Forgotten "black sniper" of the Chechen war. Volodya-Yakut: Continuation of the story (Resurrection from the dead)

FORGOTTEN SNIPER. VOLODYA-YAKUT.

18-year-old Yakut Volodya from a distant deer camp was a hunter-salter. It had to happen that he came to Yakutsk for salt and cartridges, accidentally saw in the dining room on TV piles 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. He took his grandfather's rifle and all the cartridges, stuffed the icon of Saint Nicholas into his bosom and went to fight.

It’s better not to remember how he was driving, how he was in the bullpen, how many times they took away a rifle. 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 was lucky, and he got to the headquarters of General Rokhlin.

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

Rokhlin, surprised that someone came to the war of his own free will, ordered the Yakut to let him in.

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

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

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

I saw on TV how Chechens of our snipers felled. I can't stand it, Comrade General. It's embarrassing, though. So I came to bring them down. You don't need money, you don't need anything. I, Comrade General Rokhlya, will myself go hunting at night. Let them show me the place where they will put the cartridges and food, and I will do the rest myself. I'll get tired - I'll come in a week, I'll sleep in a warm day and go again. You don't need a walkie-talkie and all that ... it's hard.

Surprised, Rokhlin nodded his head.

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

No need, Comrade General, I'm going out into the field with my scythe. Just give me some ammo, I only have 30 left now...

So Volodya began his war, a sniper one.

He slept for a day in headquarters kungs, despite the mine attacks and the terrible firing of artillery. I took cartridges, food, water and went on the first "hunt". They forgot about him at headquarters. Only reconnaissance regularly brought cartridges, food and, most importantly, water to the agreed place every three days. Each time I was convinced that the parcel had disappeared.

The radio operator-"interceptor" was the first to remember Volodya at a meeting of the headquarters.

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

And then the staff remembered the Yakut Volodya.

He regularly takes food and ammunition from the cache, - the head of intelligence reported.

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

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

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

Then, in February 1995, at Minutka, thanks to Rokhlin's cunning plan, our troops had already crushed almost three-quarters of the personnel of the so-called "Abkhazian" battalion of Shamil Basayev. The carbine of the Yakut Volodya also played a significant role here. Basayev promised a gold Chechen star to anyone who would bring the corpse of a Russian sniper. But the nights passed in an unsuccessful search. Five volunteers walked along the front line in search of Volodya's "beds", set up streamers wherever he could appear in direct line of sight of his positions. However, it was a time when groups, on both sides, broke through the enemy’s defenses and deeply wedged into its territory. Sometimes so deep that there was no longer any chance to break out to their own. But Volodya slept during the day under the roofs and in the cellars of houses. The bodies of the Chechens - the night "work" of the sniper - were buried the next day.

Then, tired of losing 20 people every night, Basayev called out from the reserves in the mountains a master of his craft, a teacher from a camp for training young shooters, an Arab sniper Abubakar. Volodya and Abubakar could not 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 that once in Afghanistan killed Soviet paratroopers right through at a distance of one and a half kilometers, pierced the padded jacket and slightly hooked 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's optics. “What flashed, optics?” thought the hunter, and he knew cases when a sable saw a sight sparkling in the sun and went home. The place he chose was located under the roof of a five-story residential building. Snipers always like to be at the top to see everything. And he lay under the roof - under a sheet of old tin, a wet snowy rain did not wet, which then went on, then stopped.

Abubakar tracked down Volodya only on the fifth night - tracked down his pants. The fact is that the Yakut pants were ordinary, wadded. This is American camouflage, which was often worn by Chechens, 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 "figured out" the Yakut in the powerful night optics of his "Bur", made to order by English gunsmiths back in the 70s.

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

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

Volodya deliberately stopped shredding the "Chechen order". The neat row of 200s with his sniper "autograph" on his eye stopped. "Let them believe that I was killed," Volodya decided.

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

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

"So I found you, abrek! You can't live without drugs! Good...", the Yakut hunter thought triumphantly, he didn't know that he was dealing with an Arab sniper who had gone through both Abkhazia and Karabakh. But Volodya did not want to kill him just like that, shooting through the roofing sheet. Snipers didn't do that, and fur hunters didn't.

Well, you smoke lying down, but you will have to get up to go to the toilet, - Volodya decided coolly and began to wait.

Only three days later he figured out that Abubakar crawls out from under the sheet to the right side, and not to the left, quickly does the job and returns to the "couch". In order to "get" the enemy, Volodya had to change his position at night. He could not do anything again, because any new roofing sheet would immediately give away his new location. But Volodya found two fallen logs from the rafters with a piece of tin a little to the right, about fifty meters from his point. The place was excellent for shooting, but very uncomfortable for a "couch". For two more days, Volodya looked out for the sniper, but he did not show up. Volodya had already decided that the enemy was gone for good, when the next morning he suddenly saw that he had "opened up". Three seconds to aim with a slight exhalation, and the bullet went to the target. Abubakar was struck on the spot in the right eye. For some reason, against the impact of a bullet, he fell flat from the roof into the street. A large, greasy stain of blood spread through the mud on the square of the Dudayev Palace, where an Arab sniper was struck down by a single hunter's bullet.

“Well, I got you,” Volodya thought without any enthusiasm or joy. He realized that he must continue his fight, showing a characteristic handwriting. To prove thereby 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 also saw the "Bur", which, he did not recognize, since he had not seen such rifles before. In a word, a hunter from the remote taiga!

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

“Let them pick it up and carry it, then I’ll start shooting!” - Volodya triumphed.

The Chechens really raised the body together. Three shots were fired. 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 the sniper out. From the outside, a Russian machine gun fired, but the queues lay a little higher, without harming the hunched over Chechens.

Four more shots rang out, almost merging into one. Four more corpses had already formed a heap.

Volodya killed 16 militants that morning. He did not know that Basayev had given the order to get the Arab's body 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 respectable Mujahideen.

A day later, Volodya returned to Rokhlin's headquarters. The general immediately received him as an honored guest. The news of the duel of two snipers has already spread around the army.

Well, how are you, Volodya, tired? Do you want to go home?

Volodya warmed his hands at the "potbelly stove".

Everything, comrade general, has done his job, it's time to go home. Spring work begins at the camp. The military commissar let me go only for two months. My two younger brothers worked for me all this time. 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 a grandfather's. - Volodya lovingly hugged the old carbine.

The general did not dare to ask the question for a long time. But curiosity took over.

How many enemies did you kill, did you count? They say more than a hundred ... the Chechens were talking.

Volodya lowered his eyes.

362 militants, comrade general.

Well, go home, we can handle it ourselves...

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

On the face of Volodya, frank concern for the entire Russian Army was read.

By God, I'll come!

The Order of Courage found Volodya Kolotov six months later. On this occasion, the entire collective farm celebrated, and the military commissar allowed the sniper to go to Yakutsk to buy new boots - the old ones had 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 what had happened on the radio. He drank alcohol for three days at the zaimka. He was found drunk in a makeshift hut by other hunters who returned from fishing. Volodya kept repeating drunk:

It's okay, Comrade General Rokhlya, if necessary, we will come, just tell me ...

After the departure of Vladimir Kolotov to his homeland, scum in officer uniforms sold his data to Chechen terrorists, who he is, where he came from, where he went, etc. The Yakut Sniper inflicted too many losses on the evil spirits.

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

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

Later, in the year 2003-2004, one of my friends and comrades-in-arms told me that he personally knew this guy, and that he really WAS. Whether there was that same 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 weapons were serious, including the South African SWR, and cereals (including the B-94 prototypes, which were just going into the pre-series, the spirits already had them, and with the numbers of the first hundreds - Pakhomych would not let you lie.

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

Volodya-Yakut really worked alone, worked exactly as described - in the eye. And his rifle was exactly the one that was described - the old Mosin three-ruler of pre-revolutionary production, still 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.

At the end of the First Campaign, he was patched up in the hospital, and since he was officially a nobody and there was no way to call him, he simply 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 particularly brag about them.

Happy New Year to you!

Volodya-Yakut is a fictional Russian military hero who was a sniper during the First Chechen War. He is an Evenk by nationality. The guy was only eighteen years old when he enrolled in the volunteers of the Russian army. The real possible name of the legendary character is Kolotov Vladimir Maksimovich. He is remembered as a great sniper, showing high results.

About whether this is a myth, a legend or a real real story, no one can say with certainty. Many say that such a hero really was, but after the war he went into seclusion (according to one of the versions). Others provide evidence that this story is nothing more than a fictional legend to raise the morale of the Russian military. If you think rationally, and also study the whole story connected with the sniper Vladimir Kolotov and the events taking place at that time in Chechnya, then many facts indicate the far-fetchedness of history. The legend says that Yakut was a professional hunter (hunter).

Sniper Kolotov Vladimir Maksimovich: biography

Volodya Kolotov lived near the city of Yakutsk, in the village of Iengra. From childhood, the boy joined the hunting business, he knew how to shoot very accurately, as his father taught him. In the Kolotov family, everyone was a hunter, mainly hunting deer and sable. This is the only occupation of the inhabitants of the tundra, in addition to the extraction of gold and other precious metals.

Once Volodya arrived in Yakutsk to buy the necessary food products. Entering the local canteen, Vladimir Kolotov saw on TV a report about how Russian soldiers were fighting in Grozny. Tons of spilled blood and piles of dead soldiers were shown from the scene of military events on television. It was this picture that struck the heart of a young hunter, who later decided that he should help the domestic troops and volunteer for war.

Returning home, Vladimir Kolotov gathered all the necessary things, took with him the old grandfather's Mosin carbine, part of the accumulated savings and several nuggets of unwashed gold. The last thing that the desperate volunteer put into his bag was the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Kolotov decided to go to his compatriots in the city of Grozny in order to suppress the dominant military force of the enemy.

One can write a whole story about how Yakut got to Grozny: the guy was repeatedly detained by law enforcement officers and tormented with his questions, he was in temporary detention centers, his hunting rifle was often taken away from him, because there were no documents authorizing it to be carried . Nevertheless, the guy knew that he had no right to step back from his ultimate goal and endured all the difficulties that stood in his way. As a result, he arrived in Grozny and went to the local military registration and enlistment office.

Meeting with General Rokhlin

Vladimir Kolotov heard stories about the honest and brave General Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin, who at that time led the 8th Guards Army Corps in Chechnya. It was to him that he wanted to get in order to tell his life story and sign up to volunteer for the war.

Arriving at the military enlistment office, Volodya presented a passport and a document from the military commissar, where it was written that the guy was sent to Grozny as a volunteer. It was this paper that repeatedly saved the life of Yakut when he reached his destination. When Kolotov announced that he wanted to see Lieutenant General Rokhlin himself, many did not take his words seriously and in every possible way ignored the request of the young soldier. However, his perseverance and perseverance could not be broken. In addition, Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin himself soon found out about the arrival of the volunteer Vladimir Kolotov and expressed a desire to see him personally, giving appropriate instructions to the executive officers.

As a result, Kolotov was informed that the general was waiting for him at his temporary headquarters. Squinting from the flashing light generators in his eyes, Volodya went along the corridor to the indicated door. Entering the office, Yakut looked around a little and asked in broken Russian if this man was really the same Lieutenant General Rokhlya. To which the exhausted general nodded his head. He inquisitively peered at a short Evenk in a frayed padded jacket with a duffel bag on his shoulder, behind whose back hung an old rifle with an optical sight from the time of the Great Patriotic War.

Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin immediately guessed that this was exactly the guy about whom he was reported to the authorities. After thinking a little about where to start the conversation, the general offered the fighter hot tea, which he could not refuse, because for the third day he had not drunk hot tea and had not eaten normal food. Volodya took out a metal mug from his bag and handed it to the general. Rokhlin poured him delicious fragrant tea to the brim and began to ask questions. He wondered why the guy came here. Kolotov replied that he saw dead soldiers on TV, he could not stand that the Chechens were killing people, he felt ashamed that he did not take part in the extermination of militants, so he wanted to go to the front. He does not need money, he will do everything himself: fight during the day, and go hunting in the forest in the evening. All he needs is ammo and drinking water. Volodya also refused a walkie-talkie and grenades, because, according to him, they are hard to carry. And when he gets tired, he will return to headquarters to sleep and gain strength, and then he will again go into battle.

Rokhlin shook his head, marveling at the bravery and boldness of a young soldier who is asking for war. The general suggested that he change his rifle, but Yakut refused the new weapon and again reminded him of the cartridges, because he had no more of his own. Volodya said that he shoots well from his rifle, and it will take a long time to get used to a new weapon. Rokhlin, meanwhile, read in a shabby expensive order from the military commissar of Yakutia that Vladimir Kolotov was a hunter-trader by profession. If a guy voluntarily wanted to go to war, then no one could stop him from doing so. Rokhlin gave appropriate instructions on the deployment of a new fighter.

The beginning of the military hunt

After a conversation with the general, Kolotov began his own war - a sniper war. The guy was given a bunk in the headquarters kung, and he instantly fell asleep, despite the noise of artillery fire and mine attacks. The next morning he packed his things, took food and drink for the first time, and also grabbed the promised cartridges for his old carbine and set off on his way to war, as if on another hunt. Time passed, and the staff officers completely forgot about the desperate boy who had recently asked to fight. Intelligence alone regularly supplied the necessary ammunition and food to the specified hiding place every third day. It is worth noting that all the parcels disappeared, thereby making it clear that Yakut was still in business.

Forgotten Black Sniper

The first person who remembered the sniper Volodya-Yakut was an interceptor radio operator, who was invited to report on the military situation at a meeting at the headquarters. He said that the Chechens were in complete turmoil on the radio. On all radio lines they transmit that the Russian troops have a master sniper who walks around enemy territory at night and lays down all the Chechen soldiers in piles. Rumor has it that Aslan Alievich Maskhadov (the military sovereign of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria) put a reward on the head of a Russian soldier in the amount of 30 thousand dollars. Russian sniper works clearly and smoothly. He kills the enemy accurately in the eye from any distance.

After this news, the headquarters command remembered the sniper Volodya with the call sign Yakut, who a few weeks ago asked for war, taking with him a couple of hundred rounds of ammunition.

As a result, the headquarters learned that Vladimir Yakut Kolotov was working within Minutka Square in Grozny. An 18-year-old sniper killed between 18 and 30 Chechens a day. Each time, Kolotov left his handwriting, because a fatal hit was always aimed at the enemy's eye. In addition, it became known that the Chechen terrorist Basaev Shamil Salmanovich ordered to assign the Order of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria ("Golden Chechen Star") to whoever kills a Russian black sniper (black, because he acted at night). Many volunteers appeared among the military of Chechnya, who went to hunt Yakut for the promised reward from Basayev and a cash bonus from Maskhadov, but their attempts ended only in a fatal defeat from well-aimed shots of a frail Evenk.

It should be noted that ordinary Russian snipers worked much more efficiently than Chechen ones. In the winter of 1995, on Minutka Square, thanks to the sophisticated military plan of General Rokhlin, federal troops killed more than 75 percent of Sh. S. Basayev's Abkhazian military battalion. An important role here, of course, was played by the forgotten sniper Volodya-Yakut, who had several detachments of Chechen troops on his account.

Duel between Kolotov and Abubakar

After a series of continuous fiascos, the activist of the terrorist group Shamil Salmanovich Basayev turned to the training camp of the Arab mercenary Osama Abubakar (participant in the Karabakh military conflict) for help to teach his fighters how to shoot from a sniper rifle in order to challenge the Russians. After several camp trainings, Abubakar went hunting with his wards. He was armed with a British Lee-Enfield sniper rifle.

Once, during a night skirmish, Abubakar spotted Yakut with a night vision device (they say that the Russian combat camouflage could be tracked through night vision devices, but the Chechen one could not, because they used some kind of secret substance to impregnate their uniforms). It so happened that Abubakar wounded Volodya in the hand, and he decided to deceive. Yakut stopped firing, and the Chechens thought that the black sniper had finally been defeated. Volodya set himself the goal of finding Abubakar and personally shooting him. After a week of quiet searching, the wounded Kolotov nevertheless reached his target and finished off the terrorist. Vladimir fired accurately into the enemy's eye near the presidential town hall in Grozny. Here he laid about 16 more Chechens, who quickly tried to hide the body of Abubakar and have time to bury him before sunset, as it should be according to the Koran.

Yakut's work was excellent. The next morning, the 18-year-old sniper returned to headquarters and informed General Rokhlin that it was time for him to return home, as originally agreed. Lev Yakovlevich, of course, let the fighter go home, but only for a couple of months. Yakut also reported to the commander-in-chief that he had laid down 362 enemy fighters. After that, the story of the sniper Yakut scattered throughout all divisions. The young boy became a real hero and an example for Russian soldiers. Upon returning to the tundra, in Yakutia, Kolotov was awarded the honorary Order of Courage.

Several versions of the end of the legend of the black sniper

There are several official versions about the end of the legend of the black sniper. One of them mentions the murder of Lieutenant General Rokhlin, in connection with which Volodya Kolotov went into an alcoholic binge for several weeks, from where he was hardly pulled out. After that, the talented sniper abandoned his Order of Courage.

The official version says that on the night of June 2-3, 1998, Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin was found dead at his own dacha in the village of Klokovo, Naro-Fominsk district, Moscow region. The document states that instant death overtook the general after his wife Tamara Rokhlina shot her sleeping husband. The reason for such a sharp action was a family quarrel. The general was buried at the Troekurovsky cemetery in Moscow on July 7, 1998. In 2000 Tamara Rokhlina was found guilty of a crime by the court. In 2005, the case was reviewed, the woman was sentenced to 4 years probation with a probationary period of 2.5 years.

The second version says that Yakut was shot dead in his yard in 2000 by a former Chechen terrorist fighter who bought his personal information from unknown persons.

The third version says that the guy returned to his homeland and continued to work as a sober hunter. There is also an opinion that Kolotov was honored with a meeting with the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev in 2009. No one can answer the question of whether the sniper Volodya-Yakut is currently alive, because there is no one hundred percent confirmation of whether this is a myth or a real story.

The popularity of the legend

A fictional narrative called "Volodya the Sniper" was published in the collection of short stories "I am a Russian Warrior!" author Alexei Voronin in the spring of 1995. In 2011, the story appeared in a magazine called Orthodox Cross. This legend was popular during the 1990s. The story was especially famous among Russian military personnel, in which it occupied the first step of the podium among the list of horror stories and other works of soldier's folklore. Since 2011, the legend of Volodya-Yakut has been popularized on the Internet. This story is still published by various online publications, it often pops up in major social networks, and some users enthusiastically believe in this sweet heroic legend.

Evidence for fiction

It is difficult to believe in the existence of such a sniper as Vladimir Kolotov, just as in the military mercenary Abubakar. There is no documentary evidence of the existence of these heroes. The legend says that the sniper Volodya-Yakut was honored to receive the Order of Courage, but there is no such surname in the official archives. Stories about a brave black sniper are often published on the Internet, backing up everything with supposedly real photographs. But in fact, the photo shows completely different people, just the appearance is chosen appropriate.

Answering the question whether Vladimir Kolotov was, some will begin to argue that this person was honored with a meeting with Russian President Medvedev in 2009, but this is not true either. The Russian guarantor presented honorary awards to Vladimir Maksimov, a resident of Yakutia (the Order of Parental Glory) and a Siberian military man under the name Batokha (Order of Courage), who served in the 21st Sofrino Special Purpose Brigade.

The urban legend has been refuted more than once by bloggers and journalists. In this story, it was not specifically indicated who Vladimir was: a fisherman, a hunter or a prospector. In addition to these, there are many more questions, for example:

• How did Kolotov, with only an order from the Yakut military registration and enlistment office, get to the headquarters of General Rokhlin?
• How did an eighteen-year-old guy achieve such shooting skills (362 dead enemies with an accurate hit in the eye)?
• Why did a hunter from Yakutia refuse newer weapons? As a rule, any hunter, including the northern peoples of Russia, never neglects modern weapons.
• The confrontation between Abubakar and Kolotov recalls the story of the duel of the Soviet sniper Vasily Zaitsev against Heinz Thorwald, who is known as Major Koenig.
• How can an eighteen-year-old guy roam enemy territory with a Mosin carbine (an old and loud weapon) and go unnoticed, provided that he is also a sniper?
• What is the secret composition with which the Chechens impregnated their military uniforms so as not to glow through night vision devices? This simply does not exist in real life.

Prototypes of the Yakut sniper

The story of the black sniper is indeed fictional, but the hero Kolotov himself is the personification of honor, courage and courage. That is, this legend about a glorious fighter serves as a collective image of a valiant and brave Russian soldier who took part in the Chechen military conflict. Such legends are born in every war. The most famous prototypes of Kolotov are such snipers of the Great Patriotic War as Fedor Okhlopkov, Ivan Kulbetritnov, Semyon Nomokonov and Vasily Zaitsev.

Film about sniper Volodya-Yakut in Chechnya

There are many experimental films about the legendary sniper from the First Chechen War on the Internet. All of them, as a rule, are documentaries, where various eyewitnesses talk about the hero. The legend is so ingrained in the hearts of people that no one thinks about whether it is a lie or the truth. The sniper Volodya-Yakut is the image of the Russian soldier that others want him to be. There is no feature film about Vladimir Kolotov, who fought in Chechnya, but there is a very similar film called "Sniper Yakut" (2016 release), the events of which unfold during the Great Patriotic War.

The main character, as you might guess, has the nickname Yakut and himself comes from Evenks. In 1945, a sniper caught sight of a German boy - a student of the Hitler Youth (a youth organization under 16). Yakut, realizing that the enemy was standing in front of him, did not kill the boy and let him go.

Throughout his life, the German boy grew up and remembered the gift of life from the Russian soldier. Already an old man, he decides to go to Yakutia to find a Russian merciful sniper and ask why he let him go alive.

18-year-old Yakut Volodya from a distant deer camp was a hunter-salter. It had to happen that he came to Yakutsk for salt and cartridges, accidentally saw in the dining room on TV piles 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. He took his grandfather's rifle and all the cartridges, stuffed the icon of Saint Nicholas into his bosom and went to fight.

It’s better not to remember how he was driving, how he was in the bullpen, how many times they took away a rifle. 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 was lucky, and he got to the headquarters of General Rokhlin.

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

Rokhlin, surprised that someone came to the war of his own free will, ordered the Yakut to let him in.

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

“Yes, I am Rokhlin,” the tired general replied, peering inquisitively at a small man dressed in a worn padded jacket, with a backpack and a rifle on his back.

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

- I saw on TV how our Chechens were from sniper teams. I can't stand it, Comrade General. It's embarrassing, though. So I came to bring them down. You don't need money, you don't need anything. I, Comrade General Rokhlya, will myself go hunting at night. Let them show me the place where they will put the cartridges and food, and I will do the rest myself. If I get tired, I’ll come back in a week, sleep in a warm day and go again. You don't need a walkie-talkie and all that ... it's hard.

Surprised, Rokhlin nodded his head.

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

- No need, Comrade General, I'm going out into the field with my scythe. Just give me some ammo, I only have 30 left now...

So Volodya began his war, a sniper one.

He slept for a day in headquarters kungs, despite the mine attacks and the terrible firing of artillery. I took cartridges, food, water and went on the first "hunt". They forgot about him at headquarters. Only reconnaissance regularly brought cartridges, food and, most importantly, water to the agreed place every three days. Each time I was convinced that the parcel had disappeared.

The radio operator-"interceptor" was the first to remember Volodya at a meeting of the headquarters.

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

And then the staff remembered the Yakut Volodya.

“He regularly takes food and ammunition from the cache,” the head of intelligence reported.

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

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

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

Then, in February 1995, at Minutka, thanks to Rokhlin's cunning plan, our troops had already crushed almost three-quarters of the personnel of the so-called "Abkhazian" battalion of Shamil Basayev. The carbine of the Yakut Volodya also played a significant role here. Basayev promised a gold Chechen star to anyone who would bring the corpse of a Russian sniper. But the nights passed in an unsuccessful search. Five volunteers walked along the front line in search of Volodya's "beds", set up streamers wherever he could appear in direct line of sight of his positions. However, it was a time when groups, on both sides, broke through the enemy’s defenses and deeply wedged into its territory. Sometimes so deep that there was no longer any chance to break out to their own. But Volodya slept during the day under the roofs and in the cellars of houses. The bodies of the Chechens - the night "work" of the sniper - were buried the next day.

Then, tired of losing 20 people every night, Basayev called out from the reserves in the mountains a master of his craft, a teacher from a camp for training young shooters, an Arab sniper Abubakar. Volodya and Abubakar could not 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 that once in Afghanistan killed Soviet paratroopers right through at a distance of one and a half kilometers, pierced the padded jacket and slightly hooked 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's optics. “What flashed, optics?” thought the hunter, and he knew cases when a sable saw a sight sparkling in the sun and went home. The place he chose was located under the roof of a five-story residential building. Snipers always like to be at the top to see everything. And he lay under the roof - under a sheet of old tin, a wet snowy rain did not wet, which then went on, then stopped.

Abubakar tracked down Volodya only on the fifth night - tracked down his pants. The fact is that the Yakut pants were ordinary, wadded. This is American camouflage, which was often worn by Chechens, 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 "figured out" the Yakut in the powerful night optics of his "Bur", made to order by English gunsmiths back in the 70s.

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

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

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

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

"So I found you, abrek! You can't do without drugs! Good...", the Yakut hunter thought triumphantly, he did not know that he was dealing with an Arab sniper who had gone through both Abkhazia and Karabakh. But Volodya did not want to kill him just like that, shooting through the roofing sheet. Snipers did not do this, and fur hunters did not.

“Well, you smoke lying down, but you will have to get up to go to the toilet,” Volodya decided coolly and began to wait.

Only three days later he figured out that Abubakar crawls out from under the sheet to the right side, and not to the left, quickly does the job and returns to the "couch". In order to "get" the enemy, Volodya had to change his position at night. He could not do anything again, because any new roofing sheet would immediately give away his new location. But Volodya found two fallen logs from the rafters with a piece of tin a little to the right, about fifty meters from his point. The place was excellent for shooting, but very uncomfortable for a "couch". For two more days, Volodya looked out for the sniper, but he did not show up. Volodya had already decided that the enemy was gone for good, when the next morning he suddenly saw that he had "opened up". Three seconds to aim with a slight exhalation, and the bullet went to the target. Abubakar was struck on the spot in the right eye. For some reason, against the impact of a bullet, he fell flat from the roof into the street. A large, greasy stain of blood spread through the mud on the square of the Dudayev Palace, where an Arab sniper was struck down by a single hunter's bullet.

“Well, I got you,” Volodya thought without any enthusiasm or joy. He realized that he must continue his fight, showing a characteristic handwriting. To prove thereby 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 also saw the "Bur", which, he did not recognize, since he had not seen such rifles before. In a word, a hunter from the remote taiga!

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

“Let them pick it up and carry it, then I’ll start shooting!” - Volodya triumphed.

The Chechens really raised the body together. Three shots were fired. 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 the sniper out. From the outside, a Russian machine gun fired, but the queues lay a little higher, without harming the hunched over Chechens.

Four more shots rang out, almost merging into one. Four more corpses had already formed a heap.

Volodya killed 16 militants that morning. He did not know that Basayev had given the order to get the Arab's body 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 respectable Mujahideen.

A day later, Volodya returned to Rokhlin's headquarters. The general immediately received him as an honored guest. The news of the duel of two snipers has already spread around the army.

- Well, how are you, Volodya, tired? Do you want to go 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 let me go only for two months. My two younger brothers worked for me all this time. 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 a grandfather's. - Volodya lovingly hugged the old carbine.

The general did not dare to ask the question for a long time. But curiosity took over.

How many enemies did you kill, did you count? They say more than a hundred ... the Chechens were talking.

Volodya lowered his eyes.

- 362 militants, comrade general.

- Well, go home, we can handle it ourselves now ...

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

On the face of Volodya, frank concern for the entire Russian Army was read.

- By God, I'll come!

The Order of Courage found Volodya Kolotov six months later. On this occasion, the whole collective farm celebrated, and the military commissar allowed the sniper to go to Yakutsk to buy new boots - the old ones had 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 what had happened on the radio. He drank alcohol for three days at the zaimka. He was found drunk in a makeshift hut by other hunters who returned from fishing. Volodya kept repeating drunk:
- Nothing, Comrade General Rokhlya, if necessary, we will come, just tell me ...

After the departure of Vladimir Kolotov to his homeland, scum in officer uniforms sold his data to Chechen terrorists, who he is, where he came from, where he went, etc. The Yakut Sniper inflicted too many losses on the evil spirits.

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

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

Later, in the year 2003-2004, one of my friends and comrades-in-arms told me that he personally knew this guy, and that he really WAS. Whether there was that same 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 Air Campaign. And the weapons were serious, including the South African SWR, and cereals (including the B-94 prototypes, which were just going into the pre-series, the spirits already had them, and with the numbers of the first hundreds - Pakhomych would not let you lie.

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

Volodya-Yakut really worked alone, worked exactly as described - in the eye. And his rifle was exactly the one that was described - the old Mosin three-ruler of pre-revolutionary production, still 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.

At the end of the First Campaign, he was patched up in the hospital, and since he was officially a nobody and there was no way to call him, he simply 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 particularly brag 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 districts of Grozny were captured, including the presidential palace. On January 17, 1995, Generals Lev Rokhlin and Ivan Babichev were appointed to the military command for contacts with Chechen field commanders in order to cease fire.

The assassination of a general

On the night of July 2-3, 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 applied to the ECtHR, complaining about the long pre-trial detention and the protracted trial. The complaint was satisfied, with the award of monetary compensation (8000 euros). After a new consideration of the case, on November 29, 2005, the Naro-Fominsk City Court found Rokhlina guilty for the second time of the murder of her husband and sentenced her to four years of probation, appointing her also a probationary period of 2.5 years.

During the investigation of the murder in the forest belt near the crime scene, 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 killers, who were eliminated by the Kremlin's special services, "covering their tracks"

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

18-year-old Yakut Volodya from a distant deer camp was a hunter-salter. It had to happen that he came to Yakutsk for salt and cartridges, accidentally saw in the dining room on TV piles 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. He took his grandfather's rifle and all the cartridges, stuffed the icon of Saint Nicholas into his bosom and went to fight.

It’s better not to remember how he was driving, how he was in the bullpen, how many times they took away a rifle. 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 was lucky, and he got to the headquarters of General Rokhlin.

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

Rokhlin, surprised that someone came to the war of his own free will, ordered the Yakut to let him in.
– Excuse me, please, are you that General Rokhlya? Volodya asked respectfully.
“Yes, I am Rokhlin,” the tired general replied, peering inquisitively at a small man dressed in a worn padded jacket, with a backpack and a rifle on his back.
“I was told that you came to the war on your own. For what purpose, Kolotov?
- I saw on TV how our Chechens were from sniper teams. I can't stand it, Comrade General. It's embarrassing, though. So I came to bring them down. You don't need money, you don't need anything. I, Comrade General Rokhlya, will myself go hunting at night. Let them show me the place where they will put the cartridges and food, and I will do the rest myself. If I get tired, I’ll come back in a week, sleep in a warm day and go again. You don't need a walkie-talkie and all that ... it's hard.

Surprised, Rokhlin nodded his head.
- Take, Volodya, at least a new SVDashka. Give him a rifle!
- No need, Comrade General, I'm going out into the field with my scythe. Just give me some ammo, I only have 30 left now...

So Volodya began his war, a sniper one.

He slept for a day in headquarters kungs, despite the mine attacks and the terrible firing of artillery. I took cartridges, food, water and went on the first "hunt". They forgot about him at headquarters. Only reconnaissance regularly brought cartridges, food and, most importantly, water to the agreed place every three days. Each time I was convinced that the parcel had disappeared.

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

And then the staff remembered the Yakut Volodya.
“He regularly takes food and ammunition from the cache,” the head of intelligence reported.

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

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

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

Then, in February 1995, at Minutka, thanks to Rokhlin's cunning plan, our troops had already crushed almost three-quarters of the personnel of the so-called "Abkhazian" battalion of Shamil Basayev. The carbine of the Yakut Volodya also played a significant role here. Basayev promised a gold Chechen star to anyone who would bring the corpse of a Russian sniper. But the nights passed in an unsuccessful search. Five volunteers walked along the front line in search of Volodya's "beds", set up streamers wherever he could appear in direct line of sight of his positions. However, it was a time when groups, on both sides, broke through the enemy’s defenses and deeply wedged into its territory. Sometimes so deep that there was no longer any chance to break out to their own. But Volodya slept during the day under the roofs and in the cellars of houses. The bodies of the Chechens - the night "work" of the sniper - were buried the next day.

Then, tired of losing 20 people every night, Basayev called out from the reserves in the mountains a master of his craft, a teacher from a camp for training young shooters, an Arab sniper Abubakar. Volodya and Abubakar could not 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 that once in Afghanistan killed Soviet paratroopers right through at a distance of one and a half kilometers, pierced the padded jacket and slightly hooked 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's optics. “What flashed, optics?” thought the hunter, and he knew cases when a sable saw a sight sparkling in the sun and went home. The place he chose was located under the roof of a five-story residential building. Snipers always like to be at the top to see everything. And he lay under the roof - under a sheet of old tin, a wet snowy rain did not wet, which then went on, then stopped.

Abubakar tracked down Volodya only on the fifth night - tracked down his pants. The fact is that the Yakut pants were ordinary, wadded. This is American camouflage, which was often worn by Chechens, 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 "figured out" the Yakut in the powerful night optics of his "Bur", made to order by English gunsmiths back in the 70s.

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

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

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

"So I found you, abrek! You can't do without drugs! Good...", the Yakut hunter thought triumphantly, he did not know that he was dealing with an Arab sniper who had gone through both Abkhazia and Karabakh. But Volodya did not want to kill him just like that, shooting through the roofing sheet. Snipers did not do this, and fur hunters did not.
“Well, you smoke lying down, but you will have to get up to go to the toilet,” Volodya decided coolly and began to wait.

Only three days later he figured out that Abubakar crawls out from under the sheet to the right side, and not to the left, quickly does the job and returns to the "couch". In order to "get" the enemy, Volodya had to change his position at night. He could not do anything again, because any new roofing sheet would immediately give away his new location. But Volodya found two fallen logs from the rafters with a piece of tin a little to the right, about fifty meters from his point. The place was excellent for shooting, but very uncomfortable for a "couch". For two more days, Volodya looked out for the sniper, but he did not show up. Volodya had already decided that the enemy was gone for good, when the next morning he suddenly saw that he had "opened up". Three seconds to aim with a slight exhalation, and the bullet went to the target. Abubakar was struck on the spot in the right eye. For some reason, against the impact of a bullet, he fell flat from the roof into the street. A large, greasy stain of blood spread through the mud on the square of the Dudayev Palace, where an Arab sniper was struck down by a single hunter's bullet.

“Well, I got you,” Volodya thought without any enthusiasm or joy. He realized that he must continue his fight, showing a characteristic handwriting. To prove thereby 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 also saw the "Bur", which, he did not recognize, since he had not seen such rifles before. In a word, a hunter from the remote taiga!

And here he was surprised: the Chechens began to crawl out into the open to pick up the sniper's body. Volodya took aim. Three men came out and bent over the body.
“Let them pick it up and carry it, then I’ll start shooting!” - Volodya triumphed.

The Chechens really raised the body together. Three shots were fired. 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 the sniper out. From the outside, a Russian machine gun fired, but the queues lay a little higher, without harming the hunched over Chechens.

Four more shots rang out, almost merging into one. Four more corpses had already formed a heap.

Volodya killed 16 militants that morning. He did not know that Basayev had given the order to get the Arab's body 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 respectable Mujahideen.

A day later, Volodya returned to Rokhlin's headquarters. The general immediately received him as an honored guest. The news of the duel of two snipers has already spread around the army.
- Well, how are you, Volodya, tired? Do you want to go 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 let me go only for two months. My two younger brothers worked for me all this time. 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 a grandfather's. - Volodya lovingly hugged the old carbine.

The general did not dare to ask the question for a long time. But curiosity took over.
How many enemies did you kill, did you count? They say more than a hundred ... the Chechens were talking.

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

On the face of Volodya, frank concern for the entire Russian Army was read.
- By God, I'll come!

The Order of Courage found Volodya Kolotov six months later. On this occasion, the whole collective farm celebrated, and the military commissar allowed the sniper to go to Yakutsk to buy new boots - the old ones had 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 what had happened on the radio. He drank alcohol for three days at the zaimka. He was found drunk in a makeshift hut by other hunters who returned from fishing. Volodya kept repeating drunk:
- Nothing, Comrade General Rokhlya, if necessary, we will come, just tell me ...

After the departure of Vladimir Kolotov to his homeland, scum in officer uniforms sold his data to Chechen terrorists, who he is, where he came from, where he went, etc. The Yakut Sniper inflicted too many losses on the evil spirits.

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

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

Later, in the year 2003-2004, one of my friends and comrades-in-arms told me that he personally knew this guy, and that he really WAS. Whether there was that same 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 it was serious, including the South African SWR, and cereals (including the B-94 prototypes, which were just going into the pre-series, the spirits already had them, and with the numbers of the first hundreds - Pakhomych would not let you lie.
How they got them is a separate story, but nevertheless, the Czechs had such trunks. Yes, and they themselves made semi-handicraft SWR near Grozny.)

Volodya-Yakut really worked alone, worked exactly as described - in the eye. And his rifle was exactly the one that was described - the old Mosin three-ruler of pre-revolutionary production, still 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.

At the end of the First Campaign, he was patched up in the hospital, and since he was officially a nobody and there was no way to call him, he simply 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 particularly brag 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 districts of Grozny were captured, including the presidential palace. On January 17, 1995, Generals Lev Rokhlin and Ivan Babichev were appointed to the military command for contacts with Chechen field commanders in order to cease fire.

The assassination of a general

On the night of July 2-3, 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 applied to the ECtHR, complaining about the long pre-trial detention and the protracted trial. The complaint was satisfied, with the award of monetary compensation (8000 euros). After a new consideration of the case, on November 29, 2005, the Naro-Fominsk City Court found Rokhlina guilty for the second time of the murder of her husband and sentenced her to four years of probation, appointing her also a probationary period of 2.5 years.

During the investigation of the murder in the forest belt near the crime scene, 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 killers, who were eliminated by the Kremlin's special services, "covering their tracks"

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

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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 this man from Yakutia has many killed militants and saved the 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 peak. By necessity, the boy ended up in a local canteen, where he planned to take salt and cartridges. By chance, at that moment there was a news broadcast on TV, which showed the 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 issue 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 the 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.

hard road

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

Enlistment in the army

After clarifying all the circumstances by which the young hunter from the Yakut village ended up here, the general was sincerely struck by his heroism. At that time, people who absolutely unselfishly could sacrifice their lives were a rarity.

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

The main enemy for the Chechen fighters

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

The news about Volodya came not from himself, but from the enemy. Some time later, thanks to intercepted conversations at the Russian headquarters, it became known about the commotion among the militants. For the Chechens who are in the vicinity of Minutka Square, a quiet life is over. Now the night time has turned into. After that, the Russian military remembered the Evenk hunter. The reason for the panic of the Chechens was precisely Vladimir Kolotov. The sniper was distinguished by his special handwriting - he shot in the eye. Reports of the deaths of militants came on a regular 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 fighters promised their fighters a lot of money and high awards. So, in Maskhadov's headquarters, Volodya's head was given 30,000 dollars. Shamil Basayev, in turn, promised to give a gold star to anyone who was 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, was significantly battered. The sniper inflicted huge damage on manpower every night. A whole detachment was sent to neutralize the Evenk hunter, but his efforts were in vain.

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 his own clothes betrayed the young Evenk hunter. An ordinary padded jacket and cotton pants are clearly visible at night, if you use special equipment. Here, with the help of night vision devices, Abubakar found Volodya by luminous clothes and easily wounded him in the arm, slightly below the shoulder.

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

Revenge with an Arab sniper

He agreed to answer the challenge and left the militants alone for a certain period of time. Kolotov Vladimir acted as if on a hunt in his village, namely: he hid and waited for the enemy to give himself away. The Arab militant gave away his weakness. Abubakar's favorite pastime was smoking marijuana. However, killing the Arab proved to be a difficult task. Volodya's enemy had vast combat experience and did not stick out of his position for three days. Hoping that Vladimir Maksimovich Kolotov had gone home, the sniper of the militants decided to leave the shelter, for which he paid with a bullet in the eye. Subsequently, when trying to pick up 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 the assistance provided. According to some reports, 362 fighters were killed by the Evenk hunter's carbine. However, the number of enemy losses could be significantly higher, because no one was engaged in accurate accounting, and the sniper himself did not boast of 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 restoring 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.

From a distant Russian corner, Vladimir Kolotov did not come empty-handed. Although his biography was shrouded in mystery, it was known that he was a real Evenk who honors the traditions of his people. As a gift from the northern inhabitants, he presented Dmitry Medvedev with a reindeer, symbolizing prosperity and prosperity. According to Evenk customs, the animal was waiting for the Russian president in his native village of Volodya until he arrived for him. However, he did not take his deer away, deciding that the animal would be more comfortable in its familiar environment. In addition to the deer, Vladimir Kolotov's family presented the president with a paizu - a plate with a special inscription.

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