Trophy footage (of very poor quality) of the shooting of a convoy of 245 SMEs in Chechnya on April 16, 1996. 4 parts in total
At about 14.00 we set off. At 14.10 Chishki passed and before the entrance to the gorge they pulled the locks. Arkasha says: "Look, some women and children." And just yesterday, the guys from the 324th regiment told me: "If there are men, women and children on the road, everything is fine. If only women are crazy, there will be an ambush soon."
The column stretched out in "mother-in-law" (this is a serpentine). On it, the pouches barely unfolded, and the MAZs, which were pulling the faulty equipment, do not know how they went. Everything is quiet, calm. Let's go, we poison jokes. We passed the Yaryshmards, the head of the column had already gone around the turn, the nalivniki passed the bridge over the dry riverbed. And then - an explosion in front, we look - because of the hillock, the tank turret was thrown, the second explosion was also somewhere in the head of the column, and the third just banged between the one in front and our nalivnik. The explosion tore off the hood, knocked out the windows. That was the first time I was concussed. Arkasha had already got out of the car, and I got confused in two door handles - well, I just went crazy. Finally fell out of the cockpit. The fire is very dense, but I already started to think and ran about 15 meters from the liqueur, despite the fire of the spirits. I found some kind of recess in the side of the road, shoved my butt there. Nearby, a conscript lay down. The first shock has passed - I can see how things are going. And things are not important. The crimps stood on the road. The guys from the platoon of nalivniki are firing back in all directions as they can, where the spirits are, is not yet clear. Arkasha soaks into the white light from under the wheel of his liqueur.
Then the grenade as it flies past me into the bottle that was walking behind us. The filler is on fire. I estimate that if it explodes now, we will all be very hot. I'm trying to figure out where this thing came from. I looked like someone was swarming about 170 meters away from us. I looked into the sight, and the "dushara" is already preparing a new grenade ... I knocked him down from the first shot, I liked it myself. I start looking for the target in the scope. Another "odor" is sitting in the trench, pouring water from the machine. I fired, but I can't say with certainty whether I killed or not, because the bullet hit the upper edge of the parapet at chest level, behind which he was sitting. The spirit disappeared. Either I got him, or he decided not to tempt fate anymore. Again, I led the sight, I look, on the roll the spirit "on four bones" crawls up the hill. I just scared him with the first shot. He moved his limbs more actively, but did not have time to escape. The second shot, like a good kick in the ass, threw him over his head.
While I was firing on the spirits, Arkasha drove the burning liqueur and threw it off the road. I listened, like the machine gun was working. Something was set on fire from behind, and black smoke went in our direction along the gorge, because of it, not a fig is visible in the sight. Dmitry and I figured - that was the name of the conscript - that it was time for us to get out of here. We got together and rushed across the road, fell over the concrete blocks in front of the bridge. You can't raise your head, and the machine-gunner, meanwhile, is hammering on the filling, and not without success. He set them on fire. We are lying with Dima, and a river of burning kerosene, a meter and a half wide, flows past us towards the bridge. The heat is unbearable from the flame, but, as it turned out, this is not the worst thing. When the fiery river reached the "Ural" with charges for the self-propelled guns, all this stuff began to explode. I watched some things fly out of the car with rags. Dima explained that these were lighting shells. We lie down and count: Dima said that there were about 50 of them in the car. Meanwhile, the second Ural with high-explosive shells caught fire. It is good that he did not detonate entirely, shells were thrown to the sides by explosions.
I lie and think: "Damn, why is it that no one commands us?" As it turned out later, Khattab planned everything so competently that literally at the very beginning of the battle, all the controls, which were traveling in two command and staff vehicles, were mowed down by small arms fire, and the KSHM themselves remained intact throughout the battle.
Suddenly, in the second "Ural" with high-explosive ammunition something exploded so that the rear axle with one wheel with a candle went up 80 meters, and, according to our considerations, it should have flopped right on us. Well, we think we have sailed. However, he was lucky: he fell about ten meters away. Everything is in smoke, everything is exploding. Because of the smoke, nothing is visible through the scope. The shooting was indiscriminate, but the spirit machine gunner stood out against the general background. We decided to get out of this pitch-black hell, ran into the greenhouse. We distributed the firing sectors with Dima. I fire on the front, and he covers my rear and looks so that the spirits do not go from above. They crawled out to the edge, and the spirits from the RPG beat at the tank, which was at the tail of the column. Eight times they hit, but to no avail. Then, nevertheless, they pierced the tower from the side of the commander's hatch. Smoke poured out of it. Apparently, the crew was wounded, and the mechanic began to back up. So he went backwards through the entire column and, they say, reached the regiment.
An hour has passed since the start of the battle. The shooting began to subside. I say: "That's it, Dima, we are pulling at the end of the column!" We ran under the bridge, I saw there were some in "Afghans", about seven people, two corpses nearby. We run up. One of those sitting turns around. Oh my God! He has a black beard, a crooked nose and wild eyes. I throw up my rifle, press the trigger ... The others turn - ours. Okay, I didn't. The contractor turned out to be bearded. He sits, stunned without me, stutters, he can not say anything. I scream: "Uncle, I almost flunked you!" And he doesn't get it.
The BMP "lame" is crawling in our direction, collecting the wounded. She was hit by a torsion bar, and she stumbles around. They threw the wounded inside, drove onto the road - they burn out around the car, something breaks in them. The skirmish almost died down.
Let's go. Somewhere closer to Argun on the road, men shout: "Guys! We have wounded here. Help!" I jumped down to them, and the car went on. I go up to the guys. They say: "We have a major wounded." The major is sitting in camouflage, with the Marine Corps insignia on his sleeve. A through wound in the arm and chest. All pale from loss of blood. The only thing I had was a tourniquet. I pulled his hand. We talked, it turned out that he was the political officer of the battalion in the Pacific Fleet. At this time, one of the guys remembered that they were carrying beer, cigarettes, juice, etc. in the car. I covered the guys, and they ran and brought all this stuff. We lie down, drink beer, smoke. It's beginning to get dark. I think: "Now it will get dark, the spirits will descend, there is no help, and we are fucked!" We decided to choose a better position. We took a liking to a hillock, took it, we lay, we wait. The guys from the RMO show me the situation. The vehicles with ammunition were burnt from RPGs, and those with food were simply chopped off from small arms.
Either help will come ...
The artillery started working, very carefully, only along the slopes, and without touching either the settlement or us. Then four Mi-24s came and worked in the mountains. It got dark. We hear, from the side of the 324th regiment - a terrible roar. It turns out that help is rolling. Ahead of the T-72, behind it the BMP, then again the tank. Before reaching about 50 meters, he stops and points a gun at us. I think: "That's it! The spirits have not crashed - they will finish theirs out of fear!" We jump up, wave our hands - they say, ours. The tank shook its barrel, turned around and as it dashed into the greenhouse 20 meters away from itself. With this "help" people jumped up - crawling on the grass, watering them around them from automatic machines. We yell at them: "Guys, why are you crawling? There is no one here anymore." It turns out that it was the reconnaissance of the 324th regiment. I went up to the officers and said: "Why are you fighting here? You have to go to the head of the column!" And they told me: since you were here and even thinking, take ten people and move with them where you said yourself.
I walked around, found scouts, and we moved forward. I counted over forty burnt corpses. Judging by which cars remained intact, the spirits had clear information about what was where. For example, the medical MTLB generally remained intact, only the mechanics of small arms were filled up, and the Zushka behind it was literally turned into a sieve. Then we wondered why help came so late: if they came an hour and a half earlier, then in the head of the column someone would have survived, and so there until the last one BRDM resisted, in which almost everyone was killed.
As the guys from the 324th regiment told later, when they reported that they were wetting our column in the gorge and it would be nice to rush to help, they were told not to twitch and stood where they were. Help came to us two and a half hours later, when it was all over.
During the First chechen war a lot of dramatic events took place, as a result of which many Russian soldiers perished in an absurd and terrible death, suffered, were physically and spiritually mutilated. Analyzing the known facts and eyewitness accounts, as well as seeing the measures taken by the leaders of our country and the armed forces, it becomes very difficult to convince themselves that the main fault for what happened in those days does not lie with their conscience.
In the early spring of 1996, two major defeats occurred almost simultaneously russian troops... On March 31, in the Nozhai-Yurt district of Chechnya, near the village of Benoy, a convoy of paratroopers from the 104th division, marching towards the administrative center of Vedeno, was shot. There were many killed and even more wounded soldiers. It seemed that the army command would draw the appropriate conclusions…. But on April 16, the militants struck a new blow, which again turned out to be extremely successful for them. In the Grozny region of Chechnya, north of the village of Yarysh-Mardy, Shatoi bandits attacked a column of the 245th motorized rifle regiment. The battle, or rather the massacre, the massacre, lasted about four hours, until Khattab and Gelayev with their people freely left their positions. The results of the battle were filmed by the terrorists. It can still be found on the Internet today.
Moving away from the usual format of the article, let's try to convey the madness and chaos going on that day in the words of eyewitnesses ...
Marking Easter on April 14, another column on Shatoi was organized at the central base of the 245th motorized rifle regiment. She had to bring a young replenishment, as well as material and technical means for the needs of the military unit. On Monday, April 15th, the convoy reached Khankala without hindrance and stopped there for the night. On the same night, the approaching detachments of militants organized an ambush near the village of Yarysh-Mardy. For two kilometers along the route, they built more than twenty firing positions. Ammunition depots were prepared, mines were installed on the road. The number of Chechen separatists, according to various estimates, ranged from eighty to one hundred and sixty people.
On Tuesday morning, the federal forces moving out of Khankala carried out the prescribed measures for the movement of the convoy. A reconnaissance company looked after the Argun Gorge, and the gunners made contact with their brothers from the 324th regiment. After that, the column set off.
From the memoirs of the sniper Denis Bariulnik: “We had one sign - if we come across men, women and children on the road, then everything is in order. If only women, then wait for an ambush. So that day we came across some women and children. "
Having passed the settlement of Dachu-Borzoi, at around 2 pm local time, the column reached the village of Yarysh-Mardy, stretching out on a narrow mountain serpentine. The length of the column, as it turned out later, was almost one and a half kilometers. When the first shots sounded, its head disappeared behind the next bend in the road, and the back passed the bridge over the bed of the narrow Argun river.
Denis Barber: “We were driving, telling jokes. Everyone was calm. And then, somewhere in front of the column, there was an explosion. We saw a tank turret being thrown from behind a hill. Then a second explosion thundered. The third was already in front of our liqueur. (A cushion is a fuel truck. In a column, cakes have always been the main goal of militants. Driving a crankcase was considered one of the most heroic professions. The explosion tore off the hood and knocked out the glass. I was concussed and entangled in the door handles. When I managed to get out of the cab, I immediately ran about fifteen meters away, found some kind of hole in the side of the road and shoved my backside there. The fire was very dense. When the first shock passed, I began to observe how things were. "
It all began after a tank equipped with a trawl leading the convoy was blown up by a mine of enormous power, equipped with a remote control. Another land mine was later found at the tail of the column, but luckily it did not work. In general, seven unexploded land mines were found on the route from the attack site to Shatoi the next day. As soon as the tank was neutralized, the militants hiding on both sides of the gorge opened fire. Submachine gunners, machine gunners and snipers fired at the convoy. Grenades and mines flew at our soldiers. The tank in the rear of the column received several hits from a grenade launcher. But only after he was knocked out of the tower, he began to retreat, backing up. Thus, he managed to get out of the battle.
According to senior sergeant Igor Izotov: “I was in the third truck. When the head tank exploded, I instinctively ducked, and at this time a machine-gun burst pierced the windshield. Everyone quickly jumped out of our Ural, firing at random. I squeeze in between the rocks and the front BMP. This saved my life and some other guys. The rest were less fortunate. Our sniper was shot through both legs by a machine gun. He shouted, blocking the shooting, there was a sea of \u200b\u200bblood, tendons and bits of bone protruded from the wounds. We pulled him away, and all the time he tried to grab my hair, as if trying to linger in this world. Later he died. "
The bandits planned everything competently. The BMP and BRDM (armored reconnaissance and patrol vehicle) following the tank were shot at point-blank range from a rifle in the first minutes of the battle. The senior column, Major Terzovets, and the artillery spotter, Captain Vyatkin, were killed. Sniper shots cut the lives of an aviation spotter and a reconnaissance vehicle driver. The column in one moment was cut off from outside world, without the support of aviation and artillery. On the VHF range of the radio network, the Chechen militants set up an active interference, which completely deprived the fighters of communication with the command. From pre-prepared firing points located at a height on both sides of the road, the bandits with dagger fire destroyed the equipment and personnel of the regiment for several hours.
Returning to the story of the contract soldier Denis Tsiryulnik: “A grenade flew past me and hit the bottle that was driving behind us. The filler caught fire. I figured it would be very hot when it exploded. Gathered up and crossed the road, hiding behind concrete blocks near the bridge. That's how I lay and thought where the command had gone. And around the smoke, explosions, indiscriminate shooting. You can't see anything through the scope. Nearby flowed a one and a half meter river of burning kerosene. Its flame was unbearably hot. I saw how the charges for the self-propelled guns began to explode nearby in the Ural. Another "Ural" was burning behind it with high-explosive shells, which fortunately did not detonate entirely. Explosions scattered them in all directions. Suddenly, something exploded in the car, and the rear axle flew up eighty meters by a candle. "
The soldiers burned to death, not having time to get out of the machines fired by "Bumblebees" (disposable jet flamethrowers of domestic production).
The soldiers, riding on sacks of food, immediately became an excellent target for bandits. A large number of vehicles with fuel in the convoy also played into the hands of the enemy. Exploding, they destroyed all living things around them, burning fuel scattered everywhere. The shell-shocked soldiers trying to get out of the way were finished off by snipers. The militants destroyed trucks with ammunition from RPGs, and those carrying food were fired at from small arms.
From the story of senior warrant officer Sergei Cherchik: “I moved and immediately a bullet pierced my heel. The "Dukhovsky" sniper evidently realized that I was alive. I managed to crawl under the car, didn't abandon the machine gun, and dragged along behind me. And the sniper started shooting at the wheels so that the car settled down and crushed me. A shell from a grenade launcher exploded nearby, a shrapnel hit me in the thigh. I’m lying down, I can’t think of anything, and the bridge of the car will crush that and look. At the last moment, one contractor pulled me by the collar. The technique is all in flames, burning diesel fuel is dripping from above. The sniper takes out the soldier, interrupts his kneecap. In a moment, two of us were already being dragged by another conscript.
Lucky for those who, in the first minutes of the battle, managed to find dead zones, where Chechen fighters could not get. Many soldiers jumped from a high cliff near a dry river, fleeing enemy bullets. The next day, scouts, combing the gorge and exploring the banks of the Argun, found their bodies. Some tried to hide from the fire under the cars. But even there they got snipers. Where the Chechen separatists could not hit our soldiers directly, they ricocheted. One group of fighters escaped by hiding in a drainage pipe under the road, another was able to run and take a position in the foundation of a house under construction located nearby.
And again from the notes of Denis Barber: “When the smoke cleared, I started looking for targets. I saw in the scope how in one and a half hundred meters from us "dushara" was swarming. He took it off the first time. He shot another one nearby, but I'm not sure what he killed. The bullet hit the parapet, behind which he was hiding at chest level. But the "spirit" disappeared. He began to look through the scope again. On the roll one of them "on four bones" crawled uphill. First shot in the milk. He moved immediately faster, but did not have time to escape. The second, like a kick in the ass, threw him over his head. "
After the command of the 245th motorized rifle regiment learned about the attack on the convoy, an order was given ... not to do anything until instructions from above. Only at the beginning of the fourth (local time) did the order come to break through to the column. The first to advance were the soldiers of the reconnaissance company blocking the Argun Gorge. The scouts were few, and the militants met them near the Yarysh-Mardy settlement. Pinned down by dense fire, the guys were unable to approach the site of the main battle. An hour later, the leadership of the federal forces in the region made a new attempt to unblock the ambushed convoy. An armored group of Lieutenant Colonel Miroshnichenko, the former commander of the second motorized rifle battalion of the 245th regiment, was sent to her aid. It consisted of two tanks and three infantry fighting vehicles. Despite the fact that the armored group also came under fire, it managed to break through and reach the battlefield.
A word to Sergei Cherchik: “Again, the three of us are lying under the bottom of the car. Everyone ran out of cartridges, and my machine gun was broken - two bullets hit the bolt carrier. From the mountain they often shouted: "Surrender, Russians." While the smoke was going on and we were not visible, no one fired. The smoke passed - they started shooting again. The explosion from the grenade launcher, thank God, was not reached. No one then hoped that they would survive. I took a grenade, straightened the pin. I decided, if anything, I pull. If only not to be taken prisoner. And in my soul it crushes so much, such sorrow ... For what I suffer ... Suddenly such a powerful explosion. Everything in my head buzzed, my ears rang. It turned out that ammunition exploded in an infantry fighting vehicle burning nearby. A helmet rolled under our car. And there was silence. And then our turntables flew up! I saw two of them myself. First they went high, and then they came down and began to hit the mountains with rockets. And then the artillery from the 324th regiment joined in. "
At six o'clock in the evening, Miroshnichenko's armored group, firing at the adjacent heights from infantry fighting vehicles and tanks, approached the convoy. The personnel immediately began evacuating the wounded. Around the same time, an armored group from the 324th regiment approached, and with it a detachment of scouts, battered by militants. The sixth motorized rifle company drove up from the village of Goiskoye in five infantry fighting vehicles. But by this time the battle had already ended, and the detachments of the Chechen fighters fled.
Denis Barber: “I decided to get out of this hell, I ran into the greenhouse. Distributed with a friend of the sectors of fire. I fired at the front, and he covered the rear ... It was getting dark, but there was still no help. Now, I think, the "spirits" will descend and that's it, cranks. Here artillery started working, neatly along the slopes, without touching either the village or us. Then four Mi-24s flew in, fired at the mountains. It was already dark when from the direction of the 324th regiment we heard a terrible roar. Help rolled in. Ahead is a tank, followed by an infantry fighting vehicle, then a tank again. With this technique a lot of people jumped up - reconnaissance of the 324th. Together with them we moved to the head of the column. As I walked, I counted more than forty burnt bodies. After the first inspection of the damaged equipment, it turned out that the spirits had a clear picture of where and what we had. They did not touch the medical MT-LB (light armored multipurpose transporter) at all, only the mechanic was shot, and the Zushka behind him was turned into a sieve. When we asked why help came so late, the guys from the 324th regiment replied that there was an order from their superiors not to twitch and stand still. At the head of the column, one BRDM resisted to the last, in which almost all were killed. If help had come early, then perhaps there were more survivors. "
In the fragments of the video footage of the bandits, filmed, according to experts, for sponsors, you can see the burnt, broken and overturned equipment of the destroyed column. The armed militants are very pleased, they are talking loudly and posing on the wrecked cars. In the ditch lies an inverted BPM, next to it is the Ural, overturned on its side, behind it is another and another. In the river there is a shot BMP, bread is scattered near the burnt-out truck ...
Senior Sergeant Igor Izotov: “The smell at the battle site was sickening. When I returned to the burnt out "Ural", I immediately found my friend Seryoga. Even at the beginning, hiding behind a stone, I saw him running for cover. The first burst broke his legs, the second pierced his torso. In a kind of dimness, I kept trying to feel the pulse on Seregin's bloody body. I woke up when they pushed me in the back. I plunged the corpse into the Ural that drove up and only then looked around. The rest of the survivors also found acquaintances and friends. Someone at the same time terribly swore obscenities, someone screamed in tears, one soldier vomited when they pulled out the disfigured, charred body of a tanker. All were possessed by wild horror ... ".
Officially, the convoy consisted of a little less than two hundred people, but there were also unaccounted for demobilization-conscripts, and soldiers going home for family reasons. In addition, civilians took part in the battle on the side of the federal forces, who accompanied the convoy, joining in the settlements. Later, it was very difficult to calculate the exact number of those killed, which, according to various estimates, varies from 73 to 95 people. Each of them died in their own way. Someone instantly, in the first seconds of the battle, someone on the side of the road near exploding cars, firing back to the last bullet, someone, burning alive in trucks. Most of the corpses were almost completely burned. People were identified by socks, pieces of documents, and personal numbers. They could not find out the identity of about three dozen fighters on the spot. Their bodies were sent to a special laboratory in Rostov. Fifty people were wounded, and only thirteen soldiers survived the battle completely unharmed. And everyone who is lucky to survive admits that it was probably the most terrible day in their life ...
There are fewer differences in the number of destroyed equipment - one tank, six infantry fighting vehicles, one reconnaissance and patrol vehicle, about fourteen trucks. The losses of the militants remained unknown, however, in the following days, seven bodies were found in the vicinity that belonged to residents of the Shatoi region.
Sergei Cherchik described the rescue operation as follows: “I don’t know how much time has passed since the attack began. When our first soldiers appeared from the side of the 324th regiment, it was already dark. For some reason, the militants did not shoot the medical "motoliga" of the column. And they began to collect us, the wounded, and put them in it. Inside there were six to eight people. The dead were laid on the armor. An unknown soldier got into the cockpit, began to unfold the "motorcycle league", drove back, but the road was too narrow. The car hovered over a cliff. I remember how I had time to think that I did not survive for this. All those killed from above, ten to fifteen people, fell down to Argun. Then the driver did the taxi and put the car on the road. "
According to official information, the use of artillery by the 245th motorized rifle regiment began at 16:00, and the 324th regiment opened fire at five in the evening. On April 16, the artillerymen of the 245th regiment spent 669 shells, the 324th regiment - 332 shells. On April 17, in order to evacuate the remaining damaged equipment to the base center and clear the route, another armored group was sent under the leadership of the regiment commander, Colonel Romanikhin. The place of the battle looked creepy. The flames had already subsided, and the vehicles in the column stood covered with soot and burned out like ghosts.
The chief of artillery of the 245th motorized rifle regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Boris Kramchenkov, was also present in that raid: “We arrived early in the morning, but the 'spirits' were already waiting. There was a fog that disguised us. This made it possible to more or less calmly remove the burnt-out equipment. We evacuated everything that could still be useful, pushing the rest into a cliff. At the same time, the bodies of those killed were found. They were all burnt. All were wrapped in foil and taken to the base camp of the regiment. "
An official investigation was carried out into the attack of Khattab's militants on the column of the 245th motorized rifle regiment in the Yarysh-Marda area. Due to the surprising naivety (or negligence) of our leadership after the conclusion of the agreement on the prohibition of hostilities and the long absence of attacks in the region, all checkpoints were removed, and the vigilance of the federal forces dropped noticeably. Already on the march 245th motorized rifle regiment behaved extremely carelessly, not properly organizing the pedestrian reconnaissance of the road and the surrounding area, which, most likely, could have discovered the landmines installed by the militants in advance. There was also no air cover. In potentially dangerous points, side outposts were not set up, favorable heights next to the route were not engaged. Later, after the start of the battle, the command, for unknown reasons, delayed for too long with permission to start artillery shelling. In general, "why" during the investigation of the reasons for what happened, a lot arose. For example, why were they not allowed to advance to the aid of a nearby armored group, which could distract the militants and block their escape routes. Why did helicopters appear so late? Why were the checkpoints of the 324th regiment near the village of Yarysh-Mardy removed from the nearby heights just a couple of days before?
The militants did not just choose the place for the ambush. They knew about the peace treaty signed on April 4, 1996 between the representatives of the Yarysh-Mardy village authorities and the command of the federal troops. They also knew that the village of Yarysh-Mardy was located at the limit of the maximum range of artillery fire. It turns out that the Chechen separatists knew a lot, but the results of the counterintelligence work were not disclosed to the general public. But the investigation into the shooting of the column of the 245th regiment was soon terminated. The perpetrators of the case were never found. Khattab and Gelayev were later destroyed.
To the guys who fell on that fateful day everlasting memory!
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For days, the public wonders what happened to the Russian private military company Wagner, which is rumored to have suffered heavy losses in Syria.
Information about the massacre at the official level is extremely stingy and closed. Both the United States and Russia recognize that conflict situation took place. However, both sides are silent about the presence of Russians on the battlefield.
Nevertheless, scraps of information about the deaths of soldiers from the Russian Federation near the village of Khsham in Syria began to seep into those Russian media that are quite loyal to the Kremlin.
The only question is the number of those killed and the very fact of the battle.
What fight are we talking about
On the night of February 8, a battle took place near the village of Khsham in the Syrian province of Deir Ez Zor. The settlement is located on the border between the US-backed Kurds and the forces of the Assad government.
The parties are divided by the Euphrates River - the Syrians are entrenched on the west bank, on the east - the Kurds, who make up the backbone of the opposition to Damascus "Syrian Free Army", which is supported by the Americans.
According to the version of Russia, the detachments of the "Islamic State" are based in the same region.
The parties blame each other for the conflict. In the United States, they say that Assad's forces launched an attack on the Kurdish headquarters, where American advisers were stationed. They asked for contacts with the Russian military, who said that "they are not there" and that they are not conducting any operations in the area.
Then the American aviation was called, which defeated the advancing forces "in an open field". It is reported that the US military notified the Russian side in advance of plans to strike. This has not been denied in Russia.
In the American media, the most complete reconstruction of events was made by The Washington Post.
From the commentary of the Kurdish general Hassan, it follows that on the night of February 7-8, a pro-Assad convoy with tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and trucks advanced in the direction of the Conoco oil and gas field. At about 2200 the enemy opened fire from tanks and artillery pieces. The shells exploded "about 450 meters from the positions occupied by the DSS (Democratic Forces of Syria - ed.) And American soldiers."
According to Hasan, attack aircraft, fighters and drones of the US Air Force were forced to attack the attackers. The fight ended at about 5.30 am.
The attack from the coalition involved an AC-130 attack aircraft and an Ah-64 Apache helicopter, F-15 fighters and drones, as well as artillery batteries.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the picture is completely different. The Americans made an avinalet on a detachment of Syrian militias who were conducting an operation against the ISIS "sleeping cell" in the area of \u200b\u200bthe former Al-Isba oil refinery.
At the same time, the department stressed that the militias, who came under attack from the coalition, did not coordinate their operation with the command of the Russian task force. No complaints were made against the United States.
So were the Russians or not?
As the Kremlin later said, the Russian military personnel did not participate in the operation.
“As you know, in this case we operate with the data that relate to the military personnel of the armed forces Russian Federationwho take part in the operation of the armed forces, the Russian Aerospace Forces in support of the Syrian army. We do not have data on other Russians who may be in Syria, ”said Russian President Dmitry Peskov.
The fact that it was the Russians who were bombed are not officially convinced even in the United States.
US Defense Secretary James Mattis said that he did not have accurate information that the Russian PMCs were eliminated during the air strike on Assad's forces.
“We even coordinate ground operations on each side,” said Mattis. According to him, the Russian military was not among the Syrian forces that came under fire from the coalition near Hisham.
"The Russians told us at that time that their forces were not there," the head of the Pentagon said.
“The fact is that someone decided to attack us, and the Russians said that it was not about them. (...) You cannot ask Russia to prevent a conflict when it does not control something, it could not be done, ”Mattis said.
Pentagon statement on airstrike. Not a word about Russians
He also added that the Euphrates River has long been used as a demarcation line between US and opposition forces, as well as the troops of Russia and the government of Syria. “The Russians have always responded to our signals, we have always responded. This line has never been broken, ”added Mattis.
He also suggested that Khsham did not have contractors or employees of Russian private military companies. “I think the Russians would have told us,” said Mattis. However, he warned that he did not have completely accurate information on this matter.
Nevertheless, reports of the deaths of soldiers from the Russian PMC "Wagner" continue to arrive. The participation in this battle of these particular fighters was first reported on the Conflict Intelligence Team's telegram channel and on the VK page of Igor Girkin (Strelkov), who for some time commanded the “DPR army”.
Nobody has officially denied this information yet. Meanwhile, the first names of the deceased "private traders" appeared.
What they say about losses
At the moment, five names of the soldiers who served with "Wagner" and who were allegedly killed in the battle at Khsham have already been sounded.
Alexey Ladygin from Ryazan- Vladimir Loginov from Kaliningrad
Stanislav Matveev from Asbestos of the Sverdlovsk Region
Igor Kosoturov, Asbestos
Kirill Ananiev from the Other Russia party
A number of local Russian media wrote about their deaths, acquaintances and relatives of the victims reported on social networks, as well as public organizations (for example, Cossack).
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These names are also quoted by the Russian "Komsomolskaya Pravda", which added another victim - a Ukrainian. According to the newspaper, a native of Slavyansk has already been buried in Rostov, who since 2014 took part in the battles in the Donbass on the part of the separatists. And in 2016, he signed a contract with a PMC.
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According to some media outlets, the Russian fighters of the Wagner PMC were attacked by American artillery and aviation, avenging the death of US military advisers in the Idlib region.
Wagner's private military company "suffered significant losses in Syria due to the actions of American artillery and aviation, covering the ground units of their Kurdish allies, several media outlets reported on the Internet on February 9. The data on the losses of PMCs, as usual, are called contradictory.
It all started with the fact that the American television channel CBS, citing an anonymous Pentagon spokesman, informed that the troops of the international coalition led by America on February 7 dealt a powerful blow to the pro-government troops in Syria. This incident, according to the TV channel, was "the first time that Russians were killed in a US air strike in Syria." There have been no official comments from America.
At the same time, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that the militias supporting the Syrian authorities came under fire from the coalition in the province of Deir ez-Zor due to actions that were not coordinated with the Russian military. The department said that there were no Russian servicemen in the area of \u200b\u200bthe strike.
The next day, February 10, information appeared in the media with reference to one of the Telegram channels, which published 4 audio recordings at once, as well as a transcript of negotiations between witnesses to the American attack. From the negotiations it becomes clear that the Wagner PMC column was first subjected to artillery and then to an air strike. Because of this, hundreds of soldiers seem to have died.
“There were Pindos (Americans) ... First, they covered them with artillery (artillery), then they raised 4 turntables (helicopters) and launched them into the carousel from heavy machine guns ... Ours had nothing besides machine guns. In general, they made hell there. The Pindos specifically and clearly knew that we were going, the Russians were going to squeeze out our plant, and they were sitting in this plant ... There are a lot of those who disappeared without a trace, ”one entry says.
The second entry says that almost 200 people were killed.
“Brother, look. There were 177 killed - only the 5th company. The deuce was almost not hooked. In short, all five were eliminated, they were rolled out there by aviation, turntables, artillery, and the Kurds and Americans were pushed on them, the boys simply had no chance, almost all of them fell down, ”the voice of the unknown notes.
From the third entry, it becomes clear that before the attack, the United States raised its flag and shot the convoy heading towards them. The voice on the tape is surprised at what the Russians were hoping for.
“According to the information, one tank and one BRDM survived from the equipment, and all the other“ mess ”, all other tanks were eliminated in the first minutes of the battle at once,” says the unknown.
Information appeared that the battle was fought for the Koneko oil field, which became the target of government forces. The object, in all likelihood, was supported by a Russian PMC. The number of 100 people was announced.
“Despite the fact that it is physically controlled by the SDF, the sheikh of the local tribe promised to give it to the Syrian government (and most likely to one of the Syrian entrepreneurs personally). The result of this treaty was the attack of the Syrian Arab army”, - the media reports.
There is an unofficial confirmation of the fact of the clash of Russian mercenaries with US troops in Syria from the lawyer of the International Committee for the Defense of Human Rights Alexander Ionov. He also, as in the original audio recordings, voices the figure of 200 people.
“According to my sources, more than two hundred people died. The exact number of those killed will be determined within a few days, negotiations are underway on the presence in this corridor. The column was attacked on the march. It is not completely clear what goals and objectives the representatives of the “Wagner company” had, who were assembling their units and subdivisions to march towards the Euphrates, ”Ionov said.
An approximate picture of what happened was also found out.
“After talking with the Syrian military, we realized that our fighters were under heavy fire from artillery installations, which covered the pro-American Kurdish units. Then 2 helicopters of the American Air Force launched a missile and bomb attack on those who had already taken refuge behind the ruins. People were simply finished off, ”the expert says.
Alexander Ionov admits that the strike was the Pentagon's revenge for the death of US military advisers in the Idlib region, which happened as a result of the retaliation strike of the Russian Aerospace Forces after the heroic death of the pilot of the Su-25 attack aircraft Roman Filipov.
“During the attack on our plane in Idlib, the Russian side responded with aviation strikes on the militants' concentration points. Probably, American military advisers were at these points. Apparently, they were among those 30 people whom ours put. And here, probably, the Americans showed adherence to principles, decided to take revenge and struck, however, not at the units and formations of the regular Russian troops, but at the allies - PMC Wagner and the militias of Syrian origin, ”Ionov said.
However, there are those who admit that the losses of Russian volunteers due to the American strike in Syria are very exaggerated. Most of them were killed while moving in a truck. The ataman of the Baltic Separate Cossack District Maxim Buga told about this. He refers to the reports of the fighters who continue to operate in the SAR.
On February 12, information appeared on the Internet that Kaliningrad Cossack Vladimir Loginov died in Syria due to an attack. Buga confirmed this fact. He clarified that this was due to the strike of the coalition. But the chieftain denies reports of hundreds of victims among volunteers. As he notes, 15-20 people were killed, about 50 more were injured.
Ataman said that each participant in the clashes has his own vision of events, “the general has his own, the man on the front line has his own,” hence the difference in information about the victims.
“Because of this, different information came. One said - it was on the offensive, the other - that during the move. Most of the people died when they were driving in KamAZ, ”Buga specified.
As he notes, the blow was struck, according to him, either by a rocket from a helicopter, or by artillery, and the helicopter was directing. The ataman did not voice the organization, which includes volunteers in Syria. Now about 10 Kaliningrad Cossacks remain in the SAR. There may be more people from the region, since people of "different political persuasions" are sent there.
The Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), a group of independent investigators, announced the names of 4 Russian PMC Wagner fighters who died as a result of the American-led coalition air strike. Experts note that the victims are Alexey Ladygin from Ryazan, Stanislav Matveev and Igor Kosoturov from the city of Asbest, Sverdlovsk region, and Vladimir Loginov.
According to CIT, Ladygin and Kosoturov previously fought in the Donbass, and Loginov was an active participant in the Cossack movement. But experts add that it is currently impossible to name the exact number of the Wagner PMC soldiers who died.
For several days, the public wonders what happened to the Russian private military company Wagner, which is rumored to have suffered heavy losses in Syria. Information about the massacre at the official level is extremely stingy and closed. Both the United States and Russia recognize that a conflict situation has taken place. However, both sides are silent about the presence of Russians on the battlefield. Nevertheless, scraps of information about the deaths of soldiers from the Russian Federation near the village of Khsham in Syria began to seep into those Russian media that are quite loyal to the Kremlin. The only question is the number of those killed and the very fact of the battle. What fight are we talking about
What kind of battle it was and how many Russians actually died in it.
On the night of February 8, a battle took place near the village of Khsham in the Syrian province of Deir Ez Zor. The settlement is located on the border between the US-backed Kurds and the forces of the Assad government.
The parties are divided by the Euphrates River - the Syrians are entrenched on the west bank, on the east - the Kurds, who form the backbone of the opposition to Damascus "Syrian Free Army", which is supported by the Americans.
According to the version of Russia, the detachments of the "Islamic State" are based in the same region.
The parties blame each other for the conflict. In the United States, they say that Assad's forces launched an attack on the Kurdish headquarters, where American advisers were stationed. They asked for contacts with the Russian military, who said that "they are not there" and that they are not conducting any operations in the area.
Then the American aviation was called, which defeated the advancing forces "in an open field". It is reported that the US military notified the Russian side in advance of plans to strike. This has not been denied in Russia.
In the American media, The Washington Post made the most complete reconstruction of events.
From the commentary of the Kurdish general Hassan, it follows that on the night of February 7-8, a pro-Assad convoy with tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and trucks advanced in the direction of the Conoco oil and gas field. At about 2200 the enemy opened fire from tanks and artillery pieces. The shells exploded "about 450 meters from the positions occupied by the DSS (Syrian Democratic Forces - Ed.) And American soldiers."
According to Hasan, attack aircraft, fighters and drones of the US Air Force were forced to attack the attackers. The fight ended at about 5.30 am.
The attack from the coalition involved an AC-130 attack aircraft and an Ah-64 Apache helicopter, F-15 fighters and drones, as well as artillery batteries.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the picture is completely different. The Americans made an avinalet on a detachment of Syrian militias who were conducting an operation against the ISIS "sleeping cell" in the area of \u200b\u200bthe former Al-Isba oil refinery.
At the same time, the department stressed that the militias, who came under attack from the coalition, did not coordinate their operation with the command of the Russian task force. No complaints were made against the United States.
So were the Russians or not?
As the Kremlin later said, the Russian military personnel did not participate in the operation.
“As you know, in this case, we operate with the data that relate to the military personnel of the armed forces of the Russian Federation who take part in the operation of the armed forces, the Russian Aerospace Forces in support of the Syrian army. We do not have data on other Russians who may be in Syria. "- said the speaker of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.
Even the United States is not sure at the official level that it was the Russians who were bombed.
US Defense Secretary James Mattis said that he did not have accurate information that the Russian PMCs were eliminated during the air strike on Assad's forces.
"We even coordinate ground operations on each side," Mattis said. According to him, the Russian military was not among the Syrian forces that came under fire from the coalition near Hisham.
"The Russians told us at that time that their forces were not there," the head of the Pentagon said.
"The fact is that someone decided to attack us, and the Russians said that it was not about them. (...) You cannot ask Russia to prevent a conflict in the event that it does not control something, it could not be done, "Mattis said.
Pentagon statement on airstrike. Not a word about Russians
He also added that the Euphrates River has long been used as a demarcation line between US and opposition forces, as well as the troops of Russia and the government of Syria. "The Russians have always responded to our signals, we have always responded. This line has never been violated," added Mattis.
He also suggested that Khsham did not have contractors or employees of Russian private military companies. "I think the Russians would have told us," said Mattis. However, he warned that he did not have completely accurate information on this matter.
Nevertheless, reports of the deaths of soldiers from the Russian PMC "Wagner" continue to arrive. The participation in this battle of these fighters was first reported on the Conflict Intelligence Team's telegram channel and on the VK page of Igor Girkin (Strelkov), who for some time commanded the "DPR army".
Nobody has officially denied this information yet. Meanwhile, the first names of the "private traders" have appeared.
What they say about losses
At the moment, five names of the soldiers who served with "Wagner" and who were allegedly killed in the battle near Khsham have already been sounded.
Alexey Ladygin from Ryazan
Vladimir Loginov from Kaliningrad
Stanislav Matveev from Asbestos of the Sverdlovsk Region
Igor Kosoturov, Asbestos
Kirill Ananyev from the Other Russia party
A number of local Russian media wrote about their deaths, acquaintances and relatives of the victims, as well as public organizations (for example, Cossacks), reported on social networks.
These names are also quoted by the Russian "Komsomolskaya Pravda", which has added another victim - a Ukrainian. According to the newspaper, a native of Slavyansk has already been buried in Rostov, who since 2014 took part in the battles in the Donbass on the part of the separatists. And in 2016, he signed a contract with a PMC.
RBC took several interviews with the relatives of the victims.
If we talk about cumulative losses, then the data here is based solely on hearsay and varies depending on the source of information.
The first to report the losses of the Russians was the American television channel CNBC, which referred to a source in the Pentagon and announced the deaths of several hundred attackers, including mercenaries from the Russian Federation.
Bloomberg claims the deaths of 200 Russians - and also citing sources. True, then he cites the data of an official from the Pentagon, who says about a hundred dead in general (including the Syrians) and about 200 wounded.
This version is also correlated with the statement of the Kurdish general Hassan in an interview with WP. He claims that about a hundred of the attackers were eliminated. And among them "several Russians, probably from among the mercenaries, fighting along with the forces supporting the Syrian regime."
Battle of the oil refinery
One of the main unofficial reasons for the failed military operation is called an attempt to control the oil refinery and the Conoco field. This is already recognized by the Russian press.
According to Komsomolskaya Pravda, “considering that the Kurdish formations had occupied a large oil plant on the left bank of the Euphrates without serious reason, the pro-Assad forces decided to try to recapture it. The calculation was that, seeing the impressive forces, the Kurds would not resist and retreat. "
According to Kommersant, the "blitzkrieg" did not work out: "The calculation was that after the shelling ours would quickly take this plant by storm, the Kurds would drop their weapons. And the Americans would no longer hit their own people when close combat began. But by the beginning of the fighting. only half of the detachment managed to deploy in battle formation, "one of the Wagner soldiers told the publication.
“They just rolled us out,” a source of Komsomolskaya Pravda in the PMC reported about the consequences of this hitch. “First, artillery, then helicopters ... The dead, of course, are not 600 or 200. But American statistics are very close to reality (it was about 100 dead Syrians and Russians - ed.).
Surely they saw that we were preparing for an assault on our bridgehead on the left bank. It is no accident that a few days ago the crossing of the Euphrates was flooded through the drain in the locks. Help would not have come to us even hypothetically. As a result, the 5th assault detachment was almost completely killed and burned along with the equipment. "
Social networks believe that the "private traders" went into battle without proper air cover. And they explain this by the fact that the attack was really not coordinated with the official military command of the Russian Federation - otherwise there would be two or three fighters nearby.
According to a Russian military source Kommersant, the incident in the northern province of Deir ez-Zor was caused by an attempt by local "big businessmen who currently support Bashar al-Assad" to seize oil and gas fields controlled by Kurdish allies of the United States.
"To this end, pro-government tribal formations went on the offensive, and the so-called ISIS Hunters, reinforced by Wagner PMC fighters, went in the second echelon. Both of them were hit by the American Air Force and shelling," the newspaper writes. ...
The interlocutor of Kommersant claims that the Russian command in Syria did not authorize the offensive operation to the oil fields, which was perceived as "dangerous amateur activities."
Why did Trump call Putin
The situation around the unsuccessful attack by the Syrians with the Russians on the positions of the pro-American forces has brought considerable tension to relations between Washington and Moscow.
Usually, unfriendly actions in Syria quickly enough (by military standards) cause a response from the "offended" side.
It is interesting that it was the Americans who immediately tried to relieve this tension. First, the tone of the Pentagon and Mattis was conciliatory and non-conflicting. The United States has stated several times that it consulted with the Russians before striking.
Secondly, the seriousness of the situation is indicated by Donald Trump's call to Vladimir Putin on February 12. Formally, Trump decided to express condolences over the An-148 disaster. The talks on the Syrian topic were not officially reported, however, the very fact of the call coincided with the growing excitement around the massacre near Deir Ez Zor.
It is not excluded that the plane crash was only a pretext for personal communication between the presidents, without which this call could have been misinterpreted by the lobbyists of the "Kremlingate" in the United States.
What is known about PMC "Wagner"
Officially, this unit does not exist in nature, but the media write about this "private army" as a fait accompli.
PMCs are associated with the "Slavic Brigade", which fought in Syria back in 2013. In 2014-2015, the PMC operated on the territory of the "LDNR". And then she reappeared in Syria.
The PMC commander is called a professional soldier, reserve lieutenant colonel Dmitry Utkin, who had a combat call sign "Wagner". By the way - Utkin is a native of the Kirovograd region. And, as it turned out, in the summer of 2016, he came to his relatives in Ukraine quite legally.