The assault of the White House was on of the key events in the overall collapse of the Soviet Union. During the assault on the White House the most important task of entering the building and arresting opposition leaders was given to Alpha Group and Vympel special units. Here's an article about their actions based on a few interviews with event participants.
Pre-set of the event
October 4th 1993 was the final day of the confrontation between Boris Yeltsin and the Russian Parliament. After 13 days of tensions and clashes between police and protesters, army finally sided with Yeltsin and a plan to force Parliament to surrender was prepared.
Infantry, APCs, IFVs and tanks were supposed to fire at the windows and upper floors of the building to try and break morale of the defenders or at least create confusion if that didn't work. In that case, Alpha Group and Vympel would assault the building.
However, there was a problem- neither of these formations was willing to fight citizens of their own nation. Gennady Zaytsev, commander of the Alpha Group, commander of Vympel and other high ranking officers were called to Kremlin at around 4.30 AM.
It was because of Mikhail Barsukov- Director of Main Administration of Protection (GUO, agency which Alpha and Vympel were part of) convinced Yeltsin to talk to officers of both formations and persuade them to take part in assault.
Unwillingly, officers returned to their units. The forces were divided into 2 teams, each with assigned BMP-2. First team was commanded by Lt. Col. Vladimir Keleksayev. They were tasked with entering the building from the side of Hotel "Ukraine" and Moscow river.
Shortly before 4 PM, their BMP with number 021 rode in front of the White House. Actions of that group are told by Colonel himself. His plan of action was not to storm the Parliament but to try and negotiate with the defenders.
He recalls that a few shots fell around them, but that those weren't fired from the White House. He said that those were coming from the side of buildings occupied by governmental forces. His only explanation was that someone was trying to cause an even bigger bloodshed.
Running of the events focused on Alpha and Vympel special groups
After a few minutes of shots not coming their way, Colonel wrapped a couple of bandages around a piece of barbed wire and with approached the building with Sergei Kuzmin. In front was police sergeant Gennady Sorokin with a megaphone talking to defenders.
Sergeant announced to the defenders that Lt. Colonel of Alpha Group, unarmed, is coming to negotiate. At the entrance, they were met by General Makashov and Viktor Barannikov. They convinced them to be allowed to talk to the Parliament and explain the situation.
In the dark hall of White House, around 400 delegates were gathered around. Colonel told them that were ordered to take over the building but they weren't there to fight. He suggested that Parliament surrenders, as Yeltsin was focused on crushing the coup with brute force.
Eventually, delegates realized they're situation and agreed to surrender. Alpha and Vympel would disarm them and escort out of the building. Then, along with Barannikov they went up to the 5th floor where Rutskoy had his office.
After the situation was explained to him and he learnt that deputies wanted to surrender he agreed to do so as well. To avoid a provocation or any incident, a cordon was made by Alpha and Vympel. Negotiators that resolved the conflict in a bloodless way weren't recognized at all.
Another group, led by Vitaly Demidikin, was tasked by entering the White House from other side. While a firefight between defenders and governmental troops was raging on, his group approached the building. They entered through an unguarded emergency exit.
On their way upstairs, around 2nd or 3rd floor as Demidikin recalls, they found a class of 14 year olds that were brought by their teacher who was an avid supporter of the Parliament. They met a few other groups of people that would have been caught in crossfire during assault.
On higher floors, they had to persuade a group of Soviet veterans that barricaded themselves to surrender. Despite high tensions, they managed to negotiate a surrender of all veterans. Neither of the 2 groups suffered any loses. Not in the White House, at least.
The death of Junior Lieutenant Gennady Sergeyev
Junior Lieutenant Gennady Sergeyev was on vacation when the events of Black October took place. When he learnt that his unit was called to Moscow, he decided to go back to his friends. He volunteered to join Demidikin's group.
While they were driving around in the group's BMP, they spotted wounded soldier on the street. Sergeyevalong with Yuri Torshin got out of the vehicle to try and help him. Then, Sergeyev was hit by sniper fire.
Torshin managed to pull both wounded away from fire but Sergeyev died a few minutes later on his way to medical point. Alpha didn't have any other casualties, neither did Vympel. Sergeyev would become the only soldier from both formations that died during Black October.
However, as Torshin later said, Sergeyev's blood wasn't on the hands of the defenders. He was sure that shots came from one of the buildings that were occupied by governmental troops, including snipers. And even though the wound was blind, they never saw the bullet that got him.
Alpha and Vympel were later transferred from GOU to MVD for their insubordination, which caused 2/3 of the Vympel members to resign. It a couple of year's for both formations to be once again treated as the top of Russian Special Forces.
Four soldiers were awarded Order For Personal Courage. Sergeyev was awarded the Hero of Russia order. His funeral took place on October 8th. He was carried by his friends from Alpha in his last journey. At the time of his death he was 29 years old.
And here's the most recognizable picture of Alpha from Black October. Vladimir Keleksayev with his improvised white flag and Gennady Sorokin talking through radio. Sorokin would later become a parliamentarian in the Russian Parliament.
Comments