Experience paid for in blood: Steep route. Experience paid for in blood: Steep route Attack on the Khunzakh border detachment

On February 28, 2004, the odious militant Ruslan Gelayev was killed during a clash with a detachment of Russian border troops near the Bezhta border outpost. Gelayev accidentally came across two Russian border guards (Mukhtar Suleymanov and Abdulkhalik Kurbanov), whom he shot during a shootout, but he himself was seriously wounded in the arm and, bleeding, covered several hundred meters, crouched near a tree and cut off his wounded arm. A few minutes later he died from blood loss and painful shock. On February 29, 2004, at about 15:00 local time, Gelayev’s body was discovered by a detachment of border guards. The deceased border guards were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia - this is the official version.
According to the second version, Gelayev died on December 29, 2003, coming under fire from helicopters sent to search for missing soldiers. According to the third version, he was buried by an avalanche. I know the fourth version, since I was directly involved in the events associated with its appearance. I'll tell you everything in order...

Start

My childhood was spent in Moscow, in the Golyanovo district. I have absorbed into myself that in our country all people are brothers. Friendly national republics, united with Russia, which can never break away from it. In principle, there was no noticeable difference between a Russian, a Tatar, a Georgian, an Armenian or a resident of Dagestan in Moscow during the Soviet period. Some are a little darker, others are lighter, although they speak different languages, but everyone knows Russian and communicates easily. And religious differences... We didn’t think about them and didn’t know about them.
During the Soviet period, military service was considered an honorable duty. I was preparing for the army: I was involved in athletics, boxing, and classical wrestling, I was interested in mountain tourism, I walked the entire Crimean peninsula, and received sports ranks. Before the army he made about fifty parachute jumps D-5, D-6.
The collapse of the country, the first and second Chechen campaigns also influenced my fate. After serving my military service in the 7th Guards Airborne Division in the Lithuanian SSR, I went to study at the Gaidzhunai School of Airborne Warrant Officers. The wits gave it the name “Abwehr school.”
Every day the cadets made 25-kilometer forced marches. Once every six months, tactical exercises were held with a forced march of 100 kilometers. Officers who had the war in Afghanistan behind them shared their experiences with us.
After graduating from warrant officer school, he again served in his native 108th Guards Parachute Regiment. During his service, he had to provide assistance to the citizens of Armenia after the earthquake, as well as restore constitutional order in Azerbaijan and Lithuania.
In 1990 he entered the Krasnodar Military School named after Army General S. M. Shtemenko. After completing his studies, he was assigned to the 299th Guards Parachute Regiment in Ivanovo, to the position of assistant chief of staff for special communications and secrecy.
In December 1994, the paratroopers of our regiment became part of the combined battalion and actively took part in the first Chechen campaign. Unfortunately, the position of cryptographer officer did not allow him to participate directly in hostilities. I left the army due to staff reduction, but my soul did not find use in civilian life, and after a while I ended up in the 487th
Zheleznovodsk Border Special Purpose Detachment (POGUN) as commander of an reconnaissance unit. The detachment was created in June 1994 with a location in the city of Zheleznovodsk, Stavropol Territory. Organizationally, it was part of the group of troops of the Caucasian Special Border District and was intended to solve special problems.
I served in the military intelligence of the Russian border service for almost five years. There were results and victories, and most importantly, God had mercy, there were no combat losses in the unit. In a combat situation, whether it was Ingushetia, Dagestan or Chechnya, luck was with us. In war you need a little ingenuity, agility, knowledge of tactics and consideration of psychology, and, most importantly, you just don’t have to be afraid.
Border troops differ from the troops of the Ministry of Defense and internal troops in their tasks and mentality of military personnel, therefore, on the one hand, it was easy for me, on the other, I had to learn a lot.
The main task of linear border detachments, border outposts, to which sections of the border are assigned, is to protect the state border of Russia.
When illegal gangs crossed the state border of Russia or when they were in the border zone, there were not enough outpost forces and means. This is where the special purpose border units came to their aid, searching, detecting and destroying the militants. In fact, our work fit into the interval when the outposts could no longer cope, and the use of troops was still inappropriate.
Our task included working on dangerous sections of the border throughout the North Caucasus from Dagestan to the Krasnodar Territory and Astrakhan. I had to communicate a lot with local residents, and this presupposed knowledge of the mentality and characteristics of the local population. This is where my youthful romance dissipated.
In general, the Caucasus is populated by honest, kind, open, and in some ways even naive people. I met many, some became friends, and if not for them, the events that I will write about further would hardly have been possible. But we were primarily interested in border violators and members of the underground. And this is a completely different category of people.
The bandits, in order to justify their actions, began to hide behind various religious teachings and recruit new members of the gang underground. In the border areas they had bases and routes to the adjacent territory, where they rested and replenished supplies. So, in order to counteract the bandits, the border guards needed to know, in addition to standard border protection skills, also the tactics of the GRU special forces. It was also important to know the national characteristics of the local population, in which the border guards looked for support and support.
Since I served for six years in the Airborne Forces, I was familiar with operations in mountainous and wooded areas, and I became acquainted with the features of close combat while studying at a cryptographic school.

They didn’t teach this at the school itself, but not far from us was the Krasnodar Rocket School, where there was a retraining center for GRU special forces officers. In this center, under the leadership of Colonel Sergei Vladimirovich Vishnevetsky, professionals introduced various non-traditional training methods into combat practice. Due to his official position, it was not possible to study personally with S.V. Vishnevetsky. Only Alexey Alekseevich Kadochnikov was available, who was already a popular personality and could not devote enough time to us, but a way out was found.
In addition to the main official activities, the center’s specialists conducted elective classes. In these classes I acquired the primary skills of hand-to-hand combat and short-range shooting. They say that everyone chooses a coach for themselves; I liked training with Vladimir Pavlovich Danilov most of all. Danilov, then still a major, explained everything simply, clearly and with humor. The students loved his classes for the knowledge and positive emotions they received in these classes.
When I began serving in the border guard detachment, I felt that the skills I learned from Danilov could be useful. Then I had a desire to invite him and other specialists who worked at the Krasnodar training center to classes.
The commander of the Zheleznovodsk special purpose border detachment at that time was Colonel Valery Pavlovich Gorshkov.
There were legends about Valery Pavlovich in the North Caucasus regional administration. A combative, competent officer who you can always rely on, and his subordinates are like a choice.
In the border detachment, he created excellent conditions for improving combat training. Intelligence was the brainchild of Valery Pavlovich.
He said: “A scout is a special caste with its own traditions, customs and superstitions. Scouts are people of a special psychology. The Border Patrol is nomadic and very dangerous, where every mistake costs your life. The most powerful weapon on the border is vigilance.”
Thanks to his support, the scouts began to make parachute jumps from the An-2 aircraft. Many became mountain training instructors.
In the summer of 2003, an expedition was organized under the code name “Following the Footsteps of the Snow Leopard.” The purpose of the expedition was to study the Main Caucasus Range, the adjacent passes and routes. The expedition ended at the top of Mount Elbrus.
Gorshkov supported capable young officers who were not afraid to learn and act competently and proactively in difficult conditions.
Thanks to his support, it was possible to renew contacts with representatives of the Krasnodar Army Special Forces Training Center, which worked under the programs of Colonel Sergei Vladimirovich Vishnevetsky, and invite them to classes.

Then Danilov introduced me to Dmitriev. Dmitriev previously served in the GRU special forces, and currently in the FSB special forces. Of course, he did not have such educational and methodological practice as Danilov, but Dmitriev had very rich combat experience. Once he was a student of Danilov, and their career paths crossed in hot spots of Transcaucasia. Over time, they became like-minded people and co-authors of methods. Dmitriev, like Danilov, provided all possible assistance in my preparation.
As the near future has shown, the skills acquired in classes on tactical and special training, close combat tactics, short-term fire contacts, hand-to-hand combat, actions during searches and ambushes gave positive results.
We couldn't believe that it would come in handy so quickly. It is a pity that such a center no longer exists.
But we had no experience communicating with the local population. General Zabrodin helped eliminate this deficiency.

General Zabrodin

In peacetime, we would hardly have communicated so closely with the general. Usually they are distant from the group commanders and are busy with administrative matters. But war forces soldiers and generals to communicate on a different level. Our first meeting took place in Stavropol, where Anatoly Zabrodin conducted command training classes with officers of the district units.
Zabrodin gathered all the officers and had a short conversation with us. His speech was short, informative and figurative.
He required us not only to carry out combat missions, but also to know the characteristics of the local population. Their customs, morals, as well as conflicts between representatives of one or another nationality. In addition, he introduced us to the operational-combat situation on sections of the border.
Zabrodin said: “You must know and feel the local residents in the border areas so much that you can determine by the expression of your eyes or posture whether you are a friend or an enemy, and speak in such a way that at the end of the conversation your interlocutor feels the need to tell everything he knows, and report all border trespassers.”
Zabrodin made us learn the history and traditions of the Caucasus, as well as internal conflicts between representatives of different nationalities.
He focused on behavior in everyday life, how to say hello, what to say, where, how and in what order to sit down during a conversation or a feast, in which cases to take off a hat or shoes, in which cases not.
We considered many of his demands unnecessary, but, fulfilling the order, we taught. In addition, we often had to communicate with the Karachais, then with the Dargins or Lezgins, then with the Avars, and build personal relationships.
Zabrodin also demanded that we know the enemy’s preparations, since he believed that this would help both in determining his plans and in open confrontation.
The militants' training consisted of two stages.
The first is ideological. On it, militants studied the basics of Islam. This was called the increase in "iman", for the one who takes up arms must do everything for the sake of Allah, and everyone who adheres to any other goals will be subject to severe demands on the Day of Judgment.
The second stage is military training. A fighter must be able to fight for the sake of Allah.
The daily routine is strict: getting up at half past two in the morning, taking a bath, and praying at about three o’clock. After this, studying the Koran, learning suras by heart. At 6 o'clock in the morning physical training began - running in the mountains (about 6 kilometers). As they said, “the Mujahid’s legs feed him,” “it’s hard to run in the mountains, but on the plain we’ll run like gazelle birds”... At the end of the course there’s an exam. Each of the militants had to learn 15 suras and answer the questions covered during the course. The duration of the training was about three weeks. Only those who passed this exam were allowed to take part in the second part, which included hand-to-hand combat, shooting from various types of weapons, from pistols to anti-aircraft guns, battle tactics and methods of sabotage.

Mentally, I compared the training of the enemy and the training of our fighters. We did not have a religious base; it was replaced by the frontier spirit of military brotherhood, but our military training was no worse, with the difference that the tasks were different. Therefore, I trained the fighters even more so that they were ready to meet the enemy.
On December 18, 2003, the chief of staff of the North Caucasus regional border department of the Federal Border Guard Service of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Anatoly Zabrodin, called me to set up a combat mission and introduced me to the operational situation in the area of ​​​​upcoming operations.
According to a report dated November 29, 2003, from a separate special reconnaissance group (OGSPR), confirmed by operational intelligence of the Khunzakh border detachment, it followed that more than 500 militants were concentrated in the area of ​​the administrative border on the Yagodak and Opar passes on the side of the Chechen Republic. This was the detachment of Ruslan Gelayev.
Coincidentally or not, it was in this group that there were Igla man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems.
In his gang, in addition to trained militants from the North Caucasus republics, there were also people from Arab countries.
For several weeks now, the operational unit of the Khunzakh border detachment has been checking all incoming information about the location of Ruslan Gelayev’s gang.
Late in the evening of December 14, quite a lot of well-armed people appeared in the vicinity of the Dagestan villages of Shauri and Galatli. The village of Shauri is located 15 km from the border and 40 km from the regional center of Kidiro. In the Tsunta region, where these villages are located, Wahhabism never took root. The area was considered calm and deserved the reputation of a bear corner: high-mountainous, inaccessible and remote from the center of the republic, located directly on the administrative border with the Chechen Republic and with access to the southern regions of Dagestan. There were only two police stations in its entire territory.
Several dozen police officers served in the Tsuntinsky District Department of Internal Affairs and the Bezhta department. There were problems with communications and vehicles. Because of this, for about a day they could not find out what was happening in the village of Shauri. The militants provoked shooting near the outpost and forced the head of the outpost, Captain Radim Khalikov, to organize a pursuit. At a bend in the road, the border guards were ambushed. Due to the darkness and the factor of surprise, the militants were unable to resist. All nine border guards died.
So, with a trail of blood, Gelayev’s gang indicated their location.
By the evening of December 16, units of various law enforcement agencies began to gather in the Tsuntinsky district.
At that time, I was the commander of the reconnaissance unit of the Zheleznovodsk border detachment for special purposes and had the call signs “Elbrus” and “Highlander”.
Therefore, everything related to intelligence activities was often entrusted to me. So it was this time.

Zabrodin took a topographic map from the safe and laid it out on the table.
— Here, intelligence officers from the GRU discovered a group of militants numbering 15-18 people. - The general’s pencil rested on a point on the map in the area of ​​​​the Kusa ridge. “Our mortars covered this target. The militants suffered losses. Those who survived, according to the GRU, took refuge in a mountain cave. Perhaps Gelayev himself is with them. Here are her coordinates.
He handed me a piece of paper. The general's voice was tired.
— Your task is to confirm or refute the information we have. If militants are detected, take them prisoner or destroy them. To do this, urgently prepare a platoon. We will drop you off by helicopter in the specified area, closer to the designated point. In case of an unforeseen situation, act according to the circumstances.

Preparation

Arriving at the unit, I assembled the personnel of the reconnaissance platoon and completed the task. The fighters already had experience operating in mountainous conditions, and many had combat experience. Everyone knew the minimum required to work in the mountains in winter.
To be honest, I always tried to find a middle ground between the amount of ammunition and equipment and the maneuverability and speed of the group. As a result, I came to the conclusion in favor of maneuverability and speed of movement. This did not apply to winter clothes and minimal ammunition. If the plan was mainly for search operations, then they took less ammunition and warm clothes, more for an ambush, and if they were supposed to spend the night in the mountains, they made an intermediate base where, under the guard of some of the soldiers, they stored things and some of the ammunition that were unnecessary during fast transitions.
Army special forces may criticize me for such liberties, but the fact of the matter is that border guards are not GRU officers and our tasks are different.
The tactics also had their own peculiarities. So, based on the number of people in the group, I used a slightly different battle formation when moving the reconnaissance search group (RPG) than the army men. This concerned the head patrol. It consisted of two subgroups. The first one I called search patrol, the so-called. "hounds", the second intermediate patrol. “Hounds” (2 people) carried a minimum of equipment, one of them always had a silent weapon. Their task is to inspect dangerous areas and determine the most appropriate route. The most agile and nimble fighters were assigned to this group. The “intermediate” consisted of 3 people, one of whom was with a machine gun, their task was to ensure the actions of the “hounds” and interact with the core of the group.

Particular attention was paid to practicing the ambush on the move. Remembering that a template is the death of a unit, we had worked out several general options for action, and left the details to the power of tactical improvisation of the group in each specific case. The main thing is that the commander and the group feel each other, understanding each other perfectly.
To complete the task, I decided to take the entire platoon, especially since the number of seats in the helicopters allowed this to be done. There were 24 of us with a medic and a signalman attached. As for weapons, in addition to AKMs, some of which have PBS, screw cutters, Makarov pistols, SVDS, I took two PCs, one Pecheneg and a large-caliber anti-sniper complex.
Since the actions were supposed to take place in the highlands, where there is snow, white camouflage coats became a mandatory part of the equipment. But everyone had different raid backpacks. RD-54 did not fulfill its functions in terms of capacity and convenience, so everyone tried to acquire more comfortable backpacks and backpacks to the best of their ability.
Several warrant officers and contract soldiers went with me to the operation. The main backbone consisted of conscript soldiers.

In the mountains

The Mi-8 helicopters loaded with border guards, like huge bumblebees, reluctantly soared into the sky and headed towards the mountains sparkling in the distance with white snow.
I looked out the window as the flat landscapes smoothly turned into mountain gorges, and thought about what awaited us in the upcoming operation. As often happens, a person assumes, but life disposes. Our first stop was at the Makok outpost. When operations involve many forces from different departments, duplication of tasks occurs. That's what happened this time too. Either interdepartmental competition or other motives played a cruel joke on my platoon. As it turned out later, the situation changed significantly, and the management of the operation completely passed into the hands of the interdepartmental operational headquarters, led by a group of senior officers: General Bakhin (Russian Defense Ministry), Streltsov (PS FSB of Russia) and Magomedtagirov (Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia). The actions of the border guards and special forces of the FSB of Russia were directly controlled by the deputy head of the North Caucasus regional border department of the Border Guard Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Nikolaevich Streltsov, at that time a major general. The task that the general set for me was already carried out by the GRU special forces. Then I remembered his phrase: “In case of an unforeseen situation, act according to the circumstances.”
These are the circumstances that have arisen.
The group did not work alone. Four reconnaissance platoons of the Zheleznovodsk border detachment, just like mine, landed at the outposts “Makok”, “Kioni” and “Khushet” with the task of preventing an illegal armed formation from breaking through from the blocked area towards the State Border. In the “Khusheti” sector, where Dagestan on the border with Georgia adjoins Chechnya, general operational leadership was exercised by Marcel Rashidovich Sakaev, colonel, at that time chief of staff of the linear border detachment (Khunzakh POGO).
Together with him, we developed a new task for my platoon.
This task was not easy. It was necessary to reach the Zhirbak pass and block the direction of the probable movement of the militants. As it turned out later, this was the most threatening direction. At the pass, I could act at my own discretion: organize searches, observation and listening points, and, if necessary, ambushes.
At dawn the next day we moved towards the pass, with difficulty clearing our way along the ancient path leading from the village of Khushet to the Zhirbak pass. The ancient path, which survived thanks to the local residents who used it as a means of communication between the villages of Dagestan and Georgia, was almost invisible in the mountainous area.
Despite the proximity of the pass, the entire journey took us several hours. In some places, the depth of the snow cover reached one and a half meters, and gusts of wind knocked people off their feet. We navigated avalanche-prone areas with extreme caution. Sometimes it seemed that there was nothing around except white snow, icy wind and face-scorching blizzard. We were either drenched in sweat or freezing from the wind, and what lay ahead was a tedious stay on the cold pass. When we reached the pass, the wind suddenly died down and visibility improved. Quickly changing into dry clothes, the group settled down as usual on the pass, establishing observation in sectors: in the west was the Main Caucasus Range, in the north and south its spurs covered with snow spread out, and the old village of Tseykhelakh was visible on the left. The beautiful view of the majestic mountains and the expanse that opened up to our eyes were mesmerizing. Everything was in full view: the edge of the forest, the village, the road running away from the village into the distance, snow-covered alpine meadows and separate sheds. There were no signs of the presence of militants. The frost intensified; warm clothes did not protect against the piercing cold. The approaching night at the pass threatened with serious frostbite and loss of combat effectiveness. Therefore, I decided to go down to the sheds when it got dark.

Leaving an observation and listening point at the pass, at dusk we moved towards the sheds. Carefully passing by the pilot "Reho", the platoon, following all the rules of camouflage, approached the outermost shed. It contained livestock: cows, bulls and sheep. This means that local residents visited it periodically. Judging by the map, we were only 1.5-2 kilometers from the village of Tseykhelakh.
The lead reconnaissance patrol inspected the buildings, and we chose a fairly spacious barn for placement. It was cold in the barn, but still much warmer than outside, and it protected from the wind and snow. Having posted a guard, we whiled away the night.
The next morning an old man came to the sheds. Passing by the barn in which our group was located, he looked inside and was a little confused when he saw armed men in white camouflage coats.
After the greeting, the old man softened a little, even calmed down. He was still a strong elderly man with a thick dark red beard and a wary look of brown eyes. He was wearing a sheepskin coat, chrome army boots, and a gray hat crowned his head.
Trying to be as friendly as possible, I introduced myself:
— Commander of the intelligence unit of the border service, senior lieutenant Alexander Egorov.
Then he invited him to sit on a makeshift bench.
The old man called himself Ali and said that he was from the village of Tseykhelakh.
Knowing the dislike of the local population for the alien bandits and religious contradictions, I told him that we are not enemies of the locals and want the same thing as them - to remove the bandits from the area. If he finds it possible to help us in any way, we will be grateful.
The old man said that with the appearance of bandits, grief and misfortune settled in the area, so he will try to help us in capturing the bandits.
I also asked permission to stay in this barn for a while.
“Okay, I’ll give it to the owner of the sheepfold,” Ali answered. At this point we parted.
An hour later, a young man appeared from the direction of the village of Tseykhelakh. The watchmen escorted him to me.
The local resident turned out to be the owner of the shed. He was dressed almost the same as the old man, only there was more confidence and energy in his movements. He called himself Magomed. During the conversation, Magomed kindly allowed us to use the barn at our discretion, but only asked us not to touch the livestock. He also said that Ali ordered the following to be conveyed: local residents saw armed people on the path below the village. These are not military. Somewhat below the village there are also sheds, in which militants can hide. The information required confirmation.
Having divided the platoon into combat crews: security, observation, search and rest, I began reconnaissance and search operations. Our location was favorable: the approaches to the pass and to the village were under control, through which we could reach the administrative and state border. At any moment it was possible to block the approaches to the bridge and the path to the village of Tseykhelakh, as well as to the Zhirbak pass. We had to inspect a large area of ​​mountain slopes and try to identify the militants.

Start of operation

Signalman Pavlov with a radio station was located next to me, there was also a military guard here: Evgeniy Golovchak, Pavel Shashkov, Anton Gruzdev, I heard intense radio traffic in the area. Our communication was closed, and there was no fear that the militants would be able to listen to the conversations of the joint group.
From the beginning of the operation, it became clear that several groups of militants were working in the Andean and Avar Koisu area and the ambush on the Makok border outpost was not an accident. Meanwhile, the militants chose new tactics. Most of the militants must sit out in caches and mountain villages, and then secretly leave the area of ​​the counter-terrorist operation.
The operation to neutralize the militants has entered a decisive phase. One of the special forces groups of the Russian Ministry of Defense, working on the top of the Kusa ridge, discovered a group of “spirits” moving in the direction of the Andean Koisu, and transmitted coordinates for a bombing attack. Assault aircraft and a mortar battery of the Zheleznovodsk PoGUN processed the indicated square. The militants suffered significant losses and headed to the Zhirbak pass area.
Only by lunchtime on December 31st were the GRU special forces able to break through and reach the cave, which my reconnaissance platoon was originally supposed to inspect. The bodies of the militants were found there. The surviving militants left the cave before the special forces arrived.
Aviation was actively working from dawn, fortunately the weather allowed. Active search and reconnaissance activities were carried out. Border helicopters carried out reconnaissance and search flights. Army aviation carried out strikes on places where militants were likely to move and be located. Ground teams from various departments inspected areas of the area. But so far not a single militant, camp or base has been discovered. There was also no confirmation of information about the destruction of militants in the areas of bombing and assault strikes. But most importantly, there was not a single prisoner to obtain reliable information about the bandits.
The patrols that I sent to inspect the area also did not detect the presence of militants. There was no information from the observation and listening post that I left at the pass.
Several times already I reported on the radio station about the results, or rather, about their absence.
From the speaker, along with radio interference, came the irritated voice of the communications chief of the Zheleznovodsk detachment, Lieutenant Colonel Ogorodnikov:
- You're doing a bad job! Look better, Elbrus.
After lunch, the owner of the shed came to us. It was clear from Magomed’s appearance how excited he was. For a more confidential contact, I went with him to a nearby shed. He told me the following:
“On the opposite slope, behind the bridge, there are bandits; we couldn’t determine how many there are, but there will be about twenty for sure.” For several days they visually observed the sheepfolds and mistook them for a remote village. All with machine guns, well equipped, they require food, warm clothing and a guide from the owners of the sheds to leave for Georgia. At night, two militants must move to the lower barns and organize a meeting with another group located in the village of Tseykhelakh. Magomed also said that the militants know for sure that the border guards are at the pass and are planning to destroy them. They don’t know anything about us; they saw two of our border guards in the evening, but mistook them for locals. This was an opportunity.
To verify the information received, we decided to send two subgroups, 2 people each, to observe the enemy and listen to the area. One was led by contract serviceman “Stary”, the other was led by conscript soldier Private Sergei Timofeev.

As dusk approached, the subgroups, having equipped themselves, set off towards the lower sheds. They managed to get close enough to the lower sheds unnoticed. The connection was stable, and I received real-time information about what was happening near the lower sheds. The first three hours of observation did not yield any results. At dawn, the patrolmen clearly distinguished the silhouettes of people with weapons on the opposite slope. The information received from Ali and Magomed was confirmed.

Ambush and first battle

The decision to conduct an ambush came naturally. On December 29, at about 9 a.m., the reconnaissance platoon secretly moved to the ambush site. The ambush site was chosen at the dead point of the upper shed, where the area was not visible from the opposite slope and the lower sheds, which is at the exit of the path towards the village of Tseykhelakh. The location was convenient: it allowed us to control the sheds, the trail and part of the village. Long hours passed in anxious anticipation and complete radio silence.
Suddenly the radio station came to life:
- “Elbrus”, I am “Falcon”, there is some kind of bustle in the village.
About 10 minutes later, two armed men dressed like local residents appeared from the direction of the village. There are quite a lot of weapons in the Dagestan mountains, and their presence does not mean they belong to militants, but something in their behavior was alarming. They walked somehow stealthily, constantly looking around. There were only two bandits, so they decided to capture them.
Since we were still hidden from the enemy by the curve of the mountain, I gave the command to the capture group to go down and I went with them. We hid near the path. White camouflage coats hid our presence, and I hoped that it would be possible to take the enemy by surprise. At the same time, the fire subgroups remaining in positions kept the bandits at gunpoint.
A few minutes later, bearded men armed with machine guns appeared on the slope. We pressed ourselves into the snow and froze.
A nervous shiver breaks through me from excitement. The crunch of the snow under the feet of those walking seems deafeningly loud, so they pass by us, and I, gathering all my strength, jump out from behind a snowdrift and, rushing at the militant closest to me, shout:
- Stop, I’ll shoot!
The militant did not have time to turn to me and point the weapon before I grabbed his barrel and, moving it upward, hit his foot with the base of my boot. It turned out to be something between a trip and a sweep. The fighter collapsed. The fighters running after me rushed at him and instantly pinned him down.
The second militant quickly rolled onto his side and began to run towards the village of Tseykhelakh along the path. In a few jumps we manage to catch up with him. I grab his leg with my foot and move it to the inside. This is enough for the bandit’s leg, moving forward by inertia, to catch on the other leg in the area of ​​the knee bend, and the militant collapses face down. I jump on his back and press him to the ground with my body. The soldiers who arrived in time subdued this militant too.
Having delivered the militants to the barn where we were based, we interrogated them. It turned out that on the opposite slope, very close by, Ruslan Gelayev himself was with his special forces, and there should be two people in the sheds to meet the group from Tseykhelakh. Having gathered the senior subgroups, I hold a short meeting and set tasks. It was decided to split the platoon into two search and inspection groups, one of which would deal with the militants in the sheds, and the other would inspect the surrounding area and, if necessary, provide fire support to the first group.
I am reporting on the results of the capture of two militants and the information received from them. To process the information received, the platoon, divided into two subgroups, began a covert advance to the sheds.
Carefully, we run and sometimes on all fours as we approach the sheds. The soldiers, silently gliding from building to building, from tree to tree, inspect the sheds.
The whispers of the senior subgroups are heard over the radio station:
- “Elbrus”, I am “Pobeda”, I am “Dernov”, everything is clear.
The radio station goes silent and I learned about what happened in the barn later from Warrant Officer Danila: “When we burst into the barn, we didn’t see any militants. In one part of the barn, behind a partition, there was hay. I fired several shots there, at places where the militants could be hiding, and then methodically began to probe the hayloft with a bayonet. Suddenly the barrel of a machine gun pressed against my temple. I didn’t even have time to get scared, but I realized: if they wanted to kill, they would have killed right away. I make a sharp movement with my head forward while simultaneously striking the machine gun with my right hand. Then he grabbed the militant by the hair and threw him into the hay. The soldiers ran up to my cry, and we subdued the militant. Unfortunately, the second militant could not be found, but his weapon (a sniper rifle) was in the barn.”
When the captured militant came to his senses, he began to ask not to be killed, offering one hundred dollars for his life, all he had.
The details of what happened in the barn became known later, but at the moment, having heard shots, I demanded on the radio that the senior search subgroups block the approaches to the sheds. The Pobeda subgroup took up positions on top of the plateau, where the opposite slope was clearly visible, and provided fire cover for the first search subgroup. On the opposite slope, about 300 meters from the sheds, the search group saw the militants.
The soldiers carefully descended to the bridge. The militants did not suspect anything; it was a huge success.
They sat calmly near the fire, weapons hung on tree branches, machine guns were placed around the edges. The fighters got their bearings instantly; dispersed and lay down, taking multi-tiered positions. The Pobeda subgroup, which was working in the sheds, also joined the subgroup that had already taken up defensive positions. Without waiting for the bandits to discover the border guards, warrant officers Yuri Letsky and Pavel Dernov opened fire with silent weapons. Trying to get closer to the enemy, warrant officer Dernov and a contract soldier cross the bridge, but come under heavy fire from small arms and are bombarded with homemade grenades, the so-called. "khattabkami". The deuce turns out to be cut off from the main forces.
- “Elbrus”, “Elbrus”, urgently change the border radio station to the army R-159 and your call signs, output on spare frequencies. The enemy has captured the border radio station and is listening to the airwaves,” the station came to life with Ogorodnikov’s voice.
We change the station and get in touch on the indicated frequencies:
— Urgently cover the direction to the village of Tseykhelakh, a group of militants of several dozen people is moving in your direction.
Subsequently it became known: this was Doku Umarov’s group.
I couldn’t cover the direction to Tseikhely. The platoon fought.
“Elbrus”, “Highlander”... take the unit out of the battle... - again and again I hear someone’s distant creaky voice and suddenly I understand that this is a senior reinforcement officer, communications chief, Lieutenant Colonel Ogorodnikov, speaking to me over the radio.
The radio station reports that in another gorge our Dad, the detachment commander, Colonel Gorshkov, and the scouts of Senior Lieutenant Mogilnikov got into a mess. The helicopter duo mistook them for militants and attacked. Thank God, everything turned out okay.
The enemy was pinned to the ground and had no opportunity to retreat. Soon combat helicopters of the border troops appeared. The NURS began to precisely cover the location of the bandits. After making several passes, the helicopters left. One machine gun point was destroyed. However, the second machine gun point, located higher away from the main location of the bandits, still continued to fire. Sniper Danila, machine gunner Private Alexander Potapov and machine gunner Nikolai Tebelesh entered into a fire duel with her, and soon she fell silent. Our cut-off team returned to their positions without losses. Early winter twilight interrupted the battle.
Almost with the end of the battle, the remnants of the reinforcement and an officer from the group’s headquarters arrived to pick up the captured militants. I was glad to get rid of this burden and handed them over with relief, after which this group immediately left for headquarters. It was decided to postpone the inspection of the results of the clash until the morning, and we all returned to our barn. Having set up tents inside the barn and lit the stove in it, the platoon spent the night relatively calmly. Although the stress of the last day was taking its toll, we were still able to rest a little and recuperate.

Fight at the cliff

On December 30, early in the frosty morning, a reconnaissance platoon of senior lieutenant Rodny and several fighters from the Khushet outpost arrived to help my platoon. We inspected the site of yesterday's battle with them.
The reinforced group first approached the trail at the point where it meanders down to a narrow gorge.
The group crossed the bridge across the Andiyskoe Koisu River, over which the pair of warrant officer Pavel Dernov crossed yesterday, then to the place where the bandits were.
We hit a steep slope. We had to go steeply up through a snow-covered forest. We stopped; the silence that surrounded us was alarming.
At the edge of the forest lay the corpses of three killed militants. Three more were missing; perhaps they and the wounded were carried away.
The surrounding area did not reveal the presence of the enemy.
Having completed the inspection, we move further along the path of the probable withdrawal of the militants.
“We must be extremely careful and act as quietly as possible,” flashed through my head.
We carefully entered the forest and began to climb the slope. For several hundred meters there was no one. We go ahead with Vasily Okulov, he is on the left, and I am on the right, step by step we remove layers of snow and smell the snow. Suddenly Private Okulov froze not far from the climbing frame and motioned me over to him. A clear, fresh trail left by a dozen people led up the slope.
We do not dare to follow the trail directly.
I leave Vasily to cover the left flank. I begin the climb parallel to the trail, about 50 meters on the left. The climb there is much more difficult, but the likelihood that militants are expecting us from this direction is less. After 10 minutes of climbing, I literally stumble upon bandits guarding me: two are lying under the rock, the other two are on its visor. Fortunately, the bandits didn't see me.
At the sight of the bandits, the contract soldier Javatkhan assigned to the group fell into a stupor; he froze and did not react to either commands or the surrounding reality. I had to throw him into the snow and shake him a couple of times. Accompanied by the second contractor, I send him down, without even thinking that I was left alone.
While descending, the contract soldiers attracted the attention of the militants. One of the militants goes to look at the source of the noise. Coming out from behind the rock, he saw me. The distance between us was about three meters. Our eyes met... Goosebumps ran down my back and legs, instantly turning my body into a coiled spring. I remember everything next as if in a slow motion movie. The spring of my body straightened: a quick step towards the militant and a blow to the jaw with the butt of a machine gun from the right below brought the enemy down into the snow.
But there is no time to tie up or disarm the militant, I jump out from behind the rock to the second militant and shout with all my strength:
- Drop your weapon! Face down in the snow!
At the sight of the scout, the second militant was taken aback and, after a moment of confusion, unquestioningly carried out the command. Meanwhile, the visor came to life, from which they opened fire from automatic weapons and a TT pistol. Luckily, I was under a rock in a dead zone.
Holding the militants at gunpoint, he unloaded their weapons and, throwing them aside, shouted:
- If you want to live, lie with your face to the ground and not move!
After that, he moved a few meters towards the gorge and saw that about 10 militants were running from above and firing towards the bridge.
A series of single shots forced them to lie down. Single shots were also heard from the rear. Looking back, I saw Alexey, whose call sign was “Bald”, he was the first to reach the battlefield and, squatting down, opened fire on the militants.
A few seconds later, Vasily Okulov was regularly pouring from his machine gun from the left flank, and Marcel Dodabaev was pouring from the right flank.
The militants began to retreat. After some time we gave up the pursuit. There is too much risk of being ambushed or under fire from your own aircraft.
Throughout the night from December 30 to December 31, 2003, artillery shelling was conducted in the area of ​​​​the last battle.
The wind rose and a snowstorm began. Everyone knew that a strong wind with snow could drive snowdrifts up to 2 meters. These “snow wind surges” often cause the death of hunters or careless shepherds. Fortunately, the wind this time was not very strong, and the scouts managed to stay in the barn, unfolding the camping tents and lighting the stove.
I went over the events of the last two days in my memory. We were miraculously lucky. Now there were no thoughts of failure.
During the night, the initial interrogation of the prisoners was carried out. The militants' spirit was broken, and they willingly made contact. The information received from them was interesting. They reported that Ruslan Gelayev, who was wounded in the first battle, was in the gang. Ideologist and singer Timur Mutsuraev was killed. Abu al-Walid and the head of the Istanbul bureau of Ichkeria, Khozha Nukhaev, were also part of the gang, but the militants could not know whether they were alive after the last battle.
The information had to be double-checked, which took years.
In the morning, my determination to continue the search for the militant leaders was interrupted by the voice of Colonel Marcel Sakaev, heard from the radio station. He gave the order to urgently deliver the prisoners and arrive at the command post in the village of Khushet, leaving Lieutenant Rodny in charge. With ten scouts, prisoners, loaded with trophies, we left for Khushet.

Epilogue

It was never necessary to participate in hostilities of such intensity again. The successes, which seemed great in the mountains, looked modest against the background of the group’s overall results. Nevertheless, fate once again brought me back to these events. About a month later, the head of UNPOG, Colonel Gorshkov, gave me a new task.
Deliver from the Vladikavkaz pre-trial detention center three militants detained by the Georgian border police and handed over to the Russian side. During the transfer, I learned from them that they had participated in the battle at the cliff. The raid by the border guards was unexpected for them; they still did not understand how we managed to silently approach and capture part of their outpost without firing a single shot.
After the fighting, they took refuge in the basement of a school in the village of Khushet, and Gelayev lived in the house of the school director.
They also said that during the fighting, border guards killed 12 militants.
I learned partial confirmation of this information and the version of Gelayev’s death when a month later I found myself in the battlefields. I was told that the militants actually took refuge in the basement of the school, and when the troops left, they left too.
As for Gelayev, he lived with the school director for several more weeks. At the end of January, he attempted to cross the state border near the village of Khushet. Sent 5 militants to the village of Diklo in Georgia. Three of them were detained by the Georgian border police and handed over to Russia, and two safely reached the Pankisi Gorge, but did not make contact.
After this, Gelayev was transported to the village of Mitrada.
While crossing the state border on the slope of the Simbiriskhevi River gorge, he was shot by his guides, possibly out of blood feud.
Whether it really happened or not is no longer important. The main thing is that the bandit got what he deserved.