COLONEL ALEXANDER REPIN IS 60 YEARS OLD!
With the current workload that falls to the share of the Russian special forces, it is difficult to imagine a professional with a length of service of twenty or more years. One of such long-livers of Group A is Colonel Alexander Repin, who celebrated his 60th birthday in December 2013.
COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE PAKHAR
Alexander Georgievich joined Alpha thirty-five years ago - in 1978. This was the second set. The unit matured, and the tasks facing it became more complex. The country was on the verge of a wave of terrorism that swept through it in the 1980s. Ahead was the Moscow Olympics-80. In these conditions, the leadership of the Committee decided to increase the number of the “Andropov's group”.
But first, Repin had to get into the KGB at all. Alexander Georgievich came to the operational work in the Committee in 1975. "Recruited", as he puts it, through a special department of the military registration and enlistment office. The scheme is classic for those times.
Alexander Georgievich was born on December 4, 1953 in a working class family. Moskvich. Mom, Zinaida Kuzminichna, nee Kostina, worked all her life in the medical industry. Father, Georgy Andreevich Repin, was drafted into the army in 1940 and went through the Great Patriotic War, served in anti-aircraft artillery.
Repin Sr. fought on different fronts: Western, Voronezh, Steppe, 2nd Ukrainian. Awarded with the Orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, the Red Star (twice), the medal "For Military Merit".
Award list for corporal Georgy Repin, father of Alexander Georgievich. May 1945 Central archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
In the award list dated May 1945, we read: “On April 15, 1945 in the Novo Bilovice - Czechoslovakia region and on April 17, 1945, in the Hustopece - Austria region, during an enemy air raid on the artillery battle formations, he quickly loaded a gun and with his work helped to shoot down two enemy aircraft, preventing the bombing of our units.
On April 25, 1945, in the Brno - Czechoslovakia region, the gun fired at enemy firing points, comrade. Repin, under intense enemy fire, quickly loaded the gun, making it possible to fire at the enemy.
In the battles for Brno, he was seriously wounded on April 25, 1945 and is being treated in a hospital.
Worthy of the government award of the Order of the "Red Star".
The commander of the 1370 anti-aircraft artillery regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Ambrazevich.
After demobilization, Georgy Andreevich returned to his peaceful profession - he worked as a floor polisher in government agencies. He passed away suddenly when his son, a KGB special forces officer, was studying at the Field Training Center.
To begin with, being out of state, Alexander Repin for two years once a week visited a safe house in Moscow, where he and others were taught the basics of operational work: identifying people from photographs, drawing up a verbal and psychological portrait, identifying a person in a crowded place (in line at the box office, at the station, at a demonstration).
With the future "outsiders" they worked out motor skills and visual memory. We studied the city, drew street diagrams from memory by house numbers. We learned to think over possible escape routes both for ourselves and for a possible object of hidden surveillance.
After that, like many of his future comrades in Group "A", Repin studied at the famous (in narrow circles) Leningrad 401st special school of the KGB. There they continued to polish the nuances and subtleties of outdoor surveillance - the basics of makeup, camouflage, dressing techniques on the go, the art of operational driving and outdoor observation of the steering wheel.
The President of the International Association of Veterans of Anti-Terror Units "Alpha" Colonel Sergey Skorokhvatov (Kiev) says:
- On August 30, 1975, I was enrolled in the KGB and sent to the Leningrad 401st special school, where I studied for a year. We lived in a hostel on the Avenue of Power Engineers. A guy from Simferopol lodged with me, the second was from Leningrad, and the third was from Moscow. His name was Shura Repin. Now he is called Alexander Georgievich. Vice-President of the International Association of Veterans of the Alpha Special Forces. Participant in the storming of Amin's palace, holder of the Order of the Red Banner. Colonel.
We were friends with Shura, we went in for sports together. He was a candidate for master of sports in sambo. When the frosts in Leningrad were below minus thirty, only the two of us went out for a morning run and made circles on the concrete road around the stadium. No one else dared. Together with Repin, we went through an internship, worked in the same outfit.
Many years have passed, but their friendship continues. Colonel Repin himself is one of those who are jokingly called in Moscow the plenipotentiaries of the Ukrainian "Alpha".
However, let's go back to the 1970s.
- Having driven ten thousand kilometers behind the wheel, having passed all the exams for admissions "A" and "B" in the form of the KGB, I was enrolled in the 3rd department of the Seventh Directorate of the KGB of the USSR. There I honestly "plowed" for three years. We worked mainly for dissidents.
- Can you name someone?
- One of those whom we “took care of” was Academician Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov. Such was the political climate in the country then, and such was the instruction of the top leadership. He was an uncomplicated "client", he did not cause any problems.
PAYMENT TO GROUP "A"
In the special forces of the Lubyanka, Repin ended up on the recommendation of his first direct commander for the Seventh Directorate of the KGB, Mikhail Mikhailovich Romanov. He in 1977 became the deputy commander of Group "A".
By the way, Colonel Repin completed his service in the Group in 1998, being the head of the 2nd department of the "A" Directorate. Already in another country, in a different political system, but in the same subdivision, which survived the breakdown of historical eras.
- It was Romanov who suggested that I go to Group A, - says Alexander Georgievich. - It was said in plain text. I knew that there was such a group in the KGB, but what exactly it was doing, I had no idea. When Romanov explained that the Ashnikovs' profile was the fight against terrorism, I nodded with understanding, although, to tell the truth, I did not know what terrorism was, or I only imagined superficially. Since that time, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge, and terrorism, as we knew it in the Soviet Union, has greatly grown from a "cradle", turning into a monstrous monster.
Romanov's recommendation alone was not enough to get into Group A. It was necessary to go through a sieve of medical and credentials commissions, as well as basic testing. I succeeded, and in 1978 I was enrolled in the unit. Qualification - sniper. In addition to shooting, I mastered everything that an ordinary employee of the anti-terror group was supposed to know and be able to do, including parachute jumping, special tactical training and the skills of driving military equipment.
For outsiders, Alexander Georgievich was the "instructor of physical culture at the Research Institute" Luch ". This was quite consistent with his daily lifestyle in the eyes of his neighbors: everyone knew that Repin played a lot in sports, often went to competitions. By the way, each of the employees of the division then had his own legend.
To support the legend, the personnel department of the "office" regularly sent to Repin by mail congratulations on the holidays from the Scientific Research Institute "Luch" …
The first operation, in which Warrant Officer Repin had a chance to participate, took place not on some distant business trip, but in Moscow - on the territory of the American embassy. Employees of Group "A" had to neutralize the mentally abnormal native of Kherson Yuri Vlasenko. He threatened to detonate an improvised explosive device if he was not given the opportunity to fly overseas.
Repin was assigned the role of an observer sniper. However, he did not have to shoot at the terrorist; Major Sergei Golov did it from a silent pistol.
ARMORED HAMMERS
In the "Thunder" team, which stormed the palace of the Afghan dictator Amin on the evening of December 27, 1979, ensign Alexander Repin was the youngest fighter - twenty-six years old.
A group of participants in the upcoming assault on Amin's palace. On the far right in the first row is Ensign Alexander Repin. Kabul, December 27, 1979
As part of the command of the Seventh Directorate of the KGB, Warrant Officer Repin was at a training camp in Mescherino near Moscow. They were engaged in triathlon: hand-to-hand combat, orienteering and shooting. With a phone call he was urgently summoned to the unit. I got to Moscow by hitchhiking. I rushed to the base, and there is already vanity, lists of those traveling abroad are being drawn up.
“Perhaps some kind of embassy will have to be guarded,” Repin suggested on the way home, where he was released until evening. - However, what to guess - the time will come, and the authorities will bring what is needed.
Prior to that, there had already been "quiet" talks that they would have to storm the handsome palace, located on a high, steep hill, right above the location of the "Muslim battalion". Modern view of Taj Bek and surrounding panorama
At the time of the events in Kabul, Alexander Georgievich was formally a bachelor, the future keeper of the home, Tatyana, was not yet Repina. However, during the time that they met, Tanya had already managed to get used to the frequent alarms for which Sasha was summoned to the service (she knew that he was serving in the KGB, although she had no idea where exactly, in which department of the Committee).
And there were a lot of alarms in Group A. First of all, the speed of gathering employees at the unit's base was checked.
- Sometimes, you come home from duty, just take a nap, and then a multitone beeps: a training alarm! - Alexander Georgievich recalls.
And even in those years, employees of Group A were often sent on a business trip to the Field Training Center of the Border Troops of the KGB of the USSR in the Yaroslavl Region. "Alpha" at that time did not have its own training base. The need for a large number of field studies was explained by the fact that many employees did not have military education, but only specialized.
“You see, the alarm has been played again, we have to go to the training center,” Aleksandr grieved Tatyana. But they were going to celebrate the New Year together. She didn’t believe the words about the training center, but she didn’t show it. Although I felt that Sasha was not speaking everything. Moreover, he usually left on business trips in the morning, but here, it turned out, looking at night.
- We realized that we were flying somewhere to the south, when they began to give us a tropical sand-colored uniform, - Colonel Repin recalls. - After all, those guys who had already visited Afghanistan by that time did not say anything about the details. Everyone was gathered in Lenin's room and announced that we were going on a business trip. Each was given a bottle of vodka and a set of equipment: a bulletproof vest, reinforced with ammunition, a submachine gun, and a pistol. I also received an SVD sniper rifle. We took quite a lot of warm clothes, because the previous shift warned: "The warmth won't wait for you there." To tell you the truth, the winter nights in Afghanistan are very cold, and we, in addition to dressing very warmly, were warmed by vodka for sleep.
We departed on December 22 "on board Andropov" from the military airfield "Chkalovsky" near Moscow. Before the flight, Seryoga Kuvylin managed to photograph us, despite the prohibitions of special officers. He filmed us later - there, in Bagram, and in the "Muslim battalion". If not for him, then there would be no photographic memory of the Kabul operation.
… As already noted, according to legend, the employees of Group "A" went to Yaroslavl for exercises. Until the new Year. When they crossed the state border, the pilots turned off the side lights and the light in the cabin. Group A personnel took up positions at the windows with weapons in case of shelling during landing at the Afghan Air Force base in Bagram.
Initially, no tasks were assigned to them. We arrived and settled in a cold barracks. Conducted a reconnaissance. Nothing, at first glance, foreshadowed full-scale hostilities. The streets were calm, there were no signs of the "Second stage of the Saur revolution."
Alexander Georgievich recalls the situation in the team before setting the task - cheerful, friendly. No gloom and pessimistic mood.
- The next day, having arrived at the place, we went to shoot weapons. My teacher was Mikhail Golovatov. He prepared me well. I understood that the entire outcome of the operation could depend on the effectiveness of the sniper's work. And he already knew that in the mountainous thin air, the bullet flies along a different trajectory, as if being attracted to the ground. Therefore, before work, it was necessary to understand what the excess was, to make corrections on the sights. We have done it.
In addition to the employees of "Alpha", of which the contingency assault group "Thunder" was made up, the special task force of the KGB "Zenith" (commander - Yakov Semyonov) was to participate in the assault. It included officers of the special reserve, as well as employees of the republican and regional departments of the KGB, who underwent accelerated training in Balashikha at the Improvement Courses for the operational staff (KUOS).
Something like this looked like Amin's palace from the positions of the "Muslim battalion", where the "Thunder" fighters were stationed
The "Muslim battalion" manned by the natives of Central Asia (headed by Major Khabib Khalbaev) also received its task of assault. It was announced to the Thunder fighters that the Musbat would allocate equipment (BMPs and armored personnel carriers) with drivers, gunners-operators and vehicle commanders for their delivery to the palace. Finally, support was to be provided by the Airborne Forces company under the command of Senior Lieutenant Valery Vostrotin.
- They settled us in one of the musbat barracks. The food in the battalion was well organized, and I remember that I slept superbly all the nights spent near Kabul. Nothing bothered. When some future party and state leaders of Afghanistan were brought to the Musbat in the evening of December 26, they were not shown to anyone. They hid in a separate room, in the most inconspicuous corner of the battalion's location.
In addition to the external security of the "musbat" itself, guards were also set up around the perimeter of the premises where unknown persons were hiding. Volodya Grishina and I were assigned to guard the night. I remember it was very cold, and we envied with black envy our employees Kolya Shvachko and Pasha Klimov, who closed themselves together with the unknown from the inside. As we suspected, they drank tea or something stronger with them. So that last night passed, - Colonel Repin recalls.
The next day, the commander of the "Thunder" Mikhail Romanov informed his people that an order had been received to storm the residence of the President of Afghanistan and destroy the "X-Man". As Colonel Repin notes, no special political work was carried out, but they simply said that "unhealthy forces" were rushing to power in a friendly country and help was needed to stop them.
Before that, there were already quiet conversations in the group of "sightseers" that they would have to take by storm the handsome palace, located on a high, steep hill, right above the location of the "Muslim battalion" - fifteen minutes away along the serpentine.
By order of Mikhail Romanov, the Thunder soldiers began to put together assault ladders. They also began to "drive" equipment so that the guards of the palace got used to the noise of military vehicles, and conducted a much-needed reconnaissance.
- All this I did not take seriously then because of my youth. No, I understood, of course, that real combat work lay ahead. That I had to shoot, including at live targets, I was ready for this. But until the very moment of landing from the BMP, I had no idea what kind of hell awaited us. By the evening we were distributed among the crews, armed, put on body armor. For one hundred grams of frontline took …
This was the Taj Bek, aka Amin's palace in the late 1970s during the period of Operation Storm 333
And go ahead! Actually, that day flew by very quickly for me. Flashes from explosions, a flurry of fire are imprinted in my consciousness … Everything is burning around, everything is shooting and roaring.
Before the assault itself, an employee of the Ninth Directorate of the KGB arrived at the location of "Thunder". He brought the Taj Beck's plan, explained where it was, answered questions. From that moment on, Alpha employees began to envision a plan for future action.
The team, which meant the time of the release, was not long in coming …
The commandos lined up, and Major Romanov conducted orientation on the terrain: “This is the north, and if anything, we should retreat there. Because in case of failure … we will have to act ourselves, and no one will say that we are employees of the special forces of the Soviet Union,”Mikhail Mikhailovich finished the briefing on such an“optimistic”note.
The command sounded: "By cars!"
On December 27, at 1915 hours, special forces rushed to Amin's palace. When the security posts saw that the BMPs and armored personnel carriers did not respond to their demands to stop, the shelling began. On the approaching convoy, Taj-Bek's guards opened fire from heavy machine guns and grenade launchers. Soon the first damaged APC appeared, which had to be pushed off the road in order to clear the passage for the rest.
- When landing, I drew attention to the fact that Kozlov sat without a bulletproof vest, - Alexander Georgievich recalls. - Now I think that he knew more than us and assumed that we didn’t care p … t. I was in armor, in an Austrian-made Tigovsky helmet. He was armed with a machine gun, pistol, RPG-7 and SVD. Incidentally, I never got it out of the BMP. As soon as we approached the palace, several thousand invisible men, armed with hammers, surrounded our BMP and began to loudly, deafening threshing on the armor. It was a hail of bullets hitting the combat vehicle. We sat and listened to these hammers.
"TO THE MAIN" - THE END
Major Mikhail Romanov was in charge of the general leadership of the Thunder soldiers, who were "spinning" along the serpentine road around the hill where Amin's palace stood in infantry fighting vehicles. Together with him in the 5th BMP were Alexander Repin, Yevgeny Mazayev, Gleb Tolstikov and the future commander of the Vympel, Captain 2nd Rank Evald Kozlov, as well as Asadulla Sarvari, one of the closest associates of Babrak Karmal.
Group A employees are participants in Operation Storm-333 and Baikal-79. Sitting Alexander Repin. The picture was taken in 1980 during the farewell to Nikolai Vasilyevich Berlev
- On the outskirts of the facility, there was a hitch due to a knocked-down Afghan bus. The bus had to be bypassed. Obeying the order, I pressed the button, opened the hatch and literally fell out onto the asphalt. We landed. We lay down and started the fight. Unfortunately, “Shilki” did not help us much. Their intense fire covered a small part of the Taj Bek.
As soon as I touched the ground, something hit my legs painfully and a warm flow began to flow down my left shin … Immediately I did not attach any importance to this. The body was mobilized to complete the task - it was necessary to extinguish the enemy's firing points, to cover the guys who were in front. Zhenya Mazayev and I immediately opened fire from machine guns at the windows of the palace, being behind the parapets. It was about twenty-five meters to the porch of the building, and I saw the results of my work. A guard fell out of two windows after I fired at them.
We worked for about fifteen minutes. Then Romanov commanded: "To the car!" He decided to jump on armor to the very porch of the palace. I took a step and all of a sudden my legs refused me … What the matter ?! I sank on my right knee, tried to get up, but neither the right nor the left obeyed me. Consciousness is in perfect order, and no pain is felt. Shouted to Mazayev: “Zhenya! I can't go!"
The guys rushed to the BMP in the direction of the main entrance, and I was left alone in an open, shot-through place, all the same twenty meters from the Taj Bek. I realized that I was seriously wounded by a grenade that exploded right at my feet. Out of anger, he fired all five RPG-7 shots at the windows of the palace, after which he somehow began to hobble to its walls. I moved on my knees. All around, everything rumbled and cracked. Shilki were beating from behind, and Taj-Bek defenders in front. How I was not killed in this hell - I can’t put my mind to it.
Colonel Repin at the grave of Captain Dmitry Volkov, who died in Kabul. Moscow. December 27, 2009
I got to the side porch. Gena Kuznetsov was sitting on the steps, also wounded. “You wait here,” I shout to him, “and now I’m chasing after the bullets, otherwise I’m out of it.” - "I'll share with you, just bandage my leg." Which I did. As it turned out later in the field hospital, I bandaged both legs from top to bottom - and the healthy one too (the doctors later laughed heartily). However, this gave Kuznetsov, who was in a state of fever, additional strength, and we moved on. On the assault.
Yes, one more thing. To recharge, I climbed onto the platform, brightly lit by the palace's floodlight. Perfect target! Only after Fedoseyev's loud obscenities brought me back to reality, I returned to Gennady and already equipped the shops there, behind the columns.
There were still ten meters to the main entrance, which we - two invalids, Kuznetsov and Repin - nevertheless overcame with a sin in half. At the very entrance we were met by colleagues from Zenit and said: "Let's row to Emyshev!" Kuznetsov stayed with Petrovich, whose hand was soaked in the hallway, while I hobbled to the front staircase, where I again ran into the delighted Mazayev. He smiled at me and shouted: "And Mikhalych (Romanov) told me that you already p … c!" It made me laugh too. I thought, "Well, I'll live some more." It has already become known that the "Main" is the end. Amin's guards began to surrender.
So on December 27, 1979, the special forces of the KGB and the Ministry of Defense carried out an operation that had every chance of ending in a deafening, extremely painful failure. Its success was formed from many factors, multiplied by luck, a real special forces luck.
It was not for nothing that the commander of Group A, Lieutenant Colonel Gennady Zaitsev, did not give any indulgences in the course of planned activities, having accustomed his subordinates to iron army discipline! It was not in vain that the "alphas" learned to shoot from any position, including at night at the sound and at flashes of light, threw grenades with a two-second delay, went through tank tests, jumped with parachutes, prepared for action in groups in buildings for a long time, until a sweat trained in gyms and on the obstacle course …
In addition, only those who knew how to overcome fear, who were ready to lay down their heads for the Motherland and people in trouble were selected for Group A …
Feeling the precariousness of the situation and the uncertainty of the outcome of the operation, Yuri Andropov sent “Ultima ratio regis” to Kabul. In other words, the last argument of the KGB. His Group "A", subordinate directly to the head of the Committee, as well as General Yuri Drozdov, a front-line soldier who had just arrived from New York and was appointed head of Directorate C (illegal intelligence).
The contribution of this man with "gray, rogue eyes" (as described by the CIA) to the development of a plan to capture the fortified area in the Dar-ul-Aman region can hardly be overestimated. And the veterans of Group "A", who were in Taj Bek, forever remembered the tall, lean figure of General Drozdov - in a light raincoat and with a German "Schmeiser" on his shoulder, standing near the entrance to the defeated palace of Amin.
Alexander Repin in the group of Alpha veterans of the 1970s recruitment
Colonel Repin continues his story:
- Romanov ordered me to go to the hospital together with other wounded - Baev, Fedoseyev and Kuznetsov. Together with us was the body of the Soviet doctor Kuznechenkov, who was killed during the assault - one of the two doctors who, not knowing about the upcoming operation, pumped out Amin, poisoned, as they say, by an infiltrated Soviet intelligence agent.
On the way, we, as expected, got lost and nearly stopped at the barracks of Amin's guards. But that is not all. At the entrance to the embassy, our own paratroopers fired at us. A vigorous Russian mat came to the rescue again! In the embassy, alarmed like a bee hive, everyone stood on their ears. The wives of our diplomats sobbed as they looked at the wounded commandos. We were operated on, and the next day we were sent to Tashkent by special plane.
We celebrated the new 1980th year in Uzbekistan. We walked well then! Local comrades from the KGB of the Uzbek SSR rendered us every assistance in this, creating all the conditions. And only there they let us go … There, in the hospital, my friends and I began to realize what it was! Forgetting our wounds, we danced with joy that we had survived the December hell near Kabul. Seryoga Kuvylin, not paying attention to his foot crippled by BMP tracks, “fried” the hopak! The next day his leg hurt, but it was nothing …
It still turned out funny with Gena Kuznetsov: we rolled him out in a wheelchair into the corridor to set the table in the ward, and then we forgot, sober and hungry. He yelled at us and knocked from the corridor - it's useless! They remembered about him when everyone had already drunk.
And two days later, just before the operation, I passed out in the corridor. He walked and fell. I woke up already on the operating table, where they had to remove the remaining small fragments from my legs. By the way, everything was never deleted. Seven pieces remain.
"EXCEPT" ALPHA "I HAVE NOT SEEN YOURSELF ANYWHERE"
For his participation in Operation Storm-333, Alexander Georgievich was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Among his awards is the badge "Honorary Counterintelligence Officer", which is awarded for special merits in operational and official activities and the initiative and perseverance shown at the same time.
Alexander Georgievich at his portrait at the presentation of the exhibition "Spetsnaz Faces" at the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia. Moscow, November 2011. Photo by Nikolay Oleinikov
On February 13, 1980 Warrant Officer Repin married his beloved Tatyana. She bore him two daughters, Katya and Lena. As Alexander Georgievich emphasizes, he is satisfied with his biography of a special forces officer and would not wish otherwise.
- I have found friends and comrades. Remained alive where we were all supposed to die. I went in for sports a lot and successfully. He grew up from an ordinary employee to the head of a department. I chose almost all the length of service - twenty-one years, given to Group "A". So I was lucky … I was lucky with my job and my wife. Naturally, all my business trips after Afghanistan were shocks for Tanya. I think she has not reconciled herself to everything that happened to this day; I understand that she got more than me. Much more! But Tanya endured.
- What operations do you remember the most?
- All of them are memorable in their own way. And Afghanistan, and Budennovsk, and Pervomayskoye … However, the perception of military operations changes over time. It's one thing when you are responsible only for yourself alone and for the specific task that is set before you. And it is quite different when you, already as a direct commander, are responsible for the lives of your employees and the success of a common cause. It is very painful and difficult to lose comrades in arms. On October 4, near the White House, my employee Gennady Sergeev was killed. Then "Alpha" and "Vympel" saved the country from even more blood.
After the storming of the Holy Cross Hospital (Budyonnovsk), two soldiers were missing in Repin's department - lieutenants Dmitry Burdyaev and Dmitry Ryabinkin, many were wounded. Its two squads fell not just under heavy, but under heavy fire from terrorists. In terms of density, it was comparable to the Taj Bek.
The leaders of the commonwealth of Group "A" KGB-FSB. April 10, 2008
The anti-terror fighters were 20-30 meters away from the entrenched bandits, and they fired from well-equipped positions, and the "alphas" were tightly pressed to the ground, literally in a line.
Then there was a business trip to Dagestan - the release of hostages in Pervomayskoye …
- In 1998 I retired. There were proposals to continue serving in other FSB divisions, but apart from Alpha I have not seen myself anywhere. And the family insisted … You know, I often remember Kabul and see the same picture: how we open the hatch of the BMP and how everything around is filled with a hellish roar and literally everything is shooting at us … And how did we survive in this hell? But they survived!
I think that the main reason for our success is that the factor of surprise worked. The guardsmen were not expecting us after all. When you are on a calm guard duty, you relax, your vigilance is dulled, you do not expect surprises. In addition, literally before our attack, the guards had a good supper. For many, this dinner was the last.
If they had been waiting for us, we would not even have been able to drive up to the palace - they simply burned the equipment, and they would have killed us during the assault … Probably, Amin could have been removed in some other way. And "roll out" the palace itself with rockets. However, what happened had to be presented as a "spontaneous popular uprising." This is the reason that before the assault we were all dressed in Afghan uniforms. And we didn't have personal documents with us, - emphasizes Alexander Georgievich.
TEAM CAPTAIN
For many years, Colonel Repin has been on the Council of the International Association of Veterans of the Alpha Anti-Terror Unit, doing a lot of public work. He is the general director of the private security company Alfa-Moscow. Member of the Central Council of the All-Russian Federation of Applied Shooting. Married. Hobbies - sports, fishing, work at their summer cottage.
Vice-President of the International Association of Veterans of the Anti-Terror Unit "Alpha" Alexander Repin opens the shooting competition in memory of the Hero of the Soviet Union VF Karpukhin. Moscow, December 23, 2013
Agile, hardy, Alexander Georgievich is the permanent captain of the veteran team "Alpha" in mini-football. Moreover, the captain is not an honorary one, standing at the edge, but playing. And how!
The captain of the veteran team Alexander Repin, which won the silver medal at the Indoor Football Championship of Directorate A of the Central Security Service of the FSB of Russia. Pos. Moskovsky, July 19, 2013
In the summer of 2013, on the eve of Alpha's next birthday, the IV Futsal Championship of Directorate A of the Special Forces Center of the FSB of Russia took place in the village of Moskovsky (now the new Moscow).
The tournament was timed to coincide with the 39th anniversary of the formation of Group A of the KGB-FSB. A team was presented from each department of Department "A", as well as from veterans, the captain of which is traditionally the participant Colonel Repin.
The championship participants were divided into two subgroups. The matches were held in a tough and uncompromising struggle, with passion and sporting anger. As it should be in this case. No contractual meetings for you.
At the gala evening dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the assignment of Gymnasium No. 7 to the name of Major "Alpha" Viktor Vorontsov. Voronezh city, January 19, 2013
Despite their age, the veterans of Group A managed to reach the final, where they yielded to the team of the 3rd department of the Office “A” who had violently rushed into the attack and won silver.
Alfovtsy rightly believe that meetings on the football field with the participation of veterans and active employees contribute to mutual understanding and strengthening of friendly relations between generations of the legendary unit. And not only that, because it is a good training for active fighters.
- Probably, there is no other such military collective, - says Alexander Georgievich, - where the traditions of fighting brotherhood, the continuity of generations, the preservation of the memory of the fallen are so strong. "Alpha" spirit … and this is by no means some abstract concept. The fact that after the service we are together, that our Association has actually been operating for more than twenty years, is a confirmation of this.
With Alexander Sergeev, the son of Gennady Sergeev, officer of Group A, who died near the White House. Moscow, Nikolo-Arkhangelskoe cemetery. October 4, 2013
- When you quit Alpha, did you count on the help of the veteran community?
- The factor of the Association is very important for the officers of Group "A". It instills confidence that after completing the service you will not be left alone with new realities and problems. They will help you with advice and deed. This is a serious guarantor of the social security of the spetsnaz veteran. This was the case during the 1998 default, and it was during the height of the international financial crisis and after it. This is an opportunity to stay in your society, in your environment, to be in constant contact with the combat unit.
Our Association really brings people together, despite existing, say, ambitions or interpersonal contradictions. I would compare it to fingers clenched into a strong fist. Together we are strong! But only when together. I have no doubt that our veteran "Alfa" youth, who are now knee-deep in the sea, will understand this over time.
Colonel Repin is among the group of participants of the 1st International Forum of Anti-Terrorism before laying flowers at the Mamayev Kurgan. Hero City Volgograd, August 16, 2013
… In the fall of 2010, on the eve of the birthday of Hero of the Soviet Union VF Karpukhin, the IV pistol shooting tournament among veterans of Group A was held in Moscow. Colonel Repin became the winner. And although this year he was not in the top three, but his name opens the list of gold medalists included in the Challenge Cup. Now Vladimir Berezovets, Vyacheslav Prokofiev and Alexander Mikhailov have joined him.
In mid-August 2013 in the Hero City Volgograd, aka Tsaritsyn - Stalingrad, under the auspices of the Alpha Association, the 1st International Anti-Terror Forum was held, which brought together professionals from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Among its participants was Colonel Repin, who was greeted in the Hall of Military Glory with prolonged applause.
Each profession, if the heart is given to it, strengthens a person, emphasizes his personal, human dignity, enhances a natural resource - love of life. This is Colonel Alexander Repin.
Veterans and current employees of Group A of the KGB-FSB heartily congratulate their comrade in arms on his 60th birthday and wish him happiness, good luck in all endeavors - and, of course, good spetsnaz health!
