One of those who unleashed a war with the fraternal people of Ukraine, the culprit of the illegal annexation of Crimea and the invasion of the occupation forces into Donbass, is Colonel General Shamanov. The track record of this Hero of Russia is eloquent and very impressive.
Behind this "warrior" is a rather long tail of criminal offenses, including hundreds of lives of Ukrainians and Russians, however, by the will of their superiors, accomplices, Shamans, instead of a prison inmate, turned into a deputy of the illegitimate State Duma of the Russian Federation of the 7th convocation. What is "distinguished" in the service of the fatherland, then, this odious character, according to the site of the "Kuban People's Republic".
First of all, I would like to note how Mr. Shamanov considers - "Providing assistance to the fraternal Syrian people, we have tested more than 300 new types of weapons," said the head of the State Duma committee at the meeting. Thus, the deputy stressed, the effectiveness of Russian weapons was demonstrated to the whole world.
“It is no coincidence that today even countries that are not our allies are coming to us in a number of directions in order to buy our weapons,” he said. We have already heard what such tests have led to. Thousands of Syrian civilians died and hundreds of Russians were killed and injured in combat with American forces.
Shamanov as a "career soldier"
Shamanov is known for his cruelty, despotism, uncontrollable manifestations of aggression, the use of his official position in his own selfish interests, he always disregarded the law for personal gain, but thanks to the “protection” from the General Prosecutor's Office and the leadership of the Russian Federation, he managed to avoid criminal liability.
Shamanov in the 90s.
Behind the screen of "invincible, unbending and famous commander of the Airborne Forces" created by Russian propaganda, there is a war criminal, on whose hands the blood of hundreds of murdered and tortured civilians, a corrupt official with direct ties to the criminal world, a typical representative of the criminal-oligarchic environment that reigns in the highest echelons Russian authorities.
Reference. General Shamanov was born on February 15, 1957, graduated from the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School in 1978, and from the Frunze Military Academy in 1989. Since March 1995 - Commander of Operational Group 7 of the Airborne Forces of the RF Armed Forces in Chechnya, since October 1995 - Deputy Commander of the Group of Forces of the RF Ministry of Defense in Chechnya and Deputy Commander of the 58th Army of the North Caucasus Military District, from April to June 1996 - Commander of the Group of Forces of the RF Ministry of Defense in Chechnya, during 1996-1998. - student of the Academy General Staff, from 1998 to 1999 - Chief of Staff - First Deputy Commander of the 22nd Army of the Moscow Military District, since July 1999 - Commander of the 58th Army, since September 1999 - Commander of the Western Direction of the Joint Group of Federal Forces in the North Caucasus, since 2000. - Commander of the 58th Army.
Shamans as Punisher and Assassin
Information published in the media about military and punitive operations that were carried out under the leadership or with the participation of General Shamanov in Chechnya are distinguished by excessive cruelty, large casualties among the peaceful Chechen population and looting.
Shamanov in Chechnya. In October 1999, during the so-called. Of the "counter-terrorist operation" in the North Caucasus, on the criminal order of Shamanov, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe village of Shaamy-Yurt, two Su-25 attack aircraft were struck on a convoy of refugees, as a result of which dozens of civilians were killed. In February 2000, during a military operation led by Shamanov in the village of Katyr-Yurt, more than 160 civilians were killed under shelling. Russian military prosecutor's office closed the case "for lack of corpus delicti," but the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of the victims of the airstrike. Shamanov tried to avoid responsibility for the destruction of civilians by explaining mental disorders in him and his subordinates.
Political scientist, now assistant to the President of Chechnya, Timur Aliyev wrote: “Goiskoye is my native village. Three streets with fewer than two thousand inhabitants. The village stretches three kilometers from north to south, and less than two hundred meters from east to west. General Shamanov, having at his disposal aviation and armored vehicles, took this "fortress" for about two months ... I know nothing about military affairs, but I allow myself to think that a general who does not jump over such a barrier as Goiskoye in two steps is a worthless warrior ... If we talk about human qualities, then there is a fact: before the first airstrike on Goisky, General Shamanov did not allow even women and children to be taken out of it ”(“ Chechenskoe obshchestvo ”newspaper, September 28, 2007).
Shamans as a war criminal
According to Timur Aliyev's testimony, the Shamans do not value the life of civilians, which became the basis of many subsequent problems. Because even then, in addition to military affairs, there were criminal ones.
Shamanov, 2005. In 1995, the main military prosecutor's office opened a criminal case on 29/00/003495. The bottom line is this: on October 24, 1995, Shamanov directed the operation at the Ingush airport Sleptsovsk. With the support of combat helicopters, troops landed there, and although there were no militants at the airport, the shaman paratroopers opened fire on everyone who was there. A local taxi driver was killed, three civilians were injured, along the way, the military riddled cars that came to hand and robbed a cafe.
In August 1999, Shamanov took over the 58th Army, which, at that time, was fighting in Dagestan. In December 1999, shamanists "frolicked" in the village of Alkhan-Yurt, plundering it and killing dozens of residents. Chechen politician and businessman Malik Saidulaev, loyal to the Kremlin power, testified that it was at Shamanov's command that a massacre was staged in his native Alkhan-Yurt, in which there had been no militants for a long time. “This general actually turned his subordinates against the Chechen people. Where Shamanov was, there is the most blood among the civilians, and there are more Russian soldiers killed there. "
Shamanov as a criminal
During Shamanov's tenure in 2000-2004 as the governor of the Ulyanovsk region, after being dismissed from military service, including due to a tendency to sadism and mental imbalance, his features also manifested themselves in civilian life.
Governor Shamanov initiated the pardon and rehabilitation of his personal friend, Colonel Yuri Budanov, who was serving a sentence in one of the Ulyanovsk colonies for the murder of an 18-year-old Chechen girl Elza Kungaeva. Bulanov was returned military rank, and combat awards, whom he stayed on by court order. However, after information about Shamanov's participation in this case was widely publicized, a scandal arose, after which the request for clemency was withdrawn.
Shamanov airborne commander.
Ulyanovsk journalists wrote how, together with the guards, he brutally beat his former friend, businessman Khamza Yambaev, and at the same time, for some reason, promised to hang Jews on an aspen. The local press began to publish letters from readers who wrote that "the mentally ill should be in the appropriate medical institution, and not in leadership positions."
Shamans as a raider and a thief
During 2005-2007, having got a job as a nominal assistant to the chairman of the government of the Russian Federation, and then as an adviser to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Shamanov "on his knees" achieved a return to military service and was appointed to a position not prestigious for a combat general - the head of the Main Directorate of Combat Training and Service of the Russian Armed Forces, from which in 2009 he was appointed Commander of the Airborne Forces of the Russian Armed Forces.
Shamanov in civilian life. In 2009, Shamanov, together with Colonel of the RF Armed Forces Vadim Pankov (commander of 45 separate shelf special purpose Airborne Forces of the RF Armed Forces) organized the so-called. business with the use of servicemen from the regiment's special-purpose groups for raiding actions and protecting the corporate interests of his son-in-law Khramushin (a crime boss nicknamed "Glyba"), who was accused of murdering Dmitry Barchenkov (chairman of the board of directors of the Shchelkovsky agricultural holding). This is evidenced by the publication of transcripts of telephone conversations made initially in Novaya Gazeta, in the articles “Detain the Investigator!”, “General and Hlyba”.
In 2012, due to a conflict with the former chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation N. Makarov due to corruption schemes with the procurement of equipment for the Airborne Forces, Shamanov was supposed to be removed from his post, but due to a change in the leadership of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, he remained in office.
General Shamanov is considered one of the developers of the plan and implementation of the raider plan for the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine in the Donbass.
Shamanov as ... "State Duma deputy"
In September 2016, Shamanov was elected a deputy of the State Duma of the VII convocation from the "United Russia". By the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Vladimir Anatolievich Shamanov was relieved of the post of Commander of the Airborne Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, in connection with his election to the new composition of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
By the decree of the State Duma of October 5, 2016 No. 10-7 GD Shamanov was elected Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense.
In his new position, no one bothers Shamanov to steal from the budget and withdraw money to the West through his former deputy governors.
The amazing career of Vladimir Shamanov
Vladimir Voronov
Vladimir Shamanov appointed commander Airborne troops... His career is unprecedented. After leaving the army in 2000, in November 2007, by decree of President Vladimir Putin, he was returned to service. And now President Dmitry Medvedev - also in violation of the order of service - has landed him to a new height, from which views of the General Staff and the minister's chair open up.
In general, there are some gaps in General Shamanov's career route: he skipped some positions too quickly, others skipped altogether. In 1974, Shamanov entered the Tashkent Tank military school, but in 1976 his training company was transferred to the Ryazan Airborne, which Shamanov graduated in 1978. Then he is the commander of a self-propelled artillery platoon in the 76th airborne (Pskov) division, and a year later - again in his native Ryazan school, where he trains cadets until 1985: the commander of a training platoon, a company.
Academy instead of Afgan
Apocrypha assures that for the brilliant command of the company, Shamanov was immediately appointed battalion commander. This happened, according to legend, at a training camp, where the energetic captain glanced at the commander of the Airborne Forces Dmitry Sukhorukov. Take that one and ask the airborne division commanders: who is ready to take Shamanov as battalion commander? Since it is not customary for real campaigners to go straight to the battalion commanders, bypassing the stage of the zamkombat, silence reigned. And only the commander of the 76th division Georgy Shpak said: "I'll take it!"
The position of the battalion commander is a ticket to the academy. And easily give it to the commander of a school training company, when officers who have already served their due have been waiting for such a vacancy for years? Meanwhile, Shamanov's departure from the alma mater coincides in time with the change in the school's command. It was headed by General Albert Slyusar, a legendary personality, Hero of the Soviet Union, veteran of Afghanistan. Maybe Slyusar "shocked" the overdue commanders of the school companies - those who had no combat experience. In general, Shamanov left the school (but not for the war, although the Afghan war was in full swing) in order to be on the academic bench after just a year.
There are enough similar leaps in the shaman's career: he did not command a division, did not work at the corps level, passed the position as a district commander, did not pass a run-in at the headquarters of the Airborne Forces. Yes, and the battalion commander Shamanov was barely a year old, which looks like a formal serving of the term for admission to the academy. After the academy in the deputy commander, he also passed a year, hardly a year was the chief of staff - deputy division commander, at the head of the 58th army - also about a year. Only the military themselves can judge to what extent such leaps are optimal for gaining and developing command-staff and managerial experience.
Shamanov's service is generally marked by many legends that appeared, however, later. “In 1989, the commander of the battalion of the 104th paratrooper regiment, Major Shamanov, submitted a report to the chief about his desire to enter the military academy. Frunze. The commander refused him, and then Major Shamanov punched the superior commander in the face and, risking all his officer career, flew to Moscow. He was enrolled in the academy ”(Trud newspaper, May 26, 2009).
In fact, Shamanov did not go to the academy in 1989, but in 1986, and everything else was not there because it could not be. “Punching a superior boss in the face” is no longer an academy, but a military court, shoulder straps, or even several years in prison. But it seems that there was a certain tense situation on the eve of entering the academy. It is connected, most likely, with the fact that, in essence, a stranger for this part of a person who did not fight, and even jumped over the service step, not having time to stay in battalions for a year, was sent to the academy, crossing the road to someone, in fact deserved it.
The service of the future general proceeded without delay, even too smoothly. One of my interlocutors said: such progress without interruptions in the Soviet era is an indicator of friendship with political workers and special officers, otherwise he would not have seen excellent characteristics. Vaughn, Aleksey Lebed, the younger brother of Alexander Lebed, snagged with political workers - and went instead of the academy to Abakan, although he had just returned from Afghanistan. (After the "exile", Lebed Jr. nevertheless ended up in the academy, he and Shamanov studied on the same course, but their friendship did not work out: the Afghan veteran did not get along with an excellent student of military and political training.)
Continued afghan war, someone grew up in military service, someone - in drill, to each his own. While our hero was assimilating military wisdom and raising political maturity in the academic bench, soviet troops left Afghanistan. So Shamanov did not get a ticket to this war. True, the officers in the Airborne Forces did not wait for this ticket, they themselves wrote a report with a request to send it to the "limited contingent". It was so accepted. So, for example, did Alexander Lebed. The legendary Valery Vostrotin wrote a report and went to Afghanistan for the second time.
Shamanov will fall under the command of Vostrotin in 1998: he was assigned to Moldova, in the 98th airborne division, which Vostrotin commanded. Shamanov - deputy commander
300th Parachute Regiment. In 1991, he was promoted to Ganja (Azerbaijan), to the 104th Airborne Division, where he received the 328th Parachute Regiment under the command. Before its withdrawal in 1993, the division "pacified" Karabakh, working on the side of the Azerbaijanis - of course, that was Moscow's intention. This is how our hero gets his first combat experience, albeit a specific one - the experience of sweeps. And in the summer of 1992, the paratroopers broke into the Armenian defense, ensuring the advancement of the Azerbaijani forces. A number of officers of the division then flaunted with high Azerbaijani orders on their chests, including Shamanov.
Did not allow women and children to be taken out
In March 1995, Shamanov, at the head of the operational group of the 7th Airborne Division (he is the chief of staff there), went to Chechnya. Leafing through the file of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, we find the first mention of Shamanov in the central press:
On June 8, 1995, he is named among the commanders whose soldiers took Vedeno. On June 20, 1995, General Gennady Troshev, the commander of the Defense Ministry grouping in Chechnya, will tell about him in the same "Krasnaya Zvezda": he escaped from the hospital to a unit, a hero.
Many talk about the personal courage and even recklessness of our hero, although, of course, hand-to-hand combat is not the business of a commander of this level, his task is to organize competent control of the battle. There were, of course, victories and commanders - Vedeno, Shatoi, Shali, Goiskoye, Bamut. When they took Vedeno and Shatoi, the author of these lines was in Chechnya. Just a few days after the announcement of the hanging of Russian flags there, these villages were again strongholds of the militants. The cornerstone of the fundamental myth about the Shamanov-military leader is the Bamut operation. This is how they tell about her now: “In Bamut, only suicide bombers remained. A high price - sixteen lives of Russian soldiers had to pay for the encirclement of this fortified city from the mountains. The general did not find it easier because the militants lost ten times during the day, and by the morning - as a result of night reconnaissance - twenty times (!) More ”. A paragraph later, it turns out that "the total losses of the militants for two days of fighting exceeded half a thousand." But everything is more prosaic: almost all the militants quietly left Bamut with minimal losses.
There is such a reality. After the capture of Ishmael, the staff officer asked Suvorov a question: what figure should he write in the report on Turkish losses to Petersburg? Alexander Vasilyevich issued the famous phrase: “Write more! Why should you feel sorry for them, bastards! .. "
Under the pen of state chroniclers, the enemy's losses from Shamanov's troops grow to cyclopean proportions. "Krasnaya Zvezda" gives out a pearl: "Next will be the defeat of the two thousandth gang in Novogroznenskoye, when Maskhadov with a handful of bodyguards will run away from the battlefield."
Alas, the defeat of Maskhadov and the two thousandth losses in Novogroznenskoye are also a myth: I was there at that time, I saw with my own eyes how Maskhadov's headquarters and his detachments left without hindrance, practically without losses.
But the most grandiose ode to the glory of Shamanov was given by the Orthodox magazine Russky Dom (No. 6, 1999) in the opus The Birth of a Commander. In the very first phrase, Shamanov is equated with Marshal Zhukov: “We have a young commander who fights almost without losses and terrifies the enemy with his name alone, as Zhukov once did ... His star rose in April 1995. Shamanov's warriors marched where the legendary Yermolov did not pass. "
How legitimate are these comparisons? Political scientist, now assistant to the President of Chechnya, Timur Aliyev wrote: “Goiskoye is my native village. Three streets with fewer than two thousand inhabitants. The village stretches three kilometers from north to south, and less than two hundred meters from east to west. General Shamanov, having at his disposal aviation and armored vehicles, took this "fortress" for about two months ... I do not understand anything in military affairs, but I allow myself to think that a general who does not jump over such a barrier in two steps as Goiskoye - worthless warrior. If we talk about human qualities, then there is a fact: before the first airstrike on Goisky, General Shamanov did not allow even women and children to be taken out of it ”(“ Chechenskoe obshchestvo ”newspaper, September 28, 2007).
Master finish off with foul language
According to Timur Aliyev's testimony, Shamans do not value the lives of civilians, which became the basis of many subsequent problems. Because even then, in addition to military affairs, there were criminal ones. In 1995, the main military prosecutor's office opened a criminal case on 29/00/003495. The bottom line is this: on October 24, 1995, Shamanov directed the operation at the Ingush airport Sleptsovsk. With the support of combat helicopters, troops landed there, and although there were no militants at the airport, the shaman paratroopers opened fire on everyone who was there. A local taxi driver was killed, three civilians were injured, along the way, the military riddled cars that came to hand and robbed a cafe.
At the end of July 1996, Shamanov was sent to the Academy of the General Staff. “The half-dead militants seemed to be just waiting for his departure. Having infiltrated Grozny, which was guarded by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they took possession of the city, "- this is from the eulogy of the" Red Star ". However, the picture of the disintegration of the army under Shamanov was terrifying - he himself observed it then in Chechnya. Federal forces did not control anything except their own bases and checkpoints. There is an aphorism attributed to Mao Zedong: "The one who controls the country at night wins." The masters of nighttime Chechnya were militants, and most of the daytime too. So Shamanov was lucky: the shadow of defeat in August 1996 did not cover him.
In August 1999, Shamanov took over the 58th Army. The battles in Dagestan were still going on, but the state chroniclers were already promoting him with might and main as a winner: "The Caucasus Mountains saw the birth of a new Russian commander ... Then they will call General Suvorov of our days," wrote Krasnaya Zvezda on August 28, 1999. Suvorov, Zhukov, Ermolov, Shamanov are an impressive company.
But Shamanov did not develop a relationship with his immediate superior - General Viktor Kazantsev, the commander of the North Caucasian Military District and the commander of the United Group of Forces (UGV). The intensity was such that almost the entire group was aware of the confrontation, and General Troshev devoted many lines to describing it in his books. It all started in Dagestan. According to Troshev, “Shamanov reacted sharply to the instructions of the commander of the UGV, considered it a serious shortcoming that he did not go through the first war in Chechnya. "How can he command us here, now?" - Vladimir Anatolyevich grumbled periodically. "
And if only he grumbled! Troshev described how Shamanov yelled at his immediate superior, General Kazantsev: "It's not for you to teach me!" Then the generals "sometimes began to use foul language." The army is not an institution of noble maidens, but no one has canceled the statutes, subordination and the principle of subordination of subordinates to higher ones. And for a mate against a superior commander in any army, they are not immediately sent to a promotion at all.
Not distinguishing the wife from the sniper
Shamanov did not stand on ceremony with his subordinates. "I was internally jarred (this is again from Troshev. - VV) when I heard the officers' insults against Vladimir Anatolyevich: he could easily insult, humiliate, swear (and in public)." Any soldier will confirm: from the cadet's bench, they drum into the fact that the police officer's attention in front of his subordinates is undermining the authority of the army as an institution. “In this sense, he is a bright representative of the school of education of G. Zhukov,” Troshev noted. - He, too, was cruel to officers and paternal kind to ordinary soldiers. Comparison with the legendary marshal, though flattering, but not in this case. "
The inter-general relations were also heated by the difference in approaches: if Troshev avoids frontal attacks, then Shamanov "smashes everything in its path." Because "I preferred to go to victories by the shortest path, and hence more and more often clashes and, naturally, losses." It is not surprising that the shaman's group “stalled, got stuck in battles,” relations with Kazantsev heated up. "The disagreements between the two commanders," Troshev noted again sadly, "had a bad effect on the general atmosphere in the headquarters and affected the course of the operation as a whole."
So Aslan Maskhadov, apparently, had reason to sneer: “At the very beginning of the war, General Shamanov said: in two weeks I will give my horse a drink in the Argun River. Shamanov's army advanced from the west. From the borders of Ingushetia ... to the Argun River, a maximum of 40-50 kilometers. Those who have read the combat regulations know what an offensive is, and if he, as expected, attacked, being in direct contact with the enemy at a pace of three kilometers per hour, he should have reached Argun in twelve hours. General Shamanov attacked for two months and two weeks, having one hundred percent air superiority, with a huge amount of armored vehicles, up to the use of missile forces against our grenade launchers and machine gunners. " ("New time", 2001, №26)
Shamanov also faced serious problems because of his attitude to the local population. And a number of episodes of the activities of his subordinates became the subject of international proceedings. The European Court of Human Rights recognized the events of October 29, 1999 as a war crime: the shamanists did not let a crowd of thousands of refugees from Grozny pass through the Kavkaz-1 checkpoint, and Su-25 attack aircraft covered it with rocket and cannon fire. In December 1999, shamanists "frolicked" in the village of Alkhan-Yurt, plundering it and killing dozens of residents. Chechen politician and entrepreneur Malik Saidulaev, loyal to the federal government, testified that it was at Shamanov's command that a massacre was staged in his native Alkhan-Yurt, in which there were no militants for a long time. “This general actually turned his subordinates against the Chechen people. Where Shamanov was, there is the most blood among the civilians, and there are more Russian soldiers who died. "
But Shamanov himself a few years later in an interview with The Washington Post said that human rights organizations ... themselves brought bodies to Alkhan-Yurt in order to falsify the massacre. Shamanov outlined his credo in an interview with Anna Politkovskaya: “The wife of a militant - who is she in your coordinate system? - Thug. - Why? “If she’s not a bandit, let her leave him. - ... Is the kid of a bandit also a bandit? - Also. And how, tell me, to distinguish between a wife and a sniper? "
In the fall of 1999, Shamanov is the star of the television screen: he gives out winning interviews, commenting on the actions of politicians. Then he uttered the words that had the effect of an exploding bomb: if they try to stop the army, “in such a turn of events, the country will be brought to the brink civil war". This was not the speech of a disciplined soldier, but of a cheeky field commander blackmailing the supreme power.
Going to "civilian life"
In the spring of 2000, it became obvious: Shamanov's service in the Caucasus had come to an end, he could not work with anyone. He himself saw in everything the intrigues of ill-wishers, spreading rot on an outstanding military talent. So he said to Anna Politkovskaya: “Today I am the youngest army commander in the Russian Armed Forces, and it is quite difficult for me to find a common language with people over fifty”. To the question: "Do they consider you a boy?" the answer follows: “Intriguers here are those who cannot boast of professional and military merits, walked on the parquet, live by
qipu "what will you please?" and have the right of proximity to the ear of the senior chief. There are quite a few of them in our Armed Forces. More than once they have already hinted to me in Moscow that the war is a war, but soon it will end - and we will live "according to our rules."
In the spring of 2000, Shamanov was offered an offer to move up to the Internal Troops, promising to put the Interior Ministry troops in charge of the Moscow District. He quickly wrote a report on his resignation from the Armed Forces. The ease with which the paratrooper agreed to join the troops, in fact, punitive, is indicative: this, apparently, did not mind his mentality. But Anatoly Kvashnin, chief of the General Staff, persuaded Shamanov to withdraw the report. And yet, in August, the general leaves the army to run for governor of the Ulyanovsk region. The departure was clearly not voluntary, otherwise Shamanov would not have said on the air of Echo of Moscow: “I will never forget a difficult period for me, when some“ commanders ”in quotation marks essentially distanced me from my favorite profession.”
Shaman's departure to governor suited many: the Kremlin "distanced itself from the beloved profession" of the little-controlled military leader, but gave him the province to feed. The general got a chance to keep himself in the federal elite. The choice of the Ulyanovsk region is almost ideal - it is not a pity for it: the state of the region after 15 years of Yuri Goryachev's rule was so horrifying that no one could spoil anything. Vladimir Anatolyevich, of course, tried, trying to manage the region like a regiment. Sometimes it was possible, more often it was not: the general brought with him a very specific command.
Flipping through the files of Ulyanovsk newspapers of that period, from year to year you can read the same thing: no hot water, no heating, power outages ... It is unlikely that Vladimir Anatolyevich was to blame, but he still did not understand how to fix all this, his popularity rating was steadily falling, reaching 3 percent by 2004. But the general responded to the proposals to leave voluntarily, as he was able and accustomed to. Ulyanovsk journalists wrote how, together with the guards, he brutally beat his former friend, businessman Khamza Yambaev, and at the same time, for some reason, promised to hang Jews on an aspen. The local press began to publish letters from readers who wrote that "the mentally ill should be in the appropriate medical institution, and not in leadership positions." In the fall of 2004, the Kremlin realized: it was time to take it. Shamanov leaves Ulyanovsk and materializes as an assistant to Prime Minister Fradkov on social issues of servicemen.
Back in the ranks
This is how Shamanov's ascent to civil power ended. Inglorious? How to look, after all, Vladimir Anatolyevich still rested from the hassle of the army and, most importantly, gained invaluable experience in civil administration. Consider it another academy, whose "diploma" came in handy when the Kremlin decided to make a move with this figure: there are only a few generals with experience in civilian administration. By the way, being an assistant to the prime minister, and then an adviser to the minister of defense, is also a training course for polishing on slippery parquet floors of power corridors.
For the next two years, Shamanov was quiet and dumb. But from the beginning of 2007, they began to take him out to the people, and from November of the same year he was again in the ranks: the head of the Main Directorate of Combat Training and Troops Service. Even then, it was rumored that the next career step could be the position of Commander-in-Chief. ground forces... Because the deadline for Operation Successor-2008 was approaching - a time of troubles when the real ruler at any cost had to maintain control over the military mechanism. And one cannot do without an iron hand, capable of using force without hesitation against an enemy, especially an internal one. The very fact of the demand for a figure whose professional and moral qualities are known has already said a lot.
It is known that when, in the fall of 2008, they talked about creating a "new look" of the army, to the surprise of many, it was General Shamanov who suddenly became the most zealous champion, guide and propagandist of Serdyukov's innovations. Other generals either kept silent or, like the Chief of the General Staff, repeated general phrases. Against this background, Shamanov's zeal was assessed unambiguously by many: a cynical reckoning on a career breakthrough, since for him personally this "optimization", among other things, is an opportunity to clean up the generals for himself.
This is the kind of commander the Kremlin desires now. In an era of instability, you can rely on it - so that no one even thinks about seizing power. It is no coincidence that the reform of the Airborne Forces was stopped: the authorities need loyal ones landing troops... How Shamanov will act in relation to the internal enemy, even if peaceful and unarmed, is not difficult to guess. In addition, all the flaws of "optimization" can be blamed on a tough and non-diplomatic general on occasion.
He spent his childhood in Uzbekistan in the city of Gagarin, Jizzakh region, Mirzachul district.
Mother is a multiple champion of the Altai Territory in cross-country skiing, athletics, and cycling.
Education
In 1978 he graduated from the Ryazan Airborne School, in 1989 - from the MV Frunze Military Academy, in 1998 - from the General Staff Military Academy. Candidate of Sociological Sciences from the Academy of Instrument Engineering and Informatics since 1997.
Military service
- since 1978 - commander of a self-propelled artillery platoon of the parachute regiment of the 76th airborne division stationed in Pskov
- from 1985 to 1986 - battalion commander of the 104th parachute regiment of the 76th guards airborne division.
- from 1990 to 1991 - deputy commander of the 300th parachute regiment of the 98th airborne division, stationed in Chisinau
- from 1991 to 1994 - commander of the 328th regiment (in 1993 the regiment was redeployed from Kirovabad to Ulyanovsk). In 1992 he fought in the Karabakh conflict on the side of Azerbaijan. Participated in the summer offensive of the Azerbaijani troops.
- from 1994 - Chief of Staff of the 7th Airborne Division (Novorossiysk)
- from March 1995 - commander of the 7th Guards Airborne Division, which carried out combat missions in Chechnya
- from October 1995 - Deputy Commander of the Group of Forces of the Ministry of Defense in Chechnya and Deputy Commander of the 58th Army
- from April to July 1996 - Commander of the Group of Forces of the Ministry of Defense Russian Federation in Chechnya. It was under him, Shamanov, that the team managed to take Bamut during the third assault.
- from 1996 to 1998 - student of the Academy of the General Staff
- from July 1999 - Commander of the 58th Army of the North Caucasian Military District, led the operation to eliminate the Wahhabite stronghold in the Dagestani villages of Chabanmakhi and Karamakhi (Kadar zone).
- from September 1999 - Commander of the Western Direction of the United Group of Federal Forces in the North Caucasus, which liberated the Achkhoy-Martan and Urus-Martan regions of Chechnya and took part in the liberation of Grozny.
- since March 2000 - Commander of the 58th Army
Ratings as a warlord
Colonel-General, Hero of Russia Gennady Troshev, whose pupil Shamanov called himself, and whose subordinate and companion he was, left a very warm description of him, albeit with a mention of his shortcomings, in his memoirs:
General Troshev wrote that, of course, Shamanov acted much tougher in Chechnya than he did, but his cruelty was greatly exaggerated, and he would not blame him for it, besides Shamanov often resorted to "military diplomacy". Although because of his manner of leading fightingAccording to Troshev, the level of losses in Shamanov's troops was much higher than that of him.
Political activity
In August 2000, V. A. Shamanov announced his intention to run for the post of head of the administration of the Ulyanovsk region. On December 24, 2000 he won the elections in the first round, receiving 56.26% of the active voters. On January 6, 2001, he took office as governor (the solemn inauguration took place on January 19).
Governor
On the initiative of Shamanov, the communal debt of the Ulyanovsk region was restructured. Also, on his initiative, the square of the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth was repaired, where the dilapidated coating (slabs) was partially replaced. Under Shamanov, minibuses, mobile telephony and self-service supermarkets appeared en masse in Ulyanovsk. The number of broadcast TV channels and radio stations has significantly increased, casinos, restaurants and modern cinemas have opened. Also, to Shamanov as a governor, to Ulyanovsk and the region was given increased interest from the federal media.
Further career
In November 2004, he was appointed assistant to the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, after which he resigned as head of the administration and withdrew his candidacy in the elections scheduled for December 5.
In March 2006, he was relieved of his post as Assistant to the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation and headed the Russian Association of Heroes (a year later for active public work in social support of veterans and patriotic education by the order of the President of the Russian Federation, gratitude was announced to young people V.A.
In 2009, he was appointed Commander of the Airborne Forces of the Russian Federation.
Return to military service
From November 2005 to March 2006 - Assistant to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
From November 9, 2007 - Head of the Main Directorate of Combat Training and Troops Service of the Russian Armed Forces.
In August 2008, he led the Russian military group in Abkhazia, which defeated Georgian troops during an operation in the Kodori Gorge.
Awards
- Hero of the Russian Federation (Presidential Decree of December 4, 1999) - for military operations in Dagestan in August-September 1999.
- Order of St. George IV degree No. 006 (2008)
- Order of Courage
- Order of Military Merit
- Order for Service to the Motherland in Armed Forces USSR "3rd degree
- Jubilee medal "300 years To the Russian fleet»
- Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow"
- Medal for Distinction in military service»2 degrees
- Medal "70 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
- Medal "For Distinction in Military Service" 1st degree
- Medal "For Impeccable Service" 3rd degree
- Medal "For Impeccable Service" 2nd degree
- Medal "General of the Army Margelov"
- Medal "200 years to the Ministry of Defense"
Allegations of human rights violations in Chechnya and war crimes
Already during the First Chechen War, the Chechens called Shamanov "the second Ermolov", referring to russian general Ermolov, known for his firm stance towards the Chechens during the 19th century Caucasian War.
Aslanbek Aslakhanov, a retired Interior Ministry general and adviser to Vladimir Putin on Chechnya, called Shamanov a "butcher" and "the curse of the Chechen people."
Oleg Orlov, director of the Moscow office of Memorial (an organization for human rights founded by the Nobel Prize for peace by Andrei Sakharov) said: “His subordinates are undoubtedly guilty of war crimes, and I believe that a serious investigation would show Shamanov's direct guilt in war crimes, and also that he ordered them to be committed. He has serious xenophobic feelings. He is cruel, but it comes from his sense of duty. He admits it, but it doesn't make his actions any less frightening. "
During the hostilities in Chechnya, Shamanov gave an order, according to which it was prohibited to release civilians from the combat zone. However, this order was violated by Ruslan Aushev, which significantly mitigated the consequences of this order by Shamanov for civilians. Nevertheless, in October 1999, by order of Shamanov, the exit of refugees from Chechnya to the west was blocked. Federal media reported that the Caucasus checkpoint would open on October 29, 1999; By morning, thousands of people had gathered there, but the checkpoint was not open. Instead, an air raid was carried out on the territory where the refugees were, which resulted in the death of dozens of people. A second similar incident took place in the village of Katar-Yurt, which was declared a security zone, just like the Caucasus checkpoint. The refugees were allowed into the village, but after a group of militants entered the village, it was bombarded and fired upon by heavy artillery; no adequate measures were taken to ensure the safety of civilians. At least 150 people died. This fact was certified by the Strasbourg court, which made Shamanov responsible for this episode .. According to some witnesses, Shamanov at the same time explicitly forbade the release of people, and fire was fired at the refugees heading from the village. Contrary to some Russian publications referring to the ECHR, the ECHR itself did not confirm this opinion, and did not call Shamanov a “war criminal”.
Human Rights Watch asked russian government to investigate Shamanov's role in the purge of Alkhan-Yurt, which HRW has described as a “massacre”. According to the organization, 14 people were killed during the sweep under circumstances that suggest an extrajudicial murder. It is also reported that Shamanov threatened to shoot the residents of Alkhan-Yurt, who asked him to stop killing. He later disclaimed responsibility for violations during the cleansing operation, stating that Russian soldiers were doing a "sacred deed." In an interview with Novaya Gazeta in June 2000, Shamanov admitted that there had been some cases of looting by Russian soldiers, he also stated that he viewed the opinion of him as a “cruel general” as a compliment, and what he believes is that if the wives and children of the militants do not abandon them, then they are somehow connected with the bandits, which means they can be destroyed. The general said that a special corridor was set up in Alkhan-Yurt for the exit of civilians, which operated for a week. In his opinion, those who did not use it made their own choice and endangered themselves to be killed during the assault. However, he denied accusations of human rights violations in foreign media. In a 2004 interview with the Washington Post, Shamanov dismissed the accusations as "fairy tales," suggesting that human rights organizations themselves brought bodies to Alkhan-Yurt and fabricated a "meat grinder".
Troops led by Shamanov are also suspected of looting and pillaging elsewhere during the second Chechen campaign, including in the village of Katyr-Yurt.
In March 2000, Shamanov expressed sympathy for Colonel Yuri Budanov, suspected of war crimes, calling him one of his best commanders and saying: "Take your paws off the image of a Russian soldier and officer." Later he came to Rostov-on-Don to defend Budanov during the trial and to express his solidarity with him. Ultimately, Budanov was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of a young Chechen girl, Elza Kungaeva, in March 2000. On September 21, 2004, Shamanov, already the governor of the Ulyanovsk region, supported the request for pardon for Budanov, thereby provoking anger in Chechnya.
In March 2007, Shamanov at the White House met with the President of the United States of America, George W. Bush. This caused a wave of indignation in international human rights organizations. “This is not the person with whom the US President should meet. This is the person the president should be encouraged to investigate, ”HRW commented on this meeting. Later, the White House explained that they knew nothing about the accusations against General Shamanov, and that if they knew, the president would hardly have met with him and taken pictures.
Scandal in connection with the publication in Novaya Gazeta
On September 21, 2009, Novaya Gazeta published printouts of audio recordings of telephone conversations in which the commander of the Airborne Forces orders his subordinate to send two special forces groups to intercept Oleg Tselipotkin, the investigator for especially important cases of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in the Moscow Region, who went to search the Sporttek plant. which belonged to Shamanov's son-in-law, crime boss A. Khramushin, nicknamed Glyba, who was accused of committing grave crimes as part of an organized criminal group in the Shchelkovsky district of the Moscow region and subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison. which Shamanov was warned of incomplete official compliance. Shamanov himself called this decision fair. In an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, Shamanov confirmed that the telephone conversation made public by Novaya Gazeta had taken place, but the printout was “selected places”, and “cleverly glued together”.
Crash
On October 30, 2010 in the Zarechensky district of Tula, Tula region, on the first kilometer of the Moscow highway, a MAZ car drove into the oncoming lane and collided with a BMW car, in which Vladimir Shamanov and others were. about. the commander of the 106th airborne division, Colonel Alexei Naumets. As a result of the road traffic accident, Shamanov received moderate injuries that did not pose a threat to life. Colonel Naumets was taken to intensive care with serious injuries, the driver died on the spot.
Specialists from the Burdenko hospital arrived at the hospital in the Tula region, where the commander of the Airborne Forces, Lieutenant General Vladimir Shamanov, is located, the Tula Airborne Division told RIA Novosti.
“Shamanov is conscious, he communicates by phone,” said the agency's source. The Investigative Committee under the RF Prosecutor's Office reported that Shamanov had "a concussion, a broken leg and an arm."
By order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Anatoly Serdyukov, Shamanov will be transported to the Burdenko hospital in Moscow, one of the best medical institutions in the country. Serdyukov ordered to provide the most qualified assistance to Shamanov and other victims of the accident.
- In February 2012, candidate for President of the Russian Federation S.M. Mironov said that in case of his victory, the post of Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation would be headed by V.A. Shamanov.
Bibliography
- Ray Finch, One Face of the Modern Russian Army: General Vladimir Shamanov // The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 24.3 (July 2011), 396-427.
Shamanov Vladimir Anatolyevich - Commander of the 58th Army of the North Caucasian Military District and Commander of the Western Direction of the United Group of Federal Forces in the North Caucasus, Guards Major General.
Born on February 15, 1957 in the city of Barnaul, Altai Territory. Russian. He spent his childhood in the Uzbek SSR. Graduated from high school.
In the army since 1974. In 1978 he graduated from the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command Twice Red Banner School named after the Lenin Komsomol (Ryazan VVDKU), in 1989 - from the Frunze Military Academy, and in 1998 - from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
Since 1978 - commander of a self-propelled artillery platoon of a separate self-propelled artillery division of the 76th Guards Airborne Division (Pskov). Since 1979 - platoon commander, and since 1980 - company commander of the Ryazan VVDKU cadets. 1984-1986 - Commander of the parachute battalion of the 104th Guards Parachute Regiment of the 76th Guards Airborne Division.
Since 1989 - Deputy Commander of the 300th Airborne Regiment of the 98th Guards Airborne Division (Chisinau, Moldavian SSR), since 1990 - Commander of the 328th Guards Parachute Regiment of the 104th Guards Airborne Division ( since 1990 - the city of Ganja of the Republic of Azerbaijan, since 1993 - the city of Ulyanovsk), and since 1994 - chief of staff - deputy commander of the 7th Guards Airborne Division (city of Novorossiysk).
In March 1995 he was sent to the Chechen Republic as the head of the operational group of the 7th Guards Airborne Division. In April 1995 he was seriously wounded, but returned to duty. In October 1995, he was appointed deputy commander of a grouping of forces of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in the Chechen Republic and deputy commander of the 58th Army of the North Caucasian Military District (Vladikavkaz).
From April to July 1996 - Commander of the Russian Defense Ministry's grouping in the Chechen Republic. He led the troops that took the villages of Vedeno, Goiskoye, Dargo, Orekhovo, Tsentaroy, commanded the capture of the Bamut fortified area.
Since 1998 - Chief of Staff - First Deputy Commander of the 20th Army of the Moscow Military District (city of Voronezh). From August 1999 to December 2000 - Commander of the 58th Army of the North Caucasus Military District. He took an active part in hostilities to repel the invasion of Chechen bandit formations into the Republic of Dagestan, including leading the operation to liberate the villages of Karamakhi and Chabanmakhi.
From September 1999 to March 2000 - Commander of the Western Direction of the United Group of Federal Forces in the North Caucasus. In October 1999, parts of the Western direction, under his leadership, liberated the Achkhoy-Martanovsky and Urus-Martanovsky regions of the Chechen Republic, and reached the capital, the city of Grozny.
By the decree of the President of the Russian Federation of December 4, 1999 for courage and heroism shown in the elimination of illegal armed formations, Major General Shamanov Vladimir Anatolyevich awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation with the presentation of a special distinction - the Gold Star medal.
In January-February 2000, he participated in the development and implementation of Operation Wolf Hunt. In March 2000, he was asked to take up the post of commander of the Moscow district internal troops, but his transfer to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation did not take place (on April 5, 2000, he withdrew his transfer report).
In August 2000, he announced his intention to run for the post of head of administration (governor) of the Ulyanovsk region. On December 24, 2000, he won the first round of elections, receiving 56.26% of the vote. From January 2001 to November 2004 - Head of Administration (Governor) of the Ulyanovsk Region. In 2004 he was dismissed from military service.
Since November 2004 - Assistant to the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, and since March 2006 - Advisor to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation on issues of social protection of servicemen and military pensioners. In November 2007, he was again admitted to military service under a contract and was appointed head of the Main Directorate of Combat Training and Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In August 2008, he was appointed commander of the grouping of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Abkhazia, conducted an operation to occupy the eastern mountainous regions of the republic and disarm the Georgian troops stationed there.
From May 24, 2009 to October 4, 2016 - Commander of the Airborne Forces. In 2016 he was dismissed from military service.
On October 30, 2010, he was seriously injured as a result of a car accident in the Tula region, after which he was treated at the Academician N.N.Burdenko Main Military Clinical Hospital in Moscow. From December 27, 2010 to February 9, 2011, he was on rehabilitation leave at a sanatorium in Sochi. On February 10, 2011 he returned to duty.
On September 18, 2016, he was elected to the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the 7th convocation. Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee.
Lives and works in Moscow.
Military rank:
major general (1995),
lieutenant general (02.21.2000),
Colonel General (05/30/2012).He was awarded the Orders of St. George, 4th degree (08/27/2008), Alexander Nevsky (10/11/2018), Courage (01/13/1996), "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 3rd degree (11/28/1991), medals. Awarded the gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation (26.03.2007)
Honored Military Specialist of the Russian Federation (04/09/2008).
Honorary Citizen of Makhachkala (1.03.2000) and Ryazan Region (14.11.2013).
President of the Russian Association of Heroes (since 2005). Leads an active social activities, work on social support for veterans and patriotic education of youth and the population. Candidate of Sociological Sciences (1997).