The shooting of the White House and a complete list of the dead. Shooting of the White House and a complete list of those killed October 1993 chronicle of the coup
August 1991 coup
Since 1989, the power of the party-state nomenklatura has been steadily decreasing. New commercial and political structures slowly but steadily gained strength. All this caused open and hidden protest from the “ruling class”. The last straw that pushed the party and state leadership of the USSR to act was the threat of signing on August 22, 1991, a new Union Treaty, which was developed during negotiations between representatives of the republics in Novo-Ogarevo, at a government dacha near Moscow.
According to this agreement, the republics included in the new Union received significantly more rights, and the center was transformed from a manager into a coordinating one. In reality, only issues of defense, financial policy, internal affairs, and partly tax and social policy remained in the hands of the union leadership. Some republics refused to sign even this fairly liberal agreement (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia).
In order to disrupt the signing of this agreement and maintain their powers of power, part of the top party and state leadership tried to seize power. On August 19, 1991, a state of emergency was introduced in the country, troops, including tanks, were brought into the streets of Moscow and a number of other large cities, almost all central newspapers, with the exception of Pravda, Izvestia, Trud and some others, were banned, all channels of Central Television, with the exception of the 1st program, and almost all radio stations stopped working. The activities of all parties except the CPSU were suspended.
The coup was led by the “State Committee for the State of Emergency” (GKChP) consisting of: acting. O. President of the USSR G. I. Yanaev, Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, First Deputy Chairman of the Defense Council O. D. Baklanov, Chairman of the KGB of the USSR V. A. Kryuchkov, Prime Minister of the USSR V. S. Pavlov, Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR B. K. Pugo, Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR V. A. Starodubtsev, Minister of Defense of the USSR D. T. Yazov and President of the Association of State-Owned Enterprises A. I. Tizyakov. The State Emergency Committee saw the main task of the coup in restoring the order in the USSR that existed before 1985, that is, in eliminating the multi-party system, commercial structures, and destroying the sprouts of democracy.
The main political rival of the central leadership of the USSR was the leadership of the RSFSR. It was against him that the main blow was directed. Troops were concentrated around the building of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR ("The White House"), who were supposed to occupy the building, disperse the parliament and arrest its most active participants.
But the coup failed. The population of the country basically refused to support the State Emergency Committee, while the army did not want to use force against its citizens. Already on August 20, barricades grew up around the “White House”, on which there were several tens of thousands of people, and some military units went over to the side of the defenders. The coup was received very negatively abroad, where statements were immediately made about the suspension of aid to the USSR.
The coup was extremely poorly organized and prepared. Already on August 22, he was defeated, and the members of the State Emergency Committee themselves were arrested. As a result of the events of August 19-21, 1991, three of its defenders were killed near the White House.
Immediately after the defeat of the putsch, mass demonstrations against the CPSU took place in almost all major cities, which served as a convenient reason for suspending the activities of the CPSU in the country. By order of the President of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin, the buildings of the CPSU Central Committee, regional committees, district committees, archives, etc. were closed and sealed. Since August 23, 1991, the CPSU has ceased to exist as a ruling state structure.
Simultaneously with the cessation of the activities of the CPSU, a number of newspapers were temporarily closed by decree of the President of the RSFSR. In September, all Union republics that had not yet declared their full sovereignty and independence made these declarations.
After the events of August 1991, the importance of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR came to naught. The next Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, held at the end of August - beginning of September 1991, was the last. The congress declared self-dissolution.
In September - November 1991, sluggish attempts were made to prevent the final economic and political collapse of the former Soviet Union. The work was carried out in two directions: the creation of an economic union and the formation of new political relations.
In September, the Interrepublican Economic Committee (IEC) was created, headed by I. S. Silaev. The greatest success of the IEC was the preparation of an economic agreement, which was signed by nine republics: the RSFSR, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. This agreement was a real step designed to stop the collapse of a single economic organism.
The contradictions regarding the political union were much more serious. The Baltic states, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia refused to even discuss this problem. The first preliminary negotiations took place only in the second half of November, with the participation of the presidents of seven republics. As a result of negotiations, the presidents came to the conclusion that it was necessary to create a new state on a confederal basis.
After the declaration of independence, relations between the republics on border issues worsened. A number of peoples of the North Caucasus, part of the RSFSR, declared independence and sovereignty and made political and territorial claims both to the RSFSR and to their neighbors. This was most clearly manifested in the emergence of the Chechen Republic. Events in Chechnya and a number of other regions of the North Caucasus, the ongoing war in South Ossetia - all this brought the Caucasus by the end of 1991 to the brink of a comprehensive civil war.
The economic situation in Russia and other states of the former USSR in the fall and winter of 1991 was rapidly deteriorating. Inflation rates increased sharply, reaching 25-30% per month in October - November, and industrial and agricultural production declined. All this, coupled with an increase in the issuance of new money, led to the fact that by the end of 1991 there were practically no industrial goods or food products left on store shelves. Problems arose in supplying the population with the basic necessities: bread, milk, potatoes.
October 3 - 15 years ago (October 3-4, 1993) there was an attempted coup in Moscow. This event is also known as the “Constitutional crisis of 1993”, “Coup d’etat of 1993”, “Execution of the White House”, “Execution of the House of Soviets”, “October uprising of 1993”, “Decree 1400”.
The crisis was the result of a confrontation between two political forces: on the one hand, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, the executive branch controlled by him and his supporters, and on the other hand, Vice President Alexander Rutsky, the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation headed by Ruslan Khasbulatov, the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation, and their supporters. The confrontation ended with the forceful dispersal of parliament and the victory of President Yeltsin.
After the seizure of the Moscow City Hall building by supporters of the Supreme Council and clashes near the Ostankino television center, President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin declared a state of emergency in Moscow. An assault on the White House was organized. The result of the confrontation was armed clashes on the streets of Moscow.
On the night of October 3–4, a plan was prepared to storm the White House, in which about 1,700 people, 10 tanks and 20 armored personnel carriers took part; the action was extremely unpopular, the contingent had to be recruited from five divisions, about half of the entire contingent were officers or junior command personnel, and the tank crews were recruited almost entirely from officers.
At 9:20 am on October 4, tanks located on the other side of the river began shelling the upper floors of the Supreme Council building. In total, six T-80 tanks took part in the shelling, firing 12 shells.
At 15:00, Special Forces Alpha and Vympel were ordered to storm the White House. The commanders of both special groups, before executing the order, tried to negotiate with the leaders of the Supreme Council on a peaceful surrender.
“Alpha”, having promised security to the defenders of the House of Soviets, managed to persuade them to surrender by 17:00. The Vympel special unit, whose leadership refused to carry out the assault order, was subsequently transferred from the FSB to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which led to the massive resignation of its fighters.
After 5 p.m., by agreement with Yeltsin’s supporters, a mass withdrawal of defenders from the Supreme Council began. According to the assurances of those who stormed, there should have been no shelling. However, those leaving the building had not walked even 100 meters when fire was opened over their heads.
A few minutes later, the attackers began shooting those leaving the building almost point-blank. According to eyewitnesses, it was at this moment that the greatest number of deaths occurred. The relatives of the missing people who came the next day could see up to three rows of troupes lined up along the wall in one of the nearby stadiums. Many of them had bullet holes in the center of their foreheads, like a control shot.
Before leaving the building of the Supreme Council, Rutskoi demonstrated in front of television cameras a Kalashnikov assault rifle, from which not a single shot was fired. He also demonstrated a small cardboard box containing cassettes with recordings of negotiations, including between Yeltsin and Luzhkov. A recording was shown in which a voice similar to Luzhkov’s was clearly heard, calling on the riot police and the Alpha special forces to “shoot mercilessly.”
The video sequence of the film “Secret Russia” also contains footage of one of the halls of the Supreme Council, where more than 30 shots from sniper rifles are visible at the level of the victims’ hearts. According to Rutsky, this is shooting to kill at those people who were in the Supreme Council at that moment. Rutskoy also pointed to the fact that in the corridors of the Supreme Council there were more than 400 corpses of the defenders of the Supreme Council at the end of the assault.
According to official data, the number of people killed during the riots was 150, the number of injured was 389. According to deputy Sazha Umalatova, 2,783 people were killed. As a result of an investigation by the State Duma Commission of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation for additional study and analysis of the events of 1993, B. Yeltsin’s actions were condemned and found to be contrary to the Constitution of the RSFSR, which was in force at that time. Based on the materials of the investigation conducted by the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, it was not established that any of the victims were killed with weapons at the disposal of supporters of the Armed Forces.
Parade of sovereignties (1988-1991) - a conflict between republican and union legislation associated with the declaration of the priority of republican laws over union laws, which resulted in the collapse of the USSR. During the “parade of sovereignties” during 1990-1991, all the union (the sixth was the RSFSR) and many of the autonomous republics adopted Declarations of Sovereignty, in which they challenged the priority of all-union laws over republican ones, which began the “war of laws”. They also took actions to control local economies, including refusals to pay taxes to the union and federal Russian budgets. These conflicts cut off many economic ties, which further worsened the economic situation in the USSR.
The first territory of the USSR to declare independence in January 1990 in response to the Baku events was the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Before the August putsch, the State Emergency Committee announced independence of four union republics (Lithuania, Latvia, Armenia and Georgia), refusal to join the proposed new union (USG) and transition to independence - two more: Estonia and Moldova. At the same time, the autonomous republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which were part of Georgia, as well as the newly formed republics of Transnistria and Gagauzia in Moldova, announced non-recognition of their independence and their desire to remain part of the Union.
With the exception of Kazakhstan, none of the Central Asian union republics had organized movements or parties that aimed to achieve independence. Among the Muslim republics, with the exception of the Azerbaijani Popular Front, the independence movement existed only in one of the autonomous republics of the Volga region - the Ittifak party of Fauzia Bayramova in Tatarstan, which since 1989 has advocated the independence of Tatarstan.
On August 19, 1991, the signing of a new union treaty on the creation of the Union of Sovereign States (USS) as a soft federation was thwarted by the August putsch of the State Emergency Committee during an attempt to remove M. S. Gorbachev from the post of President of the USSR, immediately after which, during the massive collapse of the USSR, almost all the remaining union republics, as well as several autonomous ones (in Russia, Georgia, Moldova). On September 6, the USSR authorities recognized the independence of the three Baltic republics.
Although on November 14, seven of the twelve union republics (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) decided to conclude an agreement on the creation of the GCC as a confederation, after the referendum on the independence of Ukraine held on December 1 by the heads of the three founding republics of the USSR ( RSFSR, Ukraine, Belarus) on December 8, the Belovezhskaya agreements on its dissolution are signed, on December 21, this is approved by all eleven republics, and instead of the USG, the Commonwealth of Independent States is created as an international (interstate) organization. Moreover, by the time of the dissolution of the USSR on December 8, of all the union republics, only three had not declared independence (RSFSR, Belarus and Kazakhstan; the latter did so a week later, on December 16).
Some of the autonomous republics that declared independence later became the so-called. unrecognized (Nagorno-Karabakh and Transnistria) or partially recognized (Abkhazia and South Ossetia) states (while Gagauzia, Tatarstan and Chechnya did not retain such status).
The events from September 21 to October 4, 1993 continue to be a hot-button, controversial topic that often causes controversy. Today, researchers of the October putsch adhere to a variety of points of view on what happened, its causes and consequences, as well as its political essence and significance for the state and people. The official interpretation of events comes down to justifying the actions of Boris Yeltsin’s supporters, as evidenced by the numerous awards and titles held by his supporters and criminal cases against members of the opposition.
The most obscure page of the Russian Federation cannot be assessed unambiguously. Today there are two radically opposing opinions about the essence of the dispersal of the Supreme Council. Some believe that the president’s actions can be regarded as a coup d’état and a crime, while others consider him the “savior of Russian democracy” and the inspirer of economic and social reforms. One way to clarify the historical situation is to study documents and legal assessment of events.
On September 21, 1993, Yeltsin issued decree No. 1400 “On phased constitutional reform in the Russian Federation,” ordering the Supreme Council and the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation (according to the Constitution, the highest body of state power in Russia) to cease their activities. The head of state invited the deputies to return to work in the institutions where they worked before their election and take part in the elections to the new legislative body - the Federal Assembly. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, convened for an emergency meeting, decided that this decree violates the Constitution of Russia in twelve places. And, according to the Constitution, this is the basis for the removal of President Boris Yeltsin from office. The Constitution clearly defined the competence of state bodies, including the Supreme Council and the President. The Congress of People's Deputies, in accordance with Chapter 13, was recognized as the highest body of state power and was given the right to repeal acts of both the Supreme Council (the country's legislative body) and the President (the head of state and the Council of Ministers). The legislative power was personified by the Supreme Council. The frequency of its meetings was determined from 2 times a year, and extraordinary convocations were also allowed on the initiative of the Presidium or the Chairman. The powers of the Supreme Council were quite broad.
Chapter 13/1 included provisions on the President of the Republic. Its competence was significantly narrower than that of the current edition. Thus, the head of state had legislative initiative and was recognized as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, was given the right of veto, but was obliged to report annually on the results of his work to parliament. In addition, deputies had the right to demand an extraordinary report from the President if certain requirements were met. However, the main instrument of influence on the head of state was the right of impeachment, which the people's representatives could put forward at the Congress on the basis of the conclusion of the Constitutional Court. The President did not have the right to dissolve the Supreme Council. It should be noted that from a legal point of view, Russia before the coup and the adoption of the new Constitution should be called a parliamentary republic, since the predominance of power in the legislative assembly is obvious from the analysis and comparison of chapters 13 and 13/1. Article 121/6 openly prohibited the use of presidential powers to change the political system. Upon taking office, Boris Yeltsin took an oath to observe and protect the norms of the Constitution, therefore, he was obliged to respect its provisions.
At the same time, an unspoken conflict arose between the Chairman of the Supreme Council Ruslan Khasbulatov and President Boris Yeltsin. Of course, there is no need to talk about a confrontation between only two officials in the case under consideration, since this was a real dual power, generated by the thoughtless inclusion of the position of a sole head of state in the system of public administration while maintaining the broad competence of parliament. As a result of the struggle between the Supreme Council and the Government headed by the President, the constitutional crisis of 1992-1993 broke out, and the work of government bodies became ineffective. Back in March 1993, deputies, most of whom were leftists - communists, agrarians, Baburin’s “Russia” and the “Fatherland” faction, tried to remove the president from power through impeachment, but this failed.
Despite the fact that the actions of Yelitsin’s opponents were carried out taking into account all the norms and requirements of the law, Boris Nikolaevich did not want to recognize them. Korzhakov’s memoirs can serve as clear evidence of this. A Yeltsin supporter talks about how a plan was developed to use chloropicrin (an irritant chemical) against deputies in the event of a voting result unfavorable to the President. From a legal point of view, this fact alone can be qualified as a crime. After the failure of the impeachment attempt, the Congress scheduled a referendum with 4 questions for April 25 - the referendum gave the most favorable results for the President.
Yeltsin's supporters loudly claim that people's trust was almost absolute. Well, in refutation, let’s just present the numbers. So, the results were as follows:
- trust the President - 58.7% of voters (the figure is huge, but far from absolute);
- approve of the President’s policy – 53% of voters;
- early presidential elections were considered necessary - 41.2%;
- 49.5% voted for early elections of deputies to the Supreme Council.
Thus, despite the high percentage of citizens who trust the current president and his policies, a significant proportion were in favor of his re-election. The development of the crisis of public administration is evidenced by almost equal indicators on the issues of re-election of both deputies and the President. However, historically the population of our country has gravitated towards a single leader, and not towards an abstract majority in parliament or another collegial body. The results of the referendum not only allowed Yeltsin to avoid removal, but also predetermined all further events. The President realized that he had the support of the population and with even greater persistence began to seek expansion of powers.
The President openly told the public about the reluctance of deputies to support his socio-economic policies. From a legal point of view, such a claim looks absurd, since domestic and foreign policy, in accordance with the provisions of the current Constitution, was determined by the Congress of People's Deputies. In his address, Yeltsin focused the attention of citizens on his desire to maintain law and order, but at the same time he read out the now well-known Decree 1400, which violated all the legal foundations of the young state.
So, let's pay attention to the text of this decree. In addition to the official accusations of parliament’s delay in making decisions and unwillingness to participate in the economic transformation of the state, the text also contained an indication of the fact that the current Constitution does not contain provisions on introducing amendments to it. Analysis of the document itself confirms this statement; the basic law of the state turned out to be unfinished, and this circumstance became clear at the most critical moment. Boris Nikolaevich considered it possible, and by the way very convenient in his situation, to take on the function of a reformer of the legal basis, which caused the indignation of his opponents. As a result, an attempt to convene a Congress, as well as a meeting of the Constitutional Court.
The main purpose of issuing a decree is to introduce changes and additions to the text of the current Constitution. The decree cites specific constitutional articles to justify the President’s action, but each of these norms is presented only to create the appearance of legality of the decision. Yeltsin attempted a coup d'etat, and, as time has shown, it was a success. We do not undertake to evaluate the actions of Boris Yeltsin, but from the point of view of the law in force at that time, he committed a crime against the foundations of statehood. The insignificance of the decree was also confirmed by the Constitutional Court, but in September 1993 there was no longer any talk of the rule of law in the country. The conflict went beyond the legal framework, and only the strength and support of the crowd were used as arguments.
Describing street clashes, the blockade of the Supreme Council building, and the storming of a television center is hardly appropriate in a short publication. We will limit ourselves to only a brief description of the results of the September unrest and the October denouement.
On September 21, Yeltsin addresses citizens and publicly announces his decision to deprive the Supreme Council of its powers. The deputies were asked to disperse, but the assembled Congress of People's Deputies, based on the decision of the Constitutional Court, terminated the powers of the President and transferred temporary presidential powers to Vice-President A. V. Rutskoy. Considering that the decision to impeach was made in compliance with the requirements of the law, then from the evening of September 21, all Yeltsin’s orders cannot be considered legitimate. They are based solely on the disposition of citizens towards him, as well as power superiority.
On September 22, the confrontation continues. Since the 21st, the supply of electricity, heat and water to the building of the Supreme Council has been cut off, and the sewage system has been cut off. The situation has been heating up all day. On September 23, Yeltsin issues decrees promising material benefits. a large one-time remuneration for deputies, the seizure of the property of the Supreme Council and the appointment of early presidential elections, which was subsequently cancelled. None of these decrees can be called legitimate, since Boris Nikolaevich no longer had legal authority. However, the confrontation is growing, neither side intends to give up its positions, and personal ambitions come into play.
Next, peaceful demonstrators first appear on the streets, and then supporters of both sides arm themselves. The first casualties among the civilian population, barricades on the streets, pogroms, columns with armored personnel carriers and other attributes of an armed conflict are present in the capital until October 4-5.
As a result, the Supreme Council was taken by storm and ceased to exist as a state body. Power in the country passed to the strong leader Boris Yeltsin. Thus, the events of September - October 1993 can be called a seizure of power or a coup d'etat. The author will not talk about the appropriateness of Yeltsin’s actions in this article, since a separate publication should be devoted to this issue. In conclusion, we present only one fact that is difficult to dispute. At the next elections, the population again gave their votes to B. Yeltsin, and stability came to the country for several years.
A unique video recording made by an unknown person tells the story of participants in the events of September-October 1993.
From the first frames, the story begins with a participant in the column of the Taman Division, showing where the column was fired upon, what actions were taken, then showing his actions in the current situation, who was wounded where, where they were moving.
In particular, he tells how in the morning in the area of the Krasnaya Presnya stadium, due to lack of coordination of actions, armed clashes occurred between the “Tamans” and the armored personnel carriers of the “Dzerzhinsky” (OMSDON of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, the former Dzerzhinsky Special Purpose Division). There were dead and wounded, both among soldiers and among random passers-by.
Moreover, the video recording was made 2 months after the events and traces of that shootout are visible in the video.
A unique video recording, a must watch for anyone who wants to know much more about the events of the shooting of the White House. ()
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September 21, 1993 Yeltsin a coup d'état was carried out. In accordance with the Constitution and the opinion of the Constitutional Court, Yeltsin and security ministers are legally removed from their duties. Rutskoy and the new ministers began to fulfill the duties assigned to them by law. The defenders of parliament had practically no weapons! In total, automatic weapons were issued: 74 AKS-74U assault rifles, 5 RPK-74 assault rifles. Starting from September 24th, Yeltsin almost every night he tried to organize an armed assault on parliament; the massacre was postponed and postponed until the next night due to circumstances beyond his control.
The first official warning that the White House would be stormed if they refused to comply was made on September 24th. On the same day, the X (extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies decided on simultaneous re-elections of deputies and the president no later than March 1994.
The Russian House of Soviets was surrounded by " Bruno's spiral", machine gunners and armored personnel carriers, a complete blockade of parliament was carried out: on September 21, all types of communications were turned off, on September 23, light, heat and hot water were turned off, on September 28, the entrance of people and the entry of vehicles, the supply of food and medicine was completely blocked (for example, September 27), Ambulances were not allowed through, even to people with, for example, diagnoses: “acute cerebrovascular accident” (09/27), “cervical spine fracture” (09/28), “unstable angina” (10/1). The temperature in the building dropped below 8 degrees, outside during the day - to -9 and -12 degrees Celsius.
“Conclusions: In medical terms, the emergency situation in the White House arose not on October 4, but on September 27, when several thousand people, due to their convictions, did not leave the besieged area, were on duty around the clock at the barricades in any weather, deprived of basic amenities due to power outages , communications, heating, subject to constant nervous and physical stress, were, by the will of the leadership of the Main Medical Directorate of Moscow and the Center for Emergency Medicine, deprived of the right to medical care. We can't call it anything other than malfeasance. We assert that if the State Medical University and the Center for Emergency Medicine organized the timely delivery of medicines necessary for medical care. equipment, organized constant duty in the cordoned off zone, and not outside, ambulance teams, even if they were simply neutral in providing assistance to the victims, the number of victims during the events of October 3-4 would have been significantly less.” (Information material on the state of medical support for defenders of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation from September 21 to October 4, 1993. From a report prepared by doctors of the Rescue Center of the Moscow Medical Academy named after I.M. Sechenov)
On September 29, the government of the Russian Federation and Moscow presented an ultimatum - everyone must leave the House of Soviets by October 4, otherwise there will be “grave consequences.” On September 30, 62 constituent entities of the Federation supported parliament and presented Yeltsin with an ultimatum demanding simultaneous re-elections. The decisive meeting of the Federation Council is scheduled for 18.00 on October 3. The continuation of negotiations under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church was scheduled for 16.00 on October 3.
Yeltsin spoke out against the idea of early simultaneous re-elections. Chernomyrdin also refused the demand for a peaceful solution, saying that they had “another solution.” Solution shoot parliament October 4 was decided between September 29 and 30, preparations were carried out openly. September 30th Shahray appointed head of the group for legal support of Decree No. 1400 with instructions to complete the work by October 4. October 1 Poltoranin sent a letter to the editors-in-chief with an order demanding “to treat with understanding the measures that the President will take on October 4th” and “not to dramatize their possible consequences.” On the afternoon of October 3, all Moscow hospitals, at the direction of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate, received telephone messages from the Moscow Main Medical Directorate about the planned arrival of the wounded.
The shooting of parliament had to be justified by a specially prepared provocation; by order of “acting Peerage" to the MVD officers was entrusted with the stick war provoke demonstrators to retaliatory violence. On October 3, between a third and half a million unarmed citizens came out in support of parliament from Moscow's Oktyabrskaya Square. Demonstrators in an organized column went to the White House and Ostankino. After the demonstrators broke through to the White House, machine-gun fire was opened on people on the main staircase and at the 20th entrance of parliament. The Ministry of Internal Affairs submachine gunners from the mayor's office, on orders, launched an attack on the White House. Shooting from the city hall and the Mir Hotel at the doors of the White House killed 7 people and wounded 34. This was the first mass shooting and the beginning of the storming of parliament. The unexpected pause of 15 hours was caused both by the defection of two companies of the Sofrinsky brigade to the side of parliament, along with 200 OMSDON military personnel, and by the decisive actions of the demonstrators.
At 15.00 on October 3, Erin ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to open fire on hundreds of thousands of unarmed people. At 16.00 Yeltsin signed decree No. 1575 and exempted the army from criminal liability for violations of the law, A Grachev ordered army units to join the executioners from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Shooting of parliament supporters was sanctioned by Yeltsin and the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and everything that followed from 16.00 on October 3 no longer mattered.
At 16.05 after the shelling of parliament and the killing of the first people Rutskoy gave the order to storm the city hall and go to Ostankino. City Hall (from the moment the first demonstrator entered its doors) was taken without a single shot being fired. On October 3, a categorical order was in effect Rutskogo And Achalova O non-use of weapons. Bloodshed at City Hall was avoided thanks to Makashov. The road to Ostankino was blocked by superior armed units of the Dzerzhinsky Ministry of Internal Affairs division in trucks and armored personnel carriers. A convoy of demonstrators stopped in front of them. By order of the commander of the VV A.S. Kulikova The Ministry of Internal Affairs troops voluntarily allowed this column to pass. The Ministry of Internal Affairs knew that there were only two dozen people with weapons in the column.
Having missed the column at Ostankino, near Chekhov Street, the Ministry of Internal Affairs troops in trucks and 10 Vityaz armored personnel carriers overtook the column of demonstrators and went ahead into an ambush at Ostankino, where they positioned themselves behind the technical center building. On October 3, at the Ostankino television center, from 5:45 pm to 7:10 pm, a peaceful rally was held for an hour and a half demanding the provision of airtime to parliament. Demonstrators made no attempts to storm or enter the television center building. Despite the requirement Makashova enter into negotiations Bragin didn't show up. Demonstrators with official credentials warned everyone about responsibility for any shot, paying special attention to special forces. They were informed that there was an unarmed demonstration of two hundred thousand people. Makashov guaranteed the commander of the Vityaz armored personnel carrier group that not a single shot would be fired from the demonstrators.
By the time the execution began at Ostankino, there were less than 4 thousand unarmed demonstrators who arrived by vehicle; they were guarded by 18 armed people. The television center was guarded by 25 armored personnel carriers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and more than 510 (690) machine gunners of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. At about 19.00, the management of the police guard of the ASK-3 technical center, on their own initiative, entered into negotiations, where they announced Makashov about readiness to come under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council and transfer the technical center to its official representatives. The police officer was seized on the street by an officer from Dzerzhinsky's division and was forcibly held in the technical center building. The Vityaz special forces opposing the police avoided negotiations. After a truck rammed the entrance doors to the technical center, General Makashov without a weapon, he went out into the lobby alone to negotiate. He invited the special forces not to interfere with the legitimate authorities and gave them time to freely leave the building. He sternly warned about the inadmissibility of any shot.
The first shot was fired at Ostankino from the roof of the television center ASK-1 special forces "Vityaz"! They shot without warning. The order to open fire was personally given by Major General VV Pavel Golubets. A demonstrator at the entrance to the ASK-3 technical center was seriously wounded by a shot. The technical center police from the end of the building announced for the second time that they had gone over to the side of parliament and called Makashova. Two minutes after the first shot, special forces from the Ministry of Internal Affairs from the ASK-3 hall threw two or three grenades at the feet of the crowd and began to shoot people on Korolev Street from two buildings in a coordinated manner. From the technical center they fired to kill with machine guns and machine guns, and four machine gunners fired from the roof of the television center. A group of people at the entrance to ASK-3 was completely destroyed, only one person survived there.
More than half of the armed guards of the convoy were killed on the spot; those who survived during the lull left Ostankino through the grove by 21.00. Makashov did not give the order to return fire and none of the demonstrators fired. The shooting of the Ministry of Internal Affairs soldiers at unarmed people, the wounded and orderlies continued until the approach of a two hundred thousand peaceful demonstration. Shooting at emerging and moving targets at night in conditions of limited visibility - the head of shooting at the site is a lieutenant colonel Lysyuk. After the shooting of demonstrators near the ASK-3 building (technical center), a two hundred thousand strong column of unarmed demonstrators from Oktyabrskaya Square approached the building of the ASK-1 television center. The peaceful demonstration was met with machine gun and machine gun fire at point-blank range.
Six delegates-demonstrators from officers and employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs came to negotiations with Vityaz and demanded an immediate ceasefire, explaining that there were only unarmed people on the street. The “Vityazis” ceased fire for half an hour and, as a condition for continuing negotiations, demanded that everyone leave the fence of the television center building. As soon as the deceived people left the fence, they began to methodically shoot them with small arms and armored personnel carriers. The execution continued until 5.45 on October 4th. Single shots were heard until 12.00. They shot the wounded, the orderlies, and the ambulances. The storming and shooting of parliament on October 4, 1993 began suddenly, without any announcement or prior warning. The attackers made no offers to surrender or remove the women and children from the building. No ultimatums of surrender were issued to parliament. The first bursts from the armored personnel carrier killed about 40 unarmed people.
According to Rutskogo, in the “White House” at the time of the attack there were up to 10 thousand people, including women and children. Repeated demands Rutskogo stopping fire on the “White House” and allowing women and children to be taken out of the building of the House of Soviets had no effect on the stormers - the fire did not stop for 10 hours! During this time, the leaders of the action did not make a single offer to the people shot in the House of Soviets to surrender; they were not given the opportunity to remove women and children from under fire, which they had to do under fire, with losses.
On October 4, armored vehicles and troops were sent to shoot the parliament with an unprecedented and unjustified advantage: For each machine gun of the defenders of parliament, exactly three units of armored vehicles were thrown into battle - two cannons and two tank machine guns (one heavy machine gun and one machine gun Kalashnikov), one sniper each. To kill an individual child, woman or man in the House of Soviets, an entire platoon or squad of drunken machine gunners was assigned. Only about 121-145 people did not give up and escaped from the “White House” alive, of which about 71 (95) people escaped through underground communications on October 4th and 5th in different directions, about 50 people fought their way through the top 4- October 1st in the direction of the Krasnopresnenskaya metro station.
There is no statute of limitations for murder! On October 4th the order was in force Erina-Kulikova(Ministry of Internal Affairs), Gracheva(My Barsukova(GUO): – destroy those in the “White House”! Orders for complete destruction and shooting to kill were openly transmitted over radios by the assault commanders. Barsukov officially ordered Alpha to destroy those in the White House, Grachev- tank crews, Tula and Taman residents, Erin- Riot police and Dzerzhinsk residents. Korzhakov After the prisoners were taken to the stairs of the White House, he publicly demanded that the defenders of parliament be shot: “ I have an order to eliminate everyone in uniform!”
After the deputies left with the Alpha, this order was carried out exactly. All remaining defenders of the parliament were destroyed, with the exception of those arrested on the afternoon of October 5 in the basement - four policemen of the OSN Department of Security and several local workers, as well as sixteen defenders from the barrier of the 14th entrance (arrested at 3.30 on October 5 on the 6th floor of the White House ). The bodies of those executed were secretly removed and destroyed.
Proof that the order was carried out is that, according to official data, not a single wounded person or corpse was found in the parliament building. Those killed on the street, collected by medical teams, were officially declared as dead in the “White House” Y. Kholkhina and A. Shestakova. Recognizing the fact of the mass murder of the people remaining in the “White House” and the fact of the secret removal and burial of their bodies, it is impossible to answer the question about the exact number of people killed without a special investigation. In any case, we are talking about hundreds of executed in the White House building.
October 3-5th mercenaries Yeltsin They died only from their own bullets! Almost all of those killed, according to official data, from among those who shot the parliament or demonstrators in Ostankino were killed in units Erina(Ministry of Internal Affairs) and Barsukova(GUO). Official data on losses and the number of troops participating in the coup d'etat and massacres: State Department of Defense (18,000) - only 1 killed: killed by a sniper of the State Department of the Russian Federation from a room completely controlled by the State Department of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs! Moscow Region (more than 9,000) - a total of 6 killed, of which 6 were killed by Yeltsin’s units (1 - riot police, 1 - Ministry of Internal Affairs from an armored personnel carrier, 3 - Main Directorate of Defense, 1 - captured and, apparently, shot on the orders of the commanders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or State Department of Defense )! Ministry of Internal Affairs and Internal Troops (more than 40,000) - a total of 5 killed (and one mortally wounded), of which 3 were killed or died due to the fault of Yeltsin’s units, 2 were not identified, 1, together with the entire crew of the armored personnel carrier, was destroyed from a grenade launcher 119 pdp.
The defenders of parliament practically did not shoot! Not a single one is known to have died from their bullets! The circumstances of the death of only 2 military personnel - mercenaries - have not been clarified.
Yeltsin's decree No. 1400 is an act of coup d'etat!!!
The truth about the 1993 White House shooting
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One of the main problems of the government of B.N. By 1993, Yeltsin's relationship with the opposition had begun. A confrontation developed with the main organizer and center of the opposition - the Russian Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council. This war between the legislative and executive powers brought the already fragile Russian statehood to a dead end.
The conflict between the two branches of government, which determined the development of Russian politics in 1993 and ended in the bloody drama of early October, had a number of reasons. One of the main ones was the growing disagreement over the socio-economic and political course of Russia's development. Supporters of a regulated economy and the national-state direction have established themselves among legislators, while defenders of market reforms find themselves in a clear minority. Change at the helm of government policy by E.T. Gaidar V.S. Chernomyrdin only temporarily reconciled the legislative branch with the executive branch.
An important reason for the antagonism between the branches of power was their lack of experience in interaction within the framework of the system of separation of powers, which Russia practically did not know. As the struggle with the president and the government became more intense, the legislative branch, taking advantage of the right to change the constitution, began to relegate the executive branch to the background. Legislators vested themselves with the broadest powers, including those that, according to the system of separation of powers in any version, should have been the prerogative of the executive and judicial authorities. One of the amendments to the Constitution gave the Supreme Council the right “to suspend the effect of decrees and orders of the President of the Russian Federation, to cancel orders of the Council of Ministers of the republics within the Russian Federation in case of their non-compliance with the laws of the Russian Federation.”
In this sense, bringing the issue of the foundations of the constitutional system to the voters seemed to be at least some way out of the current dramatic situation. However, the Eighth Congress of People's Deputies of Russia, held from March 8 to 12, 1993, vetoed any referendums, and the status quo was consolidated in the relationship between the two authorities in accordance with the principles of the then-current constitution. In response, on March 20, in an address to Russian citizens, Yeltsin announced that he had signed a decree on a special governing procedure until the crisis was overcome and that a referendum on confidence in the president and vice-president of the Russian Federation was scheduled for April 25, as well as on the issue of a draft new constitution and elections of a new parliament. In fact, presidential rule was introduced in the country until the entry into force of the new Constitution. This statement by Yeltsin caused a sharp protest from R. Khasbulatov, A. Rutsky, V. Zorkin and the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Yu. Skokov, and three days after Yeltsin’s speech, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation declared a number of its provisions illegal. The extraordinary congress of people's deputies that met attempted to impeach the president, and after its failure agreed to hold a referendum, but with the wording of the questions approved by the legislators themselves. 64% of voters took part in the referendum held on April 25. Of these, 58.7% expressed confidence in the president, and 53% approved the social policy of the president and the government. The referendum rejected the idea of early re-elections of both the president and legislators.
YELTSIN'S IMPACT
The Russian president struck first. On September 21, by decree 1400, he announced the termination of the powers of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council. Elections to the State Duma were scheduled for December 11-12. In response, the Supreme Council swore in Vice President A. Rutsky as President of the Russian Federation. On September 22, the White House security service began distributing weapons to citizens. On September 23, the Tenth Congress of People's Deputies began at the White House. On the night of September 23-24, armed supporters of the White House, led by Lieutenant Colonel V. Terekhov, made an unsuccessful attempt to seize the headquarters of the United Armed Forces of the CIS on Leningradsky Prospekt, as a result of which the first blood was shed.
On September 27-28, the blockade of the White House began, surrounded by police and riot police. On October 1, as a result of negotiations, the blockade was eased, but in the next two days the dialogue reached a dead end, and on October 3, the White House took decisive action to remove B.N. from power. Yeltsin. In the evening of the same day, at the call of Rutskoi and General A. Makashov, the Moscow City Hall building was seized. Armed defenders of the White House moved towards the Central Television studios in Ostankino. On the night of October 3-4, bloody clashes took place there. By decree of B.N. Yeltsin declared a state of emergency in Moscow, government troops began entering the capital, and the actions of White House supporters were called by the president “an armed fascist-communist rebellion.”
On the morning of October 4, government forces began a siege and tank shelling of the Russian parliament building. By the evening of the same day, it was captured, and its leadership, led by R. Khasbulatov and A. Rutsky, was arrested.
The tragic events, during which, according to official estimates, more than 150 people died, are still perceived differently by different forces and political trends in the Russian Federation. Often these assessments are mutually exclusive. On February 23, 1994, the State Duma declared an amnesty for participants in the events of September-October 1993. Most of the leaders of the Supreme Council and people's deputies who were in the House of Soviets during the assault on October 4 found a place for themselves in active politics, science, business and public service.
YELTSIN'S MAN: TOO MUCH COMPROMISE
« I view the period from the summer of 1991 to the autumn of 1993 as the radical phase of the great bourgeois Russian revolution of the late 20th century, relatively speaking. Or - this formulation belongs to Alexei Mikhailovich Solomin, he also said - The first great revolution of the post-industrial era. Actually, with these events this radical phase ended, and then another historical period began - this is the first.
Secondly, if you go down to a smaller level, it seems to me that this was a consequence of Yeltsin’s too compromising position. My point of view is that he should have dissolved the Congress and the Supreme Council in the spring of 1993, after in fact the actions of the Supreme Council literally contradicted the results of the referendum. It must be said - this is now known - since May 1993, Yeltsin carried in his inner jacket pocket a draft of such a dissolution, which changed all this time. As I said, the Supreme Council gave reasons for this. And then there was maximum popularity, then there was reliance on the referendum decision, it would have been possible to act, and it would not have led to such tragic and bloody events.
Yeltsin took the path of compromise, which is actually typical of him - we consider him so brutal and decisive, in fact, he always looked for a compromise first and tried to drag everyone into the constitutional process. The result of this constitutional process, naturally, was not liked by those who politically opposed it, because it provided for the disappearance of those main bodies that acted under the old Constitution, they defended themselves, and this defense consisted of preparing an attack on Yeltsin, in preparing for the congress, where he was supposed to be removed from office, in the concentration of weapons in the Parliamentary Center on Trubnaya, and so on.”
G.Satarov,assistant to Russian President Boris Yeltsin
WHAT WAS SHOOT IN OCTOBER '93?
“In October 1993, democracy was shot in Russia. Since then, this concept has been discredited in Russia; people are allergic to it. The shooting of the Supreme Council led to autocratic thinking in the country.”
The topic of “bloody October 1993” is still under seven seals today. No one knows exactly how many citizens died in those troubled days. However, the figures cited by independent sources are terrifying.
Scheduled for 7:00
In the fall of 1993, the confrontation between the two branches of power - the president and the government, on the one hand, and the people's deputies and the Supreme Council, on the other - reached a dead end. The Constitution, which the opposition so zealously defended, tied Boris Yeltsin’s hands and feet. There was only one way out: to change the law, if necessary - by force.
The conflict entered a phase of extreme aggravation on September 21, after the famous decree No. 1400, in which Yeltsin temporarily terminated the powers of the Congress and the Supreme Council. Communications, water and electricity were cut off in the parliament building. However, the legislators blocked there were not going to give up. Volunteers came to their aid and defended the White House.
On the night of October 4, the president decides to storm the Supreme Council using armored vehicles, and government troops converge on the building. The operation is scheduled for 7 am. As soon as the eighth hour countdown began, the first victim appeared - a police captain, who was filming what was happening from the balcony of the Ukraina Hotel, was killed by a bullet.
White House victims
Already at 10 am, information began to arrive about the death of a large number of defenders of the residence of the Supreme Council as a result of tank shelling. By 11:30 a.m., 158 people required medical attention, 19 of whom later died in hospital. At 13:00, People's Deputy Vyacheslav Kotelnikov reported large casualties among those who were in the White House. At approximately 2:50 p.m., unknown snipers begin shooting at people crowded outside the parliament.
Closer to 16:00, the resistance of the defenders was suppressed. A government commission assembled in hot pursuit quickly tallies the victims of the tragedy - 124 killed, 348 wounded. Moreover, the list does not include those killed in the White House itself.
The head of the investigation team of the Prosecutor General's Office, Leonid Proshkin, who was involved in the seizure of the Moscow mayor's office and the television center, notes that all the victims are the result of attacks by government forces, since it was proven that “not a single person was killed by the weapons of the White House defenders.” According to the Prosecutor General's Office, cited by deputy Viktor Ilyukhin, a total of 148 people died during the storming of parliament, with 101 people killed near the building.
And then, in various comments on these events, the numbers only grew. On October 4, CNN, relying on its sources, said that about 500 people had died. The newspaper Argumenty i Fakty, citing soldiers of the internal troops, wrote that they collected the remains of almost 800 defenders, “charred and torn by tank shells.” Among them were those who drowned in the flooded basements of the White House. Former deputy of the Supreme Council from the Chelyabinsk region Anatoly Baronenko announced 900 dead.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta published an article by an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who did not want to introduce himself, who said: “In total, about 1,500 corpses were discovered in the White House, among them women and children. All of them were secretly taken from there through an underground tunnel leading from the White House to the Krasnopresnenskaya metro station, and then outside the city, where they were burned.”
There is unconfirmed information that a note was seen on the desk of Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, which indicated that 1,575 corpses were taken out of the White House in just three days. But what surprised everyone the most was Literary Russia, which announced 5,000 dead.
Difficulties in counting
Representative of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Tatyana Astrakhankina, who headed the commission to investigate the events of October 1993, found that soon after the shooting of the parliament, all materials on this case were classified, “some medical histories of the wounded and dead” were rewritten, and “dates of admission to morgues and hospitals” were changed. . This, of course, creates an almost insurmountable obstacle to accurately counting the number of victims of the storming of the White House.
The number of deaths, at least in the White House itself, can only be determined indirectly. If you believe the assessment of Obshchaya Gazeta, about 2,000 besieged people left the White House without filtering. Considering that initially there were about 2.5 thousand people there, we can conclude that the number of victims definitely did not exceed 500.
We must not forget that the first victims of the confrontation between supporters of the president and parliament appeared long before the White House attack. So, on September 23, two people died on the Leningradskoye Highway, and since September 27, according to some estimates, casualties have become almost daily.
According to Rutsky and Khasbulatov, by mid-day on October 3, the death toll reached 20 people. In the afternoon of the same day, as a result of a clash between oppositionists and Ministry of Internal Affairs forces on the Crimean Bridge, 26 civilians and 2 policemen were killed.
Even if we look up the lists of all the dead, those who died in hospitals and those missing in action during those days, it will be extremely difficult to determine which of them became victims of political clashes.
Ostankino massacre
On the eve of the storming of the White House on the evening of October 3, responding to Rutskoi’s call, General Albert Makashov, at the head of an armed detachment of 20 people and several hundred volunteers, tried to seize the television center building. However, by the time the operation began, Ostankino was already guarded by 24 armored personnel carriers and about 900 military personnel loyal to the president.
After trucks belonging to supporters of the Supreme Council rammed the ASK-3 building, an explosion occurred (its source was never determined), causing the first casualties. This was the signal for heavy fire, which began to be fired by internal troops and police officers from the television complex building.
They fired in bursts and single shots, including from sniper rifles, just into the crowd, without distinguishing whether they were journalists, onlookers or those trying to pull out the wounded. Later, the indiscriminate shooting was explained by the large crowding of people and the approaching twilight.
But the worst thing began later. Most people tried to hide in the Oak Grove located next to AEK-3. One of the oppositionists recalled how the crowd was squeezed into a grove on both sides, and then they began to shoot from an armored personnel carrier and four machine gun nests from the roof of the television center.
According to official figures, the fighting for Ostankino claimed the lives of 46 people, including two inside the building. However, witnesses claim that there were many more victims.
Can't count the numbers
Writer Alexander Ostrovsky in his book “The Shooting of the White House.” Black October 1993" tried to sum up the victims of those tragic events, based on verified data: "Before October 2 - 4 people, on the afternoon of October 3 at the White House - 3, in Ostankino - 46, during the storming of the White House - at least 165, 3 and on October 4 in other places of the city - 30, on the night from October 4 to October 5 - 95, plus those who died after October 5, in total - about 350 people.”
However, many admit that official statistics are several times underestimated. To what extent, one can only guess, based on eyewitness accounts of those events.
Moscow State University teacher Sergei Surnin, who observed the events not far from the White House, recalled how after the shooting began, he and about 40 other people fell to the ground: “Armored personnel carriers passed by us and from a distance of 12-15 meters they shot the people lying down - one third of those lying nearby were killed or injured. Moreover, in the immediate vicinity of me there are three killed, two wounded: next to me, to my right, a dead man, another dead man behind me, at least one killed in front.”
The artist Anatoly Nabatov saw from the window of the White House how in the evening after the end of the assault a group of about 200 people was brought to the Krasnaya Presnya stadium. They were stripped, and then near the wall adjacent to Druzhinnikovskaya Street, they began to shoot them in batches until late at night on October 5th. Eyewitnesses said that they had previously been beaten. According to deputy Baronenko, in total at least 300 people were shot at the stadium and near it.
A well-known public figure, who in 1993 headed the “People's Action” movement, Georgy Gusev, testified that in the courtyards and entrances of the detainees, they were beaten by riot police, and then killed by unknown persons “in a strange form.”
One of the drivers who transported corpses from the parliament building and the stadium admitted that he had to make two trips in his truck to the Moscow region. In a forested area, corpses were thrown into pits, covered with earth, and the burial site was leveled with a bulldozer.
Human rights activist Evgeniy Yurchenko, one of the founders of the Memorial society, which dealt with the issue of secret destruction of corpses in Moscow crematoria, managed to learn from the workers of the Nikolo-Arkhangelsk cemetery about the burning of 300-400 corpses. Yurchenko also drew attention to the fact that if in “regular months,” according to statistics from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, up to 200 unclaimed corpses were burned in crematoria, then in October 1993 this figure increased several times - to 1,500.
According to Yurchenko, the list of those killed during the events of September-October 1993, where either the fact of disappearance was proven or witnesses to death were found, is 829 people. But obviously this list is incomplete.
