Veteran of the Second Chechnya Bokhonko: militants were trained by a former special forces soldier from Belarus
In January 2000, during the second Chechen war, a Russian task force detained several militants, including a former Belarusian special forces soldier who was training bandits. Russian veteran Sergei Bokhonko told Lenta.ru about this.
“A big guy, almost two meters tall, with fists like an excavator bucket,” the soldier described the instructor.
According to Bokhonko, after capturing the militants and the Belarusian instructor, the task force went to the commandant’s office of the Chechen city of Shali. Having learned that the military was transporting a former special forces soldier from a neighboring republic, the commanders of other Russian units advised them to leave the garrison as quickly as possible. According to the source of Lenta.ru, it was the capture of the instructor that could have been the reason for the subsequent attack on Shali.
The commander of one of the units was a guy with balls, he told us: “Guys, they’re going to shoot us now, let us break through a corridor for you, your cargo is much more important than all of us here put together.” Because this instructor from Belarus, a former anti-terror special forces fighter, by the way, could give much more interesting and important information than all of us
As a result, the task force left the commandant’s office in an armored Ural just before it was besieged by militants. According to Bokhonko, it is generally believed that the attack was repelled after one of the FSB special forces aimed a missile at the rebels hiding in the building of a local school. However, according to him, the guidance was provided by one of the SOBR officers, who served as an artillery spotter in Afghanistan, and “subcontractors “They pulled the blanket over themselves a little.”
Bokhonko added that he later asked “higher-ups” whether there were other ex-special services officers among the militants, in addition to the former special forces soldier from Belarus. He was told that this was not an isolated incident.
What is known about the battle for Shali
Chechen rebels tried to occupy the city of Shali in the early days of 2000. How told According to the specialized publication “Military Review”, one of the FSB officers who took part in the defense of the local commandant’s office, on January 9, field commander Aslambek Arsayev came to the facility and demanded that the garrison lay down their arms, guaranteeing the preservation of lives. Otherwise, he promised “a sea of blood and fire.” The Russian military decided not to surrender and began preparing to repel the attack.
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While surrounded by the rebels, the Russian servicemen managed to learn that the militants, feeling their superiority, were preparing to hold a rally near the commandant’s office, the time and coordinates of which were transmitted to the headquarters of the United Group of Forces in the North Caucasus in Mozdok. Having assessed the situation, the group’s leadership decided to strike the enemy concentration with a Tochka-U operational-tactical missile. As a result, the rebels lost 217 people, and Arsayev threw all his remaining forces into the attack on the commandant’s office, but the garrison managed to hold out.
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