Ukrainians in the Chechen war. History of national betrayal

09:45 28.04.2015

American mercenaries have made their mark in the North Caucasus. Now they are "monitored" in Ukraine. During both military campaigns in Chechnya, the United States supported illegal armed groups with both material and human resources.

Mercenary blood trail During the two Chechen wars, mercenaries from 52 foreign countries and almost all regions of the world operated on the territory of the North Caucasus. This was stated in 2005, after the end of the active phase of hostilities, by FSB Major General Ilya Shabalkin, who at that time held the position of Deputy Head of the Regional Operational Headquarters (the structure that coordinated the actions of all Russian security forces in the North Caucasus). operational information," the general said at the time. At the same time, the United States was named among the countries whose "messengers" most actively showed themselves in battles on the side of the gangs. Also, according to the deputy head of the Regional Headquarters, mercenaries with passports of Canada, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and also people who lived in Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, France, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia left their bloody trail in Chechnya ... According to Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Assistant to the President of Russia (in 2000-2008), by the beginning of the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, the number of mercenaries from the countries of the near and far abroad reached, according to various estimates, 800 people. As Yastrzhembsky noted, the connection between the separatists and international Islamic terrorists was clearly established, which, according to the assistant to the head of state, became "one of the main factors influencing the destabilization of the situation in the North Caucasus and in the Chechen Republic in particular." Accomplices: how US intelligence agencies collaborated with militants The fact that there were direct contacts between the militants from the North Caucasus and the US special services was told in the documentary film "President" released this Sunday on the Russia 1 channel, Vladimir Putin. Such connections, according to the head of state, were established by the Russian special services. Russian leader. “They really just helped even with transport.” Vladimir Putin added that he informed the then acting American president about this, who “promised to look into it.” However, after some time, Washington made it clear that not only would it not punish those responsible for what had happened, but that it would encourage such support for the militants with all its might. “Ten days later, our, my subordinates, the leaders of the FSB, received a letter from their colleagues from Washington: “We have maintained and will continue to maintain relations with all opposition forces Russia. And we believe that we have the right to do this and will continue to do so,” the President of Russia said. Treaties still in force According to media reports, more than 100 foreign firms (including banking groups), most of which had offices in the US and Europe, took part in providing material, financial and other assistance to terrorists in the North Caucasus. In the United States alone, about fifty organizations were involved in raising funds for North Caucasian extremists. Among them are the American Muslim Bar Association, the American Islamic Center, the American Muslim Council, the Voice of Chechnya Islamic Charitable Organization, the Islamic American Zakat Foundation, the Islamic World Aid, the Benevolence International Foundation. In January 2003, the head fund, Enaam Arnaut, an American of Eastern origin, admitted during the investigation that his structure finances militants in Chechnya. Interestingly, before that, in October 2002, US Attorney General Ashcroft charged Arnaut with financing Osama bin Laden, but when the head of the fund said that the money was not going to bin Laden, but to Chechen terrorists, all charges were dropped. Targeted propaganda and political activities in the interests of Chechen separatists in the United States were carried out by Amina Network, Human Assistance Development International, Islamic Information Server. And such an organization as Advantage Associates, inc., still has an agreement concluded by Aslan Maskhadov with the "Ambassador of Ichkeria to the United States" Lema Osmurov, according to which the organization pledged to "put pressure on the US government in order to support the efforts of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria to gaining independence and secession from Russia.” There is also information about direct contacts between representatives of the American leadership and Chechen separatists. So, according to some information, the chairman of the Committee on international relations House of Representatives Benjamin Gilman. Made in USA In 2005, a former system official was arrested in Detroit school education Keefa Jayousi. He was charged with assisting terrorists, conspiring to commit murders and kidnappings outside the United States, and recruiting Islamic militants to fight in Chechnya, Kosovo, Bosnia and Somalia. As the American intelligence services themselves established, the funds collected by Jayousi in the United States through the charitable Islamic society Global Relief Foundation were transferred to militants in Chechnya. In 1995 and 1996, Jayousi recruited at least two people for militant groups in Chechnya, and also organized field commanders. By the way, back in the 1990s, Shamil Basayev and his gangsters received US Army uniforms, as well as night vision binoculars and satellite phones marked “made in USA”. This property was brought to the militants of the Ichkerian army by caravans from Turkey through the south of Chechnya and Dagestan. The Global Relief Foundation also transferred money and medical devices to the militants. Volunteers were also recruited through the website of this structure. The Foundation took upon itself the execution of Russian entry documents and accommodation on the territory of Ingushetia, neighboring Chechnya. By the way, according to the fund's website, in 2000-2001 alone, it spent over $1.3 million to service its "Caucasian" projects. Khattab and his American past The most notorious international terrorist who operated in Chechnya in the 1990-2000s also had a dark past associated with being in the United States. Khattab, aka Amir ibn al-Khattab, aka Samer Saleh al-Suwaylem, aka Habib Abd al-Rahman. On the conscience of this bandit are dozens of bloody terrorist attacks and hundreds of ruined lives of Russian military personnel, law enforcement officers and civilians. It is known that in 1987 relatives from Jordan sent him to study in New York. He was supposed to go to college, but during his stay in the US, Khattab was infected with completely different ideas. He went to Afghanistan, where he took an active part in the hostilities against Soviet troops. He fought in Jalalabad, in Kabul, was seriously wounded. Then the bloody trail of Khattab was seen in Nagorno-Karabakh, Iraq, and Tajikistan. A half-educated American college student participated in attacks on Russian border guards, including the 12th outpost of the Moscow border detachment, when 25 Russian servicemen were killed. Since January 1995 - in the North Caucasus. He is a trained terrorist, owns a mine-explosive "craft" and all types of small arms. By the way, his own sister lived in the USA at that time, who, as the commander of the Joint Group claimed Russian troops in the North Caucasus, Colonel General Gennady Troshev, owned a weapons store. Khattab personally trained militants, created camps, and arranged for their foreign funding. In August and September 1999, together with Basayev, he organized and led raids into Dagestan. And all this time it was Khattab who acted as a link between the militants in Chechnya and international terrorist structures. In April 2002, he was killed, and the poison was given to him by his own assistant, who was later also killed by militants. "Crazy American" no longer kills Russian soldiers Under the leadership of Khattab fought in Chechnya and US citizen Aukai Collins (Aukai Collins). As a child, he participated in street gangs, and while serving time in San Diego, he converted to Islam. He fought in Chechnya in 1995-1996 and 1999, during one of the bandit attacks he lost his leg. Interestingly, his first trip to North Caucasus Collins committed under the guise of an employee of the American humanitarian fund: the same “Islamic humanitarians” issued documents for him in the States. The mercenary got to Chechnya through Azerbaijan along with a load of body armor and night vision devices. He was called the “crazy American”: even Chechen fighters were frightened by his aggressiveness. Fought a US citizen Russian land evil and cruel, personally killed Russian soldiers, which he later wrote in the book “My Jihad”, where he described many of his atrocities in detail. Russian law enforcement agencies are seeking the extradition of this thug, but all requests remain inconclusive. According to some reports, Collins is a staff informant for the US intelligence services, collaborated with the CIA and the FBI. He also wrote about this in his book, however, he left reviews about his “curators” mostly in a derogatory tone. Today, the former gunman lives in Baltimore with his wife and four-year-old son. He is a quiet American: he does not drink or smoke, as the Koran prescribes ... Where does the "boy" have New York sadness? .."Wild Geese" - this is how mercenaries are called all over the world. The places of their "nesting" are areas of armed conflicts all over the planet. Recently, a representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Donetsk People's Republic, Eduard Basurin, said that up to 70 mercenaries from the American private military company Academi (formerly this armed formation was called Blackwater) could be located in the area of the village of Volnovakha. As you know, Volnovakha is controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There is information from other sources that the Americans are participating in the hostilities on the side of Kyiv. So the German political scientist Michael Lueders confirmed the information about the presence of mercenaries from the private American army Academi in the conflict area in the South-East of Ukraine, however, he estimates their number is no less than 500 “bayonets”. According to Lueders, the presence of American mercenaries in the conflict zone is “a dangerous development of the situation, which does not exclude the possibility of escalation.” In December last year, Academi announced its readiness to begin preparing a battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for urban battles. And on the fact of participation in the Ukrainian conflict of mercenaries from the United States from another private military company - Greystone - even the Russian Foreign Ministry was forced to make a statement. By the way, the Greystone website states that "they can provide the best military from around the world" who are able to "conduct their activities anywhere." Wherein White House refutes information about the presence of American mercenaries in Ukraine.

A blue-eyed bearded guy in a camouflage jacket gives an interview. The image is blurry, the record is rare, she is 20 years old. But on his hat you can see a green armband with the inscription "Ukraine". The same are worn by his brothers in arms. But on their armbands is written "Allahu Akbar".

- What are you doing here? the journalist asks him.

“We are defending the freedom of the Chechen-Ukrainian people against Moscow aggression,” the guy answers confidently.

Are there many of your people here?

- 200 guys, - the fighter switches to Russian.

How do they fight?

- As the others. Like Chechens, so Ukrainians themselves. They fight well. And when we advance on Moscow, we will fight even harder - it is not easy for him to speak pure Russian. It is obvious that his native language- Ukrainian.

This person is Oleksandr Muzychko, aka Sashko Bily, a Rivne activist of the right-wing radical organization UNA-UNSO, who was killed by Kyiv special forces in March 2014 during his arrest. In the video, he is a little over 30, he is the commander of the Viking detachment, which is fighting against Russian army during the first Chechen war.

Had he survived, he would certainly have become one of the main defendants in the “large-scale criminal case against Ukrainian militants,” which this week began to be considered in the Grozny court.

According to Russian human rights activists, it was opened back in 2001, but the investigation was not very active. The events on the Maidan, the situation in the Crimea and the war in Donbass contributed to the fact that Russian investigators shook the dust off the yellowed pages.

In the dock were a well-known UNS member, Dmitry Yarosh's colleague Nikolai Karpyuk and journalist Stanislav Klykh. Karpyuk is accused of creating a gang of mercenaries for a trip to Chechnya, killing Russian soldiers during the 1994-1995 war. Klykh is charged with participation in a gang and torture (Article 209 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - leadership and participation in a gang, and Article 102 - the murder of two or more servicemen).

For more than a year, neither lawyers nor human rights activists could approach both prisoners. Klykh has already stated that he gave all his confessions under torture.

The associates of those arrested unanimously assure that neither Karpyuk nor Klykh were in Chechnya during the war. But the other day, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the Tyagnibok brothers and Dmitry Yarosh, who, according to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, also fought on the side of Chechen fighters, joined them. Their names were given to the case " Caucasian captives» political connotation.

In any case, Sashko Bily is far from being the only Ukrainian who has been reported in Chechnya. What were the Ukrainians looking for in that war? What will be remembered by allies and enemies? Many participants in those events for a long time concealed the details of their stay in Chechnya. Being in Grozny, the Ukrainians tried not to get into the photo and video footage.

And amateur pictures were carefully kept in their photo archives. Excessive attention could cost them their freedom in Ukraine, where Article 447 “Mercenarism” appeared in the Criminal Code. In connection with a criminal case in Russia, some of them, without denying the “Chechen stage” in their lives, refuse to share their memories for fear of persecution. Those who do agree often avoid thorny questions. But still, they shared their memories with the journalists of the Reporter publication.

Road

Evgeny Dykyy, then a journalist and head of the humanitarian mission of the Ukrainian human rights committee Helsinki-90, recalls. He arrived in Grozny at the beginning of 1995. Accompanied a cargo of medicines, collected information as a journalist and human rights activist at the front and in the rear. He left Chechnya in April 1996, when the active phase of the war ended.

- The desire to go to Chechnya was spontaneous. When they learned in Ukraine that Russia did not recognize the independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and was going to suppress the rebellion, those who wanted to go had only one question: who would be better to agree on the transfer? The core of the “Ukrainian Corps” is several dozen people with combat experience in Afghanistan, Transnistria, and Abkhazia. We got to the border of Dagestan with Chechnya. Transfer is a big word. In fact, they could drive through a mountain river at night on a tractor. This was done brazenly - there was a bridge a kilometer away, which was controlled by the Russians.

Among the Ukrainians there were those who made themselves certificates of newspaper employees, which were a good screen. They really made good reports, not letting go of the gun from their hands.

“The day before the new year 1995, we arrived in Baku, met with Chechen friends there,” recalls Igor Mazur (call sign Topolya), head of the Kyiv branch of the UNA-UNSO, one of the defendants in the Russian criminal case. - At that time, tank columns were already moving towards Grozny, and one could get to Chechnya through Dagestan. We drove normally, but several of our guys were taken from Grozny by their parents. When they found out where their sons were going, they came to the leadership of UNA-UNSO and demanded that the children be returned back.

During the war, the Chechens found themselves in an information blockade. Ukrainian journalists tried to break through

motive

The Russian media called the main motive for the Ukrainians' trip to Chechnya the money that the government of Dzhokhar Dudayev allegedly generously endowed foreign specialists with. But not everything is so clear. Some Ukrainians already had military experience, first gained in Afghanistan. UNSO activists, in turn, polished it in Transnistria and Abkhazia.

“Only a small part of the people who passed through Chechnya fall under the definition of “mercenaries,” Evgeny Dikiy believes. “They were well-remunerated. But the vast majority are ordinary volunteers who fought for free. They received clothing and food allowances, like other fighters. The Chechens did not throw money around. What's the point of paying for something a local would do for free? And to get money, you had to have unique skills. For example, to be a sapper or a MANPADS operator.

There certainly were such people among Ukrainians. We are talking about the military who went through Afghanistan. Obviously, it was not only money or an idea that forced them to change one war for another. But rather a post-war syndrome.

Tagi Jafarov, an Azerbaijani photographer who worked in Grozny during the first Chechen war, wrote about one of these Ukrainians in his memoirs:

“Victor, on the contrary, is silent. He is from Kharkov. Victor does not make noise, does not share emotional impressions of the battle. He speaks quietly, without rushing. He is a cadre, Afghan passed. At home, wife, children ... And not a crest, Russian.

“Vit, how did you get here?” Also for money?

“No, money has nothing to do with it,” pause. I'm waiting for him to speak. “You see, we put so many of them in Afghanistan. Villages were swept to the ground and burned. For what? In the name of what? Many of them are on my conscience. This is where I pray for Afghan sins. Maybe I'll get it."

UNSO activists have never denied that they went to Chechnya because of their ideological anti-imperial views. That war was seen by him through the prism of Ukrainian independence, received without bloodshed. For the same reason, passionate Balts also ended up in Chechnya.

“Then it seemed to us like this: in order not to have a front in the Crimea, we need to keep it in the Caucasus,” recalls former leader UNA-UNSO Dmitry Korchinsky.

- Perhaps now it is difficult to understand, but emotionally, many were set up like this: “You can’t crush the people with tanks because they wanted independence!” Wild says. - Ukraine and the Baltic countries have also chosen independence. So, now they will also be pressed like that? Therefore, they went to help, fearing the return of the empire.

“Hundreds of our wounded soldiers received treatment in Ukraine,” recalls Musa Taipov, a member of the CRI (Chechen Republic of Ichkeria) government. We were given humanitarian aid. And Ukrainian journalists broke through the information blockade, telling the world about the true events in the Russian- Chechen war. It was extremely difficult to get to us and then take out the footage.

300 Ukrainians

Data on how many Ukrainians went to Chechnya as fighters is different.

Musa Taipov, a representative of the CRI government, speaks of two dozen people, four of whom died. One was captured.

According to Yevgeny Dykyi, about 300 Ukrainians visited Chechnya during the war, 70 of whom passed through the Unsov detachment. One of the commanders of the UNSO Valery Bobrovich, who fought
in Abkhazia (led the Argo detachment), he names a figure of 100 people.

“They treated the wounded, provided security, sent humanitarian aid,” recalled Dmitry Yarosh, whose patriotic organization Trizub collaborated with Dzhokhar Dudayev, in an interview with Hromadsky. - I turned to Dudayev with a request to form a Ukrainian unit. But he received an answer: "Thank you, but we have fewer weapons than those who want to." So we didn't go.

Igor Mazur assures that he, like other Ukrainians, accompanied foreign journalists more than he fought.

“Journalists trusted us Slavs more than Caucasians,” Mazur recalls.

“The wounded were taken out through Georgia,” he says. - In Ukraine, in addition to ours, Chechens were also treated. They were mainly assisted in Western Ukraine. It seemed to be done secretly, but it only seemed so. Everyone knew. The official position of Ukraine was as follows: we categorically deny Ichkeria, we have no contacts with them, we condemn the participation of Ukrainians, we can give an article to mercenaries. In practice, there were no trials, no one was extradited to Russia.

Meeting

Yevgeny Dikiy recalls that in Chechnya any person of Slavic appearance raised a lot of questions. But it was worth saying that he was Ukrainian, he immediately became a dear guest.

“Ukrainian passport was a universal pass,” Dyky says. The Chechens really appreciated the fact that the Ukrainians were practically the only volunteers from non-Muslim countries who came to fight on their side. They understood that no one owes them anything, that coming here is the highest manifestation of friendship.

The same factor caused hatred on the part of Russians.

“They couldn’t understand why the Slavs became against them, why they became traitors,” Evgeny continues. - In order not to be captured by them, ours always had the last grenade with them. They understood: if they were taken prisoner, there would be no trial.

And in order not to stand out among the Caucasians, the Ukrainians grew beards. Following the example of the Chechens, green ribbons were tied to a machine gun and a uniform.

Oleg Chelnov from Kharkiv (call sign Berkut) stood out more than others among Ukrainians.
among nationalists and participants in those events, they are considered even more iconic than Sashko Bily. Both were awarded the highest award from Dzhokhar Dudayev - the Order of Honor of the Nation.

“He was not a member of the UNSO when he arrived in Chechnya,” recalls Igor Mazur. - But before this war, he went through hot spots, was a liquidator at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. I could never sit in one place: I wanted to figure out where the truth was and where the lie was.

There were legends about his dashing character in Chechnya.

When street battles were going on and Chechens and Russians were in the neighboring front rooms, in this mess and confusion Chelnov could fly in to the Russian paratroopers and shout: “Why are you still here? Behind me!"

“He was fair-haired, blue-eyed, dressed in a trophy uniform,” Dikiy recalls. - They believed him. And he took these Russians to the Chechens, who then "packed" them. Chelnov also found out that many of the Russian military's call signs have not changed since the days of Afghanistan. He used it. He went on the air under the call sign of the commander and caused crossfire so that one battery "kneaded" the other.

Chelnov died in Grozny in 1996. Sashko Bily in an interview said that
in honor of Oleg, the government of Ichkeria named the street, and his daughter was assigned a life allowance. Naturally, after the second Chechen war, these privileges for the Ukrainian family were eliminated. The streets named after him, as well as the streets named after Muzychko, no longer exist in Grozny.

A detachment of Unsovites arrived in Grozny in the winter of 1995. According to unofficial data, about 300 Ukrainians passed through Chechnya

torture

In the Russian media, Sashko Bily appeared as the personal bodyguard of Dzhokhar Dudayev. He was portrayed as an extremely cruel man who practiced sophisticated torture on prisoners.

“You can’t call him an easy person,” Dyky recalls. - Heavy character. A commander who does not spare himself first of all, and then his fighters. He wanted to spit on laws, but did not spit on concepts. He did not torture the prisoners. Besides, it was an invaluable exchange fund. I can be a living witness of those events, I talked with the prisoners, including those who were at Bily.

- Bily was among the three dozen fighters who guarded the building of the Reskom, - says Dikiy. - But this is not Dudayev's bodyguard. Moreover, Bily did not command her.

Ukrainian journalist Viktor Minyailo, who twice visited Chechnya during the 1994-1996 war, recalls how one of the Chechen military leaders, Aslan Maskhadov, wrote a note in which he addressed all his subordinates with an order to release any Ukrainian from captivity, no matter who he was.

“It concerned the Ukrainians fighting on the side of the federals,” Minyailo says. — Those who were born in Ukraine. They were indeed released unconditionally.

“There were tortures during the second Chechen one,” Musa Taipov assures. “But it was a different war — fierce and out of the rules. As for the first war, Ukrainian volunteers did not torture Russian soldiers.

“The brutalization took place as the peaceful villages were bombed,” Dikiy recalls. - The secular Chechens, most of whom died in the first Chechen war, were replaced by "wolf cubs" - teenagers who grew up under bombs, listened to preachers instead of lessons. Their teenage cruelty
and a low cultural level eventually formed the image of a "Chechen bandit".

Return

According to the recollections of the fighters, the UNSO detachment returned home in the spring of 1995, when the war turned from open to guerrilla.

Musa Taipov says that this was the desire of the Chechen military command.

- In the second Chechen war, there were fewer Ukrainians - two or three dozen, - says Evgeniy Dikiy. - These are those who could not stand it and returned to the field commanders, under whose leadership they fought in the first Chechen war. Some of them already lived in Chechnya, having converted to Islam.

Members of the UNSO, recalling those days, say that their participation in the Chechen war, as well as their attitude
to them in Ukraine, was under the scrutiny of the SBU, which has not lost close ties with its Russian counterparts.

“Those who returned from Chechnya tried not to advertise their exploits,” recalls journalist Viktor Minyailo. - They were afraid of criminal liability.

And there really were no high-profile litigations in this regard. Although the Ukrainians who participated in the Georgian-Abkhazian war spent four months behind bars on suspicion of mercenarism.

“We were released at the request of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze,” recalls Valery Bobrovich, head of the Ukrainian Argo detachment. - He said that keeping us, the heroes of Georgia, awarded with state awards, in custody is disrespectful on the part of Ukraine.

The past that is with us again

The participation of Ukrainians in wars in the post-Soviet space after Afghanistan has long been an irrelevant topic in most Ukrainian media. There was neither massive support nor condemnation on television.

“It was interesting only to those who were in the know,” says political scientist Mikhail Pogrebinsky. - Not much attention was paid to this by the special services.

“Ukraine was then a “sleeping” country,” adds political analyst Vadim Karasev. - We were more concerned then with the issue of Crimea, "Meshkovshchina" - Yuri Meshkov at that time was a representative of the pro-Russian bloc "Russia", served as president of the Republic of Crimea in 1994-1995. And in our country the situation then unfolded according to a separatist scenario.

History develops in a spiral. The ideas of the UNSO radicals about the coming war, which were laughed at in Ukraine 20 years ago, have become a reality. Ukraine and Russia are not officially at war, but battles are going on on all fronts - informational, economic, for territories and for the souls of those who live on them.

The paradox is that then passionate Ukrainians supported the Chechens' right to self-determination, although television painted a different picture for the majority of the population. Today, Russia, in justification of the Crimea and Donbass, speaks of the people's right to self-determination. Historical parallels ask themselves. The counteroffensive of Chechen fighters on Grozny during Operation Jihad ended with the retreat of Russian troops and huge losses (about 2,000 people). This defeat can be compared with the Ilovaisk tragedy. In 1996, Russia was forced to sign the Khasavyurt agreements, which actually opened the way to the independence of Ichkeria. After Ilovaisk, the battle that changed the course of the military campaign, Ukraine signed the Minsk agreements, which are comparable in meaning to the agreements in Khasavyurt.

Russia returned to Chechnya a few years later, starting the flywheel of a bloody and destructive war. When overcoming the Ukrainian crisis, one should not repeat the mistakes of the past.

- What are you doing here? the journalist asks him.

“We are defending the freedom of the Chechen-Ukrainian people against Moscow aggression,” the guy answers confidently.

Are there many of your people here?

- 200 guys, - the fighter switches to Russian.

How do they fight?

- As the others. Like Chechens, so Ukrainians themselves. They fight well. And when we advance on Moscow, we will fight even harder - it is not easy for him to speak pure Russian. Obviously, his native language is Ukrainian.

This person is Oleksandr Muzychko, aka Sashko Bily, a Rivne activist of the right-wing radical organization UNA-UNSO, who was killed by Kyiv special forces in March 2014 during his arrest. In the video, he is in his early 30s and is the commander of the Viking squad that is fighting against the Russian army during the first Chechen war.

For more than a year, neither lawyers nor human rights activists could approach both prisoners. Klykh has already stated that he gave all his confessions under torture.

The associates of those arrested unanimously assure that neither Karpyuk nor Klykh were in Chechnya during the war. But the other day, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the Tyagnibok brothers and Dmitry Yarosh, who, according to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, also fought on the side of Chechen fighters, joined them. Their names gave the case of the "captives of the Caucasus" a political color.

In any case, Sashko Bily is far from being the only Ukrainian who has been reported in Chechnya. What were the Ukrainians looking for in that war? What will be remembered by allies and enemies? Many participants in those events hid the details of their stay in Chechnya for a long time. Being in Grozny, the Ukrainians tried not to get into the photo and video footage.

Road

Among the Ukrainians there were those who made themselves certificates of newspaper employees, which were a good screen. They really made good reports, not letting go of the gun from their hands.

During the war, the Chechens found themselves in an information blockade. Ukrainian journalists tried to break through

motive

Tagi Jafarov, an Azerbaijani photographer who worked in Grozny during the first Chechen war, wrote about one of these Ukrainians in his memoirs:

“Vit, how did you get here?” Also for money?

- Then it seemed to us like this: in order not to have a front in the Crimea, we need to keep it in the Caucasus, - recalls the former head of UNA-UNSO Dmitry Korchinsky.

“Hundreds of our wounded soldiers received treatment in Ukraine,” recalls Musa Taipov, a member of the CRI (Chechen Republic of Ichkeria) government. We were given humanitarian aid. And Ukrainian journalists broke through the information blockade, telling the world about the true events in the Russian-Chechen war. It was extremely difficult to get to us and then take out the footage.

300 Ukrainians

Data on how many Ukrainians went to Chechnya as fighters is different.

Musa Taipov, a representative of the CRI government, speaks of two dozen people, four of whom died. One was captured.

Igor Mazur assures that he, like other Ukrainians, accompanied foreign journalists more than he fought.

“Journalists trusted us Slavs more than Caucasians,” Mazur recalls.

“The wounded were taken out through Georgia,” he says. - In Ukraine, in addition to ours, Chechens were also treated. Basically, they were assisted in Western Ukraine. It seemed to be done secretly, but it only seemed so. Everyone knew. The official position of Ukraine was as follows: we categorically deny Ichkeria, we have no contacts with them, we condemn the participation of Ukrainians, we can give an article to mercenaries. In practice, there were no trials, no one was extradited to Russia.

Meeting

Yevgeny Dikiy recalls that in Chechnya any person of Slavic appearance raised a lot of questions. But it was worth saying that he was Ukrainian, he immediately became a dear guest.

The same factor caused hatred on the part of Russians.

And in order not to stand out among the Caucasians, the Ukrainians grew beards. Following the example of the Chechens, green ribbons were tied to a machine gun and a uniform.

There were legends about his dashing character in Chechnya.

A detachment of Unsovites arrived in Grozny in the winter of 1995. According to unofficial data, about 300 Ukrainians passed through Chechnya

torture

In the Russian media, Sashko Bily appeared as the personal bodyguard of Dzhokhar Dudayev. He was portrayed as an extremely cruel man who practiced sophisticated torture on prisoners.

- Bily was among the three dozen fighters who guarded the building of the Reskom, - says Dikiy. - But this is not Dudayev's bodyguard. Moreover, Bily did not command her.

“It concerned the Ukrainians fighting on the side of the federals,” Minyailo says. — Those who were born in Ukraine. They were indeed released unconditionally.

Return

According to the recollections of the fighters, the UNSO detachment returned home in the spring of 1995, when the war turned from open to guerrilla.

Musa Taipov says that this was the desire of the Chechen military command.

“Those who returned from Chechnya tried not to advertise their exploits,” recalls journalist Viktor Minyailo. - They were afraid of criminal liability.

And there really were no high-profile litigations in this regard. Although the Ukrainians who participated in the Georgian-Abkhazian war spent four months behind bars on suspicion of mercenarism.

The past that is with us again

“It was interesting only to those who were in the know,” says political scientist Mikhail Pogrebinsky. - Not much attention was paid to this by the special services.

The paradox is that then passionate Ukrainians supported the Chechens' right to self-determination, although television painted a different picture for the majority of the population. Today, Russia, in justification of the Crimea and Donbass, speaks of the people's right to self-determination. Historical parallels suggest themselves. The counteroffensive of Chechen fighters on Grozny during Operation Jihad ended with the retreat of Russian troops and huge losses (about 2,000 people). This defeat can be compared with the Ilovaisk tragedy. In 1996, Russia was forced to sign the Khasavyurt agreements, which actually opened the way to the independence of Ichkeria. After Ilovaisk, the battle that changed the course of the military campaign, Ukraine signed the Minsk agreements, which are comparable in meaning to the agreements in Khasavyurt.

Russia returned to Chechnya a few years later, starting the flywheel of a bloody and destructive war. When overcoming the Ukrainian crisis, one should not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Russia's special services launched a large-scale campaign to expose links between nationalist groups and North Caucasian separatists. It turns out that Russian nationalists and North Caucasian militants have been working hand in hand for many years and continue to cooperate to this day. And some ethnic Russians who fought on the side of the Chechens out of conviction even became field commanders, accepting new Arabic names. Long years this information was considered closed, but today we have the opportunity to tell about the history of such a strange cooperation, and about today. The correspondent of "Our Version" understood: why are ethnic Russians fighting for the separation of the Caucasus from Russia?

During the operation, carried out in June this year by a special unit of federal forces in the high-mountainous Vedeno region of Chechnya, 10 militants were killed, one of whom was a native of Jordan, Yasser Amarat, better known in the Caucasus as "amir Yasir". Two of those who were killed with him were clearly of Slavic appearance. Rumors that Russians are serving Yasser have been circulating for a long time, and now there was confirmation of this. In early July, militants from the detachment of field commander Muslim Gakaev came under fire not far from Shali - two more Slavs were killed. It is said that Gakaev's detachment consists of ethnic Russians by about half. Some of them converted to Islam, and some are Russian nationalists who came to the Caucasus to hone their combat skills.

The fact that the Slavs are fighting on the side of the Chechen fighters is far from news. In the first Chechen campaign, our soldiers had to fight with a small group of Belarusian nationalists "Partyyot", who came to Grozny to support Dudayev, and there, according to rumors, disappeared in full force, and with much more numerous and successful Ukrainian extremists from the UNA ** - UNSO * - by the Argo, Viking and Mriya detachments. According to Andrei Shkil and Dmitry Korchinsky, in different time who led the Ukrainian nationalists, at least 10,000 members of their organization went through Chechnya. Many of them were awarded Ichkerian insignia for valor shown in battle. And at the same time, almost every one of them had a chance to shoot Russian soldiers. But these are Belarusians and Ukrainians, it is still possible to understand their motives, albeit with difficulty, but why do Russians go to the North Caucasus to shoot at their own?

The activities carried out by the special services in the spring of this year as part of the fight against radical nationalist organizations revealed that every year at least hundreds of young guys from Russia go to the Caucasus not at all to improve their health in local sanatoriums. The "White Society-88" and "BTO - militant terrorist organization" groups from Nizhny Novgorod, "Volkssturm" from Yekaterinburg, "Iron Dockers" from Murmansk, "Detachment-88" from Moscow and many others organized sorties to the North Caucasus in order to work out skills in small arms and edged weapons in conditions as close as possible to combat. And for several years they did it completely unhindered. And our soldiers were only amazed, finding among the killed Caucasian militants guys of clearly Slavic appearance.

The dead, of course, cannot be interrogated. On the other hand, the living managed to talk: several members of the Black Hawks, a radical Caucasian nationalist organization caught in 2008-2009, confessed to the investigating authorities, in which, in particular, they mentioned that they had helped comrades-in-arms from the opposite camp in establishing contacts with the leaders of the separatist underground in the Caucasus. And they named Rasul Khalilov, a native of Azerbaijan, who was killed last fall and was involved in the case of the attack in the spring of 2008 by a group of nationalists from the Black Hawks organization on two Moscow students, as the main “builder of bridges” between Caucasian and Russian nationalists. Khalilov began to be dragged for interrogations, and those who interacted with him in the Russian nationalist movement began to fear: would he hand over their entire chain to law enforcement agencies?

On this topic

A resident of Great Britain, who fought in the American army in his youth, has had difficulties interacting with various services for several years because of his first and last name. As it turned out, a Chechen militant had previously used a similar pseudonym.

Khalilov was ambushed on the Altufyevskoye Highway and shot at him several times with a pistol. Most likely, someone else’s sins were attributed to the dead Khalilov, because it’s hard to believe that one person was engaged in contacts with the North Caucasian militants and organized trips of Russian nationalists. Nevertheless, it was after Khalilov's accomplices "leaked" information to the special services that the FSB officers came to grips with tracing the chain of Russian ultra-right-Caucasian separatists.

Another character has also been identified who could be involved in organizing the transfer of Russian nationalists from Volkssturm and Detachment-88 to the North Caucasus, for an internship with local separatists. This is a native of Dagestan, Ismail Kadiev, who was shot dead a year ago in Moscow. The fifty-year-old businessman, as it turned out, used the services of thugs from Russian radical organizations - they guarded his outlets. Which of the militants Kadiev was familiar with is now being established by the investigation, but, according to preliminary data, it was he who paved the way for Russian extremists in Muslim Gakaev's detachment.

But the history of connections between the Caucasian militants and Russian nationalists began much earlier than the activity in this field of Gakaev and Khalilov. In 1995, the first UNA-UNSO detachment - about 150 people - went from Crimea to Georgia by sea, and from there - through the Argun Gorge to Chechnya. The detachment called "Argo" was commanded by a former Soviet officer Valery Bobrovich, who had experience in the Vietnam War and participated in the Georgian-Abkhazian war on the side of the Georgians. The departure of Ukrainian nationalists to the Caucasus was organized by the Soviet dissident Anatoly Lupinos, who spent about a quarter of a century in the camps. Lupinos was friends with the leader of the Georgian paramilitary units "Mkhedrioni" Jaba Ioseliani - they sat together. He also knew Bobrovich - after his dismissal from the army, he became seriously interested in nationalist ideas, and he and Lupinos found common friends. First, the Unsovites went to shoot in Georgia - this trip was organized by Ioseliani, Bobrovich and Lupinos, and then paved the way to Chechnya.

In Russia, the then plenipotentiary of the UNSO was the leader of the extremist People's National Party (PNP), Alexander Ivanov-Sukharevsky, who had also recently been released from places not so remote, where he was for extremist statements. Ivanov-Sukharevsky toyed with the idea of collecting Russian in Chechnya liberation army- from among the agitated soldiers of the federal forces - and, according to rumors, he received a lot of money for this from the financiers of Dzhokhar Dudayev. Ivanov-Sukharevsky never realized his idea - there were not enough volunteers, but the 25 people he gathered nevertheless went to Chechnya, where they fought against the Russian army as part of the Viking detachment of Ukrainian nationalists under the command of the head of the Rovno UNSO, editor-in-chief of the nationalist press organ - the newspaper "Nasha Prava" ("Our Business") by Oleksandr Muzychko. In Grozny, the Muzychko detachment defended the headquarters of Aslan Maskhadov and became famous for the fact that under the guise of refugees, his fighters penetrated the location of Russian units and, volunteering to become guides, led them into an ambush. Dudayev presented Muzychko to the highest award of the CRI - the Order of the Hero of the Chechen nation.

Muzychko did not have time to receive the order - Dudayev was liquidated, and Muzychko himself went to prison for participating in a gangster showdown. Fighters from the NNP were also supposed to take part in Shamil Basayev's campaign against Budyonnovsk: the operation was developed by the already mentioned ex-dissident Anatoly Lupinos, who became friends with Ivanov-Sukharevsky, but he again did not find enough volunteers.

The NPP is still campaigning on the Internet - the party, which was denied re-registration, has many supporters. Some of these supporters go to the North Caucasus "to shoot." The deceased militants of Slavic appearance from the Gakaev detachment were found with printouts of materials from the NNP website, so to establish the relationship between Slavic and Caucasian extremists in this case quite easy. It was much more difficult to trace the penetration of Ivanov-Sukharevsky's supporters into the Caucasus. But they tracked it down. It turns out that the same trusted people from the UNA-UNSO helped them, and the military assistant of the UNSO Colonel Viktor Chechillo directly coordinated the dispatch, by the way, until recently, a staff member of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

“It is easy to understand why Russian nationalists began to use the North Caucasus to hone their combat skills,” Dmitry Korchinsky, a well-known Ukrainian nationalist who once fought in Chechnya on the side of Dudayev, shared with the Nasha Version correspondent. - In the Caucasus - the most comfortable environment, ongoing fighting, but the number of dead is not always kept. This is convenient, you can shoot, learn to wield a knife, but not on dummies or on comrades, simulating a blow, but on living people. Such an experience is worth a lot, which is why such a symbiosis appeared. On the other hand, he also plays into the hands of the Caucasians: one can say that not all Russians are against them, that there are also supporters of the independence of the Caucasus, who are fighting for it with weapons in their hands. Beneficial for both. This means that cooperation will not end tomorrow.”

* On November 17, 2014, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized five Ukrainian nationalist organizations as extremist: the activities of the Right Sector, the UNA-UNSO, the UPA, the Tryzub im. Stepan Bandera" and "Brotherhood" were banned in Russia. ** Ukrainian organization "Ukrainian National Assembly - Ukrainian People's Self-Defense" (UNA - UNSO). Recognized as extremist by the decision of the Supreme Court Russian Federation from 11/17/2014.

A regular meeting was held in Grozny on Tuesday Supreme Court Republic of Chechnya in the case of citizens of Ukraine Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh. They are accused of killing two or more people during the fighting in Chechnya. The persons killed by the indicated citizens of the neighboring state were servicemen of the Russian army. Citizens of Ukraine participated in the hostilities as part of the UNA-UNSO units and were subordinate to Aslana Maskhadov and Shamil Basaeva.

Yatsenyuk in the tank

The defendants are not the only citizens of Ukraine accused in Russia of participating in Chechen gangs. Not so long ago, a long list of those accused of hostilities against federal forces in Chechnya was added to Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

It was first announced in the 1990s head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin in September of this year. So, according to him, Yatsenyuk was directly involved in the events of December 1993 - February 1994 in Grozny. He is also suspected of torturing and shooting Russian servicemen. “According to our information, Yatsenyuk, among other active members of UNA-UNSO, was awarded the highest award in December 1995 Dzhokhara Dudayev“Honor of the nation” for the destruction of Russian military personnel,” said the head of the TFR.

The main evidence against the Ukrainian prime minister was the testimony of the late radical nationalist at the disposal of the Investigative Committee Alexandra Muzychko(better known as Sashko Bily), under whose command Yatsenyuk allegedly fought in Chechnya. Naturally, the politician's press service immediately denied all accusations, and a wave of jokes and demotivators appeared on the Web depicting Yatsenyuk on a tank or with a beard typical of Islamists. Other evidence, as well as evidence of Yatsenyuk's non-involvement in the events described, has not yet appeared. According to the official biography of the politician, during the war in Chechnya, he lived in Chernivtsi, where he organized a certain company that dealt with "privatization issues." Yatsenyuk has military rank reserve captain with the specialty "artillery reconnaissance".

We will leave the details of the involvement of the Ukrainian prime minister in the hostilities in Chechnya to the investigation.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Photo: Reuters

Strong Chechen-Ukrainian friendship

To date, there is a lot of evidence that Ukrainian nationalists really fought in Chechnya on the side of Dudayev's militants against Russian government troops. It was a troubled time, many people wanted to earn money, and the neo-Banderists did not miss the opportunity to shoot at the “Muscovites”. It is known for certain that the recruitment of Ukrainian fighters for the war in Caucasian mountains the organization UNA-UNSO (Ukrainian National Assembly - Ukrainian People's Self-Defense) was engaged in. This group is recognized as extremist, and its activities are prohibited in Russia.

According to some information, the fighters were supposed to receive a monetary reward of $2-3 thousand per month. They brought them to Chechnya through Georgia. There is evidence that during the Chechen campaign, the militants underwent treatment and rehabilitation on the territory of Ukraine. Here they closely cooperated with the UNA-UNSO, created their own cells and agreed on the supply of weapons. So close friendly ties between Chechen terrorists and Ukrainian nationalists have been established for a long time. It is this that can explain the fact that in the war in the Donbass, people from Chechnya turned out to be in the ranks of the punitive battalions of neo-Banderists.

Initially led the militants general in exile Isa Munaev, who received political asylum in Denmark after the end of the Chechen campaign. And now, years later, the hour of retribution has come for him. In 2014, he already calmly held press conferences for the Ukrainian media, during which he praised the fighters of the Ukrainian battalions fighting against the Donbass militias. In February 2015, General Munaev was killed during the battles for Debaltseve.

combat experience

In fact, the experience of the Chechen war in the conflict in the Donbass was brought not only by the leaders of the Chechen gangs of the 90s. There are also Ukrainians who, having gained experience in the Caucasus mountains, took up arms again in 2014, but already on the territory of their country. Someone even went into big politics.

We are talking about such well-known members of UNA-UNSO as Dmitry Korchinsky(journalist and public figure, ex-presidential candidate of Ukraine), Andrew and Oleg Tyagniboki(deputies Verkhovna Rada), Dmitry Yarosh(Verkhovna Rada deputy, adviser to the head of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, leader of the Right Sector and the right-wing radical nationalist organization Trident), etc. All the listed citizens of Ukraine in 1994-1995 took part in the hostilities in Chechnya under the command of the aforementioned Oleksandr Muzychko.

March UNA-UNSO in Kyiv. Photo: www.russianlook.com

“During the investigation of a criminal case on a clash between illegal armed groups led by Shamil Basayev and Khattab with servicemen of the 76th Pskov Airborne Division on the territory of the Chechen Republic, information was obtained about the organization of a gang of UNA-UNSO members and their participation in hostilities against federal forces on side of the Chechen separatists in the period 1994-1995,” the official statement of the TFR said.

Maybe they were slandered? Let's see. Korchinsky is actually the founder of UNA-UNSO. In the 1990s, he personally negotiated cooperation with Maskhadov. During the conflict in Donbas, he publicly called for the creation of filtration camps for the Russian-speaking residents of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Oleg Tyagnibok is a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of several convocations, a candidate for the presidency of Ukraine, known for his loud Russophobic and anti-Semitic statements.

About the now deceased Sashko Bily (who, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, shot himself during a special operation), everyone is already quite aware, he managed to “distinguish himself” in the war in the Donbass. One can only mention that he also managed to show himself in Chechnya. Possessing a Slavic appearance, he carried out subversive work among Russian military personnel, led them into Chechen ambushes and generally showed himself to be a true follower Stepan Bandera. According to some reports, Muzychko was directly involved in organizing the hostage-taking in Budyonnovsk, conducting reconnaissance on the ground and helping the terrorists in drawing up a plan of action.

But back to our premieres. More recently, politician Yatsenyuk spoke out categorically against his involvement in Ukrainian neo-fascists, although he had attended their events for a long time, eyewitnesses testify to this. But already in 2015, it was he who became the author of the bill “On the legal status and memory of the participants in the struggle for the independence of Ukraine in the 20th century”, according to which members of the OUN and soldiers of the UPA are given the status of “fighters for the independence of Ukraine”.

It’s just a custom that the degree of “heroism” of Ukrainian nationalists is usually assessed by the number of Russians killed – during World War II, in Chechnya, now – in the Donbass. So it is not at all surprising that today the younger generation of Ukrainian nationalists takes the side of the IS militants in the Syrian conflict, diligently exposing Russian pilots and applauding the victories of terrorists, and in Lviv there is still a street named after Dzhokhar Dudayev.

* Organizations recognized as extremist and banned in Russia.