fighters began to encircle the special operations troops. Yashin radioed for assistance, but Cherkashenko, left to represent Kazantsev at the command post, was unable to help. He knew that another group ofInterior troops, commanded by Maj. Gen. Grigorii Terentiev, had already tried to break through to Yashin's detachment, but had been repelled by stiff opposition. Fourteen men had died and there were many wounded, including Terentiev himself. On the slopes of the heights five armored personnel carriers were in flames.
Apart from Terentiev's detachment, no others would go to the aid of Yashin because they were army men and because Kazantsev was asleep. At 0830 hours Yashin shouted to Cherkashenko that they all had only a single round of ammunition left and needed to retreat. Cherkashenko agreed. At 0840 hours Kazantsev, having woken up, burst into the command post. He couldn't understand why Yashin was retreating. He had ordered him to hold the position at all costs.
At this point all contact with Yashin was lost. The walkie-talkie batteries had run out. The major was “deaf” and entirely on his own. Yashin divided the unit into groups, headed one himself, entrusted another to Lieutenant Colonel Gadushkin, and at about 1100 hours, gathering their strength, they began to retreat downhill. This was the only way the unit could hope to survive. Kazantsev was at the command post and observed the movements personally. He then gave orders to bomb the slopes. Why? Because he had his plan and had already reported “upstairs” the time within which the fighters on the hill would have been eliminated.
At 1500 hours, two low-flying SU-25 attack planes appeared in the sky over Yashin's group and delivered a targeted strike at the Interior Ministry troops who were breaking out of their encirclement. The targeter, on Kazantsev's specific orders, was the commanding officer of the Fourth Air Army and Antiaircraft Defense Forces, Lt. Gen. Valerii Gor-benko. As the bombs were dropped, these two heroes, Kazantsev and Gorbenko, were standing at a field observation point and saw with their own eyes that Yashin's group were launching signal flares to indicate where the bombs should not be dropped.
Why was the Armavir special operations unit punished in this manner on September 10? Because it had been set up. They were sacrificed to protect Kazantsev and his idiotic plan. They were invited to die as heroes rather than escape the encirclement and be potential witnesses, butfailed to take the hint. This is the method of our security bosses, later employed many times in Chechnya and elsewhere. Nord-Ost was a clear enough demonstration of the same thing. It is a method sanctioned repeatedly by Putin. If you survive, you must be vilified and punished.
The military procurator's office of the North Caucasus military district is, under our monstrous judicial system, effectively dependent on the commanding officer of its district, in this case Kazantsev, for the allocation of promotions, accommodations, and privileges. It considered a criminal case regarding the killing of the Armavir men, brought by their relatives. The court acquitted Kazantsev on all counts. More than that, it depicted him as a hero surrounded by cowards. Here is a quotation from the court records:
In reality, the Interior troops were retreating in disarray. The situation was close to critical. Kazantsev made the decision to move to the forward sector himself. He personally halted the subdivisions of Interior troops who were fleeing in disorder, and personally identified a new mission to them, attempting to deploy the remainder of the Interior troops’ subdivisions to cut off the fighters.
Kazantsev is an army hero and the Interior troops are cowards. This is the verdict of the court.
The soldiers certainly were fleeing, but from a death trap they had been put in. They tried to survive the bombing as best they could, which was being directed at them on the orders of imbeciles.
Apart from Terentiev's detachment, no others would go to the aid of Yashin because they were army men and because Kazantsev was asleep. At 0830 hours Yashin shouted to Cherkashenko that they all had only a single round of ammunition left and needed to retreat. Cherkashenko agreed. At 0840 hours Kazantsev, having woken up, burst into the command post. He couldn't understand why Yashin was retreating. He had ordered him to hold the position at all costs.
At this point all contact with Yashin was lost. The walkie-talkie batteries had run out. The major was “deaf” and entirely on his own. Yashin divided the unit into groups, headed one himself, entrusted another to Lieutenant Colonel Gadushkin, and at about 1100 hours, gathering their strength, they began to retreat downhill. This was the only way the unit could hope to survive. Kazantsev was at the command post and observed the movements personally. He then gave orders to bomb the slopes. Why? Because he had his plan and had already reported “upstairs” the time within which the fighters on the hill would have been eliminated.
At 1500 hours, two low-flying SU-25 attack planes appeared in the sky over Yashin's group and delivered a targeted strike at the Interior Ministry troops who were breaking out of their encirclement. The targeter, on Kazantsev's specific orders, was the commanding officer of the Fourth Air Army and Antiaircraft Defense Forces, Lt. Gen. Valerii Gor-benko. As the bombs were dropped, these two heroes, Kazantsev and Gorbenko, were standing at a field observation point and saw with their own eyes that Yashin's group were launching signal flares to indicate where the bombs should not be dropped.
Why was the Armavir special operations unit punished in this manner on September 10? Because it had been set up. They were sacrificed to protect Kazantsev and his idiotic plan. They were invited to die as heroes rather than escape the encirclement and be potential witnesses, butfailed to take the hint. This is the method of our security bosses, later employed many times in Chechnya and elsewhere. Nord-Ost was a clear enough demonstration of the same thing. It is a method sanctioned repeatedly by Putin. If you survive, you must be vilified and punished.
The military procurator's office of the North Caucasus military district is, under our monstrous judicial system, effectively dependent on the commanding officer of its district, in this case Kazantsev, for the allocation of promotions, accommodations, and privileges. It considered a criminal case regarding the killing of the Armavir men, brought by their relatives. The court acquitted Kazantsev on all counts. More than that, it depicted him as a hero surrounded by cowards. Here is a quotation from the court records:
In reality, the Interior troops were retreating in disarray. The situation was close to critical. Kazantsev made the decision to move to the forward sector himself. He personally halted the subdivisions of Interior troops who were fleeing in disorder, and personally identified a new mission to them, attempting to deploy the remainder of the Interior troops’ subdivisions to cut off the fighters.
Kazantsev is an army hero and the Interior troops are cowards. This is the verdict of the court.
The soldiers certainly were fleeing, but from a death trap they had been put in. They tried to survive the bombing as best they could, which was being directed at them on the orders of imbeciles.
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