After a long separation, the ten-year-old nephew decided to share with me the musical hits popular among his peers. I listened, smiled, thought that I would give Tyomich a selection of classical music, and suddenly, instead of another musical composition, I heard THIS.
A mocking cartoon voice carried some kind of heresy about the school, about the special forces, about how the students begin to shoot the teachers … At the same time, my Tyoma smiled naively, childishly. And I was speechless.
- Nastya, it's just such a joke, - Artyom said in confusion.
- No, Tyoma, this is not a joke, this is a bad, incorrect entry …
And someone comes up with it for children, someone launches it into the children's environment, clogs their fragile consciousness. What for?
In our next meeting, I will definitely tell Artyom about Alexander Perov, about a courageous man whose holy vocation was to save people's lives. How he and his comrades laid down their heads, rescuing the hostages. From conversations, from the personal example of fathers, educators, mentors, the formation of the sons of the Fatherland begins.
FROM THE KIND OF SAGITTARIUS
The future Hero of Russia and Beslan was born in the town of Viljandi, Estonian SSR, in the family of Colonel Perov Valentin Antonovich, a career GRU special forces officer, and Zoya Ivanovna, an economist of the city state bank.
Alexander is the second child in the Perov family after the eldest son Alexei, he was born ahead of schedule - at seven and a half months. Weighed 2400 grams with a height of forty-five centimeters.
The genes of the Streltsov-Perov family are the genes of warriors, defenders, and victors. For several centuries, the ancestors of Alexander Perov from generation to generation carried out military service. So Valentin Antonovich did not retreat from the family career, he served as chief of the intelligence headquarters. Is it any wonder that older brother Alexei, when the time came, went to enroll in a military school in Petrodvorets, and then Alexander took the military path.
Genes of the Sagittarius-Perov family - genes of warriors, defenders, winners
From an early age, the father paid much attention to the physical development of his sons, did not miss the opportunity to do exercises with them. Sasha himself,
without prompting, he pulled himself up, did push-ups from the floor, ran with his father along the Sheksna River.
The whole family traveled a lot. Arriving in Moscow, they definitely visited Red Square, the Kremlin, the Armory. We studied the famous places of Nizhny Novgorod, where my mother, Zoya Ivanovna, was born, where they annually went to visit their relatives on vacation.
Alexander Perov is a tenth generation descendant of the archer. The Strelets army, created in the middle of the 16th century, maintained order within the Russian state for two and a half centuries, protected it from external enemies, and conquered new lands.
The rifle regiments often rebelled against all kinds of oppression and deprivation. They even served with Stepan Razin. Peter I dealt with them especially cruelly. Several hundred archers, who tried to return Princess Sophia to the throne, were executed.
Fleeing from reprisals, the archers fled to the Don, to Siberia, to the remote villages of the central part of Russia. The ancestor of the Perovs settled in the village of Kolpakovo, Kostroma Region (today Mikhalenino, Varnavinsky District, Nizhny Novgorod Region). He got married, joined the peasant labor. In the village he was nicknamed Streltsov.
It so happened that part of the Streltsov family changed their surname. Alexandra's great-grandmother, Anna Afanasyevna, insisted that some of her and her husband's children should be given her maiden name - Perova at birth. Great-grandfather Andrei Timofeevich agreed with his wife's will.
… The military family of the Perovs moved from city to city, but Alexander was brought up by the Varnavinskaya land, the land of the ancestors. Here, in the north of the Nizhny Novgorod region, he matured, here, in a fertile land, he constantly returned - relieving fatigue, breathed in the fresh air, as if infused with the aroma of forests, and plunged into Vetluga. As in childhood, he worked side by side with his father on the land, fished, helped in the construction of a new house. The age-old house, the keeper of the ancestral values is right there, nearby.
As in childhood, Alexander ran early in the morning into the taiga, ran out to the upper reaches of the Vetluga with barely noticeable paths, and returned by the river bank. When I came across an impassable forest thicket, I dived from a ravine into the river, swam an impassable place and ran on.
Athletic, well-read, purposeful, responsible, maximalist by nature, he set a high bar for himself in everything. I won, I won. So it was at school, so it was in sports, so it was in the service.
In the summer of 1977, Valentin Antonovich was transferred to serve in the city of Cherepovets. It was there, on the Vologda land, that Sasha spent his childhood, and the first year of schooling, after which Perov Sr. was transferred to Moscow to the Frunze Military Academy - one of the main and prestigious forges of military personnel.
In the capital, Alexander entered the secondary school №47. At the same time, his parents began to introduce him to sports, first sending their son to a table tennis school. After going there for about a month, Alexander decisively gave up ping-pong. Then Valentin Antonovich arranged him in a hand-to-hand fighting school, but Alexander did not stay there for a long time either: the coach forced Perov, who had not yet mastered the techniques, to fight with more experienced guys.
The family changed the address again in 1985, since Valentin Antonovich was allocated an apartment from the academy, located on the Kashirskoye highway. Therefore, in the fourth grade, Alexander went to a new school # 937 in Orekhovo-Borisovo, the third in a row. Now she bears the name of the Hero.
During his studies, Sasha became seriously interested in skiing: even in the fifth grade, he fulfilled the standard of the first adult category, and in subsequent years he repeatedly won prizes at the Moscow championships, took part in the "Ski Track of Russia". In addition, following in his father's footsteps, Alexander was fond of orienteering. Already being an officer, he did not leave the sport and repeatedly became a prize-winner of competitions at the FSB championships in cross-country skiing, orienteering and official combined events.
Perov studied with great interest and excellent
While still in school, Perov Jr. was determined to become a military man. Zoya Ivanovna persuaded her son to enter the Moscow Engineering
physical institute. (At its base there was a school of the Olympic reserve, where Alexander studied.) In this she was supported by her husband, proving to her son that the prestige of the military in the country was falling. Despite the position of his parents, Alexander was going to enter a military school and, having passed the exams for one grade, was admitted to the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School.
Perov studied with great interest and excellent. In the spring of 1994, he began to engage in hand-to-hand combat, first enrolling in a club in a civilian institution closest to the school. Then a section of hand-to-hand fighting appeared in the school.
As the teacher captain Drevko recalled, Sasha worked hard in the section and soon achieved good results, entered the school's national team and successfully performed in various competitions. In particular, in 1995, at the Moscow championship among clubs, Perov took the honorable third place, losing only one fight.
In addition, he was still in the ski school's national team, defending his honor at various championships, and was also involved in running, orienteering, shooting and other sports. Thanks to such comprehensive training at the championship of the Armed Forces in pentathlon (running eight kilometers, swimming fifty meters, shooting from a machine gun, gymnastics, obstacle course), Alexander Perov also won a prize.
KOMSOMOLSKOE, DUBROVKA …
Shortly before the final exams, a commission from "Alpha" arrived at the school. All candidates, and there were fifteen of them, had to go through a thorough selection, which included a difficult physical fitness exam: a three-kilometer cross with a standard of ten minutes, one hundred push-ups from the floor, more than twenty pull-ups on the bar. And also combat sparring with an employee of the unit.
A test of three hundred questions was also conducted, 90% of which Alexander answered correctly - with a pass score of 75%. Thus, out of fifteen volunteers in "Alpha" was only one. After testing Sasha was asked if he was ready to give his life while rescuing the hostages. The answer was yes.
In 1996, after successfully passing state exams (only one four!) Perov was enrolled in an elite special unit. Service in the anti-terror special forces began for him as a junior operative.
Changes have also taken place in his personal life: in 1999, Sasha married Zhanna Timoshina.
From the same year, Perov began to travel frequently to the North Caucasus, where he participated in complex operational and combat activities, mastered mine-blasting business. Co-workers gave him the nickname "Pooh". It's funny, of course! This nickname was not associated with the almost two-meter Alexander.
During one of the business trips, having gone to carry out a mission on armor, the special forces were blown up by a land mine. Perov was then severely concussed, he began to hear poorly in one ear, although, in order not to upset them, he told his parents that their ears hurt from shooting practice.
Co-workers gave him the nickname "Pooh"
After his recovery, business trips to the North Caucasus resumed. One of the operations in which Alexander took part was a fierce battle for the village of Komsomolskoye. Perov had to cover his comrades. As a result, the military forces in the village of Komsomolsk almost completely destroyed the gang of the field commander Ruslan Gelayev, numbering several hundred well-trained militants.
… In the midst of the golden autumn of 2002, terrorists seized the Theater Center on Dubrovka. Major Perov was not at home for three days. In the early morning of October 26, a combined assault on the building was carried out. Perov and five other employees acted in the most difficult and dangerous area - in the auditorium, where there were about seven hundred people, under the threat of a 50-kilogram bomb exploding in the center of the room.
The group broke into the hall from the basement, making an explosion, which was carried out by Alexander Perov, the necessary passage. Having destroyed the terrorists and "suicide bombers", the special forces began to evacuate the hostages, since help came much later. For forty minutes they carried women, men, children …
When the threat of an explosion and collapse of the building was over, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the police appeared, and the evacuation continued.
For "Nord-Ost" Major Perov was awarded the Order of Courage.
A BEAM OF HOPE
July and half of August 2004 for Alexander were spent in intense study, duty and, of course, competitions. He was promoted to the post, appointed commander of the task force.
The term of assignment of the next military rank of lieutenant colonel was approaching. Alexander would have received it in September at the age of twenty-nine. At thirty-three, he could become a colonel, like a father and brother. But … on August 16, the department went to the North Caucasus.
Alexander at that time was not supposed to fly, from September 1, studies began at the FSB Academy. However, he was offered to fly out with everyone, as the commander of the task force. The employees were mostly young, not experienced enough. Perov, without hesitation, agreed and went on the tenth business trip in his eight-year service in "Alpha".
Three generations of the Perovs
For ten days, Perov's task force operated in Ingushetia, working on the militants who attacked the city of Nazran.
And soon an event occurred that, in its tragedy, had no analogues in the history of our time. On September 1, 2004, a group of thugs "Colonel Ortskhoev" seized school No. 1. For three days, terrorists held 1,128 hostages in the building - children, parents and teachers.
The result of the drama in Beslan: 186 children and 148 adults died, 728 Beslan residents and 55 law enforcement officers were injured. The losses of the FSB special forces amounted to ten people - seven from Vympel and three from Alpha. Also killed two employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and one local resident who helped free the hostages.
All terrorists were eliminated, one was taken alive, arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.
On September 17, 2004, Shamil Basayev publicly claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in Beslan by publishing a statement on the Kavkaz Center website.
HOW WAS IT ALL?..
Alexander Perov's group with the entire department arrived from Khankala to Beslan by the middle of the day. And immediately Perov, as one of the commanders, was entrusted with the task of identifying places around the school for machine gunners, snipers, and equipping firing points for them. He saw how terrorists moved freely inside the school, mined the approaches to it. It was impossible to fire, because the terrorists threatened to kill fifty hostages for each killed.
The hostage rescue operation was scheduled for four in the morning on 3 September. Some of the employees of "Alpha" and "Vympel" carefully rehearsed the seizure of the school in a similar building in a neighboring village.
In the evening of September 2, after a visit by the former President of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev, the militants released twenty-six mothers with babies home. The power part of the operation was abandoned. The headquarters considered that the process of saving people went peacefully. However, from early in the morning Perov was behind a concrete fence that stretched along the right wing of the school: he was preparing charges for demining approaches to the wall of the building. As a commander and demolition man, he took on this dangerous job so as not to put others at risk.
"DO NOT SHOOT, A LOT OF THEM HERE!"
When on September 3, at 3 pm, the Ministry of Emergency Situations drove up to the school by car in order to take the bodies of the men from among the hostages who were shot and thrown out by the bandits into the street in accordance with the agreement reached with the terrorists (the execution was carried out in the Russian language room), a terrible thing happened in the gym. The scotch with which the explosives were attached to the basketball basket could not stand the extreme heat. He pulled away, after which an explosion occurred from the impact. Having decided that the storming of the building had begun, the terrorists launched another powerful charge.
About a minute later, bloody children and women began to appear in front of the school. The bandits tried to "reach" the fleeing hostages, shooting them in the back. Alexander Perov, being behind a concrete fence, did not see all this. I just realized that it was time to storm and conduct a fierce battle with terrorists inside the building. His group was to clear a corner room on the first floor.
Vice-President of the Alpha Association Vladimir Eliseev and Colonel Valentin Perov at school # 937. February 2013
The tension was building. It has not yet been possible to penetrate the school and destroy the enemy. The militants in this wing offered fierce resistance. Having jumped to the side where the windows were, the commandos saw schoolchildren - leaning out of the open windows, they waved white rags and shouted: "Don't shoot, there are a lot of them here!" Then Alexander Perov, along with his comrades, stood under the windows, began to pull the children from the windowsills to the ground, while simultaneously firing back at the militants who had opened fire from inside the room.
I had to break into the dining room. Without hesitation, Perov flew through the window and managed to kill the militant at the back room. Hiding behind its wall, he did not allow the bandits to conduct aimed fire, ensuring the penetration of the rest of the group's fighters into the dining room.
A fierce battle began indoors. In the dining room there were at least seventy exhausted children lying on the floor. In such a difficult situation, the commandos cleared the entire space. Perov with two officers continued to be in front, cutting off the terrorists. Other "alfovtsy" handed children to the Ministry of Emergency Situations through the windows.
It seemed that the task assigned to the group had been completed, and without losses. And then a new introduction - to continue cleaning the entire right wing of the building. One of the groups could not break through from the opposite end.
In a short time, four classes on the right side of the corridor were freed from the bandits. We began to clean up the cinema. Ensign Oleg Loskov threw two grenades into the room. Following the explosions, firing from a machine gun, he rushed into the doorway and was struck by an automatic round.
Perov, limping because of a shattered leg, ran up to Oleg and dragged him to the beginning of the corridor to the stairs. Two Vympel employees ran up to help. While they were trying to determine whether a comrade was alive, they did not notice how from a dusty corridor with a cry: "Allahu Akbar!" a terrorist ran out and unloaded the entire machine-gun clip at the commandos.
Being seriously wounded, Alexander pulled the trigger, but no shots followed - he ran out of cartridges. He received two bullets in the groin below the bulletproof vest. Another spetsnaz soldier, dodging somersault from bullets, wounded the militant with a burst. He threw a grenade into the dining room and disappeared into the corridor.
Despite the terrible pain, Perov managed to jump back into the dining room and with his body covered a group of children from the fragments, whom the Emergencies Ministry officers had not yet evacuated.
This is how one of the Streltsov family died …
Alexander Perov was awarded the title of Hero of Russia. It remains to add that he was awarded medals "For Courage", Suvorov, "For Distinction in Special Operations", "For Distinction in Military Service" III degree, and the Badge of Honor "For Service in the Caucasus."
… Every year Valentin Antonovich flies to Beslan to honor the memory of his son and his colleagues, the hostages who died. A memorial complex will soon appear around the destroyed school building - construction there has been in full swing since last year. Nearby, the construction of a temple has begun according to the project of a young Ossetian architect. Archbishop Zosima performed the rite of consecration of a church under construction in memory of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.
