Kolotov Vladimir Maksimovich: biography. Forgotten "black sniper" of the Chechen war

A sable fisherman, an 18-year-old Yakut from a distant reindeer camp. It had to happen that I came to Yakutsk for salt and cartridges, accidentally saw on TV in the dining room heaps of corpses of Russian soldiers on the streets of Grozny, smoking tanks and some words about "Dudaev's snipers". It crashed into Volodya's head, so much so that the hunter returned to the camp, took his earned money, and sold the washed gold. I took my grandfather's rifle and all the cartridges, stuffed the icon of Nicholas the saint in my bosom and went to fight the Yakut for the Russian cause.

It is better not to remember how I drove, how I was in the bullpen three times, how many times the rifle was taken away. But, nevertheless, a month later the Yakut Volodya arrived in Grozny.

Volodya heard only about one general who was regularly fighting in Chechnya, and he began to look for him in the February thaw. Finally, the Yakut got lucky and got to the headquarters of General Rokhlin.
The only document besides his passport was a handwritten certificate from the military commissar that Vladimir Kolotov, a hunter-fisherman by profession, was going to war, signed by the military commissar. The piece of paper that got worn out on the way had saved his life more than once.

Rokhlin, surprised that someone came to the war of their own accord, ordered the Yakut to come to him.

Volodya, squinting at the dim light bulbs blinking from the generator, which made his slanting eyes even more blurred, bearishly, went sideways into the basement of the old building, which temporarily housed the general's headquarters.
- Excuse me, please, are you that General Rokhlya? Volodya asked respectfully.
- Yes, I am Rokhlin, - answered the tired general, looking inquisitively at a small man dressed in a worn quilted jacket, with a backpack and a rifle behind his back.
- Would you like some tea, hunter?
- Thank you, Comrade General. I haven’t had a drink for three days. I will not refuse.
Volodya took his iron mug from his backpack and handed it to the general. Rokhlin himself poured tea for him to the brim.
“I was told that you came to the war on your own. For what purpose, Kolotov?
- I saw on TV how the Chechens were shooting our snipers. I cannot stand this, Comrade General. It's a shame, however. So I came to bring them down. You don't need money, you don't need anything. I, Comrade General Rokhlya, will go hunting myself at night. Let them show me the place where the cartridges and food will be put, and I'll do the rest myself. I'll get tired - I'll come back in a week, sleep off in a warm day and go again. You don't need a walkie-talkie or anything like that ... it's hard.

The surprised Rokhlin nodded his head.
- Take, Volodya, at least a new SVDeshka. Give him a rifle!
- Don't, comrade general, I'm going out into the field with my scythe. Just give me cartridges, I have only 30 left now ...

So Volodya began his war, sniper.

He slept for a day in the staff kungas, despite the mine attacks and terrible artillery fire. He took cartridges, food, water and went on the first "hunt". They forgot about him at the headquarters. Only reconnaissance regularly brought cartridges, food and, most importantly, water to the appointed place every three days. Every time I made sure that the package was gone.

The first to remember about Volodya was the "interceptor" radio operator.
- Lev Yakovlevich, the “Czechs” have panic on the air. They say that the Russians, that is, we have a black sniper who works at night, boldly walks through their territory and shamelessly knocks down their personnel. Maskhadov even appointed 30 thousand dollars for his head. His handwriting is like this - this fellow of Chechens hits exactly in the eye. Why only in the eye - the dog knows him ...

And then the staff remembered about the Yakut Volodya.
“He regularly takes food and cartridges from the cache,” the intelligence chief reported.
- And so we didn’t exchange a word, we didn’t even see him. Well, how did he leave you then to the other side ...
One way or another, the report noted that our snipers also give their snipers a light. Because Volodin's work gave such results - from 16 to 30 people put the fisherman with a shot in the eye.

The Chechens figured out that a Russian fisherman had appeared on Minutka Square. And since all the events of those terrible days took place on this square, then a whole
detachment of Chechen volunteers.

Then, in February 1995, at the Minutka, the "feds", thanks to Rokhlin's cunning plan, had already ground the "Abkhaz" battalion of Shamil Basayev by almost three quarters of the personnel. The carbine of Volodya's Yakut played a significant role here. Basayev promised a gold Chechen star to the one who would bring the corpse of the Russian sniper. But the nights passed in unsuccessful searches. Five volunteers walked along the front line in search of Volodya's "couches", put banners wherever he could appear in line of sight of his positions. However, it was such a time when groups from one side and the other broke through the enemy's defenses and penetrated deeply into its territory. Sometimes it was so deep that there was no longer any chance of breaking free to their own. But Volodya slept during the day under roofs and in the basements of houses. The corpses of the Chechens - the night "work" of a sniper - were buried the next day.

Then, tired of losing 20 people every night, Basayev summoned from the reserves in the mountains a master of military affairs, a teacher from a camp for training young shooters, an Arab sniper Abubakar. Volodya and Abubakar could not help but meet in a night battle, such are the laws of sniper warfare.

And they met two weeks later. More precisely, Abubakar hooked Volodya with a drill rifle. A powerful bullet, which once killed Soviet paratroopers in Afghanistan at a distance of one and a half kilometers, pierced the quilted jacket and slightly caught the arm, just below the shoulder. Volodya, feeling the rush of a hot wave of oozing blood, realized that the hunt for him had finally begun.

The buildings on the opposite side of the square, or rather their ruins, merged into a single line in Volodya optics. "What shone, optics?" - thought the hunter, but he knew cases when a sable saw a sight flashing in the sun and went home. The place he chose was under the roof of a five-story residential building. Snipers always love to be on top to see everything. And he lay under the roof - under a sheet of old tin did not wet the wet snowy rain, which either went on or off.

Abubakar tracked down Volodya only on the fifth night - he tracked him down in his pants. The fact is that the Yakut had ordinary wadded trousers. This is an American camouflage worn by the Chechens, impregnated with a special compound, in which the uniform was invisible in night vision devices, and the domestic camouflage shone with a bright light green light. So Abubakar "figured out" the Yakut in the powerful night optics of his "Bura", made to order by British gunsmiths back in the 70s.

One bullet was enough, Volodya rolled out from under the roof and fell painfully on his back on the steps of the stairs. “The main thing is that I didn't break the rifle,” thought the sniper.

Well, that means a duel, yes, Mr. Chechen sniper! - the Yakut said to himself without emotion.

Volodya deliberately stopped shredding the "Chechen order". The neat row of the 200s with its sniper "autograph" on the eye has stopped. “Let them believe that I’m killed,” Volodya decided.

He himself only did what he looked out for where the enemy sniper got to him.

Two days later, in the afternoon, he found Abubakar's "couch". He also lay under the roof, under a half-bent roofing sheet on the other side of the square. Volodya would not have noticed him if the Arab sniper had not been betrayed by a bad habit - he was smoking marijuana. Once every two hours, Volodya caught in the optics a light bluish haze that rose above the roofing sheet and was immediately carried away by the wind.

"So I found you, abrek! You can't do without drugs! Well ...", the Yakut hunter thought with triumph, he did not know that he was dealing with an Arab sniper who had passed through both Abkhazia and Karabakh. But Volodya did not want to kill him just like that, shooting through the roofing sheet. This was not the case with snipers, and even more so with fur hunters.

Well, okay, you smoke while lying down, but you have to get up to use the toilet, - Volodya decided coolly and waited.

For two more days Volodya was looking for a sniper, but he did not show up. Volodya had already decided that the enemy had left for good, when the next morning he suddenly saw that he had "opened". Three seconds to aim with a slight exhale, and the bullet went on target. Abubakar was struck on the spot in the right eye. For some reason, against the impact of a bullet, he fell flat on the street from the roof. A large greasy stain of blood was spreading over the mud on the square of the Dudayevsky palace, where the Arab sniper was struck down on the spot by one bullet of a hunter.

“Well, I got you,” thought Volodya without any enthusiasm or joy. He realized that he must continue his fight, showing characteristic handwriting. Thus, to prove that he is alive, and that the enemy did not kill him a few days ago.

Volodya peered into the optics at the motionless body of the slain enemy. Nearby he saw a "Boer", which he did not recognize, since he had not seen such rifles before. In a word, a hunter from a remote taiga!

And here he was surprised: the Chechens began to crawl out into the open to take the sniper's body. Volodya took aim. Three came out, bent over the body.

"Let them raise and carry, then I'll start shooting!" - Volodya triumphed.

The three Chechens actually lifted the body. Three shots rang out. Three bodies fell on the dead Abubakar.

Four more Chechen volunteers jumped out of the ruins and, throwing away the bodies of their comrades, tried to pull out the sniper. From the side, a Russian machine gun started working, but the queues went a little higher, without harming the hunched over Chechens.

"Eh, infantry-mabuta! You only spend cartridges ...", thought Volodya.

Four more shots rang out, almost merging into one. Four more corpses have already formed a pile.

Volodya killed 16 militants that morning. He did not know that Basayev had given an order to get the body of the Arab at all costs before it started to get dark. He had to be sent to the mountains to be buried there before sunrise, as an important and venerable Mujahid.

A day later, Volodya returned to Rokhlin's headquarters. The general immediately accepted him as a dear guest. The news of a duel between two snipers has already spread throughout the army.

Well, how are you, Volodya, tired? Do you want home?
Volodya warmed his hands at the "potbelly stove".

That's it, Comrade General, you've done your job, it's time to go home. Spring work begins at the camp. The military commissar released me only for two months. All this time my two younger brothers worked for me. It's time and honor to know ...
Rokhlin nodded his head in understanding.

Take a good rifle, my chief of staff will draw up the documents ...
- Why, I have my grandfather's. - Volodya lovingly hugged the old carbine.

For a long time the general hesitated to ask a question. But curiosity got the better of it.
- How many enemies did you defeat, did you count? They say more than a hundred ... Chechens talked.
Volodya dropped his eyes.
- 362 people, comrade general. Rokhlin, silently, patted the Yakut on the shoulder.
- Go home, now we can handle it ourselves ...
- Comrade general, if anything, call me again, I will deal with the work and come a second time!
Volodya's face showed a clear concern for the entire Russian Army.
- By God, I'll come!

The Order of Courage found Volodya Kolotov six months later. On this occasion, the whole collective farm was celebrated, and the military commissar allowed the sniper to go to Yakutsk to buy new boots - the old ones were worn out in Chechnya. A hunter stepped on some pieces of iron.

On the day when the whole country learned about the death of General Lev Rokhlin, Volodya also heard about the incident on the radio. He drank alcohol for three days at the hunt. He was found drunk in a temporary hut by other hunters who had returned from the hunt. Volodya kept repeating drunk:
- Nothing, Comrade General Rokhlya, if necessary we will come, just tell me ...

He was sober up in a nearby stream, but since then Volodya no longer wore his Order of Courage in public.

Vladimir Kolotov is a unique person in his own way. A simple hunter, without any coercion, only at the call of his heart and a sense of justice, he went to the war zone in Chechnya, wanting to become a sniper. For a long time his feat remained unknown, but on account of this man from Yakutia there are many killed militants and saved lives of Russian soldiers.

Making a fateful decision

Vladimir Maksimovich Kolotov, whose biography is still shrouded in secrets, being an eighteen-year-old guy, hunted with his father in the Yakut village of Iengra. According to the calendar, it was 1995 - the height. By necessity the boy ended up in the local cafeteria, where he planned to take salt and cartridges. By chance, at that moment on TV there was a news release, where they showed killed Russian soldiers at the hands of Chechen fighters. The footage seen had a stunning effect on Volodya.

Once again in the camp, he could not move away from what he saw in the release for a long time, because the corpses of dead servicemen flashed before his eyes. The young hunter could no longer lead a normal life, remaining indifferent to the numerous deaths of Russian soldiers. He made a fateful decision, which was to contribute to a terrible war. Kolotov Vladimir collected all his few savings and went to the forefront in Chechnya. As a patron he took with him a small icon of St. Nicholas.

Not easy road

The eighteen-year-old boy did not manage to get to his final destination without incident. Police officers constantly tried to confiscate his grandfather's rifle, imposed fines, threatened to take away all his savings and send him back to the taiga. For several days, the young hunter was even locked up in the bullpen. However, Vladimir Kolotov showed persistence and managed to break through to the positions of the Russian military within one month. General Rokhlin, whom he strove to get to during his wanderings, received a certificate from the military commissar. It was a pretty shabby certificate that repeatedly saved Volodya from various troubles.

Enrollment in the army

After clarifying all the circumstances by which the young hunter from the Yakut village ended up here, the general was sincerely amazed at his heroism. At that time, people who could completely selflessly sacrifice their lives were rare.

The recruit was identified as a sniper and given time to rest. During the day, Vladimir Kolotov slept off in the cabin of a military truck, to the constant sounds of explosions. And then he took the cartridges for his rifle and departed for position. He was offered a new, but the young Evenk hunter decided not to change his grandfather's weapon.

The main enemy for Chechen fighters

Since leaving for the sniper position from Vladimir Kolotov, no news has been received by the Russian army. Thanks to the efforts of the scouts, he regularly replenished food and ammunition, but no one caught the eye. They even managed to forget about the strange guy from the Yakut village.

The news about Volodya did not come from himself, but from the enemy. Some time later, thanks to intercepted negotiations at the Russian headquarters, it became known about a commotion among the militants. For the Chechens in the area of \u200b\u200bMinutka Square, the quiet life is over. Now the night time turned into. After that, the Russian military remembered the Evenk hunter. It was Vladimir Kolotov that caused the Chechens to panic. The sniper was distinguished by his special handwriting - he shot in the eye. The deaths of militants were reported on an ongoing basis; on average, about 15-30 people died at the hands of a young hunter from a Yakut village every night.

In an effort to eliminate the dangerous sniper, the leadership of the Chechen militants promised their fighters a lot of money and high awards. So, at the headquarters of Maskhadov, they gave $ 30,000 for Volodya's head. Shamil Basayev, in turn, promised to give a gold star to anyone who is lucky enough to kill a well-aimed shooter. This was due to the fact that the size of the battalion of one of the leaders of the Chechen militants, Vladimir Maksimovich Kolotov, significantly battered. The sniper inflicted enormous damage to manpower every night. To neutralize the Evenk hunter, a whole detachment was sent, but its efforts were unsuccessful.

Confrontation with Abubakar

Realizing that they could not cope with a well-aimed Russian sniper on their own, the Chechens decided to resort to the help of the Arab Abubakar, who lived in the mountains and had previously trained shooters for militants. It took him ten days to track down Vladimir Kolotov. And the young Evenk hunter gave out his own clothes. An ordinary quilted jacket and cotton trousers are clearly visible at night, if you use special equipment. With the help of night vision devices, Abubakar found Volodya by his glowing clothes and lightly wounded him in the arm, slightly below the shoulder.

As a result of the hit of the first sniper bullet, Vladimir Maksimovich Kolotov fell from the position he held, but managed to escape from the second shot. After the fall from the Evenk hunter, he was glad that his rifle did not break. After being wounded, the sniper realized that a real hunt had begun on him.

Rematch with an Arab sniper

He agreed to answer the challenge and left the militants alone for a while. Kolotov Vladimir acted like hunting in his village, namely: he hid and waited for the enemy to betray himself. The Arab militant was betrayed by his weakness. Abubakar's favorite pastime was smoking marijuana. However, killing the Arab proved to be a daunting task. Volodya's opponent had tremendous combat experience and for three days did not stick out from his position. Hoping that Vladimir Maksimovich Kolotov had gone home, the militants' sniper decided to leave the shelter, for which he paid with a bullet in the eye. Subsequently, when trying to take away the corpse of an Arab, three Chechen fighters lost their lives. In total, 16 opponents were killed near the dead Abubakar.

End of participation in the war

After the end of hostilities, he thanked Volodya for his help. According to some reports, 362 militants were killed by the rifle of an Evenk hunter. However, the number of enemy losses could be significantly higher, because no one was engaged in accurate accounting, and the sniper himself did not brag about his combat achievements. Since the Evenk hunter fought on a voluntary basis, he did not have any obligations to the Russian army. Therefore, after the service, Vladimir Kolotov ended up in the infirmary. The sniper, after recovering his health, returned to his native village.

Meeting with Dmitry Medvedev in the Kremlin

When Dmitry Medvedev was the President of the Russian Federation, the whole country again learned about the well-aimed sniper from the Yakut village. Vladimir Maksimovich Kolotov received an invitation to visit the Kremlin to meet with the Supreme Commander.

Vladimir Kolotov did not come from a distant Russian corner empty-handed. Although his biography was shrouded in mystery, it was known that he was a real Evenk who honored the traditions of his people. As a gift from northern residents, he presented Dmitry Medvedev with a reindeer, symbolizing prosperity and prosperity. According to Evenk customs, the animal waited for the Russian president in his native village Volodya until he arrived for him. However, he never took his deer, deciding that the animal would be more comfortable in its familiar environment. In addition to the deer, the family of Vladimir Kolotov presented the president with paizu - a plaque with a special inscription.

For heroism and merits during the First Chechen War, Vladimir Kolotov, whose photo was later seen by the whole country, was awarded the Order of Courage. So after 10 years, the award found its hero. The Russian President presented the family of the outstanding sniper with the Order of Parental Glory.

Many significant events in the life of the state are often covered with legends. There are mythical characters in the First Chechen War. Among them is the sniper Volodya Yakut, who knew no mistake.

There is a version that it was a real Russian shooter Vladimir Maksimovich Kolotov. By nationality, he was allegedly an Evenk or Yakut, and the representatives of these nationalities are excellent hunters and shooters. Because of his origin, the sniper received the call sign "Yakut".

Legend details

According to a legend spread among the personnel of the Russian army, Volodya Yakut was very young, only 18 years old. They say that he went to fight in Chechnya as a volunteer, and before that he allegedly asked for this "permission" from General Lev Rokhlin. In the military unit, Volodya Yakut chose the Mosin carbine as his personal weapon, choosing for him an optical sight from the time of the Second World War - from the German Mauser 98k.

In general, Vladimir was distinguished by amazing unpretentiousness and dedication. He literally plunged into the thick of things. The only request that Volodya Yakut made to the soldiers of his unit was to leave him food, water and ammunition at the appointed place. The sniper was famous for some fantastic elusiveness. The Russian military learned about the place of his deployment only from radio intercepts.

The first such place was a square in the city of Grozny called "Minutka". There, a sniper was shooting separatists with amazing efficiency - up to 30 people a day. At the same time, he left something like a "trademark" on the dead. Volodya Yakut hit the victim right in the eye, leaving her no chance of survival. Aslan Maskhadov promised a considerable reward for the murder of Kolotov, and Shamil Basayev - the order of the CRI.

There are also mentions that the elusive Volodya Yakut was shot by Basayev's mercenary Abubakar. The latter managed to wound a Russian sniper in the arm. Yakut stopped shooting at Chechens, misleading them about his death. A week later, Kolotov took revenge on the Basayev mercenary for his injury. Togo was found dead in Grozny near the Presidential Palace. The Russian sniper did not calm down, destroying Abubakar. He continued to systematically shoot the Chechens, preventing them from burying the mercenary according to the Muslim tradition before sunset.

After this operation, Yakut reported to the command that he had killed 362 Chechen separatists, and then returned to the location of his unit. Six months later, the sniper left for his homeland. Was awarded the order. According to the main version of the legend, after the assassination of General Rokhlin, Volodya went into a binge and lost his mind. Alternative versions contain the story of a sniper's meeting with President Medvedev, as well as details of the murder of Yakut by an unknown Chechen fighter.

Real facts

There is no documentary evidence that could confirm the existence of a real person with the given name and surname Vladimir Kolotov. There is also no evidence that the aforementioned person was ever awarded the Order of Courage. On the Internet, you can find photographs of the meeting between Volodya Yakut and Medvedev, but in fact it captures the Siberian Vladimir Maksimov.

In view of all these facts, we have to admit that the story of Volodya Yakut is a completely fictional legend. At the same time, it cannot be denied that in the Russian army there were - and are - both similar snipers and the same courageous people. Volodya Yakut embodies the collective image of all these fighters. Vasily Zaitsev, Fyodor Okhlopkov and many other brave soldiers who fought in Chechnya are considered its prototypes.

History
Historical Persons, Army History

Volodya Kolosov. Yakut sniper. Call sign "Yakut". (hero of the first Chechen)

Volodya did not have a walkie-talkie, there were no new "bells and whistles" in the form of dry alcohol, drinking tubes and other junk. There was not even unloading, he did not take the bulletproof vest himself. Volodya had only an old grandfather's hunting carbine with captured German optics, 30 rounds, a flask of water and a cookie in his jacket pocket. Yes, there was a shabby hat with earflaps. The boots, however, were good, after last year's fishing he bought them at a fair in Yakutsk, right on the rafting near Lena from some visiting traders.

This is how he fought for the third day.

A sable fisherman, an 18-year-old Yakut from a distant reindeer camp. It had to happen that I came to Yakutsk for salt and ammunition, accidentally saw on TV in the dining room heaps of corpses of Russian soldiers on the streets of Grozny, smoking tanks and some words about "Dudaev's snipers." It hit Volodya in the head, so much so that the hunter returned to the camp, took his earned money, and sold the washed gold. I took my grandfather's rifle and all the cartridges, tucked the icon of Nicholas the saint into my bosom, and went to fight the Yakut for the Russian cause.

It is better not to remember how I drove, about how I sat in the bullpen three times, how many times the rifle was taken away. But, nevertheless, a month later the Yakut Volodya arrived in Grozny.

Volodya heard only about one general regularly fighting in Chechnya, and he began to look for him in the February thaw. Finally, the Yakut got lucky and got to the headquarters of General Rokhlin.

the photo is not in the subject - but the ceremonial portrait of the general is not ice at all here

The only document besides his passport was a handwritten certificate from the military commissar that Vladimir Kolotov, a hunter-fisherman by profession, was going to war, signed by the military commissar. The piece of paper that got worn out on the way had saved his life more than once.

Rokhlin, surprised that someone came to the war of their own free will, ordered the Yakut to come to him.

Volodya, squinting at the dim lights blinking from the generator, which made his slanting eyes even more blurry, bearish, went sideways into the basement of the old building, which temporarily housed the general's headquarters.

- Excuse me, please, are you that General Rokhlya? Volodya asked respectfully.

- Yes, I am Rokhlin, - answered the tired general, looking inquisitively at a small man dressed in a worn quilted jacket, with a backpack and a rifle behind his back.

- Would you like some tea, hunter?

- Thank you, Comrade General. I haven’t had a drink for three days. I will not refuse.

Volodya took his iron mug from his backpack and handed it to the general. Rokhlin himself poured tea for him to the brim.

“I was told that you came to the war on your own. For what purpose, Kolotov?

- I saw on TV how the Chechens were bringing down our snipers. I cannot stand this, Comrade General. It's a shame, however. So I came to bring them down. You don't need money, you don't need anything. I, Comrade General Rokhlya, will go hunting myself at night. Let them show me the place where the cartridges and food will be put, and I'll do the rest myself. I’ll get tired - I’ll come back in a week, sleep in a warm day and go again. You don't need a walkie-talkie or anything like that ... it's hard.

The surprised Rokhlin nodded his head.

- Take, Volodya, at least a new SVDeshka. Give him a rifle!

- Don't, comrade general, I'm going out into the field with my scythe. Just give me some cartridges, now I have only 30 left ...

So Volodya began his war, sniper.

He slept for a day in the staff kungas, despite the mine attacks and terrible artillery fire. He took cartridges, food, water and went on the first "hunt". They forgot about him at the headquarters. Only the reconnaissance regularly brought cartridges, food and, most importantly, water to the appointed place every three days. Every time I made sure that the package was gone.

The first to remember about Volodya was the "interceptor" radio operator.

- Lev Yakovlevich, the “Czechs” have panic on the air. They say that the Russians, that is, we have a black sniper who works at night, boldly walks through their territory and shamelessly knocks down their personnel. Maskhadov even appointed 30 thousand dollars for his head. His handwriting is like this - this fellow of Chechens hits exactly in the eye. Why only in the eye - the dog knows him ...

And then the staff remembered about the Yakut Volodya.

“He takes food and cartridges from the cache regularly,” the intelligence chief reported.

- And so we didn’t exchange a word, we didn’t even see him. Well, how did he leave you then to the other side ...

One way or another, the report noted that our snipers also give their snipers a light. Because Volodin's work gave such results - from 16 to 30 people a night put a fisherman with a shot in the eye.

The Chechens figured out that a Russian fisherman had appeared on Minutka Square. And just as all the events of those terrible days took place on this square, a whole detachment of Chechen volunteers went out to catch the sniper.

Then, in February 1995, at the Minutka, the "federals", thanks to Rokhlin's cunning plan, had already ground the "Abkhazian" battalion of Shamil Basayev by almost three quarters of the personnel. The carbine of Volodya's Yakut played a significant role here.

Basayev promised a gold Chechen star to the one who would bring the corpse of the Russian sniper. But the nights passed in unsuccessful searches. Five volunteers walked along the front line in search of Volodya's "couches", put banners wherever he could appear in line of sight of his positions. However, it was such a time when groups from one side and the other broke through the enemy's defenses and penetrated deeply into its territory. Sometimes it was so deep that there was no longer any chance of breaking free to their own. But Volodya slept during the day under roofs and in the basements of houses. The corpses of the Chechens - the night "work" of a sniper - were buried the next day.

The buildings on the opposite side of the square, or rather their ruins, merged into a single line in Volodya optics.

"What shone, optics?" - thought the hunter, but he knew cases when a sable saw a sight flashing in the sun and went home. The place he chose was under the roof of a five-story residential building.

Snipers always like to be upstairs to see everything. And he lay under the roof - under a sheet of old tin did not wet the wet snowy rain, which either went on or off.

Abubakar tracked down Volodya only on the fifth night - he tracked him down in his pants. The fact is that the Yakut had ordinary wadded trousers. This is an American camouflage worn by the Chechens, impregnated with a special compound, in which the uniform was invisible in night vision devices, and the domestic one shone with a bright light green light. So Abubakar "figured out" the Yakut in the powerful night optics of his "Bura", made to order by British gunsmiths back in the 70s.

One bullet was enough, Volodya rolled out from under the roof and fell painfully on his back on the steps of the stairs. “The main thing is that I didn't break the rifle,” thought the sniper.

- Well, that means a duel, yes, Mr. Chechen sniper! - the Yakut said to himself without emotion.

Volodya deliberately stopped shredding the "Chechen order".

The neat row of the 200s with its sniper "autograph" on the eye has stopped.

“Let them believe that I’m killed,” Volodya decided.

He himself only did what he looked out for where the enemy sniper got to him.

- Well, okay, you smoke while lying down, but you have to get up in the toilet, - Volodya decided coolly and waited.

But Volodya found two fallen logs from the rafters with a piece of tin to the right, about fifty meters from his point. The place was great for shooting, but very inconvenient for a "couch". For two more days Volodya was looking for a sniper, but he did not show up. Volodya had already decided that the enemy had left for good, when the next morning he suddenly saw that he had "opened".

Three seconds to aim with a slight exhale, and the bullet went on target.

Http: //www.sovsekretno.ru/arti ...

Abubakar was struck on the spot in his right eye. For some reason, against the impact of a bullet, he fell flat on the street from the roof. A large greasy stain of blood was spreading over the mud on the square of the Dudayevsky palace, where the Arab sniper was struck down on the spot by one bullet of a hunter.

“Well, I got you,” thought Volodya without any enthusiasm or joy. He realized that he must continue his fight, showing the characteristic handwriting. Thus, to prove that he is alive, and that the enemy did not kill him a few days ago.

And here he was surprised: the Chechens began to crawl out into the open to take the sniper's body. Volodya took aim. Three came out, bent over the body.

"Let them raise and carry, then I will start shooting!" - Volodya triumphed.

The three Chechens actually lifted the body. Three shots rang out. Three bodies fell on the dead Abubakar.

"Eh, infantry-mabuta! You only spend cartridges ...", thought Volodya.

Four more shots rang out, almost merging into one. Four more corpses have already formed a pile.

Volodya killed 16 militants that morning. He did not know that Basayev had given an order to get the body of the Arab at all costs before it began to get dark. He had to be sent to the mountains to be buried there before sunrise, as an important and venerable Mujahid.

A day later, Volodya returned to Rokhlin's headquarters. The general immediately accepted him as a dear guest. The news of a duel between two snipers has already spread throughout the army.

- Well, how are you, Volodya, tired? Do you want home?

Volodya warmed his hands at the "potbelly stove".

- That's it, Comrade General, you've done your job, it's time to go home. Spring work begins at the camp. The military commissar released me only for two months. All this time my two younger brothers worked for me. It's time and honor to know ...

Rokhlin nodded his head in understanding.

- Take a good rifle, my chief of staff will draw up the documents ...

- Why, I have my grandfather's. - Volodya lovingly hugged the old carbine.

* Volodya had an upper one - with an old-style faceted breech with a long barrel, an "infantry rifle" of 1891

For a long time the general hesitated to ask a question. But curiosity got the better of it.

- How many enemies did you defeat, did you count? They say more than a hundred ... Chechens talked.

Volodya dropped his eyes.

- 362 people, comrade general. Rokhlin, silently, patted the Yakut on the shoulder.

- Go home, now we can handle it ourselves ...

- Comrade General, if anything, call me again, I will deal with the work and come a second time!

Volodya's face showed a clear concern for the entire Russian Army.

- By God, I'll come!

- Nothing, Comrade General Rokhlya, if necessary we will come, just tell me ...

He was sober in a nearby stream, but since then Volodya no longer wore his Order of Courage in public.

The basis is taken here:

All the rest brazenly copy-paste, adding from themselves.

Http: //russiahousenews.info/ou ...
Moreover, the most surprising thing is that in the story about Volodya the sniper, there was surprisingly almost literal similarity with the story of the great Zaitsev, who put in Stalingrad Hans, a major, the head of the Berlin school of snipers. To be honest, I then perceived it as ... well, let's say, like folklore - at a halt - and I believed it and I didn't believe it.

Then there was a lot of things, as, indeed, in any war, which you will not believe, but turns out to be TRUE. Life is generally more complicated and unexpected than any invention.

Later, in the year 2003-2004, one of my friends and comrades told me that he personally knew this guy, and that he really WAS. Whether there was that very duel with Abubakar, and whether the Czechs really had such a super-sniper, to be honest, I don't know, they had enough serious snipers, and especially in the First Campaign. And the weapon was serious, including the South African CWS, and cereals (including the prototypes of the B-94, which were just going into pre-production, the spirits already had, and with the numbers of the first hundred - Pakhomych will not let you lie.

How they got them is a separate story, but nevertheless, the Czechs had such trunks. And they themselves made SWR semi-handicraft near Grozny.)

Volodya-Yakut really worked alone, worked exactly as described - in the eye. And the rifle he had was exactly the one that was described - the old Mosin three-line pre-revolutionary issue, with a faceted breech and a long barrel - an infantry model of 1891.

The real name of Volodya-Yakut is Vladimir Maksimovich Kolotov, originally from the village of Iengra in Yakutia. However, he himself is not a Yakut, but an Evenk.

Volodya, an 18-year-old Yakut from a distant reindeer camp, was a sable fisherman. It had to happen that I came to Yakutsk for salt and ammunition, accidentally saw on TV in the dining room heaps of corpses of Russian soldiers on the streets of Grozny, smoking tanks and some words about "Dudaev's snipers." It crashed into Volodya's head, so much so that the hunter returned to the camp, took his earned money, and sold the washed gold. I took my grandfather's rifle and all the cartridges, tucked the icon of St. Nicholas into my bosom, and went off to fight.

It is better not to remember how I was driving, how I was in the bullpen, how many times the rifle was taken away. But, nevertheless, a month later the Yakut Volodya arrived in Grozny.
Volodya heard only about one general regularly fighting in Chechnya, and he began to look for him in the February thaw. Finally, the Yakut got lucky and got to the headquarters of General Rokhlin.

Rokhlin, surprised that someone had come to the war of their own accord, ordered the Yakut to come to him.
- Sorry, please, are you that General Rokhlya? Volodya asked respectfully.
- Yes, I am Rokhlin, - answered the tired general, looking inquisitively at a small man, dressed in a worn quilted jacket, with a backpack and a rifle behind his back.
“I was told that you came to the war on your own. For what purpose, Kolotov?
- I saw on TV how the Chechens were bringing down our snipers. I cannot stand this, Comrade General. It's a shame, however. So I came to bring them down. You don't need money, you don't need anything. I, Comrade General Rokhlya, will go hunting myself at night. Let them show me the place where the cartridges and food will be put, and I will do the rest myself. I’ll get tired - I’ll come back in a week, sleep in a warm day and go again. You don't need a walkie-talkie or anything like that ... it's hard.

Surprised Rokhlin nodded his head.
- Take, Volodya, at least a new SVDeshka. Give him a rifle!
- Don't, comrade general, I'm going out into the field with my scythe. Just give me some cartridges, now I have only 30 left ...

So Volodya began his war, sniper.

And then the staff remembered about the Yakut Volodya.
“He regularly takes food and cartridges from the cache,” the intelligence chief reported.

- And so we didn’t exchange a word, we didn’t even see him. Well, how did he leave you then to the other side ...

One way or another, the report noted that our snipers also give their snipers a light. Because Volodin's work gave such results - from 16 to 30 people put the fisherman with a shot in the eye.

The Chechens figured out that the federals had a hunter-fisherman on Minutka Square. And since the main events of those terrible days took place on this square, a whole detachment of Chechen volunteers went out to catch the sniper.

Then, in February 1995, at Minutka, thanks to Rokhlin's cunning plan, our troops had already ground nearly three-quarters of the personnel of the so-called "Abkhazian" battalion of Shamil Basayev. The carbine of Volodya's Yakut played a significant role here. Basayev promised a gold Chechen star to the one who would bring the corpse of a Russian sniper. But the nights passed in unsuccessful searches. Five volunteers walked along the front line in search of Volodya's "couches", put banners wherever he could appear in line of sight of his positions. However, it was such a time when groups from one side and the other broke through the enemy's defenses and penetrated deeply into its territory. Sometimes it was so deep that there was no longer any chance of breaking free to their own. But Volodya slept during the day under roofs and in the basements of houses. The corpses of the Chechens - the night "work" of a sniper - were buried the next day.

Then, tired of losing 20 people every night, Basayev summoned from the reserves in the mountains the master of his craft, a teacher from the camp for training young shooters, an Arab sniper Abubakar. Volodya and Abubakar could not help but meet in a night battle, such are the laws of sniper warfare.

The buildings on the opposite side of the square, or rather their ruins, merged into a single line in Volodya optics. “What flashed, optics?” - thought the hunter, and he knew cases when a sable saw a sight flashing in the sun and went home. The place he chose was under the roof of a five-story residential building. Snipers always like to be upstairs to see everything. And he lay under the roof - under a sheet of old tin did not wet the wet snowy rain, which either went on or off.

Abubakar tracked down Volodya only on the fifth night - he tracked him down in his pants. The fact is that the Yakut had ordinary wadded trousers. This American camouflage, which was often worn by Chechens, was impregnated with a special compound, in which the uniform was indistinctly visible in night vision devices, and the domestic uniform shone with a bright light green light. So Abubakar "calculated" the Yakut in the powerful night optics of his "Bura", made to order by British gunsmiths back in the 70s.

One bullet was enough, Volodya rolled out from under the roof and fell painfully on his back on the steps of the stairs. “The main thing is that I didn't break the rifle,” thought the sniper.
- Well, that means a duel, yes, Mr. Chechen sniper! - the Yakut said to himself without emotion.

Volodya deliberately stopped shredding the "Chechen order". The neat row of the 200s with its sniper "autograph" on the eye has stopped. “Let them believe that I’m killed,” Volodya decided.

He himself only did what he looked out for where the enemy sniper got to him.
Two days later, in the afternoon, he found Abubakar's "couch". He also lay under the roof, under a half-bent roofing sheet on the other side of the square. Volodya would not have noticed him if the Arab sniper had not been betrayed by a bad habit - he was smoking marijuana. Once every two hours, Volodya caught a light bluish haze in the optics, rising above the roofing sheet and immediately carried away by the wind.

Only three days later he figured out that Abubakar was crawling out from under the sheet to the right side, and not to the left, quickly doing the job and returning to the "couch". To "reach" the enemy Volodya had to change his position at night. He couldn’t do anything again, because any new roofing sheet would immediately reveal its new location. But Volodya found two fallen logs from the rafters with a piece of tin a little to the right, fifty meters from his point. The place was great for shooting, but very inconvenient for a "couch". For two more days Volodya was looking for a sniper, but he did not appear. Volodya had already decided that the enemy had left for good, when the next morning he suddenly saw that he had "opened up." Three seconds to aim with a light exhale, and the bullet went on target. Abubakar was struck on the spot in his right eye. For some reason, against the impact of a bullet, he fell flat on the street from the roof. A big greasy stain of blood was spreading over the mud on the square of the Dudayevsky palace, where the Arab sniper was struck down on the spot by one bullet of a hunter.

And here he was surprised: the Chechens began to crawl out into the open to take the sniper's body. Volodya took aim. Three came out, bent over the body.
"Let them raise and carry, then I'll start shooting!" - Volodya triumphed.

The three Chechens actually lifted the body. Three shots rang out. Three bodies fell on the dead Abubakar.

Four more shots rang out, almost merging into one. Four more corpses have already formed a pile.

A day later, Volodya returned to Rokhlin's headquarters. The general immediately accepted him as a dear guest. The news of a duel between two snipers has already spread throughout the army.
- Well, how are you, Volodya, tired? Do you want home?

Volodya warmed his hands at the "potbelly stove".
- That's it, Comrade General, you've done your job, it's time to go home. Spring work begins at the camp. The military commissar released me only for two months. All this time my two younger brothers worked for me. It's time and honor to know ...

Rokhlin nodded his head in understanding.
- Take a good rifle, my chief of staff will draw up the documents ...
- Why, I have my grandfather's. - Volodya lovingly hugged the old carbine.

For a long time the general hesitated to ask a question. But curiosity got the better of it.
- How many enemies did you defeat, did you count? They say more than a hundred ... Chechens talked.

Volodya dropped his eyes.
- 362 militants, comrade general.
- Well, go home, now we can handle it ourselves ...
- Comrade General, if anything, call me again, I will deal with the work and come a second time!

Volodya's face showed a clear concern for the entire Russian Army.
- By God, I'll come!

After Vladimir Kolotov left for his homeland, scum in officer's shoulder straps sold his data to Chechen terrorists, who is, where, where he went from, etc. The Yakut Sniper inflicted too great losses on the evil spirits.

Vladimir was killed by a 9 mm round. pistol in his yard, while chopping wood. The criminal case was never solved.

The first Chechen war. How it all started.
***
For the first time, the legend about Volodya the sniper, or as he was also called - Yakut (and the nickname is so textured that it even migrated into the famous television series about those days), I heard in 1995. They told it in different ways, along with the legends about the Eternal Tank, the Death Girl and other army folklore. Moreover, the most surprising thing is that in the story about Volodya the sniper, there was surprisingly almost literal similarity with the story of the great Zaitsev, who put in Stalingrad Hans, a major, the head of the Berlin school of snipers. To be honest, I then perceived it as ... well, let's say, like folklore - at a halt - and I believed it and I didn't believe it. Then there was a lot of things, as, indeed, in any war, which you will not believe, but turns out to be TRUE. Life is generally more complicated and unexpected than any invention.

Later, in the year 2003-2004, one of my friends and comrades told me that he personally knew this guy, and that he really WAS. Whether there was that very duel with Abubakar, and whether the Czechs actually had such a super sniper, to be honest, I don't know, they had enough serious snipers, and especially in the First Campaign. And it was serious, including the South African CWS, and porridge (including the prototypes of the B-94, which were just going into the pre-series, the spirits already had, and with the numbers of the first hundred - Pakhomych will not let you lie.
How they got them is a separate story, but nevertheless, the Czechs had such trunks. And they themselves made SWR semi-handicraft near Grozny.)

The real name of Volodya-Yakut is Vladimir Maksimovich Kolotov, originally from the village of Iengra in Yakutia. However, he himself is not a Yakut, but an Evenk.

At the end of the First Campaign, he was patched up in the hospital, and since he was officially no one and there was no way to call him, he just went home.

By the way, his combat score is most likely not exaggerated, but underestimated ... Moreover, no one kept accurate records, and the sniper himself did not boast about them.

Rokhlin, Lev Yakovlevich

From December 1, 1994 to February 1995, he headed the 8th Guards Army Corps in Chechnya. Under his leadership, a number of areas of Grozny were taken, including the presidential palace. On January 17, 1995, Generals Lev Rokhlin and Ivan Babichev were appointed by the military command for contacts with the Chechen field commanders with the aim of a ceasefire.

General assassination

On the night of 2 to 3 July 1998, he was found murdered at his own dacha in the village of Klokovo, Naro-Fominsk District, Moscow Region. According to the official version, his wife, Tamara Rokhlina, shot at the sleeping Rokhlin, the reason was a family quarrel.

In November 2000, the Naro-Fominsk city court found Tamara Rokhlina guilty of premeditated murder of her husband. In 2005, Tamara Rokhlina appealed to the ECHR, complaining about the lengthy pre-trial detention and the protracted trial. The complaint was upheld, with a pecuniary award (EUR 8,000). After a new consideration of the case, on November 29, 2005, the Naro-Fominsk City Court again found Rokhlina guilty of the murder of her husband and sentenced her to four years of probation, also assigning her a probationary period of 2.5 years.

During the investigation of the murder in a forest belt near the scene of the crime, three charred corpses were found. According to the official version, their death occurred shortly before the assassination of the general, and has nothing to do with him. However, many of Rokhlin's associates believed that they were real murderers who were eliminated by the Kremlin's special services, “covering their tracks”

For participation in the Chechen campaign, he was nominated for the highest honorary title of Hero of the Russian Federation, but refused to accept this title, stating that "he has no moral right to receive this award for military actions on the territory of his own country."

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