it. This is what, for example, deputy V.I. said in an interview with the newspaper “Omsk Time” (1993, No. 40). Kotelnikov: “At first, when I ran through the building on some mission, the amount of blood, corpses, and torn bodies was terrifying. Severed arms, heads. A shell hits, part of the person here, part of the person there... And then you get used to it. You have a task, you need to complete it.” “When we were fired upon by tanks,” recalled another eyewitness, “I was on the sixth floor. There were many civilians here. We didn't have any weapons. I thought that after the shelling the soldiers would burst into the building, and decided that I needed to find a pistol or a machine gun. He opened the door to the room where a shell had recently exploded. I couldn't get in. There was a bloody mess there." Former police officer Ya., who went over to the side of parliament, saw how shells in the offices of the House of Soviets “literally tore people apart.” There were many casualties in the second entrance of the White House (one of the tank shells hit the ground floor)…
In addition to the shelling of the parliament building from tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, machine gun and sniper fire, which lasted all day, both the direct defenders of parliament and citizens who accidentally found themselves in the combat zone were shot in the White House and around it. Doctor Nikolai Burns provided assistance to the wounded in the “medical battalion” not far from the city hall (“book”). Before his eyes, a riot policeman shot two boys 12-13 years old.
According to one of the defense officers, who moved with other people from the bunker to the basement of the White House on the morning of October 4, “young guys and girls were grabbed and taken around the corner into one of the niches,” then “short bursts of machine gun fire were heard from there.” ON THE. Bryuzgina, who helped the wounded in the makeshift “hospital” on the first floor in the 20th entrance, subsequently told O.A. Lebedev that when the soldiers burst in and began dragging the wounded into the corridor, muffled sounds began to be heard from there. Nadezhda Aleksandrovna, opening the toilet door, saw that the entire floor was covered in blood. There were also piles of corpses of people who had just been shot. Engineer N. Misin on the morning of October 4 took refuge from the shooting along with other unarmed people in the basement of the House of Soviets. When the first floor of the 20th entrance was captured by the military, people were taken out of the basement and placed in the lobby. The wounded were taken on stretchers to the guard room on duty. After some time, Misin was released to the toilet, where he saw the following picture: “There, neatly, in a stack, lay corpses in civilian clothes.” I looked closer: on top - those whom we carried out of the basement. There was ankle-deep blood... An hour later they began to carry out the corpses”...
Captain 1st Rank V.K. testifies. Kashintsev: “At about 2:30 p.m., a guy from the third floor made his way to us, covered in blood, and squeezed out through sobs: “They are opening the rooms down there with grenades and shooting everyone. He survived because he was unconscious, apparently they took him for dead.” One can only guess about the fate of most of the wounded left in the White House...
Many people were shot or beaten to death after they left the White House. People who came out to “surrender” on the afternoon of October 4 from the 20th entrance witnessed how stormtroopers finished off the wounded. On the deputy Yu.K. walking behind. The riot police attacked Chapkovsky, a young man in camouflage, began to beat him, trample him, and then shot him.
They tried to drive those who came out from the embankment through the courtyard and entrances of the house along Glubokoye Lane. “In the entrance where they pushed us,” recalls I.V. Savelyev, - it was full of people. WITH upper floors there were screams. They searched everyone, tore off their jackets and coats - they were looking for military personnel and policemen (those who were on the side of the defenders of the House of Soviets), they were immediately taken away somewhere... In our presence, a policeman - the defender of the House of Soviets - was wounded by a shot. Over the riot police radio, someone shouted: “Don’t shoot in the entrances! Who will clean up the corpses?!” The shooting did not stop on the street.” Another eyewitness testifies: “We were searched and moved to the next entrance. Riot police stood in two rows and tortured us... In the darkened corridor below, I saw half-naked people with bruises. Swearing, screams of those being beaten, fumes. The crunch of broken bones can be heard.” Police Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Vladimirovich Rutskoi saw three people stripped to the waist pulled out of the entrance and immediately shot at the wall. He also heard the screams of a woman being raped.
The riot police were especially fierce in one of the entrances of this house. An eyewitness who miraculously survived: “They led me into the front door. There is light, and on the floor there are corpses, naked to the waist. For some reason, naked and for some reason up to the waist.” As established by Yu.P. Vlasov, everyone who got into the first entrance was killed after torture, the women were stripped naked and raped en masse, after which they were shot. A group of 60-70 civilians who left the White House after 19:00 were led by riot police along the embankment to Nikolaev Street and, taken into the courtyards, were brutally beaten, and then finished off with machine gun fire. Four managed to run into the entrance of one of the houses, where they hid for about a day.
And again excerpts from the story of V.I. Kotelnikova: “They ran into the courtyard, a huge old courtyard, square. There were about 15 people in my group... When we reached the last entrance, there were only three of us left... We ran to the attic - the doors there, fortunately for us, had been broken open. We fell among the rubbish behind some pipe and froze... We decided to lie down. Announced curfew, everything was cordoned off by riot police, and we were practically in their camp. There was shooting there all night. When it was already dawn, from half past six to half past eight we were putting ourselves in order... We began to slowly descend. When I opened the door a crack, I almost lost consciousness. The entire yard was littered with corpses, not very often, sort of in a checkerboard pattern. The corpses are all in some unusual positions: some are sitting, some are on their sides, some have a leg, some have a raised arm, and all are blue and yellow. I think, what is unusual in this picture? And they are all undressed, all naked.”
On the morning of October 5, local residents saw many people killed in their yards. A few days after the events, Vladimir Koval, a correspondent for the Italian newspaper L` Unione Sarda, examined these entrances. I found knocked out teeth and strands of hair, although, as he writes, “they seemed to have cleaned it up, even sprinkled sand here and there.”
A tragic fate befell many of those who came out of the Asmaral (Red Presnya) stadium on the evening of October 4, located at the rear of the House of Soviets. On October 6, the media reported that, according to preliminary estimates, about 1,200 people were detained during the “voluntary surrender” during the final phase of the storming of the White House, of which about 600 were at the Krasnaya Presnya stadium. It was reported that curfew violators were also detained among the latter.
The shootings at the stadium began in the early evening of October 4. According to residents of the houses adjacent to it, who saw how the detainees were shot, “this bloody orgy continued all night.” The first group was driven to the concrete fence of the stadium by machine gunners in spotted camouflage. An armored personnel carrier drove up and tore apart the prisoners with machine-gun fire. There, at dusk, the second group was shot...
Alexander Aleksandrovich Lapin, who spent three days, from the evening of October 4 to October 7, at the stadium “on death row” testifies: “After the House of Soviets fell, its defenders were taken to the wall of the stadium. Those who were in Cossack uniform, police uniform, camouflage uniform, military uniform, or who had any party documents were separated. Who had nothing like me... leaned against tall tree... And we saw how our comrades were shot in the back... Then they drove us into the locker room... We were held for three days. No food, no water, most importantly - no tobacco. Twenty people...
Yu.E. Petukhov, the father of Natasha Petukhova, who was shot on the night of October 3-4 in Ostankino, testifies: “Early in the morning of October 5, still dark, I drove up to the burning White House from the park... I approached the cordon of very young tank guys with a photograph of my Natasha, and they told me that there were many corpses at the stadium, there were also in the building and in the basement of the White House... I returned to the stadium and entered it from the side of the monument to the victims of 1905. There were a lot of people shot at the stadium. Some of them were without shoes and belts, some were crushed. I was looking for my daughter and walked around all the shot and tortured heroes."
When the House of Soviets had not yet burned down, continues Valery Shevchenko, the authorities had already begun to falsify the number of deaths in the October tragedy. Late in the evening of October 4, 1993, an information message was broadcast in the media: “Europe hopes that the number of victims will be kept to a minimum.” The Kremlin heard the West's recommendation.
Early in the morning of October 5, 1993, the head of the presidential administration S.A. Filatov received a call from B.N. Yeltsin. The following conversation took place between them:
Sergei Alexandrovich... for your information, during all the days of the rebellion, 146 people died.
It’s good that you said it, Boris Nikolaevich, otherwise it felt like 700-1500 people died. It would be necessary to print lists of the dead.
Agree. Please arrange...
How many dead were delivered to Moscow morgues on October 3-4? In the first days after the October massacre, morgue and hospital staff refused to answer questions about the number of deaths, citing orders from the headquarters. “I spent two days calling dozens of Moscow hospitals and morgues, trying to find out,” Yu. Igonin testifies. - They answered openly: “We were forbidden to give out this information.”
Moscow doctors claimed that as of October 12, 179 corpses of victims of the October massacre had been processed through Moscow morgues. Press Secretary of GMUM I.F. On October 5, Nadezhdin, along with the official data on 108 dead, excluding the corpses still in the White House, named another figure - about 450 dead, which needed to be clarified.
However, a considerable part of the corpses that arrived at Moscow morgues soon disappeared from there. Doctor of the MMA Rescue Center named after. THEM. Sechenova A.V. Dalnov, who worked in the parliament building during the assault, stated some time after the events: “Traces are being covered as to the exact number of victims. All materials from 09.21 to 10.04.93 located in the CEMP are classified. Some medical histories of the wounded and dead are being rewritten, and the dates of admission to morgues and hospitals are being changed. Some of the victims, in agreement with the leadership of the State Medical University, are transported to morgues in other cities.” According to Dalnov, the number of deaths is underestimated at least by an order of magnitude. On October 9, I.F. contacted the coordinator of the medical team of the House of Soviets. Nadezhdin, offering to appear on television together with doctors from the Center for Emergency Medicine and State Medical University to reassure the public about the number of victims. Dalnov refused to participate in the falsification...
Starting from October 5 A.V. Dalnov and his colleagues toured hospitals and morgues of the ministries of defense, internal affairs and state security. They managed to find out that the corpses of the victims of the October tragedy that were there were not included in the official reports.
The same was stated in the report of the Commission of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation for additional study and analysis of the events that took place in Moscow on September 21 - October 5, 1993: “The secret removal and burial of the corpses of those killed in the events of September 21 - October 5, 1993, about which has been repeatedly reported in some print publications and media mass media, if they did take place, they were carried out... perhaps through morgues in other cities, some departmental morgues or some other structures associated with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation"...
But in the building itself former parliament There were many corpses left that did not even make it to the morgues. The doctors of Yu. Kholkin’s brigade testify: “We went through the entire database up to the 7th (“basement”) floor... But the military didn’t let us go above the 7th, citing the fact that everything was on fire there and you could simply get poisoned by gases, although from there shots and screams were heard."
According to L.G. Proshkin, investigators from the Prosecutor General’s Office were allowed into the building only on October 6. Before that, according to him, internal troops and the Leningrad riot police were in charge there for several days. But in a personal conversation with I.I. Andronov Proshkin said that investigators were allowed into the building later than in the evening of October 6, that is, only in the morning of October 7.
IN investigative case No. 18/123669-93, which led General Prosecutor's Office, it is indicated that no bodies of the dead were found in the White House itself. Prosecutor General V.G. Stepankov, who visited the building of the former parliament the day after the assault, stated: “The most difficult thing in the investigation of this case is the fact that on October 5 we did not find a single corpse in the White House. No one. Therefore, the investigation is deprived of the opportunity to in full to establish the causes of death of each of those people who were taken from the building before us.” A.I. Kazannik, who was appointed to replace Stepankov as prosecutor general, also visited the building of the former parliament, saw the destruction, and noticed blood stains. According to his visual assessment, the picture inside the White House did not correspond to the rumors “of many thousands of victims”...
Home also conducted its investigation military prosecutor's office. Moscow City Prosecutor G.S. Ponomarev, leaving the House of Soviets, said that the number of those killed there was in the hundreds.
How many people died during the storming of the House of Soviets, were shot at the stadium and in the courtyards, and how were their bodies taken out? On the first day, various sources cited figures from 200 to 600 killed during the assault. By preliminary estimates According to experts from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there could be up to 300 corpses in the parliament building. “In those nooks and crannies of the White House that I visited,” one serviceman claimed, “I counted 300 corpses.” Another serviceman heard “some military people talking about how there were 415 dead bodies in the White House.”
A correspondent of Nezavisimaya Gazeta learned from a confidential source that the number of victims inside the House of Soviets amounted to hundreds of people. About 400 corpses from the upper floors, which were shelled by tanks, disappeared under mysterious circumstances. According to an officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, after the end of the storming of the White House, approximately 474 bodies of the dead were found there (without examining all the premises and clearing away the rubble). Many of them had numerous shrapnel damage. There were corpses damaged by the fire. They are characterized by a “boxer” pose.
S.N. Baburin was given the number of deaths - 762 people. Another source called over 750 dead. Journalists from the newspaper “Arguments and Facts” found out that soldiers and officers of the internal troops spent several days collecting the “charred and torn apart by tank shells” remains of almost 800 of its defenders throughout the building. Among the dead, bodies were also found of those who had drowned in the flooded dungeons of the White House. According to information former deputy Supreme Council from Chelyabinsk region A.S. Baronenko, about 900 people died in the House of Soviets.
According to some reports, the punitive forces shot up to 160 people at the stadium. Moreover, until two o’clock in the morning on October 5, they shot in batches, having previously beaten their victims. Locals They saw that about 100 people were shot just near the pool. According to Baronenko, about 300 people were shot at the stadium...
How many human lives did the October tragedy claim? There is a list of the dead, in which 978 people are named (according to other sources - 981). Three various sources(in the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Defense, the Council of Ministers) told NEG correspondents about a certificate prepared only for senior officials of Russia. The certificate, signed by three security ministers, indicated the number of deaths - 948 people (according to other sources, 1052). According to informants, at first there was only a certificate from the MB sent to V.S. Chernomyrdin. This was followed by an order to make a consolidated document of all three ministries. The information was confirmed by former USSR President M.S. Gorbachev. “According to my information,” he said in an interview with NEG, “one Western television company purchased for a certain amount a certificate prepared for the government, indicating the number of victims. But it won’t be made public yet.”
Radio Liberty on October 7, 1993, when all the premises in the House of Soviets had not yet been inspected, reported the death of 1,032 people. Employees of institutions where hidden statistics were kept cited the figure as 1,600 dead. Internal statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs recorded 1,700 deaths. On the 15th anniversary of the shooting of parliament R.I. Khasbulatov, in an interview with MK journalist K. Novikov, said that a high-ranking police general swore and swore, citing the death toll as 1,500 people. At the same time, in an interview with the press service of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Khasbulatov said: “As many military and police officials told me - many said - that the total number of deaths was somewhere even more than 2,000 people.”
Today it can be said that at least 1,000 people died in the tragic events of September-October 1993 in Moscow. How many more victims there were can only be shown by a special investigation at a high state level,” concludes Valery Shevchenko. The authorities, however, have no intention of conducting such an investigation.
But just the other day, the head of the Kremlin administration, Sergei Ivanov, speaking on behalf of the highest Russian authorities at the World Russian People's Council, called for “restoring the continuity and continuity of Russian history, freeing it from myths and opportunistic assessments, integrating into the fabric of a single political fabric both outstanding victories and bitter defeats that throw the country back decades.”
So what prevents us from starting with the investigation of the events of bloody October 1993? The souls of our fallen brothers and sisters, who came to defend the legitimate, supreme power of Russia at that time - the Supreme Council, cry out for this. Here is the text of the Testament of the unsurrendered defenders of the House of Soviets that has accidentally reached us:
“Brothers, when you read these lines, we will no longer be alive. Our bodies, shot through, will burn out within these walls. We appeal to you who were lucky to come out of this bloody massacre alive.
We loved Russia. We wanted the order that God had determined for it to finally be restored on this earth. Its name is conciliarity; within it, every person has equal rights and responsibilities, and no one is allowed to break the law, no matter how high his rank.
Of course, we were naive simpletons, we were punished for our gullibility, we were shot and in the end betrayed. We were just pawns in someone's well-thought-out game. But our spirit is not broken. Yes, dying is scary. However, something supports, someone invisible says: “You cleanse your soul with blood, and now Satan will not get it. And, having died, you will be much stronger than the living.”
In our last minutes We appeal to you, citizens of Russia. Remember these days. Don't look away when our disfigured bodies are shown laughing on television. Remember everything and don’t fall into the same traps that we fell into.
Forgive us. We also forgive those who are sent to kill us. They are not to blame... But we do not forgive, we curse the demonic gang that has settled on Russia’s neck.
Don’t let the great Orthodox faith be trampled, don’t let Russia be trampled.
The October Putsch (shooting of the White House) is an internal political conflict in the Russian Federation in September-October 1993, which occurred as a result of the constitutional crisis in the country that arose after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The October putsch went down in history as one of the most violent and brutal coups d'etat in modern history. The riots that took place on the streets of Moscow with the participation of the armed forces claimed the lives of many people, and even more were injured. The October putsch is also known as the “White House shooting” because of the armed assault on the White House (where the government met) using tanks and heavy equipment.
Reasons for the coup. Confrontation of political forces
The October putsch was the result of a long crisis in power, which lasted since 1992 and was associated with the confrontation between the old government, which remained from the times of the USSR, and the new one. The new government was headed by President Boris Yeltsin (who seized power as a result of the August 1991 coup), who was a supporter of complete separation (later of the Russian Federation) from the USSR and the destruction of all remnants of the Soviet system of governance. Yeltsin was supported by the government headed by Chernomyrdin, some people's deputies and members of the Supreme Council. On the other side of the barricades were opponents of the political and economic reforms carried out by Yeltsin. This side was supported by the bulk of the members of the Supreme Council, led by Ruslan Khasbulatov, as well as Vice-President Alexander Rutskoy.
Yeltsin did not suit all members of the government. In addition, the reforms that Yeltsin carried out in the first years as president raised a lot of questions and, in the opinion of some, only aggravated the crisis that reigned in the country. The unresolved issue with the Constitution of the Russian Federation also complicated the situation. As a result, dissatisfaction with the actions of the new government grew to the point that a special council was convened, at which it was planned to resolve the issue of confidence in the president and the Supreme Council, since conflicts within the government only worsened the situation in the country.
The course of the October putsch
On September 21, Boris Yeltsin issued the famous “decree 1400,” which announced the decision to dissolve the Supreme Council and the Congress of People’s Deputies. However, this decision contradicted the Constitution in force at that time, so legally Boris Yeltsin was automatically removed from the post of President of the Russian Federation. Despite this, Yeltsin continued to serve as president, regardless of his legal status and the government's dissatisfaction.
On the same day, the Supreme Council met and, together with the Congress of People's Deputies, stated that the Constitution had been violated and declared Yeltsin's actions a coup d'etat. Yeltsin did not listen to these arguments and continued to pursue his policy.
On September 22, the Supreme Council continued its work. Yeltsin was replaced by Rutskoy, who reversed the decision former president on the dissolution of the Supreme Council. An emergency Congress of People's Deputies was convened, at which a decision was made on a number of dismissals of representatives of the “Yeltsin” cabinet of ministers. Amendments were adopted to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provided for criminal liability for a coup d'etat.
On September 23, the Supreme Council continued its meeting, and Yeltsin, despite his status, issued a decree on early presidential elections. On the same day, there was an attack on the building of the joint command of the CIS Armed Forces. The military began to get involved in the coup, and control began to tighten.
On September 24, the Deputy Minister of Defense presented an ultimatum to the members of the Supreme Council, according to which they must surrender all weapons, close the Congress and leave the building. Deputies were then prohibited from leaving the White House building (ostensibly for their safety).
From that moment on, the situation began to deteriorate. Both sides began to erect barricades, rallies and armed clashes continued on the streets of Moscow, but the Supreme Council continued its meetings, refusing to leave the building.
On October 1, under the patronage of Patriarch Alexei II, negotiations between the parties took place, as a result of which on October 2, the parties began to remove the barricades that had been put up. However, a little later, the Supreme Council announced its rejection of the agreement reached. The White House building was again cut off from electricity and began to be surrounded by barricades, and negotiations were postponed to October 3, but due to numerous rallies in the city, negotiations never took place.
On October 4, a tank assault on the White House took place, during which many deputies were killed and wounded.
Results and significance of the October Putsch
Assessments of the October coup are ambiguous. Some believe that Yeltsin’s government seized power by force and destroyed the Supreme Council, others say that Yeltsin was forced to take such measures due to ongoing conflicts. As a result of the coup d'etat in September-October 1993, the Russian Federation finally got rid of the legacy of the USSR, completely changed the system of government and finally turned into a presidential republic.
Dispersal of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation
(also known as " White House shooting», « Shooting of the House of Soviets», « October uprising of 1993», « Decree 1400», « October putsch», "Yeltsin's coup of 1993") - internal political conflict in the Russian Federation September 21 - October 4, 1993. Occurred as a result of the constitutional crisis that developed since 1992.
The result of the confrontation was the violent termination of the Soviet model of power in Russia that had existed since 1917, accompanied by armed clashes on the streets of Moscow and subsequent uncoordinated actions of troops, during which at least 157 people were killed and 384 were injured (of which 124 people were injured on October 3 and 4 , 348 wounded).
The crisis was the result of a confrontation between two political forces: on the one hand, the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin (see All-Russian referendum on April 25, 1993), the government headed by Viktor Chernomyrdin, some people's deputies and members of the Supreme Council - supporters of the president, and on the other hand - opponents of the socio-economic policy of the president and government: Vice-President Alexander Rutsky, the bulk of people's deputies and members of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation led by Ruslan Khasbulatov, the majority of which was the bloc " Russian unity”, which included representatives of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the “Fatherland” faction (radical communists, retired military officers and socialist-oriented deputies), the “Agrarian Union”, and the “Russia” deputy group, led by the initiator of the unification of communist and nationalist parties, Sergei Baburin.
The events began on September 21 with the issuance by President B.N. Yeltsin of Decree No. 1400 on the dissolution of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council, which violated the Constitution in force at that time. Immediately after the issuance of this decree, Yeltsin was de jure automatically removed from the post of president in accordance with Article 121.6 of the current constitution. The Presidium of the Supreme Council, which monitors compliance with the constitution, met on the same day and stated this legal fact. The Congress of People's Deputies confirmed this decision and assessed the president's actions as a coup d'etat. However, Boris Yeltsin de facto continued to exercise the powers of the President of Russia.
A significant role in the tragic outcome was played by the personal ambitions of the Chairman of the Supreme Council Ruslan Khasbulatov, expressed in his reluctance to enter into compromise agreements with the administration of Boris Yeltsin during the conflict, as well as by Boris Yeltsin himself, who, after signing Decree No. 1400, refused to talk directly with Khasbulatov, even by phone.
According to the conclusion of the State Duma commission, a significant role in the aggravation of the situation was played by the actions of Moscow police officers in dispersing rallies and demonstrations in support of the Supreme Council and detaining their active participants in the period from September 27 to October 2, 1993, which in some cases took the form of mass beatings of demonstrators using special means.
Since October 1, with the mediation of Patriarch Alexy II under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church, negotiations between the warring parties were held, at which it was proposed to develop a “zero option” - simultaneous re-election of the president and people’s deputies. The continuation of these negotiations, scheduled for 16:00 on October 3, did not take place due to the riots that began in Moscow, an armed attack by a group of defenders of the Supreme Council, led by Albert Makashov, who was conscripted and... O. President Alexander Rutsky to the city hall building and the departure of a group of armed supporters of the Supreme Council in stolen army trucks to the Ostankino television center.
Opinions about the position of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, headed by V.D. Zorkin, differ: according to the judges themselves and supporters of the Congress, it remained neutral; in the opinion of Yeltsin’s side, he participated on the side of the Congress.
The investigation of the events was not completed, the investigative team was dissolved after in February 1994 the State Duma decided to grant an amnesty for persons who participated in the events of September 21 - October 4, 1993, related to the publication of Decree No. 1400, and who opposed its implementation, regardless of the qualification of actions under the articles of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. As a result, society still does not have clear answers to a number of key issues about the tragic events that took place - in particular, about the role of political leaders who spoke on both sides, about the identity of the snipers who shot at civilians and police officers, the actions of provocateurs, about who is to blame for the tragic outcome.
There are only versions of participants and eyewitnesses of the events, the investigator of the disbanded investigative group, publicists and the commission of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, headed by the communist Tatyana Astrakhankina, who came to Moscow from Rzhev at the end of September 1993 to defend the House of Soviets, which party comrades, in particular Alexey Podberezkin, called "orthodox".
In accordance with the new Constitution, adopted by popular vote on December 12, 1993 and in force with some amendments to this day, the President of the Russian Federation received significantly broader powers than under the then-current Constitution of 1978 (as amended 1989-1992). The post of Vice President of the Russian Federation was abolished.
Bottom line
Victory of President Yeltsin, abolition of the post of vice-president, dissolution of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, termination of the activities of the Councils of People's Deputies. The establishment of a presidential republic as a form of government in Russia to replace the previously existing Soviet republic.
President of Russia
Council of Ministers of Russia
Administration of the President of Russia
Supporters of the President of the Russian Federation B. N. Yeltsin:
Democratic Russia
Living ring
August-91
Social-patriotic association of volunteers - defenders of the White House in August 1991 in support of democratic reforms “Detachment “Russia””
Democratic Union
Afghanistan Veterans Union
Taman division
Kantemirovskaya division
119th Guards Parachute Regiment
Separate special purpose motorized rifle division named after. Dzerzhinsky
1st special forces detachment of internal troops "Vityaz".
Congress of People's Deputies of Russia
Supreme Council of Russia
Vice President of Russia
Supporters of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation and the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation, including:
- National Salvation Front (NSF)
- « Russian national unity» ( RNE, named after the leader also " Barkashovites», « Guard Barkashov»)
- "Labor Russia" and others.
Commanders from Boris Yeltsin's side -
Boris Yeltsin
Victor Chernomyrdin
Yegor Gaidar
Pavel Grachev
Victor Erin
Valery Evnevich
Alexander Korzhakov
Anatoly Kulikov
Boris Polyakov
Sergey Lysyuk
Nikolay Golushko
White House Commanders (for Soviet power):
Alexander Rutskoy,
Ruslan Khasbulatov
Alexander Barkashov
Vladislav Achalov
Stanislav Terekhov
Albert Makashov
Victor Anpilov
Victor Barannikov
Andrey Dunaev
Citizens who died as a result of the storming of the House of Soviets and mass executions in the area of the House of Soviets on October 4-5, 1993
1. Abakhov Valentin Alekseevich
2. Abrashin Alexey Anatolyevich
3. Adamlyuk Oleg Yuzefovich
4. Alienkov Sergey Mikhailovich
5. Artamonov Dmitry Nikolaevich
6. Boyarsky Evgeniy Stanislavovich
7. Britov Vladimir Petrovich
8. Bronius Jurgelenis Junot
9. Bykov Vladimir Ivanovich
10. Valevich Viktor Ivanovich
11. Verevkin Roman Vladimirovich
12. Vinogradov Evgeniy Alexandrovich
13. Vorobiev Alexander Veniaminovich
14. Vylkov Vladimir Yurievich
15. Gulin Andrey Konstantinovich
16. Devonissky Alexey Viktorovich
17. Demidov Yuri Ivanovich
18. Deniskin Andrey Alekseevich
19. Denisov Roman Vladimirovich
20. Duz Sergey Vasilievich
21. Evdokimenko Valentin Ivanovich
22. Egovtsev Yuri Leonidovich
23. Ermakov Vladimir Alexandrovich
24. Zhilka Vladimir Vladimirovich
25. Ivanov Oleg Vladimirovich
26. Kalinin Konstantin Vladimirovich
27. Katkov Viktor Ivanovich
28. Klimov Yuri Petrovich
29. Klyuchnikov Leonid Aleksandrovich
30. Kovalev Viktor Alekseevich
31. Kozlov Dmitry Valerievich
32. Kudryashev Anatoly Mikhailovich
33. Kurgin Mikhail Alekseevich
34. Kurennoy Anatoly Nikolaevich
35. Kurysheva Marina Vladimirovna
36. Leibin Yuri Viktorovich
37. Livshits Igor Elizarovich
38. Manevich Anatoly Naumovich
39. Marchenko Dmitry Valerievich
40. Matyukhin Kirill Viktorovich
41. Morozov Anatoly Vasilievich
42. Mosharov Pavel Anatolyevich
43. Nelyubov Sergey Vladimirovich
44. Obukh Dmitry Valerievich
45. Pavlov Vladimir Anatolyevich
46. Panteleev Igor Vladimirovich
47. Papin Igor Vyacheslavovich
48. Parnyugin Sergey Ivanovich
49. Peskov Yuri Evgenievich
50. Pestryakov Dmitry Vadimovich
51. Pimenov Yuri Alexandrovich
52. Polstyanova Zinaida Aleksandrovna
53. Rudnev Anatoly Semenovich
54. Saigidova Patimat Gatinamagomedovna
55. Salib Assaf
56. Svyatozarov Valentin Stepanovich
57. Seleznev Gennady Anatolyevich
58. Sidelnikov Alexander Vasilievich
59. Smirnov Alexander Veniaminovich
60. Spiridonov Boris Viktorovich
61. Spitsin Andrey Yurievich
62. Sursky Anatoly Mikhailovich
63. Timofeev Alexander Lvovich
64. Fadeev Dmitry Ivanovich
65. Fimin Vasily Nikolaevich
66. Hanush Fadi
67. Khloponin Sergey Vladimirovich
68. Khusainov Malik Khaidarovich
69. Chelyshev Mikhail Mikhailovich
70. Chelyakov Nikolay Nikolaevich
71. Chernyshev Alexander Vladimirovich
72. Choporov Vasily Dmitrievich
73. Shalimov Yuri Viktorovich
74. Shevyrev Stanislav Vladimirovich
75. Yudin Gennady Valerievich
Citizens who died in other areas of Moscow and the Moscow region in connection with the coup d'etat of September 21 - October 5, 1993
1. Alferov Pavel Vladimirovich
2. Bondarenko Vyacheslav Anatolyevich
3. Vorobyova Elena Nikolaevna
4. Drobyshev Vladimir Andronovich
5. Dukhanin Oleg Alexandrovich
6. Kozlov Alexander Vladimirovich
7. Malysheva Vera Nikolaevna
9. Novokas Sergey Nikolaevich
10. Ostapenko Igor Viktorovich
11. Solokha Alexander Fedorovich
12. Tarasov Vasily Anatolyevich
Military personnel and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who died while performing tasks to support the coup
1. Alekseev Vladimir Semenovich
2. Baldin Nikolai Ivanovich
3. Boyko Alexander Ivanovich
4. Gritsyuk Sergey Anatolievich
5. Drozdov Mikhail Mikhailovich
6. Korovushkin Roman Sergeevich
7. Anatoly Anatolyevich Korochensky
8. Korshunov Sergey Ivanovich
9. Krasnikov Konstantin Kirillovich
10. Lobov Yuri Vladimirovich
11. Mavrin Alexander Ivanovich
12. Milchakov Alexander Nikolaevich
13. Mikhailov Alexander Valerievich
14. Pankov Alexander Egorovich
15. Panov Vladislav Viktorovich
16. Petrov Oleg Mikhailovich
17. Reshtuk Vladimir Grigorievich
18. Romanov Alexey Alexandrovich
19. Ruban Alexander Vladimirovich
20. Savchenko Alexander Romanovich
21. Sviridenko Valentin Vladimirovich
22. Sergeev Gennady Nikolaevich
23. Sitnikov Nikolay Yurievich
24. Smirnov Sergey Olegovich
25. Fareluk Anton Mikhailovich
26. Khikhin Sergey Anatolyevich
27. Shevarutin Alexander Nikolaevich
28. Shishaev Ivan Dmitrievich
