How many lives did the 1993 massacre claim? To the 20th anniversary of the tragic events

And the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother?... And he said, What have you done? the voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground (Gen. 4:9, 10)

Twenty years separate us from the tragic autumn of 1993. But the main question of those bloody events still remains unanswered - how many lives did the October massacre claim in total? In 2010, the book Forgotten Victims of October 1993 was published, where, by virtue of his abilities, the author tried to get closer to the solution. The purpose of this article is to acquaint the indifferent reader, first of all, with those facts that, for various reasons, were not reflected in the book, or were discovered recently.

Briefly about the formal essence of the problem. The official list of the dead, presented on July 27, 1994 by the investigation team of the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia, includes 147 people: in Ostankino - 45 civilians and 1 military personnel, in the "White House area" - 77 civilians and 24 military personnel of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Former investigator of the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia Leonid Georgievich Proshkin, who worked in 1993-95 as part of the investigative-operational group investigating the October events, stated that on October 3-4, 1993, at least 123 civilians were killed and at least 348 people were injured. Somewhat later, he clarified that we could talk about at least 124 dead. Leonid Georgievich explained that he used the term “at least” because he admits “the possibility of a slight increase in the number of victims due to unidentified ... dead and wounded citizens.” “I admit,” he clarified, “that for various reasons several people could not be on our list, maybe three or five.”

Even a superficial examination of the official list raises a number of questions. Of the 122 officially declared dead civilians, only 18 are residents of other regions of Russia and neighboring countries, the rest, not counting a few dead citizens from far abroad, are residents of the Moscow region. It is known that quite a few non-residents came to defend the parliament, including those from rallies at which lists of volunteers were compiled. But loners prevailed, some of them came to Moscow behind the scenes.

They were led to the House of Soviets by pain for Russia: rejection of the betrayal of national interests, the criminalization of the economy, the policy of curtailing industrial and agricultural production, the imposition of alien "values", propaganda of corruption. In the days of the blockade, old women were on duty at the fires - they recalled the war, partisan detachments. On the morning of October 4, they were among the first to be shot by stormtroopers. “How many familiar faces we have not met for the fifth year at our meetings of twin brothers,” journalist N.I. wrote in 1998. Gorbachev. - Who are they all? Out-of-towners who have gone home or missing? A lot of them. And this is only from our acquaintances.

On October 4, 1993, many hundreds of mostly unarmed people found themselves in the House of Soviets and in its immediate vicinity. And starting from about 6 hours 40 minutes in the morning, their mass destruction began.

The first casualties near the parliament building appeared when the defenders' symbolic barricades broke through the armored personnel carriers, opening fire to kill. However, Pavel Yuryevich Bobryashov, even before the start of the attack by armored personnel carriers, noticed a man on the roof of the building of the American embassy. When that man stopped, another bullet struck at the feet of the barricades. Here is the chronology of the execution, compiled by Eduard Anatolyevich Korenev, an eyewitness defender of the Supreme Council: “6 hours 45 minutes. Two armored personnel carriers passed under the windows, an elderly man came out to them with an accordion. At rallies and demonstrations, he sang and played lyrical songs, ditties, dance songs, many knew him as Sasha the harmonist. Before he had time to move away from the entrance, he was shot at point-blank range from an armored personnel carrier. At 6:50 a.m. A guy came out of the tent near the barricade. leather jacket with a white rag in his hand, went to the armored personnel carriers, said something there for about a minute, turned back, walked 25 meters away and fell down, mowed down by a burst. 6 hours 55 minutes A massive fire begins on the unarmed defenders of the barricade. People are running and crawling across the square and across the square, carrying the wounded. Machine guns of armored personnel carriers shoot at them, and machine guns from behind the towers. One armored personnel carrier cuts them off from the entrance with a burst, they jump into the front garden, and immediately another armored personnel carrier covers them with a burst. A boy of about seventeen, hiding behind a Kamaz, crawled towards the wounded man writhing on the grass; they are both shot with multiple barrels. 7:00 a.m. Without any warning, armored personnel carriers begin shelling the House of Soviets.

“In front of our eyes, armored personnel carriers shot unarmed old women, young people who were in tents and near them,” recalled Lieutenant V.P. Shubochkin. - We saw how a group of orderlies ran to the wounded colonel, but two of them were killed. A few minutes later, the sniper also finished off the colonel. A volunteer doctor says: “Two orderlies were killed on the spot while trying to pick up the wounded from the street, near the twentieth entrance. Those wounded were also shot point-blank. We didn’t even have time to find out the names of the boys in white coats, they looked to be eighteen years old. Deputy RS Mukhamadiev witnessed how women in white coats ran out of the parliament building. They were holding white handkerchiefs in their hands. But as soon as they bend down to help the man lying in the blood, they were cut off by bullets from a heavy machine gun. “The girl who bandaged our wounded,” Sergey Korzhikov testifies, “died. The first wound was in the stomach, but she survived. In this state, she tried to crawl to the door, but the second bullet hit her in the head. So she remained lying in a white medical coat, covered in blood.

Journalist Irina Taneeva, not yet fully aware that the assault was beginning, observed the following from the window of the House of Soviets: Three BMDs ran into the bus from three sides at breakneck speed and shot him. The bus burst into flames. People tried to get out of there and immediately fell dead, slain by the dense fire of the BMD. Blood. Nearby Zhiguli, full of people, were also shot and burned. Everyone died."

Moscow State University teacher Sergei Petrovich Surnin was not far from the eighth entrance of the White House at the time of the beginning of the assault. “Between the overpass and the corner of the building,” he recalled, “there were about 30-40 people hiding from the armored personnel carriers that started shooting in our direction. Suddenly, from the rear of the building in front of the balcony there was a strong shooting. Everyone lay down, everyone was unarmed, they lay quite tightly. Armored personnel carriers passed us and from a distance of 12-15 meters they shot those lying - one third of those lying nearby were killed or wounded. Moreover, in the immediate vicinity of me - three dead, two wounded: next to me, to my right, a dead man, another dead behind me, in front of at least one dead.

According to the testimony of the artist Anatoly Leonidovich Nabatov, on the first floor in the eighth entrance to the left of the hall, from one hundred to two hundred corpses were stacked. His boots were soaked with blood. Anatoly Leonidovich went up to the sixteenth floor, saw corpses in the corridors, brains on the walls. On the sixteenth floor, in the first half of the day, he noticed a man who reported on the walkie-talkie about the movement of people. Anatoly Leonidovich handed him over to the Cossacks. The detainee had a foreign journalist's ID. The Cossacks released the "journalist".

R.S. Mukhamadiev, in the midst of the assault, heard from his colleague, a deputy, a professional doctor elected from the Murmansk region, the following: “Already five rooms are full of dead people. And the wounded are countless. More than a hundred people lie in the blood. But we don't have anything. There are no bandages, not even iodine ... ". The President of Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, told Stanislav Govorukhin on the evening of October 4 that 127 corpses were taken out of the White House under him, but many were still left in the building.

The number of dead was significantly increased by the shelling of the House of Soviets with tank shells. From the direct organizers and leaders of the shelling, one can hear that harmless blanks were fired at the building. For example, former Russian Defense Minister P.S. Grachev stated the following: “We fired at the White House with six blanks from one tank at one pre-selected window in order to force the conspirators to leave the building. We knew that there was no one outside the window.

However, the testimonies completely refute such statements. As correspondents of the Moskovskiye Novosti newspaper recorded, at about 11:30 a.m. in the morning, shells pierce the House of Soviets through and through: from the opposite side of the building, simultaneously with a shell hit, 5-10 windows and thousands of sheets of stationery fly out. “Suddenly a tank gun crashed,” the Trud newspaper journalist was amazed at what he saw, “and it seemed to me that a flock of pigeons flew over the House ... It was glass and debris. They circled in the air for a long time. Then thick and dense black smoke poured out of the windows somewhere at the level of the twelfth floor into the blue sky. I was surprised that there were red curtains in the House of Soviets. Then it became clear that these were not curtains, but flames.

People's Deputy of Russia B.D. Babaev, who was with other deputies in the hall of the Council of Nationalities (in the safest place of the White House), recalled: “At some point we feel a powerful explosion, shaking the building ... I recorded such exceptionally powerful explosions 3 or 4".

“What was going on up there,” recalled the deputy of the Supreme Council S.N. Reshulsky in 2003, “is beyond words. These pictures have been standing before my eyes for ten years. And they will never be forgotten." S.V. Rogozhin testifies: “We went to the central lobby. There, surrounded by our guys and officers Makashov, our fifteen-year-old fighter Danila stood and showed a cloth bag. It turned out that Danila was snooping around the upper floors in search of food and came under fire from tank guns. An explosion threw him down the corridor, a shell fragment pierced the bag and the loaf of Borodino bread lying in it. Danila said that he ran down through the shelled floors, where many of the dead lie - most of the unarmed people went up to the upper floors, which are safer under automatic and machine-gun fire.

Moscow City Council deputy Viktor Kuznetsov (after the October tragedy he took the priesthood) was in the parliament building being shot. Approximately at 13:30. he joined a group of defenders who were about to climb to the upper floors and roof of the building to prevent a helicopter landing. “We only reached the eighth floor,” the priest recalled. - It's impossible to go any further. Acrid smoke obscures the eyes... The smell of burnt meat and the sweetish smell of blood are added to this causticity. Quite often you have to step over people lying in different poses. There are many dead everywhere, blood on the walls, on the floor, in broken rooms ... They tried to shock, to find out if anyone was wounded? None of them showed signs of life. We go along the floor, along the broken corridor. It is not possible to go further, the flames from the windows and the same acrid smoke blown by the wind rushing into the broken windows stop. We decide to stop at one of the windows overlooking the City Hall building... A terrible blow shook the entire basement of the building. The shock wave in an all-destroying whirlwind swept through all the rooms, with a crunch, crackling of the crust, breaking, pressing and crushing everything and everyone that was in the way. Those who climbed here were lucky, a strong bearing wall saved them from a deadly squall. Others were less fortunate. Here and there, lying parts of human bodies, splashes of blood on the walls spoke of many things. Assessing the situation, the leader of the group ordered Kuznetsov and the “thin guy” to go down. The rest "in smoke and dust began to climb up."

There were many victims in the second entrance of the White House (one of the tank shells hit the basement).

In a conversation with the editor-in-chief of the Zavtra newspaper A. Prokhanov, Major General of the Ministry of Defense said that according to his data, 64 shots were fired from tanks. Part of the ammunition was a volumetric explosion, which caused huge destruction and casualties among the defenders of Parliament.

Not far from the first-aid post in the eighth entrance, where T.I. Kartintseva provided assistance to the wounded, a shell hit one of the rooms. When they broke down the door into that room, they saw that everything there had burned out and turned into black-and-gray "cotton wool". Human rights activist Yevgeny Vladimirovich Yurchenko, while in the White House during the shelling, saw two offices where everything was folded inward, in a heap, after shells hit it.

According to the writer N.F. Ivanov and major-general of militia V.S. Ovchinsky (in 1992-1995 assistant to the First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs E.A. film camera and walked through many offices. The captured film is stored in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Vladimir Semyonovich Ovchinsky recalls: “On October 5, 1993, the head of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs showed the heads of various departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs a film that the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had made immediately after the arrest of deputies, leaders of the Supreme Council. She was the first to enter the burning building of the White House. And I myself saw this film from beginning to end. It is about 45 minutes. They walked through the burned-out offices, and the comments were as follows: “There was a safe in this place, now there is a melted spot, metal, in this place there was another safe - here is a melted spot.” And there were about ten such comments. From this, I conclude that in addition to ordinary blanks, they fired shaped charges, which burned everything in some offices along with people. And there were not 150 corpses, but much more. They lay in piles, littered with ice, on the basement floor in black bags. It's also on tape. And this was said by the employees who entered the building of the White House after the assault. I testify to this, even on the constitution, even on the Bible.

In addition to the shelling of the parliament building from tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, automatic and sniper fire, which lasted all day, executions were carried out both in the White House and around it, both the immediate defenders of the parliament and citizens who accidentally found themselves in the combat zone.

According to the written testimony of a former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the eighth and twentieth entrances from the first to the third floors, riot police massacred the defenders of the parliament: they cut, finished off the wounded, and raped women. The captain of the 1st rank, Viktor Konstantinovich Kashintsev, testifies: “At about 2.30 p.m. a guy from the third floor made his way to us, covered in blood, squeezed out through sobs: “They open the rooms downstairs with grenades and shoot everyone, he survived, because he was unconscious, apparently, they took him for the dead.” One can only guess about the fate of most of the wounded left in the White House. “For some reason, the wounded were dragged from the lower floors to the upper ones,” recalled a man from A.V. Rutskoy’s entourage. Then they could just finish off.

Many were shot or beaten to death after they left the parliament building. They tried to drive those who came out from the side of the embankment through the yard and the entrances of the house along Glubokoy Lane. “In the entrance, where they pushed us,” I.V. Savelyeva testifies, “it was full of people. There were screams from the upper floors. Everyone was searched, their jackets and coats were torn off - they were looking for servicemen and policemen (those who were on the side of the defenders of the House of Soviets), they were immediately taken away somewhere ... When we were shot, a policeman - the defender of the House of Soviets - was wounded. Someone shouted over the riot police radio: “Do not shoot at the entrances! Who will clean up the corpses?!” The shooting did not stop on the street.

A group of 60-70 civilians who left the White House after 7 p.m. were led by riot police along the embankment to Nikolaeva Street and, having led them into the yards, they were brutally beaten, and then finished off with automatic bursts. Four managed to run into the entrance of one of the houses, where they hid for about a day. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Nikolaevich Romanov was brought into the yard with a group of prisoners. There he saw a large pile of "rags". I looked closely - the corpses of the executed. The shooting intensified in the yard, and the convoy was distracted. Alexander Nikolaevich managed to run to the arch and leave the yard. Viktor Kuznetsov, with a group of people hiding under the arch, ran across the street, which was being shot through with dense fire. Three remained lying motionless in the open space.

A member of the Union of Officers shared his memories of the exodus from the House of Soviets. Here is what he said: “Arrived from Leningrad on October 27th. A few days later he was transferred to the protection of Makashov ... On October 3, we went to Ostankino ... From Ostankino we arrived at 3 o'clock in the morning to the Supreme Council. At 7 o'clock in the morning, when the assault began, I was with Makashov on the first floor at the main entrance. Directly participated in the battles... The wounded were not allowed to be taken out... I left the building at 18:00. We were directed to the central staircase. About 600-700 people gathered on the stairs ... The Alpha officer said that because the buses can’t come up - they are blocked by Yeltsin’s supporters, then they will take us out of the cordon so that we can go to the metro on our own and go home. At the same time, one of the Alpha officers said: “It’s a pity for the guys what will happen to them now.”

We were taken to the nearest residential building. As soon as we reached the alley, fire was opened on us, automatic, sniper fire, from the roofs and the alley. 15 people were immediately killed and wounded. People all ran to the entrances and to the yard of the well house. I was taken prisoner. I was arrested by a police officer with a threat that if I refused to approach him, they would open fire on the women to kill. He took me to three Beytar soldiers armed with sniper rifles. When they saw the Union of Officers badge and camouflage uniform on my chest, they tore off the badge and pulled all the documents out of my pockets and started beating me. At the same time, on the opposite side, near the tree, there were four shot young guys, two of whom were “Barkashovites”. At that moment, two Vityaz fighters approached, one of them an officer, the other a foreman. One of the Betarites gave them my apartment keys as a keepsake.

When the women at the entrance saw that I was about to be shot, they began to break out of the entrance. These Beitarovites started beating them with rifle butts. At that moment, the foreman picked me up, and the officer gave me the keys and told me to go under the cover of women to other yards. When we got there, we were immediately warned that there was an ambush near the school, another OMON unit was stationed there. They ran into the hallway. We were met there by Chechens, in whose apartment we hid until the morning of October 5... We were 5 people... At night there were constant single shots, beatings of people. It was clearly visible and audible. All entrances were checked at the time of discovery of the defenders of the Supreme Council.

Georgy Georgievich Gusev also ended up in that ill-fated yard. They fired from the opposite wing of the house. People rushed into the loose. Georgy Georgievich hid in one of the entrances until 2 am. At 2 o'clock in the morning, unknown people came and offered to take those who wished out of the zone. Gusev slowed down a little, but when he left the entrance, those unknown people were no longer visible, and the dead were lying near the arch, the first three who responded to the call of strangers. Turning 180 degrees, he hid in the thermal basement, unscrewing the light bulb. I sat in the basement until 5 o'clock in the morning. Finally, when he was released, he saw two people who looked like Beitars. One of them said to the other: "Gusev must be here somewhere." Georgy Georgievich again had to take refuge in one of the entrances of the house. Climbing up to the attic, in the front door and on the floors I saw blood and a lot of scattered clothes.

Judging by the testimony of G.G. Gusev, T.I. Kartintseva, deputy of the Supreme Council I.A. Shashviashvili, in addition to riot police, in the courtyard and at the entrances of the house along Glubokoe Lane, the detainees were beaten and killed by unknown “in a strange form”.

Tamara Ilyinichna Kartintseva, together with some other people who left the House of Soviets, hid in the basement of that house. I had to stand in the water because of a broken heating pipe. According to Tamara Ilyinichna, they ran past, there was a clatter of boots, boots, they were looking for the defenders of the parliament. Suddenly, she heard a dialogue between two punishers:

There's a basement somewhere, they're in the basement.

There is water in the basement. They're still all over there anyway.

Let's throw a grenade!

Yes, well, anyway, we will shoot them - not today, so tomorrow, not tomorrow, so in six months, we will shoot all Russian pigs.

On the morning of October 5, local residents saw many dead in the yards. A few days after the events, the correspondent of the Italian newspaper "L` Unione Sarda" Vladimir Koval examined the entrances of the house on Glubokoe Lane. He found broken teeth and strands of hair, although, as he writes, "it seems to have been cleaned up, even sprinkled with sand in some places."

A tragic fate befell many of those who, on the evening of October 4, left the side of the Asmaral (Krasnaya Presnya) stadium located on the back side of the House of Soviets. The executions at the stadium began in the early evening of October 4, and, according to the residents of the houses adjacent to it, who saw how the detainees were shot, "this bloody bacchanalia continued all night." The first group was driven to the concrete fence of the stadium by submachine gunners in spotted camouflage. An armored personnel carrier drove up and slashed the prisoners with machine-gun fire. In the same place, at dusk, the second group was shot.

Anatoly Leonidovich Nabatov, shortly before leaving the House of Soviets, watched from the window as a large group of people was brought to the stadium, according to Nabatov, 150-200 people, and they were shot at the wall adjacent to Druzhinnikovskaya Street.

Gennady Portnov also almost became a victim of the brutalized riot police. “A prisoner, I walked in the same group with two people's deputies,” he recalled. - They were pulled out of the crowd, and they began to drive us with rifle butts to a concrete fence ... Before my eyes, people were put against the wall and, with some pathological gloating, clip after clip was released into the already dead bodies. The wall itself was slippery with blood. Not at all embarrassed, the riot police tore off the clocks and rings from the dead. There was a hitch and we - the five defenders of the parliament - were left unattended for some time. One young guy rushed to run, but he was instantly laid down with two single shots. Then they brought us three more - "Barkashovites" - and ordered to stand at the fence. One of the “Barkashovites” shouted in the direction of residential buildings: “We are Russians! God is with us!" One of the riot police shot him in the stomach and turned to me.” Gennady was saved by a miracle.

Alexander Alexandrovich Lapin, who spent three days, from the evening of October 4 to October 7, at the stadium “on death row” testifies: “After the House of Soviets fell, its defenders were taken to the wall of the stadium. They separated those who were in Cossack uniforms, in police uniforms, in camouflage, military, who had any party documents. Who had nothing like me... leaned against tall tree... And we saw how our comrades were shot in the back ... Then they drove us into the locker room ... They kept us for three days. No food, no water, most importantly, no tobacco. Twenty people."

At night, frantic shooting was repeatedly heard from the stadium and heart-rending cries were heard. Many were shot near the pool. According to a woman who lay all night under one of the private cars that remained on the territory of the stadium, “the dead were dragged to the pool, about twenty meters away, and dumped there.” At 5 am on October 5, Cossacks were still being shot at the stadium.

Yuri Evgenievich Petukhov, father of Natasha Petukhova, who was shot on the night of October 3-4 near the television center in Ostankino, testifies: “Early in the morning of October 5, it was still dark, I drove up to the burning to the White House from the side of the park... I approached the cordon of very young tank guys with a photo of my Natasha, and they told me that there were many corpses in the stadium, there are still in the building and in the basement of the White House... I returned to the stadium and went there from the side of the monument to the victims of 1905. There were a lot of people shot at the stadium. Some of them were without shoes and belts, some were crushed. I was looking for my daughter and went around all the executed and tormented heroes. Yuri Evgenievich specified that the executed were mostly lying along the wall. Among them were many young guys aged about 19, 20, 25 years old. “The look in which they were,” recalled Petukhov, “suggests that before they died, the guys drank dashingly in abundance.” September 21, 2011 on Christmas Day Holy Mother of God I managed to meet with Yu.E. Petukhov. He noticed that he was able to visit the stadium at about 7 am on October 5, i.e., when the executioners had already left the stadium, but the "orderlies" had not yet arrived. According to him, about 50 corpses were lying along the stadium wall facing Druzhinnikovskaya Street.

Eyewitness accounts make it possible to establish the main firing points in the stadium. The first is the corner of the stadium, facing the beginning of Zamorenov Street and then representing a blank concrete wall. The second is in the right (when viewed from Zamorenov Street) far corner, adjacent to the White House. There is a small swimming pool and not far from it a nook-platform between two light buildings. According to local residents, there the prisoners were stripped to their underwear and shot several people at a time. The third shooting point, judging by the stories of A.L. Nabatov and Yu.E. Petukhov, is along the wall overlooking Druzhinnikovskaya Street.

On the morning of October 5, the entrance to the stadium was closed. On that and subsequent days, as local residents testify, armored personnel carriers drove around there, watering trucks drove in and out to wash off the blood. But on October 12, it started to rain, and "the earth responded with blood" - bloody streams flowed through the stadium. Something was burning at the stadium. There was a sweet smell. They probably burned the clothes of the dead.

When the House of Soviets had not yet burned down, the authorities had already begun to falsify the number of deaths in the October tragedy. Late in the evening of October 4, 1993, an informational message passed in the media: "Europe hopes that the number of victims will be kept to a minimum." The recommendation of the West was heard in the Kremlin.

Early in the morning of October 5, 1993, B.N. Yeltsin called the head of the presidential administration, S.A. Filatov. The following conversation took place between them:

Sergei Alexandrovich, ... for your information, one hundred and forty-six people died during all the days of the rebellion.

It's good that you said, Boris Nikolaevich, otherwise there was a feeling that 700-1500 people died. It would be necessary to print the lists of the dead.

I agree, please fix it.

How many dead were taken to Moscow morgues on October 3-4? In the first days after the October massacre, employees of morgues and hospitals refused to answer the question about the number of dead, referring to an order from the head office. “For two days I called dozens of Moscow hospitals and mortuaries, trying to find out,” Y. Igonin testifies. - They answered openly: “We were forbidden to give out this information.” “I went to hospitals,” recalled another witness. - In the emergency room they answered: “Girl, we were told not to say anything.”

Moscow doctors claimed that as of October 12, 179 corpses of victims of the October massacre had been passed through Moscow morgues. On October 5, GMUM spokesman I.F. Nadezhdin, along with official data on 108 dead, excluding the corpses that still remained in the White House, named another figure - about 450 dead, which needed to be clarified.

However, a large part of the corpses that entered the Moscow morgues soon disappeared from there. According to the chairman of the Union of Victims of Political Terror, V. Movchan, records of the receipt of corpses in pathoanatomical institutions were destroyed. A significant part of the corpses were taken from the morgue of the Botkin hospital in an unknown direction. According to the information of MK journalists, within two weeks after the events, the corpses of “unknown persons” were twice taken out of the morgue on trucks with civilian numbers. They were taken out in plastic bags. Deputy A.N. Greshnevikov, on parole that he would not name names, was told in the same morgue that “there were corpses from the House of Soviets; they were taken out in vans in plastic bags; it was impossible to count them - too many.

In addition to the morgues located in the GMUM system, many of the dead were sent to specialized departmental morgues, where they were difficult to find. Starting from October 5, the doctor of the MMA Rescue Center named after. I.M. Sechenov A.V. Dalnov and his colleagues toured the hospitals and morgues of the ministries of defense, internal affairs and state security. They managed to find out that the corpses of the victims of the October tragedy, who were there, were not included in the official reports.

But in the very building of the former parliament there were many corpses that did not even get into the morgues. How many people died during the storming of the House of Soviets, were shot at the stadium and in the yards, and how were their bodies taken out?

S.N. Baburin was told the number of dead - 762 people. Another source named over 750 dead. Journalists of the newspaper Arguments and Facts » found out that the soldiers and officers of the internal troops for several days collected the remains of almost 800 of its defenders “charred and torn by tank shells” around the building. Among the dead were found the bodies of those who

drowned in the flooded dungeons of the White House. According to the former deputy of the Supreme Council from the Chelyabinsk region A.S. Baronenko, about 900 people died in the House of Soviets.

At the end of October 1993, the editorial office of Nezavisimaya Gazeta received a letter from an officer of the internal troops. He claimed that about 1,500 corpses were found in the White House. Among the dead are women and children. The information was published without a signature. But the editors assured that they had the signature and address of the officer who sent the letter. On the fifteenth anniversary of the execution of the House of Soviets, the former chairman of the Supreme Council of Russia, R.I. Khasbulatov, in an interview with MK journalist K. Novikov, said that a high-ranking police general swore, swore, and called the number of dead 1,500 people.

A note was seen on the desk of Prime Minister V.S. But the bodies of the dead were taken out of the destroyed parliament building for four days. Police Major General Vladimir Semenovich Ovchinsky, an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who visited the parliament building after the assault, said that 1,700 corpses had been found there. Corpses in piles in black bags, littered with dry ice, lay on the basement floor.

According to some reports, up to 160 people were shot at the stadium. Moreover, until 2 am on October 5, they were shot in batches, having previously beaten their victims. locals they saw that about a hundred people were shot not far from the pool. According to Baronenko, about 300 people were shot at the stadium.

Lidia Vasilievna Zeitlina, some time after the October events, met with the driver of the motor depot. The trucks of that motor depot were involved in the removal of corpses from the White House. The driver said that on the night of October 4-5, the corpses of those shot at the stadium were transported in his truck. He had to make two flights to the Moscow region, to the forest. There, the corpses were thrown into pits, covered with earth, and the burial place was leveled with a bulldozer. The bodies were taken out on other trucks. As the driver put it, "tired of driving."

In the early years of the existence of the Russian Federation, the confrontation President Boris Yeltsin and the Supreme Council led to an armed clash, the shooting of the White House and bloodshed. As a result, the system of government bodies that had existed since the times of the USSR was completely eliminated, and a new Constitution was adopted. AiF.ru recalls the tragic events of October 3-4, 1993.

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, according to the Constitution of 1978, was empowered to resolve all issues within the jurisdiction of the RSFSR. After the USSR ceased to exist, the Supreme Soviet was an organ of the Congress people's deputies RF (the highest authority) and still had enormous power and authority, despite the amendments to the Constitution on the separation of powers.

It turned out that the main law of the country, adopted under Brezhnev, limited the rights of the elected president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, and he strove for the speedy adoption of a new Constitution.

In 1992-1993, a constitutional crisis erupted in the country. President Boris Yeltsin and his supporters, as well as the Council of Ministers, entered into a confrontation with the Supreme Soviet, chaired by Ruslana Khasbulatova, most of the People's Deputies of the Congress and Vice President Alexander Rutsky.

The conflict was connected with the fact that its parties completely differently represented the further political and socio-economic development of the country. They had especially serious differences over economic reforms, and no one was going to compromise.

Aggravation of the crisis

The crisis entered its active phase on September 21, 1993, when Boris Yeltsin announced in a televised address that he had issued a decree on a phased constitutional reform, according to which the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet were to cease their activities. He was supported by the Council of Ministers, headed by Viktor Chernomyrdin and Mayor of Moscow Yury Luzhkov.

However, under the current Constitution of 1978, the president did not have the authority to dissolve the Supreme Council and the Congress. His actions were regarded as unconstitutional, the Supreme Court decided to terminate the powers of President Yeltsin. Ruslan Khasbulatov even called his actions a coup d'état.

In the following weeks, the conflict only escalated. Members of the Supreme Council and people's deputies actually found themselves blocked in the White House, where communications and electricity were cut off and there was no water. The building was cordoned off by police and military personnel. In turn, opposition volunteers were given weapons to guard the White House.

The storming of Ostankino and the shooting of the White House

The situation of dual power could not continue for too long and eventually led to riots, armed clashes and the shooting of the House of Soviets.

On October 3, supporters of the Supreme Council gathered for a rally on October Square, then moved to the White House and unblocked it. Vice President Alexander Rutskoi urged them to storm the city hall on Novy Arbat and Ostankino. The city hall building was seized by armed demonstrators, but when they tried to get into the television center, a tragedy broke out.

To defend the television center in Ostankino, a detachment of special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs "Vityaz" arrived. An explosion occurred in the ranks of the fighters, from which Private Nikolai Sitnikov died.

After that, the "Knights" began to shoot at the crowd of supporters of the Supreme Council, who had gathered near the television center. Broadcasting of all TV channels from Ostankino was interrupted, only one channel remained on the air, broadcasting from another studio. An attempt to storm the television center was unsuccessful and led to the death of a number of demonstrators, military personnel, journalists and random people.

The next day, October 4, troops loyal to President Yeltsin launched an assault on the House of Soviets. The White House was shelled by tanks. A fire broke out in the building, due to which its facade was half blackened. Shots of shelling then spread around the world.

Onlookers gathered to watch the execution of the White House, putting themselves in danger because they fell into the field of view of snipers located on neighboring houses.

During the day, the defenders of the Supreme Council began to leave the building en masse, and by the evening they stopped resisting. Opposition leaders, including Khasbulatov and Rutskoi, were arrested. In 1994, the participants in these events were amnestied.

The tragic events of late September - early October 1993 claimed the lives of more than 150 people, about 400 people were injured. Among the dead were journalists who covered what was happening, and many ordinary citizens. October 7, 1993 was declared a day of mourning.

After October

The events of October 1993 led to the fact that the Supreme Council and the Congress of People's Deputies ceased to exist. The system of state bodies, left over from the times of the USSR, was completely eliminated.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Before the elections to the Federal Assembly and the adoption of the new Constitution, all power was in the hands of President Boris Yeltsin.

On December 12, 1993, a popular vote was held on the new Constitution and elections to the State Duma and the Federation Council.

The economic and political crisis that began in the 80s of the 20th century in the USSR intensified significantly in the 90s and led to a number of global and radical changes in the territorial and political system of one sixth of the land, then called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and its collapse .

It was a period of intense political struggle and confusion. Supporters of maintaining a strong central government entered into a confrontation with supporters of decentralization and sovereignty of the republics.

On November 6, 1991, Boris Yeltsin, who had been elected by that time to the post of President of the RSFSR, by his decree stopped the activities of the Communist Party in the republic.

On December 25, 1991, the last President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, spoke on central television. He announced his resignation. At 19-38 Moscow time, the flag of the USSR was lowered from the Kremlin, and after almost 70 years of existence Soviet Union forever disappeared from political map peace. A new era has begun.

Dual Power Crisis

The confusion and chaos that always accompanies change political system, did not bypass the formation of the Russian Federation. Simultaneously with the preservation of broad powers for the Congress of People's Deputies, the post of President was established. There was a dual power in the state. The country demanded rapid changes, but the President was severely limited in power before the adoption of a new version of the basic law. According to the old, still Soviet Constitution, most of the powers were in the hands of the highest body of legislative power - the Supreme Council.

Parties to the conflict

On one side of the confrontation was Boris Yeltsin. He was supported by the Cabinet of Ministers, headed by Viktor Chernomyrdin, the mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, a small number of deputies, as well as law enforcement agencies.

On the other side was the bulk of the deputies and members of the Supreme Council, headed by Ruslan Khasbulatov and Alexander Rutskoi, who served as vice president. Among their supporters, the majority were communist deputies and members of nationalist parties.

Causes

The President and his associates advocated the rapid adoption of a new basic law and the strengthening of the influence of the President. Most were supporters shock therapy". They wanted the speedy implementation of economic reforms and complete change all power structures. Their opponents were in favor of keeping all power in the Congress of People's Deputies, as well as against hasty reforms. An additional reason was the unwillingness of the Congress to ratify the treaties signed in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. And the supporters of the Council believed that the president's team was simply trying to blame them for their failures in reforming the economy. After lengthy and fruitless negotiations, the conflict reached a stalemate.

open confrontation

On March 20, 1993, Yeltsin spoke on central television about the signing of Decree No. 1400 "On a phased constitutional reform in the Russian Federation." It provided for the order of administration during the transitional period. This decree also provided for the termination of the powers of the Supreme Council and the holding of a referendum on a number of issues. The President argued that all attempts to establish cooperation with the Supreme Council had failed, and in order to overcome the protracted crisis, he was forced to take certain measures. But later it turned out that Yeltsin never signed the decree.

On March 28, the Congress considers a proposal to impeach the President and dismiss the head of the Council, Khasbulatov. Both proposals did not receive the required number of votes. In particular, 617 deputies voted for the impeachment of Yeltsin, while at least 689 votes were needed. The draft resolution on holding early elections was also rejected.

Referendum and constitutional reform

On April 25, 1993, a referendum was held. There were four questions on the ballots. The first two are about trust in the President and his policy. The last two are about the need for early elections of the President and deputies. The first two respondents answered positively, while the latter did not get the required number of votes. The draft of the new version of the Constitution of the Russian Federation was published in the newspaper Izvestia on April 30.

Escalation of confrontation

On September 1, President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree on the temporary removal of A. V. Rutskoi from his post. The Vice President constantly spoke with sharp criticism of the decisions made by the President. Rutskoy was accused of corruption, but the allegations were not confirmed. Besides decision was inconsistent with applicable law.

On September 21 at 7:55 pm, the text of Decree No. 1400 was received by the Presidium of the Supreme Council. And at 20-00, Yeltsin addressed the people and announced that the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet were losing their powers due to their inactivity and sabotage. Provisional government bodies were introduced. RF was appointed.

In response to the actions of the President, the Supreme Council issued a decree on the immediate removal of Yeltsin and the transfer of his functions to Vice President A. V. Rutskoi. This was followed by an appeal to the citizens of the Russian Federation, the peoples of the commonwealth, deputies of all levels, military personnel and employees of law enforcement agencies, which called for stopping the attempted "coup d'état". The organization of the headquarters for the protection of the House of Soviets was also begun.

Siege

At about 8:45 pm, a spontaneous rally gathered under the White House, and the construction of barricades began.

September 22 at 00-25 Rutskoi announced his assumption of the office of the President of the Russian Federation. In the morning there were about 1,500 people near the White House, by the end of the day there were several thousand. Volunteer groups began to form. There was a dual power in the country. The heads of administrations and the siloviki mostly supported Boris Yeltsin. Bodies of representative power - Khasbulatov and Rutskoi. The latter issued decrees, and Yeltsin, by his decrees, recognized all his decrees as invalid.

On September 23, the government decided to disconnect the building of the House of Soviets from heating, electricity and telecommunications. The guards of the Supreme Council were given machine guns, pistols and ammunition for them.

Late in the evening of the same day, a group of armed supporters of the Armed Forces attacked the headquarters of the unified armed forces of the CIS. Two people died. Supporters of the president used the attack as an excuse to increase pressure on those holding the blockade near the building of the Supreme Council.

The Extraordinary Extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies opened at 22:00.

On September 24, the Congress recognized President B. Yeltsin as illegitimate and approved all personnel appointments made by Alexander Rutskoi.

Deputy Prime Minister S. Shakhrai said that people's deputies have become in fact hostages of armed extremist groups that are being formed in the building.

September 28th. At night, employees of the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate blocked the entire territory that was adjacent to the House of Soviets. All approaches were blocked with barbed wire and watering machines. The passage of people and vehicles is completely stopped. Throughout the day, numerous rallies and riots of supporters of the Armed Forces arose near the cordon ring.

September 29th. The cordon was extended to the Garden Ring itself. Residential buildings and social facilities were cordoned off. By order of the head of the Armed Forces, journalists were no longer allowed into the building. Colonel General Makashov warned from the balcony of the House of Soviets that if the perimeter of the fence was violated, fire would be opened without warning.

In the evening, the demand of the Russian government was announced, in which Alexander Rutskoi and Ruslan Khasbulatov were offered to remove all their supporters from the building and disarm them by October 4 under the guarantee of personal safety and amnesty.

September 30th. At night, a message was circulated that the Supreme Soviet allegedly plans to carry out armed attacks on strategic objects. Armored vehicles were sent to the House of Soviets. In response, Rutskoi ordered the commander of the 39th motorized rifle division, Major General Frolov, to move two regiments to Moscow.

In the morning, demonstrators began to arrive in small groups. Despite their completely peaceful behavior, the police and riot police continued to brutally disperse the protesters, which further aggravated the situation.

October 1st. At night, in the St. Danilov Monastery, with the assistance of Patriarch Alexy, negotiations took place. The president's side was represented by: Oleg Filatov and Oleg Soskovets. Ramazan Abdulatipov and Veniamin Sokolov arrived from the Council. As a result of the negotiations, Protocol No. 1 was signed, according to which the defenders handed over some of the weapons in the building in exchange for electricity, heating and working telephones. Immediately after the signing of the Protocol, heating was connected in the White House, an electrician appeared, and hot food was prepared in the dining room. About 200 journalists were allowed into the building. It was relatively easy to enter and leave the besieged building.

2 October. The military council headed by denounced Protocol No. 1. The negotiations were called "nonsense" and "screen". An important role in this was played by the personal ambitions of Khasbulatov, who was afraid of losing power in the Supreme Council. He insisted that he should personally negotiate directly with President Yeltsin.

After the denunciation, the power supply was again cut off in the building, and the access control was strengthened.

Attempt to capture Ostankino

14-00. A rally of thousands is held on October Square. Despite attempts, the riot police fail to force the protesters out of the square. Having broken through the cordon, the crowd advanced in the direction of the Crimean bridge and beyond. The Moscow police department sent 350 soldiers of the internal troops to Zubovskaya Square, who tried to cordon off the protesters. But after a few minutes they were crushed and pushed back, while capturing 10 military trucks.

15:00. From the balcony of the White House, Rutskoi calls on the crowd to storm the Moscow City Hall and the Ostankino television center.

15-25. A crowd of thousands, having broken through the cordon, is moving towards the White House. The riot police moved to the mayor's office and opened fire. 7 protesters were killed, dozens were injured. 2 police officers were also killed.

16-00. Boris Yeltsin signs a decree declaring a state of emergency in the city.

16-45. Protestants, led by the appointed Minister of Defense, Colonel General, seize the Moscow mayor's office. OMON and internal troops were forced to retreat and in a hurry leave 10-15 buses and tent trucks, 4 armored personnel carriers and even a grenade launcher.

17-00. A column of several hundred volunteers on seized trucks and armored personnel carriers, armed with automatic weapons and even a grenade launcher, arrives at the television center. In an ultimatum form, they demand to provide a live broadcast.

At the same time, armored personnel carriers of the Dzerzhinsky division, as well as detachments of the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs "Vityaz", arrive at Ostankino.

Long negotiations begin with the security of the television center. While they are dragging on, other detachments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and internal troops arrive at the building.

19-00. "Ostankino" is guarded by approximately 480 armed fighters from different units.

Continuing the spontaneous rally, demanding to be given airtime, the protesters are trying to knock out the glass doors of the ASK-3 building with a truck. They succeed only partially. Makashov warns that if fire is opened, the protesters will respond with their existing grenade launcher. During the negotiations, one of the general's guards is wounded by a firearm. While the wounded man was being taken out to the ambulance, explosions were simultaneously heard at the demolished doors and inside the building, presumably from an unknown explosive device. A special forces soldier dies. After that, indiscriminate fire was opened on the crowd. In the ensuing twilight, no one made out who to shoot at. Protestants were killed, journalists who simply sympathized, trying to pull out the wounded. But the worst began later. In a panic, the crowd tried to hide in the Oak Grove, but there the security forces surrounded them in a dense ring and began to shoot at point-blank range from armored vehicles. Officially, 46 people died. Hundreds of wounded. But there may have been many more victims.

20-45. Ye. Gaidar on television appeals to the supporters of President Yeltsin with an appeal to gather near the building of the Moscow City Council. From the arrivals, people with combat experience are selected and volunteer detachments are formed. Shoigu guarantees that if necessary, people will receive weapons.

23-00. Makashov orders his men to retreat to the House of Soviets.

White House shooting

October 4, At night, Gennady Zakharov's plan to capture the House of Soviets was heard and approved. It included the use of armored vehicles and even tanks. The assault was scheduled for 7-00 in the morning.

Due to the mess and inconsistency of all actions, conflicts occur between the Taman division that arrived in Moscow, armed people from the Union of Afghan Veterans, and Dzerzhinsky's division.

In total, 10 tanks, 20 armored vehicles and approximately 1,700 people were involved in the shooting of the White House in Moscow (1993). personnel. The detachments recruited only officers and sergeants.

5-00. Yeltsin issues Decree No. 1578 "On urgent measures to ensure the state of emergency in Moscow."

6-50. The shooting of the White House began (year: 1993). The first to die from a bullet wound was a police captain, who was on the balcony of the Ukraine Hotel and filmed the events on a video camera.

7-25. 5 BMPs, crushing the barricades, enter the square in front of the White House.

8-00. Armored vehicles open aimed fire at the windows of the building. Under cover of fire, soldiers of the Tula Airborne Division are approaching the House of Soviets. Defenders shoot at the military. A fire broke out on the 12th and 13th floors.

9-20. The shooting of the White House from tanks continues. They started shelling the upper floors. A total of 12 rounds were fired. Later it was claimed that the shooting was carried out with blanks, but judging by the destruction, the shells were live.

11-25. Artillery fire resumed again. Despite the danger, crowds of curious people begin to gather around. Among the onlookers were even women and children. Despite the fact that hospitals have already received 192 injured participants in the execution of the White House, 18 of whom died.

15:00. From high-rise buildings adjacent to the House of Soviets, unknown snipers open fire. They shoot at civilians too. Two journalists and a woman passing by are killed.

Special forces detachments "Vympel" and "Alpha" are ordered to storm. But contrary to the order, the group commanders decide to make an attempt to negotiate a peaceful surrender. Later, the special forces will be secretly punished for this arbitrariness.

16-00. A man in camouflage enters the premises and leads out about 100 people through the emergency exit, promising that they are not in danger.

17-00. The spetsnaz commanders manage to persuade the defenders to surrender. About 700 people left the building along the living corridor of the security forces with their hands raised. All of them were put on buses and taken to filtration points.

17-30. Still in the Khasbulat House, Rutskoi and Makashov asked for protection from the ambassadors of Western European countries.

19-01. They were detained and sent to a pre-trial detention center in Lefortovo.

The results of the assault on the White House

Very different assessments and opinions exist now about the events of "Bloody October". There are also differences in the number of deaths. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, during the execution of the White House in October 1993, 148 people died. Other sources give figures from 500 to 1500 people. Even more people could become victims of executions in the first hours after the end of the assault. Witnesses claim that they watched the beatings and executions of detained protesters. According to deputy Baronenko, about 300 people were shot without trial or investigation at the Krasnaya Presnya stadium alone. The driver who took out the corpses after the shooting of the White House (you can see the photo of those bloody events in the article) claimed that he was forced to make two trips. The bodies were taken to the forest near Moscow, where they were buried in mass graves without identification.

As a result of the armed confrontation, the Supreme Soviet ceased to exist as a state body. President Yeltsin confirmed and consolidated his power. Undoubtedly, the shooting of the White House (you already know the year) can be interpreted as an attempted coup. It is difficult to judge who was right and who is wrong. Time will judge.

Thus ended the bloodiest page in new history Russia, which finally destroyed the remnants of Soviet power and turned the Russian Federation into a sovereign state with a presidential-parliamentary form of government.

Memory

Every year in many cities of the Russian Federation, many communist organizations, including the Communist Party, organize rallies in memory of the victims of that bloody day in the history of our country. In particular, in the capital on October 4, citizens gather on Krasnopresenskaya Street, where a monument to the victims of the tsar's executioners was erected. A rally is held here, after which all its participants are on their way to the White House. They are holding portraits of the victims of "Yeltsinism" and flowers.

Fifteen years after the execution of the White House in 1993, a traditional rally was held on Krasnopresenskaya Street. Its resolution was two points:

• declare October 4th a Day of Sorrow;
• erect a monument to the victims of the tragedy.

But, to our great regret, the rally participants and the entire Russian people did not wait for a response from the authorities.

20 years after the tragedy (in 2013), the State Duma decided to create a Commission of the Communist Party faction to verify the circumstances preceding the events of October 4, 1993. Alexander Dmitrievich Kulikov was appointed chairman. On July 5, 2013, the first meeting of the established commission took place.

Nevertheless, the citizens of Russia are sure that those who died in the shooting of the White House in 1993 deserve more attention. Their memory must be perpetuated...

25 years have passed since the days when people's deputies of Russia and ordinary citizens shoulder to shoulder defended the rights of their people and the Constitution of Russia.

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Background

The economic and political crisis that began in the 1980s in the USSR intensified significantly in the 1990s and led to a number of global and radical changes in its territorial and political system. It was a period of intense political struggle and confusion. Supporters of maintaining a strong central government entered into a confrontation with supporters of decentralization and sovereignty of the republics.

On December 25, 1991, the last President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, spoke on central television. He announced his resignation. At 19:38 Moscow time, the flag of the USSR was lowered from the Kremlin, and, after almost 70 years of existence, the Soviet Union disappeared forever from the political map of the world.

Dual Power Crisis

Simultaneously with the preservation of broad powers, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR and the Congress of People's Deputies established the post of President.

On one side of the confrontation was Boris Yeltsin. He was supported by the Cabinet of Ministers, headed by Viktor Chernomyrdin, the mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, a small number of deputies, as well as law enforcement agencies.

On the other side was the bulk of the deputies and members of the Supreme Council, headed by Ruslan Khasbulatov and Alexander Rutskoi, who served as vice president.

The President and his associates advocated the rapid adoption of a new fundamental law and the strengthening of the influence of the President, the majority were supporters of "shock therapy". They wanted the speedy implementation of economic reforms and a complete change in all power structures.

Their opponents were in favor of keeping all power in the Congress of People's Deputies, as well as against hasty reforms. An additional reason was the unwillingness of the Congress to ratify the treaties signed in Belovezhskaya Pushcha.

After lengthy and fruitless negotiations, the conflict reached a stalemate. Neither the proposals to impeach the president and Khasbulatov's resignation, nor the proposal to hold early elections passed.

On September 1, President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree on the temporary removal of A. V. Rutskoi from his post. The Vice President constantly spoke with sharp criticism of the decisions made by the President. Rutskoy was accused of corruption, but the allegations were not confirmed.

On September 21, Yeltsin addressed the people and announced that the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet were losing their powers due to their inaction and sabotage of the constitutional reform. Provisional authorities were introduced. Scheduled elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

In response to the actions of the President, the Supreme Council issued a decree on the immediate removal of Yeltsin and the transfer of his functions to Vice President A. V. Rutskoi. This was followed by an appeal to the citizens of the Russian Federation, the peoples of the commonwealth, deputies of all levels, military personnel and employees of law enforcement agencies, which called for stopping the attempted "coup d'état". The organization of the headquarters for the protection of the House of Soviets was also begun.

Siege

On the same day, at about 8:45 pm, a spontaneous rally gathered under the walls of the White House, and the erection of barricades began.

In the morning there were about 1,500 people near the White House, by the end of the day there were several thousand. Volunteer groups began to form.

The heads of administrations and the siloviki mostly supported Boris Yeltsin. Bodies of representative power - Khasbulatov and Rutskoi. Rutskoi issued decrees, and Yeltsin, by his decrees, recognized all of them as invalid.

On September 23, the government decided to disconnect the building of the House of Soviets from heating, electricity and telecommunications. The guards of the Supreme Council were given machine guns, pistols and ammunition for them. Late in the evening of the same day, a group of armed supporters of the Armed Forces attacked the headquarters of the unified armed forces of the CIS. Two people died.

Supporters of the president used the attack as an excuse to increase pressure on those holding the blockade near the building of the Supreme Council.

In the evening of the same day, an extraordinary extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies opened.

On September 24, the Congress recognized President B. Yeltsin as illegitimate and approved all personnel appointments made by Alexander Rutskoi.

September 28th. At night, employees of the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate blocked the entire territory that was adjacent to the House of Soviets. All approaches were blocked with barbed wire and watering machines. The passage of people and vehicles is completely stopped. Throughout the day, numerous rallies and riots of supporters of the Armed Forces arose near the cordon ring.

September 29th. The cordon was extended to the Garden Ring itself. Residential buildings and social facilities were cordoned off. By order of the head of the Armed Forces, journalists were no longer allowed into the building. Colonel General Makashov warned from the balcony of the House of Soviets that if the perimeter of the fence was violated, fire would be opened without warning. In the evening, the demand of the Russian government was announced, in which Alexander Rutskoi and Ruslan Khasbulatov were offered to remove all their supporters from the building and disarm them by October 4 under the guarantee of personal safety and amnesty.

September 30th. At night, a message was circulated that the Supreme Soviet allegedly plans to carry out armed attacks on strategic objects. Armored vehicles were sent to the House of Soviets. In response, Rutskoi ordered the commander of the 39th motorized rifle division, Major General Frolov, to move two regiments to Moscow. In the morning, demonstrators began to arrive in small groups. Despite their completely peaceful behavior, the police and riot police continued to brutally disperse the protesters, which further aggravated the situation.

October 1st. At night, in the St. Danilov Monastery, with the assistance of Patriarch Alexy, negotiations of the parties took place. Yuri Luzhkov, Oleg Filatov and Oleg Soskovets spoke for the president. Ramazan Abdulatipov and Veniamin Sokolov arrived from the Council. As a result of the negotiations, Protocol No. 1 was signed, according to which the defenders handed over some of the weapons in the building in exchange for electricity, heating and working telephones. Immediately after the signing of the Protocol, heating was connected in the White House, an electrician appeared, and hot food was prepared in the dining room. About 200 journalists were allowed into the building. It was relatively easy to enter and leave the besieged building.

2 October. The military council headed by Ruslan Khasbulatov denounced Protocol No. 1. The negotiations were called "nonsense" and "screen". He insisted that he should personally negotiate directly with President Yeltsin. After the denunciation, the power supply was again cut off in the building, and the access control was strengthened.

Assault on Ostankino

October 3rd. At 14:00, a rally of thousands took place on October Square. Despite attempts, the riot police fail to oust the Protestants. Having broken through the cordon, the crowd advanced in the direction of the Crimean bridge and beyond. The Moscow police department sent 350 soldiers of the internal troops to Zubovskaya Square, who tried to cordon off the protesters. But after a few minutes they were crushed and pushed back, while capturing 10 military trucks. An hour later, from the balcony of the White House, Rutskoi calls on the crowd to storm the Moscow City Hall and the Ostankino television center. A crowd of thousands, having broken through the cordon, begins to move towards the White House. The riot police moved to the mayor's office and opened fire. 7 protesters were killed, dozens were injured. 2 police officers were also killed. At 16:00 Boris Yeltsin signs a decree declaring a state of emergency in the city. But the Protestants, led by the appointed Minister of Defense, Colonel-General Albert Makashov, are taking over the Moscow mayor's office. OMON and internal troops were forced to retreat and in a hurry leave 10-15 buses and tent trucks, 4 armored personnel carriers and even a grenade launcher. At 5:00 pm, a convoy of several hundred volunteers in seized trucks and armored personnel carriers, armed with automatic weapons and even a grenade launcher, arrives at the television center. In an ultimatum form, they demand to provide a live broadcast. At the same time, armored personnel carriers of the Dzerzhinsky division, as well as detachments of the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs "Vityaz", arrive at Ostankino. Long negotiations begin with the security of the television center. While they are dragging on, other detachments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and internal troops arrive at the building. At 19:00. "Ostankino" is guarded by approximately 480 armed fighters from different units. Continuing the spontaneous rally, demanding to be given airtime, the protesters are trying to knock out the glass doors of the ASK-3 building with a truck. They succeed only partially. Makashov warns that if fire is opened, the protesters will respond with their existing grenade launcher. During the negotiations, one of the general's guards is wounded by a firearm. While the wounded man was being carried to the ambulance, explosions were simultaneously heard at the demolished doors and inside the building, presumably from an unknown explosive device. A special forces soldier dies. After that, indiscriminate fire was opened on the crowd. In the ensuing twilight, no one made out who to shoot at. Protestants were killed, journalists who simply sympathized, trying to pull out the wounded.

But the worst began later. In a panic, the crowd tried to hide in the Oak Grove, but there the security forces surrounded them in a dense ring and began to shoot at point-blank range from armored vehicles. Officially, 46 people died. Hundreds of wounded. But there may have been many more victims. At 8:45 pm, Yegor Gaidar on television addresses the supporters of President Yeltsin with an appeal to gather near the building of the Moscow City Council. From the arrivals, people with combat experience are selected and volunteer detachments are formed. Shoigu guarantees that if necessary, people will receive weapons. At 23-00 Makashov orders his people to retreat to the House of Soviets.

White House shooting

On October 4, 1993, Gennady Zakharov's plan to seize the House of Soviets was heard and approved at night. It included the use of armored vehicles and even tanks. The assault was scheduled for 7-00 in the morning. Due to the confusion and inconsistency of all actions, conflicts occur between the Taman division that arrived in Moscow, armed people from the Union of Afghan Veterans, and Dzerzhinsky's division. In total, 10 tanks, 20 armored vehicles and approximately 1,700 personnel were involved in the shooting of the White House in Moscow. The detachments recruited only officers and sergeants.

On the pre-shooting October night at the Moscow City Council, Yegor Gaidar, using television, which was completely controlled by the Yeltsin group, gathered crowds of "liberal democrats" and from the balcony called for the killing of "red-brown" deputies and defenders - "these pigs who call themselves Russian and Orthodox" .

The assault was scheduled for 7-00 in the morning. The first to die from a bullet wound was a police captain, who was on the balcony of the Ukraine Hotel and filmed the events on a video camera.

5 infantry fighting vehicles, crushing the barricades, enter the square in front of the White House. Armored vehicles open aimed fire at the windows of the building. Under cover of fire, soldiers of the Tula Airborne Division are approaching the House of Soviets. Defenders shoot at the military. A fire broke out on the 12th and 13th floors. Tanks began shelling the upper floors. A total of 12 rounds were fired. Later it was claimed that the shooting was carried out with blanks, but judging by the destruction, the shells were live.

At 11:25 artillery fire resumed again. Despite the danger, crowds of curious people begin to gather around. Among the onlookers were even women and children. Hospitals have already received 192 injured participants in the shooting of the White House, 18 of whom died.

Alexander Korzhakov’s book “Boris Yeltsin: From Dawn Till Dusk” reports that when Yeltsin scheduled the capture of the White House for 7 am on October 4 with the arrival of tanks, the Alpha group refused to storm, considering everything that was happening unconstitutional, and demanded the conclusion of the Constitutional Court Russia.

Then "unknown" snipers started shooting at the back of the opposing sides. According to operational information received at that time by various organizations, there was a message that “these were snipers of international special services, who, under the guise of athletes, were placed in the Ukraine Hotel, from where they fired aimed fire.”

At 15:00 from the high-rise buildings adjacent to the House of Soviets, these snipers open fire. They are shooting at civilians. Two journalists and a woman passing by are killed.

Special Forces detachments "Vympel" and "Alpha" are ordered to storm the building. But contrary to the order, the group commanders decide to make an attempt to negotiate a peaceful surrender. Later, the special forces will be punished for this arbitrariness.

An hour later, a man in camouflage enters the premises and leads out about 100 people through the emergency exit, promising that they are not in danger. The spetsnaz commanders manage to persuade the defenders to surrender. About 700 people left the building along the living corridor of the security forces with their hands raised. All of them were put into buses and taken to filtration points.

Still in the Khasbulat House, Rutskoi and Makashov asked for protection from the ambassadors of Western European countries. But they were detained and sent to a pre-trial detention center in Lefortovo.

Historical assessment of the storming of the White House

Today there are different assessments of the events of "bloody October". There are also differences in the number of deaths. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, during the execution of the White House in October 1993, 148 people died. Other sources give figures from 500 to 1500 people.

Even more people could become victims of executions in the first hours after the end of the assault. Witnesses claim to have seen beatings and executions of detained Protestants.

According to deputy Baronenko, about 300 people were shot without trial at the Krasnaya Presnya stadium. The driver who took out the corpses after the shooting of the White House claimed that he was forced to make two walkers. The bodies were taken to the forest near Moscow, where they were buried in mass graves without identification.

It has already become known today that the officers, participants in the assault on the Supreme Soviet of Russia, were paid 5 million rubles (approximately 4,200 US dollars at the exchange rate of that time) as a reward each, riot policemen were given twice 200 thousand rubles (approximately 330 dollars), ordinary received 100 thousand rubles and so on.

In total, more than 11 billion rubles (9 million US dollars) were spent to encourage the “particularly distinguished ones” - this is exactly the amount that was taken out of the factory of the State Sign of Moscow (most of this money “disappeared”!)

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4.10.2018

4.10.2018

1993 Russian President Boris Yeltsin brought tanks into Moscow and stormed the parliament building

On October 4, 1993, tragic events took place in Moscow that ended with the storming of the building of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation and the abolition of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council in Russia.

The confrontation that has lasted since the collapse of the USSR executive power represented by the President of Russia Boris Yeltsin and the legislature represented by the parliament - the Supreme Council (SC) of the RSFSR, headed by Ruslan Khasbulatov, around the pace of reforms and methods of building a new state turned into an armed clash and ended with a tank shelling of the residence of the parliament - the House of Soviets (White House).

The reason for the events, according to the conclusion of the State Duma commission for additional study and analysis of the events that took place in the city of Moscow on September 21 - October 5, 1993, was the preparation and publication by the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin of Decree No. 1400 of September 21 "On a phased constitutional reform in the Russian Federation" , voiced in his television address to the citizens of Russia on September 21, 1993 at 20.00.

The decree, in particular, ordered the dissolution of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council, which, according to the conclusion of the Constitutional Court adopted within a few hours, did not comply with a number of provisions of the current Constitution.

An hour after Yeltsin's televised address, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Ruslan Khasbulatov spoke at an emergency meeting of deputies in the White House, where he qualified Yeltsin's actions as a coup d'état.

On the same day at 10 p.m., the Presidium of the Supreme Council, referring to Article 121.6 of the Constitution, adopted a resolution “On the immediate termination of the powers of the President of the Russian Federation B.N. Yeltsin” and announced that Decree No. 1400 was not subject to execution.

At the same time, an emergency session of the Constitutional Court (CC) began under the chairmanship of Valery Zorkin, which adopted a resolution entrusting the execution of presidential powers to Vice President Alexander Rutskoy.

Boris Yeltsin, however, de facto continued to exercise the powers of the President of Russia. He was supported by the government and the leadership of law enforcement agencies. (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Security).

Supporters of the dissolved parliament, supporting Khasbulatov and Rutskoi, took the mayor's office on October 3. When the cordon was broken in the area of ​​the Moscow mayor's office, police officers used firearms against the demonstrators to kill.

Around 19.00, the assault on the Ostankino television center began. At 19.40 all TV channels interrupted transmissions. After a short break, the second channel went on the air, working from a backup studio. An attempt by the demonstrators to take over the television center was unsuccessful.

At 10:00 pm, Boris Yeltsin's decree was broadcast on television on the introduction of a state of emergency in Moscow and on the release of Rutskoi from the duties of vice president of the Russian Federation. The entry of troops into Moscow began.

On October 4, at about 4 a.m. in the Kremlin, Yeltsin signed a written order to bring in troops from the Ministry of Defense, prepared by presidential aide Viktor Ilyushin. The order was immediately sent by courier mail to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation P. S. Grachev.

At the direction of Grachev, tanks of the Taman division arrived in Moscow, and an assault on the White House began, in which about 1,700 people, 10 tanks and 20 armored personnel carriers took part: the contingent had to be recruited from five divisions, about half of the entire contingent were officers or junior commanding staff, and tank crews were recruited almost entirely from officers.

On October 4 at 8.00 fire was opened from heavy machine guns on the windows of the building of the Supreme Council.

At 09:20, tanks began shelling the building of the Armed Forces, causing a fire there. (six T-80 tanks, which fired 12 shells, participated in the shelling).

At about 2.30 pm, the defenders of the Armed Forces began to leave, and the wounded began to be carried out of the parliament building.

After 17:00, the defenders of the White House announced the end of resistance. Alexander Rutskoi, Ruslan Khasbulatov and other leaders of the armed resistance of supporters of the Supreme Soviet were arrested.

At 19.30, the Alpha group took under guard and evacuated from the building 1,700 journalists, employees of the Armed Forces apparatus, residents of the city and deputies.

A few months later, the State Duma announced a political amnesty for the participants in the events of September-October 1993.

According to the conclusions of the State Duma Commission, according to a rough estimate, during the events of September 21 - October 5, 1993, 74 people were killed, 26 of them were military and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, 172 were injured. As a result of the fire, the floors of the building from the 12th to the 20th were almost completely destroyed th, about 30% of the total area of ​​the House of Soviets was destroyed.

As a result of the tragic events of October 4, 1993 in Moscow, the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation were liquidated. Before the election Federal Assembly and the adoption of the new Constitution in the Russian Federation, direct presidential rule was established. By the Decree of October 7, 1993 "On Legal Regulation during the Period of Gradual Constitutional Reform in the Russian Federation", the President established that before the start of the work of the Federal Assembly, issues of a budgetary and financial nature, land reform, property, civil service and social employment of the population, previously decided by the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation, are now carried out by the President of the Russian Federation. By another decree of October 7 "On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation," the president actually abolished this body. Boris Yeltsin also issued a number of decrees terminating the activities of the representative authorities of the subjects of the Federation and local Soviets.

The new Constitution, adopted by popular vote on December 12, 1993 and in force with some changes to the present day, provides the President of the Russian Federation with significantly broader powers than the 1978 Constitution in force at the time of the conflict (with changes 1989-1992). The post of vice-president of the Russian Federation was abolished.

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