How he fought and how Colonel Budanov, the hero of Russia, died. Devoted warrior Colonel Budanov Hero of the Chechen war Colonel Budanov

24.11.1963 - 10.06.2011

Yuri Dmitrievich Budanov was born on November 24, 1963 in the city of Khartsyz, Donetsk Region, Ukrainian SSR.

In 1987 he graduated from the Kharkov Guards Higher Tank Command School. Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR, in 1999 (in absentia) - the Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

After graduating from college, he served in military service for three years as part of the units of the Southern Group of Forces on the territory of Hungary, after that - in the Byelorussian SSR; after the collapse of the USSR, he continued to serve in the Russian Federation.

In October 1998, he was appointed commander of the 160th Guards Armored Regiment stationed on the territory of the Trans-Baikal Military District (since December 1998 - the united Siberian Military District).

Since September 1999, together with the regiment, he took part in the Chechen Republic.

In January 2000 he was awarded the Order of Courage and received (early) the rank of colonel.

On March 30, 2000, Yuri Budanov was arrested by military prosecutors on charges of kidnapping, rape and murder of 18-year-old Chechen woman Elza Kungayeva.

During the investigation, Budanov testified that, considering Kungaeva, a resident of the village of Tangshi-Chu, a sniper of one of the gangs, he ordered his subordinates to deliver the girl to the location of the regiment, after which, during interrogation, he strangled her, since Kungaeva allegedly resisted and tried to take possession of the weapon. Subsequently, Budanov, without denying the fact of the murder, insisted that he acted in a state of passion.

On February 28, 2001, in the North Caucasus District Military Court (Rostov-on-Don), the trial of the Budanov case began, which was charged with crimes under articles 126 (kidnapping), 105 (murder) and 286 (abuse of power) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation .

In July 2001, the North Caucasian District Military Court announced a break in court hearings in connection with the psychiatric examination of Budanov at the State Scientific Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry. V.P. Serbsky (Moscow). In October of the same year, after passing the examination, Budanov was transferred back to Rostov-on-Don.

On December 16, 2002, an expert opinion was announced in the North Caucasus District Military Court, according to which Budanov was declared insane due to the consequences of a shell shock.

On December 31, 2002, the North Caucasian District Military Court ruled to release Budanov from criminal liability and send him to compulsory treatment, but on February 28, 2003, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized such a decision as unfounded and made in violation of substantive and procedural law and sent the case for a new trial (at the same time, the preventive measure against Budanov remained the same - detention in the pre-trial detention center of Rostov-on-Don).

On July 25, 2003, the North Caucasus District Military Court found Budanov guilty of abuse of office, as well as the kidnapping and murder of Kungayeva. According to the court decision, Budanov was deprived of his military rank and the Order of Courage and sentenced to ten years in prison with a term in a strict regime colony (when sentencing, the court took into account Budanov's participation in the counter-terrorist operation and the presence of minor children), after which he was transferred to a colony YuI 78/3 (city of Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region).

On May 17, 2004, Budanov filed a petition for clemency addressed to the President of Russia, but on May 19 he withdrew it. The reason for the recall was the uncertainty with Budanov's citizenship, since he was called up to the Armed Forces of the USSR back in 1982 from the Ukrainian SSR (on May 21, 2004, Budanov was given a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation).

On September 15, 2004, the Ulyanovsk Regional Pardon Commission granted Budanov's new petition for pardon, but this decision led to protests from the Chechen public, as well as a statement by the head of the government of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, that if Budanov is released, "we will find an opportunity to reward him on merit”, and on September 21 the convict was forced to withdraw the petition.

In the future, the courts several more times - on January 23, August 21, 2007, April 1 and October 23, 2008 - refused to release Budanov on parole until December 24, 2008, the Dimitrovgrad court of the Ulyanovsk region ruled on his conditional - early release.

In Chechnya, this decision of the court caused numerous protests.

On June 9, 2009, it became known that Yuri Budanov had been interrogated as a suspect in a criminal case on the murder of residents of Chechnya. According to the RF Investigative Committee, in 2000 18 residents of the Chechen Republic were illegally deprived of their liberty at a checkpoint located near the settlement of Duba-Yurt in the Shali District of the Chechen Republic. Three of them were subsequently found dead. A number of local residents claimed that Yury Budanov was involved in the commission of this crime.

On June 10, 2009, the Investigative Committee at the Prosecutor's Office announced that Budanov had been cleared of suspicion of killing residents of Chechnya. According to the materials of the Investigative Committee, Budanov testified that he could not physically be at the checkpoint located near the settlement of Duba-Yurt in the Shali district of the Chechen Republic during the periods of time when 18 residents of Chechnya disappeared there without a trace. Budanov's testimony was confirmed by the materials of the criminal case.

RIA NEWS

In October and November 1999, when a shell burst and when a tank was shelled from a grenade launcher, he twice received brain contusions.

On December 31, 1999, when the President of Russia renounced power, Russian intelligence officers, Chechen fighters in the "contractual" village of Duba-Yurt, and three kilometers "silently" our tanks, following the order of the chief of staff of the West group, Major General Alexei Verbitsky, do not interfere during a covert operation.

They - 20 people out of more than a hundred - were saved only due to the fact that two subordinates of Colonel Budanov violated the order: the officers, when they realized that they were simply killing the reconnaissance company and there was no smell of any secret operation, sent their tanks to Duba-Yurt.

At first, Budanov's track record was no different from thousands of others. The standard officer ladder slowly stretched up: the commander of a platoon, company, battalion, the first Chechen war, the first shell shock ... Everything changes dramatically on the eve of the second Chechen war, when the 36-year-old lieutenant colonel Budanov, having graduated in absentia from the Academy of Armored Forces, takes the position of commander of a separate tank regiment (almost 100 tanks). A month and a half later, the regiment was moved from Transbaikalia to Chechnya, under the command of the commander of the Western Group of Forces, General Shamanov. "Russian General Yermolov", as Shamanov was enthusiastically called then, the young and promising regiment commander is to his liking.

Very quickly, Budanov received the rank of colonel and the Order of Courage. And soon the country will recognize its heroes by sight: the front page of the Red Star is decorated with a Budanovsky photo portrait. The strong reputation of the best in the grouping is assigned to the regiment. (Komsomolskaya Pravda, 2002)

Most importantly, Budanov went through half of Chechnya with negligible losses. Only one dead mechanic-driver! No other commander could boast of this. But at the end of December, fighting began in the Argun Gorge. The task of Budanov's regiment is to take three dominant heights. Here the lucky colonel suffered his first losses.

It is difficult to maintain discipline in a stopped army. Budanov did it according to his own understanding: he yelled at his subordinates, occasionally threw phones at them and everything that came to hand. They say that the door to his kung was riddled, because the colonel took the fashion to shoot if they came to him without knocking.

Once Budanov witnessed how a contract soldier pointed to a comrade at Major Arzumanyan, who was passing by: - ​​Brother, shoot a cigarette from this "chock" ... The colonel became furious. Having beaten the soldier on the spot, he immediately went to his tent and brought a block of cigarettes to the beaten one: - This is for you to smoke, son. And remember, you can't call an officer a "chock".

“I don’t consider him a scumbag,” says Anatoly Mukhin, the colonel’s lawyer. - Servant, patriot ... The concepts of "honor, army, readiness to close the embrasure, if the Motherland needs it," are not an empty phrase for him even now. Do you know what Shamanov called him? Water carrier. For constantly providing a regimental vehicle to bring drinking water to Tangi-Chu. And near Budanov, on his own responsibility, he opened a passage for three and a half thousand refugees at the checkpoint of the regiment, although he had strict orders not to do this. I just realized that this could turn into a riot ... "

Budanov's condition became depressing after heavy fighting in the Argun Gorge, where many of his fighting friends were killed by snipers. Budanov was sent on vacation. Relatives noticed drastic changes in his behavior - irritability, nervousness, constant headaches, unmotivated outbursts of rage. He constantly cried over the pictures of his dead friends, swore that he would find "that same sniper."

Former commander of the 58th Army of the North Caucasus Military District, General Vladimir Shamanov about Budanov. “He never hid behind the backs of soldiers. It happened that in order to eliminate sniper beds (they were located in the cemetery of the village of Duba-Yurt, occupied by militants), Budanov, on a tank with a crew, without additional escort, broke forward. He was a universal favorite, because he did not pay for a single successful operation with the life of a soldier. It was his command." (Russian news, 2001)

Poem

They say about him: he was a real warrior,
His Little Russia Russian soldier.
- Forgive me, brother, that you became guilty,
In Russia, the tsar is most to blame.

They bypassed Russia
Caught, "the firebird, grabbing by the tail",
And he wrote funerals from under the explosions,
And life crashed against a sniper's nose.

Your path is marked with orders and gunpowder,
And let someone express a different thesis.
You were, they say, a defendant for Russia,
And he slept sweetly behind your back.

Colonel Yuri Budanov (biography is presented in the article) is one of the most controversial figures of our time. Someone perceives him as a hero, dedicating poems and songs, and someone as a rapist and murderer who mocked a defenseless Chechen girl on his daughter's birthday. What is known about this person today?

The path to the army

Yuri Dmitrievich Budanov, whose biography is devoted to the article, is a native of Ukraine. His homeland is the small town of Khartsyzsk, which is located on the territory of the Donetsk region. The boy was born in 1963, on November 24, in a military family. He was engaged in sambo, received the title of CMS. He grew up as an ordinary teenager who dreamed of serving in the army. He was called up in 1981, passing urgently on the territory of Poland.

Not finding himself in civilian life, in 1987 he entered a military school. I chose tank, which is located in the Ukrainian Kharkov. The tanker was Dmitry Ivanovich, Budanov's father. Upon graduation, the young man served in Hungary. The collapse of the USSR found him in Belarus, where the officer made a difficult decision for himself - not to swear allegiance to the newly appeared republic, but to return to Russia.

He continued his service in Transbaikalia, where for 10 years he had no complaints, on the contrary, he was ahead of schedule promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He entered the military academy, graduating in 1999.

Was there any participation in the First Chechen campaign?

Did Yuri Dmitrievich Budanov take part in the hostilities? The biography of the officer was collected by the press literally bit by bit. According to media reports, already in the First Chechen War, Budanov was wounded, having received a severe concussion. In 1999, two more will be added to it - already during the Second Chechen War.

Today, information has been published about the available documents, according to which Budanov did not take part in the first military campaign, and the information about the shell shock in January 1995 is false. At the moment, his medical book is lost, which could shed light on many things. According to the latest version, this is the work of Budanov himself, who tried to hide a certain diagnosis when submitting documents for admission to the military academy.

Yuri Budanov: the colonel saves the special forces

Since October 1998, the officer has been appointed commander of the 160th armored regiment, which since December was transferred to the united Siberian military district. Since the autumn of 1999, his regiment has been quartered in Chechnya, where it carried out orders regarding the neutralization of large gangs in the Argun Gorge and Khankala.

Why do many perceive Budanov as a hero? This is due to the battle near Duba-Yurt at the end of December 1999, where the reconnaissance group under the command of art. Lieutenant Shlykov ("Nara") was ambushed by militants. The special forces advanced to save the assault detachment "Taras", which allegedly came under fire at the Wolf's Gate. Subsequently, it turned out that the fighters of Art. Lieutenant Tarasov did not transmit any distress calls. It was an action radio game.

"Nara" could not help neither the artillery (there was poor visibility due to thick fog), nor the fighters of other assault brigades that came under fire. Having lost three units of armored vehicles, more than 10 people were killed and 40 wounded, the reconnaissance group could have been completely destroyed if it were not for the tanks of the battalion of V. Pakov from the 160th regiment of Yu. Budanov.

Details and consequences of the rescue

Vladimir Pakov in two cars (a third joined in the evening) headed for the Wolf's Gate, without a direct order. That is why the personnel of the crews consisted exclusively of officers. Subsequently, it turned out that other units could also provide assistance, but the commanders were afraid of punishment for unauthorized actions, unlike Yuri Budanov.

The colonel saves the dying reconnaissance group, taking responsibility for himself. It was with his consent that Vladimir Pakov, who learned about the tragedy, went to help the special forces. Tankers were stationed just three kilometers from the battlefield.

According to the participants in the battle, without the help of the T-62 and Budanov's officers, the remnants of the Nara would not have been able to get out of the ring of fire near the Argun Gorge on their own. The detachment of militants was completely destroyed only a few weeks later.

The special forces had the impression that the massacre became possible due to the betrayal of the command. This fact was not officially confirmed, but the savior was declared a service discrepancy. Be that as it may, in January 2000, Yu. Budanov was nevertheless awarded the Order of Courage. There is evidence that he was presented for this award twice, but the officer was not destined to receive it a second time.

Tragedy March 26, 2000

This ill-fated day radically changed the future of Yuri Budanov. The Colonel became a father for the second time. His little daughter was born, who was named Catherine. Alcohol appeared on the table of the regiment commander and his deputy I. Fedorov. The roaming officers first gave the command to shell the peaceful village, but Lieutenant Bagreev did not obey the order. Then Budanov decided to deal with Elza Kungayeva, a Chechen woman who turned 18 shortly before the incident.

She, according to the colonel himself, was suspected of allegedly fighting as a sniper on the side of the militants. The BMP crew was ordered to deliver the girl to the location of the regiment. During many hours of interrogation, Budanov strangled Kungaeva, breaking her back. After that, the body, according to him, was handed over to the soldiers. Those abused her, which was proven by a forensic examination.

Budanov's arrest

Already on the 27th it became known: Colonel Yuri Budanov was arrested. The biography of the hero ended there, the investigation began and a lengthy trial of the criminal, which he was recognized by the North Caucasian District Court. The ex-commander of the regiment was charged with three crimes:

• excess of official authority;
• kidnapping;
• murder.

Initially, participation in rape was also presented. Subsequently, the charge was dropped, and the guilt of a soldier named Yegorov was proven. Surprisingly, by a lucky chance, he managed to avoid punishment, because the State Duma declared an amnesty. In January of the following year, Budanov's case was referred to a military court, and the hearing itself began in February.

Officer's testimony

What version of what happened is presented by Colonel Yury Budanov himself? The biography of his subsequent period of life is well described in the media. Both his testimony at the trial and the stories of eyewitnesses, including cellmate Oleg Margolin, with whom the former officer had been talking for a long time, were studied.

According to him, the owner of the house (Kungayeva's father) kept weapons, and his daughter repeatedly went to the mountains to shoot from a sniper rifle. It was hot during the interrogation, so Budanov unbuttoned and put his holster on the table. The girl confessed her hatred of the feds and confirmed the assumption of the regiment commander.

He was about to hand her over to the scouts, as she grabbed the pistol lying on the table. At the same time, she threatened Budanov that she would find his little daughter in order to "wind her guts on a machine gun." The combat commander, in a state of passion, later confirmed by an examination, strangled Kungaeva. When he came to his senses, the officer took the body out to the soldiers so that they would bury it. During the exhumation, it turned out that for some time the girl was still alive. During her lifetime, she was subjected to bullying and violence.

The court's decision

For many, Yuri Budanov is a hero of Russia. The biography of the ex-colonel testifies: in July 2003, he was found guilty on three counts and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

It must be admitted that during the proceedings, a commission of experts in December 2002 issued a verdict of the officer's insanity. The consequences of his shell shock, according to experts, could lead to a partial loss of control over his actions.

The case could have ended in compulsory treatment, but a few months later this decision was overturned by the Supreme Court of Russia. The colonel was stripped of his military ranks and government awards, and was banned from holding leadership positions for the next three years. The former officer was sent to the colony of the city of Dimitrovgrad (Ulyanovsk region) to serve his sentence.

Serving the sentence

In May 2004, former Colonel Yury Budanov filed a petition for pardon for the first time. He sent it personally to V. Putin, but soon withdrew. Presumably, because of the position of R. Kadyrov, the president of Chechnya, who called the former officer an enemy of his people.

In the same year, a second petition followed, submitted by Budanov to the regional commission. Under it was the signature of Vladimir Shamanov, the then governor, in the past - the commander of the grouping of troops of the RF Ministry of Defense in the Chechen Republic. The commission returned the military awards and military rank to the colonel. However, participation in the satisfaction of the petition for a pardon of the governor received publicity. This led to a scandal, after which the petition was again withdrawn.

In early 2007, Budanov filed a request for parole directly to the court. And he was refused, because he considered: "the prisoner did not repent of his deed." There were several more requests, but only in December 2008 a positive decision was made. The court of Dimitrovgrad finally admitted: the criminal repented and fully atoned for his deed. The release of Budanov took place in January 2009. He spent nearly 9 years in prison.

Life on the loose

Ex-Colonel Yuri Budanov arrived in Moscow, where his family was waiting for him. Thanks to the patronage of General Shamanov, he was given an apartment not just anywhere, but in one of the houses of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation. He managed to meet with his father, who was seriously ill, but waited for his son to return from the colony. Soon he died.

Budanov got a good job, dealing with the passenger car fleet of the State Unitary Enterprise "EVAZHD". However, a month after his return, the Investigative Committee at the Chechen Prosecutor's Office announced an investigation into the involvement of the former colonel in the murder and abduction of three more people in the Shali region.

According to them, witnesses pointed to Budanov after stories about him on television. Subsequently, the number of victims in this criminal case increased to 18. It was announced only in June 2009 that the involvement of the former officer in the disappearance of civilians was not confirmed.

Yuri Budanov: biography, cause of death

It was 2011. On the calendar - June 11. Together with his wife Svetlana Budanov, he approached the notary's office, where the spouses had to draw up documents for the 11-year-old Ekaterina to travel abroad. The couple has two children. The eldest Valery at that time was already 23.

Here, on Komsomolsky Prospekt, a bloody murder will be committed, which will be described in detail by CCTV footage. After a telephone conversation on the porch of the house, Budanov went to the central part of the courtyard, followed by a man whose identification mark was a baseball cap.

At 12:04, several men ran out to the sounds of gunfire. Five shots were fired. Three were aimed at the head, two at the body. Yuri Budanov had no chance to survive. The perpetrator was found on the identikit. It turned out to be a Chechen named Yusup Temirkhanov, whose father died at the hands of the Russian military. The man called the main motive for the murder - revenge. His photo is shown below.

The funeral of the ex-colonel

Surprisingly, experts do not really believe in the Chechen trace, although R. Kadyrov, with his statements, actually gave indulgence to anyone who would deal with the murderer of 18-year-old Kungayeva. Yuri Budanov himself warned about this (biography, cause of death are described in this article). The ex-colonel told his cellmate that he was not afraid of the revenge of the girl's relatives, but of those who want to erase the shameful pages of the events in Chechnya.

The former officer was buried at the Novoluzhinsky cemetery, located on the territory of Khimki. He was escorted on his last journey, paying military honors, although none of the official representatives of the Ministry of Defense was present at the coffin. Several thousand people, among whom were many former and current officers, accompanied their comrade-in-arms in complete silence, not allowing the funeral to turn into a political rally.

A few words about family

Until the end of her life, her wife Svetlana, who gave her husband two children, passed the whole way of life with her husband. When Budanov was in the Rostov-on-Don pre-trial detention center, she and her children visited him twice a month, although she was forced to move to Ukraine and live with relatives. Only in recent years has the family been provided with housing on a rental basis. Svetlana does not hide the fact that she had to accept the help of many people, including General Shamanov.

Having witnessed the crime, she was under the protection of the state. The colleagues of her ex-husband did not leave her in trouble, providing all kinds of support. They say: about people like Budanov, they say: "Soldiers are respected, enemies are afraid."

The eldest son Valery is a graduate of the Suvorov Military School. He received a law degree, works in the bar. Since 2011, he has been a member of the LDPR.

The youngest daughter Catherine is still ahead. In March, the girl celebrated her eighteenth birthday. For a family, an example of a real hero is their father, Colonel Yuri Budanov. His biography will be rewritten, they believe, and the name of the Russian officer will definitely be rehabilitated.

Yuri Dmitrievich Budanov was born on November 24, 1963 in the city of Khartsyzsk, Donetsk Region, Ukrainian SSR.

In 1987, Budanov graduated from the Kharkov Higher Command Tank School. For three years he served in the units of the Southern Group of Forces (was quartered in Hungary). Then he served in Belarus, but after the collapse of the USSR, he refused to swear allegiance to her and moved to Russia.

As an officer in the Russian army, Budanov served in the Trans-Baikal Military District (ZabVO) for ten years. It was noted that over the years of service, Budanov had no penalties and, moreover, he received the rank of lieutenant colonel ahead of schedule.

Budanov was called by the press a participant in two Chechen campaigns. During the first of them, in January 1995, the officer, according to some reports, received a brain contusion. However, information was later published about the existence of documents that cast doubt on Budanov's participation in hostilities in Chechnya in January-February 1995 and his shell shock. It was also noted that Budanov's original medical book was not preserved - he allegedly destroyed it in order to hide some kind of diagnosis when he entered the Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 1996.

In October 1998, Budanov was appointed commander of the 160th Guards Armored Regiment (military unit No. 13206 ZabVO, since December 1998 - the united Siberian Military District). In 1999, the officer graduated in absentia from the Combined Arms Academy. Since September 1999, his regiment has been fighting in Chechnya, following orders, including those concerning the neutralization of large groups of militants in the Argun Gorge and, later, in Khankala.

On December 31, 1999, Budanov, according to some media reports, committed a heroic deed. Despite a direct ban from his superiors, he sent several tanks to help two companies of the 84th separate reconnaissance battalion, which were ambushed by militants near the village of Duba-Yurt. The scouts were saved. Budanov, according to him, was declared a service discrepancy for this.

In January 2000, Budanov was awarded the Order of Courage, at the same time the officer was given the rank of colonel ahead of schedule. It was reported that Budanov was presented to the second Order of Courage, but did not manage to receive it.

In March 2000, in the village of Tangi-Chu, Budanov was arrested by the military prosecutor's office on charges of the abduction, rape and murder of 18-year-old Chechen woman Elza Kungaeva the day before. According to the investigation, on March 26, Budanov, while in a state of intoxication (celebrated his daughter's birthday), together with his deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Fedorov (later sentenced to three years in prison for abuse of office, but amnestied in honor of the anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War ) beat Lieutenant Roman Bagreev, who did not obey his order to shell a peaceful village. After that, the colonel ordered the crew of his BMP to take the eldest of the daughters of the Kungaevs, Elsa, and take her to the location of the regiment. After many hours of "interrogation" Kungaeva died, and Budanov ordered her body to be buried in the forest. According to Budanov, he suspected Kungaeva of being a sniper of one of the Chechen gangs, and explained his actions by the fact that she confessed, after which she "began to insult the colonel, threatened his daughter, then tried to reach for a pistol," after which during the struggle he "accidentally strangled" her. Subsequently, Budanov, without denying the fact of the murder, insisted that he was in a state of passion and remembered practically nothing. After the body of Kungayeva was found and the first testimony of Budanov's colleagues appeared, the colonel was arrested. He was charged under three articles of the Criminal Code: "murder involving kidnapping", "kidnapping with grave consequences" and "abuse of power with the use of violence and causing grave consequences". In July of the same year, the first psychiatric examination was carried out, which confirmed the sanity of Budanov, who at the time of the crime was "in a state of mental agitation in the form of physiological affect."

Best of the day

In January 2001, Budanov's case was taken to court. At the same time, the results of the examination were announced, according to which Colonel Budanov Kungaeva did not rape: it was reported that the soldier Egorov abused the corpse, against whom a criminal case was also opened (later it was terminated due to the amnesty announced by the State Duma). Despite the fact that this contradicted the data of another act of the girl’s forensic medical examination, presented to the court by the father of the deceased, according to which the girl was raped an hour before her death, the charges of violence against Budanov were dropped.

Hearings on Budanov's case in the North Caucasus District Military Court began in February 2001. In July 2001, a medical-psychiatric examination carried out revealed the results of a concussion - damage to one of the hemispheres of the colonel's brain, which, according to doctors, could cause him "sometimes to lose control of himself." Given this circumstance, in December 2002, the commission of experts declared Budanov insane. The state prosecutor asked the court to find Budanov guilty and sentence him to 12 years in prison with deprivation of military rank and awards, but the court decided otherwise and decided to send the officer for compulsory treatment.

In February 2003, the Supreme Court of Russia recognized this decision as illegal and sent the case back for a new trial. As a result, on July 25, 2003, the military court of the North Caucasian Military District found Budanov guilty of abuse of power, kidnapping and murder and sentenced him to ten years in a strict regime colony, depriving him of state awards and the opportunity to hold leadership positions for three years after his release. At the same time, the media noted, according to sociological surveys, "the overwhelming majority of Russians ... were sure that Colonel Yuri Budanov ... should be acquitted." From the beginning of the process, patriotic military men supported Budanov and noted his heroism and professional qualities: it is noteworthy that Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov back in 2001 called Budanov "a victim of both circumstances and shortcomings of the legislation." Forgave Budanov at the trial and Lieutenant Bagreev. It was also reported that, by a court decision, the cost of Kungayeva's clothes and the blanket in which she was wrapped during the abduction and in which she was buried would be reimbursed to her parents.

Budanov served his term in the colony YuI 78/3 in the city of Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region. In 2004, the former officer applied for clemency twice (the first, filed in the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was soon withdrawn). Speaking about the second petition submitted by Budanov to the regional pardon commission, the media reported that it was signed by Governor Vladimir Shamanov, formerly the commander of the Russian Defense Ministry's grouping in Chechnya. The request was granted, after which the commission returned Budanov's military rank and military awards. However, after Shamanov's participation in this case was widely publicized, a scandal erupted, as a result of which the request for pardon was withdrawn.

In January 2007, Budanov applied to the court for parole. However, he was refused, because the court considered that the prisoner "had no remorse for his deed." In the future, the court repeatedly denied prisoner Budanov parole. It was only in December 2008 that a decision was made to release Budanov on parole: the court of the city of Dimitrovgrad considered that the convict had repented of his deed and fully atoned for his guilt. Budanov was released on January 15, 2009.

In February of the same year, the investigative department of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation for Chechnya announced Budanov's involvement in the kidnapping and murder of three civilians in 2000 in the Shali region. Witnesses were said to have identified Budanov after recently seeing stories about him on television and newspaper articles. Information about why the applicants recognized Budanov only nine years after the crime (despite the fact that he was repeatedly featured in the media in 2000-2003) did not get into the press. Subsequently, the number of missing people in this criminal case was increased to 18. In June 2009, the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation announced that Budanov's involvement in the disappearances was not confirmed.

On June 10, 2011, Budanov was killed on Komsomolsky Prospekt in Moscow. The unidentified man shot him several times and fled the scene of the crime. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case on the facts of murder (Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and illegal arms trafficking (Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Three days later, Budanov was buried at the Novoluzhinsky cemetery in Khimki with military honors.

The media wrote that Budanov "enjoyed the reputation of an enterprising, courageous and combat commander" among his colleagues. However, they also talked about him that he was "famous for his violent temper", recalling, in particular, the case when the colonel, being dissatisfied with the slowness of cleaning in the officer's tent, threw a grenade into the stove, and he went out (fortunately, the rest of the military also managed to escape and

Yuri Budanov is a former colonel in the Russian army and commander of the 160th tank regiment who fought in two Chechen wars. During the Second Chechen War, he kidnapped and killed 18-year-old Chechen woman Elza Kungayeva. In July 2003, the court sentenced Budanov to 10 years in prison, deprived him of the rank of colonel and the Order of Courage. After leaving on parole in January 2009, Budanov was soon killed by a native of Chechnya Yusup Temerkhanov.

Biography

Yuri Budanov was born on November 24, 1963 in Khartsyzsk, Donetsk region (Ukrainian SSR). After graduating from the Kharkov Tank School, he served in Hungary (until 1990), and then in Belarus and Buryatia.

In January 1995, in Chechnya, during a land mine explosion, he received a concussion of the brain with a short-term loss of consciousness.

In 1998 he was appointed commander of the 160th Guards Tank Regiment.

In October and November 1999, when a shell burst and when a tank was shelled from a grenade launcher, he twice received brain contusions.

In 1999 he graduated in absentia from the Academy of Armored Forces. Marshal Malinovsky.

He received the rank of "colonel" ahead of schedule, in January 2000, during the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya.

Criminal case

On March 27, 2000, near the village of Tangi-Chu, Yuri Budanov was taken into custody on charges of kidnapping, rape and murder of Elza Kungayeva.

In February 2001, hearings began on Budanov's case.

Investigation

On July 3, 2002, instead of issuing a verdict, the court decided to order the next expert examination.

A total of four examinations were carried out. The first one was carried out by military experts in Novocherkassk, on an outpatient basis, and the colonel was found sane on all counts. The second - has passed or has taken place in the same place, only in a hospital. The third examination was conducted by doctors of the Serbsky State Center for Forensic Psychiatry. Yuri Budanov, judging by their conclusion, was insane at the time of the crime, and the court, on this basis, could release the colonel from custody.

On November 18, 2002, the materials of the repeated comprehensive psychological and psychiatric examination of Colonel Budanov were again sent to the military court of the North Caucasus District in Rostov-on-Don.

On December 31, 2002, he was declared insane at the time of the murder of a Chechen woman, Elza Kungayeva, and sent for compulsory treatment to a psychiatric hospital (released from criminal liability).

Sentence

On July 25, 2003, a court of the North Caucasian Military District sentenced Budanov to 10 years in prison in a strict regime colony. He was found guilty on all three articles incriminated to him - kidnapping, murder and abuse of power. The court found Budanov sane and deprived the defendant of the military rank of colonel and the state award "Order of Courage". He is also banned from holding leadership positions for a period of 3 years.

Imprisonment

In May 2004, Yury Budanov, who is serving a sentence in a prison in the Ulyanovsk region, filed a petition for pardon.

On September 15, 2004, the pardon commission of the Ulyanovsk region granted the petition for pardon for Yuri Budanov, deciding to release him not only from serving the main sentence, but also from additional ones too. Thus, it was decided to return his military rank and military awards. Despite the protests of the regional prosecutor's office, the governor of the Ulyanovsk region, Vladimir Shamanov (former commander of the RF OGV in Chechnya), signed a petition to pardon Budanov.

The commission's decision to pardon Budanov caused a mixed reaction from the Russian public. A number of politicians spoke both for and against the pardon. At the same time, the possibility of pardoning Budanov provoked negative responses from human rights organizations, as well as from residents of Chechnya. On September 21, 2004, thousands of people protested in Grozny against Budanov's pardon, and the first vice-premier of the Chechen government, Ramzan Kadyrov, made open threats against Budanov. "If this pardon of Budanov happens, we will find an opportunity to give him what he deserves," he said.

On September 21, 2004, Yuri Budanov withdrew his request for pardon. The pardon commission of the Ulyanovsk region granted Budanov's application to withdraw the petition for pardon.

During the period from 2004 to 2008, Budanov filed a petition for parole three times, and the administration of colony No. 3 in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region, where Budanov served his sentence, petitioned for his parole once more. However, the Dimitrovgrad court found no grounds for his early release.

Release to freedom

On December 24, 2008, the City Court of Dimitrovgrad (Ulyanovsk Region) granted Yury Budanov's next request for parole. Court representative Lilia Nizamova told journalists that "the court decided to reduce the term of Yury Budanov's detention in the colony by one year, three months and two days."

Two cassation appeals by Stanislav Markelov, a lawyer for the Kungaev family, dated January 12 and 15, 2009, challenging the decision to release Budanov on parole, were dismissed by the court.

On January 15, 2008, the decision of the Dimitrovgrad City Court on the parole of Yury Budanov from the colony came into force.

The murder of Stanislav Markelov

Three days later, on January 19, 2009, the lawyer of the Kungaev family, Stanislav Markelov, was shot in the back of the head, shortly after taking part in a press conference at the Independent Press Center on Prechistenka (Moscow), dedicated to the early release of former Colonel Yuri Budanov . Anastasia Baburova, a student of the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University and a journalist for Novaya Gazeta, who accompanied Markelov, received a gunshot wound to the head and died in the hospital the same day.

Protests in Chechnya

On January 13, 2009, commenting on the court's decision to release Yuri Budanov on parole, President of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov said that he did not believe in his repentance. "Even if he repented, convicted of such a daring and cynical murder of an innocent underage schoolgirl should not be subject to parole. Moreover, he deserves a more severe punishment," Ramzan Kadyrov said. In the Chechen president's opinion, Budanov's release on parole means that "all war criminals will be acquitted in his person."

"Budanov is a schizophrenic and a murderer, a recognized enemy of the Chechen people- said the President of Chechnya in an interview with the Regnum agency. - He insulted our people. Every man, woman and child believes that as long as Budanov exists, shame has not been removed from us. He insulted the honor of Russian officers. How can you protect him? What judge could let him go free? Behind him are dozens of human lives. I think the federal center will make the right decision - his place in prison for life. Yes, and this is not enough for him. But a life sentence will ease our suffering a little. We do not tolerate insult. If the decision is not made, the consequences will be bad.".

Details of the circumstances of the murder of Yuri Budanov, the investigation and the course of the trial can be found in the material of the "Caucasian Knot" Murder of Yuri Budanov.

Murder in Moscow

On June 10, 2010, Yuri Budanov was killed with four shots to the head in Moscow, on Komsomolsky Prospekt, near house No. 38/16.

In the following days, representatives of Russian nationalist organizations, the Liberal Democratic Party, Budanov's former colleagues and football fans laid flowers at the place of Budanov's death and at his grave. Actions of nationalists in his memory were held in different cities of Russia.

On August 26, 2011, a native of the Chechen Republic, Yusup Temerkhanov (who lived in Moscow under the name of Magomed Suleimanov), was arrested on charges of murdering Budanov. Temerkhanov was charged with articles 105 (murder) and 222 (illegal possession of weapons) of the Criminal Code of Russia.

On December 3, 2012, the trial of the murder of Yuri Budanov began in the Moscow City Court. On the same day, Temerkhanov's lawyer, Murad Musaev, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that his client did not plead guilty. "Yusup Temerkhanov does not admit his guilt, he was kidnapped and tortured. Even then he did not confess his guilt" Musaev said.

Family status

Yuri Budanov was married and had a son and a daughter.

Former commander of a tank regiment, Yuri Budanov, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering a Chechen girl, Elza Kungayeva, has been denied parole. It suddenly turned out that the convict had not been in a strict regime camp for a long time, but in a colony-settlement with a rather mild regime, which is not quite usual for a convict convicted of such serious violent crimes.

This decision was made by the court of the city of Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk region, Interfax reports with reference to the press service of the regional penitentiary department. .

Budanov was arrested in 2000. On July 25, 2003, he was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering a Chechen girl, Elza Kungayeva.

The deceased was raped and at first the evidence pointed to the colonel, but then all these accusations “left” the case, and one of the servicemen, whom Budanov forced to participate in the secret burial of the girl he had killed, took upon himself the posthumous rape. For this, the soldier was amnestied. (Later, he publicly stated that he made a "confession" under pressure from the investigation).

This crime, committed by the commander of the Russian military unit conducting military operations in Chechnya, received a wide response throughout the world.

High-ranking military officials tried with all their might to get Budanov out of the charge.

The court sentenced Budanov to ten years in prison. Budanov was deprived of the rank of colonel, the Order of Courage and the right to "hold certain positions within three years" (?! - approx..

Relatives of Elsa Kungayeva left Russia forever. As the journalist said then on the air of the radio station "Echo of Moscow" Anna Politkovskaya, the Kungaev family left "for one of the European countries", as Elsa's parents are afraid that Budanov's supporters will not leave them alone. They fear for the life and health of their other children.

The radio station clarifies that Yuri Budanov himself, during the trial in the case of the murder of Kungayeva, threatened Elsa's parents more than once. So, in his last word at the trial, Budanov promised "personally unscrew the head" of the girl's father, Visya Kungaev.

Officially, since 2004, Budanov has been serving his sentence in Colony No. 3 in Dimitrovgrad. Reports leaked to the press that Budanov had been given mild conditions of detention in the colony. Some directly pointed out that the convicted Budanov was patronized by some generals and governors.

Budanov has already applied to the court four times with a request for parole.

In early 2007, Budanov's detention conditions were significantly relaxed. He was unexpectedly transferred from a strict regime colony to a colony-settlement - they write "Frontiers". How could this happen to someone serving time for murder? Even while on duty?

It is noteworthy that this was hidden from the press and the public for a long time. A number of journalists simply could not find Budanov, even versions were put forward about his secret release.

Then in the press it was called the "actual release" of the former colonel. There are no camp guards in the colony-settlement, and prisoners can live in their own house with their families.

This caused a wave of indignation in the Chechen Republic.

Anna Politkovskaya

"The death of the era of military banditry, or the case of Colonel Budanov"

All countries that started wars stumbled painfully over the problem of so-called war crimes and war criminals. Who should still consider these people sent by the country to kill and exceeded their authority there? Criminals or heroes? And will the war "write off" EVERYTHING? ..

Russia also has its own "Kelly". His name is Yuri Budanov. Colonel, commander of the 160th tank regiment of the Ministry of Defense, holder of two Orders of Courage for the first and second Chechen wars, a representative of the Russian military elite. According to the majority, a fighter-sufferer, persecuted for the "patriotic faith." From the point of view of the domestic minority - a murderer, a looter, a kidnapper, a rapist and a liar.

The trial of Colonel Budanov shook the country, becoming a vivid demonstration of the worst aspects of our entire life today - a society completely split in relation to the second Chechen war, the fantastic cynicism and deceit of Putin's top officials, the complete dependence of the judicial system on the Kremlin. And most importantly - a clear neo-Soviet renaissance.

Who is Budanov?

And why did his personality and fate become a symbol in Russia? It doesn't matter what sign...

Colonel Budanov found himself in the second Chechen war in September 1999, almost from the very beginning. His regiment was thrown into the most difficult battles: during the storming of Grozny, for the village of Komsomolskoye, in the Argun Gorge. During the most severe siege of the village of Duba-Yurt (the mouth of the Argun Gorge), Budanov lost many of his officers, and when in February 2000 the regiment was redeployed "on vacation" - to the outskirts of the village of Tangi-Chu, Urus-Martan District, the commander, who was hard pressed by these losses , sent home, to his family in Transbaikalia, on vacation.

However, he did not last long there - his wife found him very internally changed, unbearable and even dangerous. On one "beautiful" day, for example, he almost threw his eldest son off the balcony, believing that he was to blame for the bleeding abrasion on the arm of his little daughter, and only his wife, hanging from behind on the colonel, prevented this infanticide ...

Having interrupted his vacation, Budanov returned to Chechnya, telling his surprised colleagues that he had "disagreements" at home.

March 26, 2000 (the day Putin was elected president) was also the birthday of the colonel's beloved daughter, she was two years old, and the commander invited the officers to celebrate this matter. By evening, everyone was pretty drunk, drawn to the "exploits".

At first they decided to shoot at Tangi-Chu to kill with heavy guns, but the officer on duty for the regiment - the commander of the reconnaissance company, Senior Lieutenant Roman Bagreev - refused to carry out the criminal order. For which he was first severely beaten - by Budanov, who, having knocked down the senior lieutenant, pounded him in the face with his feet in boots, and by the Budanov chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Fedorov, and then, by order of Budanov, he was put with his hands and feet tied in a hole dug in the territory a regiment for arrested Chechens, sprinkled with lime on top, after which Fedorov also urinated on Bagreev and bit him on the right eyebrow ...

By midnight Budanov decided to go to Tangi-Chu. Then, during the investigation, he will begin to tell that he went there, "for the sake of checking the information he had about the possible location of persons participating in illegal armed groups," and very cynically will drag in the story of his faithful friend Major Razmakhnin, who was allegedly killed by a "sniper" whose photograph he kept in his breast pocket, and it was Elza Kungayeva from Tangi-Chu.

So he went to "take" her in order to "transfer to law enforcement agencies" in the future ... But no one saw the photograph of that one - neither the investigators, nor later in court. She's not in the business.

So why did the drunken Budanov go to the village at night? "For the grandmother." What is it simply called. And he took the BMP - infantry fighting vehicle No. 391. And the orderlies - soldiers Grigoriev, Yegorov and Lee-en-show. The four of them drove straight up to the Kungaevs' house; the day before, Budanov's informant - a man who was engaged in kidnapping for a ransom (now convicted for this) - showed him to the colonel as the house where a beautiful girl lives.

The soldiers seized 18-year-old Elza, the eldest daughter of the Kungaevs, and wrapped her in front of her four younger brothers and sisters in a blanket taken on the spot. She screamed, but she was loaded into the landing compartment of the BMP and into the regiment. There the "blanket" was unloaded - Elsa's long hair dragged along the ground - and carried to the KUNG (unified cargo body) Budanov - the room where the colonel lived - and laid on the floor. Budanov ordered to guard KUNG until his special order ...

From the windows of neighboring tents, other soldiers also looked at everything. Here is what later, during the investigation, one of them, Viktor Koltsov, will say: “On the night of March 26, 2000, I took over the guard. When I changed and went into my tent, I saw the stoker of the chief of staff Makarshanov. He said that“ the commander again brought the woman. So, not the first time?

“The girl started screaming, biting, escaping... Budanov started beating Kungaeva, inflicting multiple punches and kicks on her face and various parts of her body... Dragging her into the far corner of the KUNG, threw her on a trestle bed and began to choke her with his right hand on her Adam's apple. She resisted and as a result of this struggle, he tore her outer clothing... These deliberate actions of Budanov caused a fracture of the right large horn of the hyoid bone in Kungaeva ... She calmed down after 10 minutes, he checked her pulse, there was no pulse ... Budanov called Grigoriev , Egorova and Lee-en-shou. They entered and saw in the far corner a naked woman whom they brought, her face was bluish in color. A blanket was laid on the floor, in which they wrapped the girl, taking her from home. On the same blanket, a bunch of her clothes were lying there. Budanov ordered that the body be taken to a forest plantation, in the area of ​​​​the tank battalion, and secretly buried ... " .

The main witnesses in the case of Budanov were the soldiers of the 160th regiment - Igor Grigoriev, Artem Li-en-show and Alexander Egorov. They were orderlies and batmen of the colonel, served the commander, removed his KUNG, accompanied him.

At dawn on March 27, this order of the colonel was also carried out - they buried the torn body of the unfortunate Elsa, carefully covering the grave with turf. In the summer of 2000, the military prosecutor's office will decide to amnesty these three soldiers as accomplices in the murder and kidnapping - in exchange for giving the "necessary" testimony - against themselves, and therefore "for" Budanov - on the main question: "Was there a rape?"

The matter here is confusing and partly irrational: the officers serving in Chechnya - from the highest to the lowest - generally supported Budanov, but with the following reservation, which I also heard more than once in Chechnya. "What he killed, we understand ... Chechen, then a militant. But why did you have to" dirty "- rape?"

Budanov was well aware of these sentiments, and, of course, he wanted to correspond to them, besides, society as a whole, naturally, is an opponent of violence ... So, throughout the entire investigation, Budanov, wanting to "save face", will categorically deny that that it was he who dishonored the girl before killing him. However, an insurmountable problem immediately arose: in the criminal case there was the very first forensic medical examination carried out at the opening of a secret burial, according to which the girl had all the signs of violence committed against her either immediately before her death or immediately after her onset, and therefore it is still unknown what "better" for an officer's image: to be a rapist or a necrophile ...

So Budanov and the investigation needed evidence that could bring parallel lines to a point ... And then one of the soldiers - Yegorov - told the investigator that he had raped a Chechen woman before burying her - moreover, he had committed abuse "with the handle of a sapper shovel" , which later dug a hole for the body ...

For which he was amnestied. And so it went on for almost two years. But in May 2002, due to some nuances of the political kitchen (for example, Putin's friends in the international anti-terrorist alliance began to put pressure on him precisely in connection with the officers in Chechnya who were unrestrained from impunity: if this is an "anti-terrorist operation", then why are the military ?), as well as the previous blunders committed by Putin’s entourage in order to whitewash Budanov and suddenly crawled out (when a new, young and very talented Moscow lawyer, 28-year-old Stanislav Markelov, who was previously known for conducting the first cases in Russia on terrorism and political extremism), - and so, in May 2002, the military district court of the North Caucasus Military District, chaired by Judge Viktor Kostin, turned in a completely different direction and decided to delve into the details, which he had not allowed himself before ...

And then Yegorov could not stand it: a person is not a mechanism, it is natural for him to be tormented by lies and all that he had seen enough in Chechnya at the age of 18-19, which the vast majority will never see in their long decades of life ...

In July 2002, Alexander Yegorov, who at that moment had long since returned to his home, in the Irkutsk region, publicly stated that he did not rape the girl with a sapper shovel, he gave his testimony under pressure ...

And if so, then the rapist, whatever one may say, turns out to be an elite officer of the Russian army, crowned with glory and the country's most prestigious awards...

Payback our way

The most surprising thing about the Budanov case is that they decided to arrest him - the second Chechen war is such that there are many such stories, and only a few arrested officers.

And Budanov would have come out unscathed if it had not been for the absence on March 27 in Chechnya of his immediate superior, General Vladimir Shamanov, one of the most cruel military leaders, the "beast" of the second Chechen war, the commander of the West group.

The fact is that, according to the regulations in force in the army, permission to arrest any of the officers, as well as to ensure that the military prosecutor's office began to work on the territory of a military unit, can be given (or not given, at one's discretion - to force no one has rights) only the superior.

On March 27, Shamanov, a friend and associate of Budanov, was on vacation, and his duties were performed by General Valery Gerasimov, a man who managed to maintain officer dignity in the circumstances of the second Chechen war proposed by the country. In the morning, he was informed of what had happened.

The general himself went to the regiment, let the employees of the prosecutor's office go there and allowed Budanov to be arrested.

He tried to organize armed resistance, but then shot himself in the leg and surrendered. One of the investigators, Captain of Justice Aleksey Simukhin, accompanied the arrested Budanov on the flight to Khankala, to the main military base, and said that while they were flying, the colonel kept asking how he should be, what was the “right” to say ...

Budanov was already in the cell, and soon the psychological and psychiatric examination recognized him as sane and, therefore, subject to criminal prosecution.

Well, what next? This is where the whitening started. This is what the Kremlin wanted, where they realized that they had gone too far in “establishing the dictatorship of the law” in this particular case, and that, if not stopped, the public would find out the truth about the ongoing war, about which they had previously been told only that it was false militants.

They wanted to - and again they made a big methodological mistake. In the case of "laundering" Budanov from criminal dirt, it was decided to go the old way, proven in Soviet times.

The colonel was assigned a second psychological and psychiatric examination at the Institute of Forensic Psychiatry. Serbsky in Moscow, sadly replaced by his custom-made - on the orders of the KGB - activities during the Soviet struggle against dissent. Tamara Pavlovna Pechernikova, a professor-psychiatrist with 52 years of expert experience, became the chairman of the commission on Budanov. The one whose signature stands under the "schizophrenic sentences" of the most famous Soviet dissidents of the 60-80s. Such as Natalya Gorbanevskaya (founder and first editor of the samizdat bulletin of human rights activists "Chronicle of Current Events", was in a psychiatric prison for compulsory treatment, according to the conclusion of Pechernikova, from 1969 to 1972, emigrated in 1975) and Vyacheslav Igrunov (in 1976 Pechernikova was declared “insane” for the distribution of the Gulag Archipelago, spent many years on coercion, now a State Duma deputy of several convocations, a long-term associate of Yabloko and Grigory Yavlinsky, director of the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies).

In addition, Vladimir Bukovsky, one of the most famous Soviet dissidents, a political prisoner, journalist, writer, doctor of biology, from 1963 to 1976, with short breaks, remembers Pechernikova very well from his "affairs", who was alternately in prisons, camps and special psychiatric hospitals - for the publication in the West of documents about the facts of "Pechernikova's activities" - the abuse of psychiatry for political purposes, exchanged in 1976 for the leader of the Chilean communists Luis Corvalan and now living in the UK.

Pechernikova testified for the prosecution (KGB) at the trial against Alexander Ginzburg (journalist, member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, publisher of the samizdat poetry collection "Syntax", the first manager of the Public Fund for Assistance to Political Prisoners in the USSR and their families, established by Solzhenitsyn on royalties from the publication of the Gulag Archipelago ", four times received terms for dissident activities, in 1979 expelled from the USSR in exchange for Soviet intelligence officers, died in France in July 2002).

And now, already today, a commission led by such Pechernikova recognizes Budanov as insane. And only for the moment of committing crimes, which means that they are not criminally punishable for them.

However, quite sane before and after him, which means with the right to return to military service! ..

The virtuoso removal of the colonel from criminal responsibility and even the preservation of the opportunity for him to be in the army. Of course, this was the only way to "wash" Budanov - and the authorities (the president, his administration, the Ministry of Defense - the "curators" of the process) took advantage of it.

However, it turned out to be a real psychiatric absurdity of our time, which caused, when it was made public, a wave of public indignation. At least in Moscow and European capitals. It became obvious that the repressive Soviet KGB psychiatry had been preserved and perfectly fitted into the “democratic” service. Why's that? Putin was bombarded with questions, especially active ones from Germany (the Bundestag intervened) and France: is it a coincidence that Pechernikova appeared in the Budanov case after so many years after the fall of the communist system?

The answer was, of course, obvious - history, like a chronic illness, is prone to relapses, and we have received them ... Thus, the execution of the order received far-reaching political consequences. The trial in Rostov-on-Don, which, it would seem, should have ended “tomorrow” with a de facto acquittal, suddenly, at the behest of the Kremlin, “today” (it was July 3, 2002) completely changed the course of the court performance (and at times it was, indeed, pure performance in favor of Budanov), canceled the reading of the verdict, doubted the veracity of Pechernikova’s examination, ordered the next one and left Budanov in custody ...

This Budanov's still non-freedom is a fundamental event of our time. Firstly, for the army itself, which, of course, has turned into a political repressive structure in Chechnya.

The army was really looking forward to whether there would be a precedent at the trial in Rostov-on-Don? So, "is it possible" - like Budanov? .. When they said: "It is possible", this signal was "correctly" understood in Chechnya, where officers who are at large continue Budanov's work.

At the end of May 2002 (just when the expertise exonerating the colonel was made public) there was again a series of kidnappings of young women in the "anti-terrorist operation zone" followed by murder. On May 22, for example, in Argun, right from her house number 125 on Shalinskaya Street, at dawn, a pretty 26-year-old primary school teacher Svetlana Mudarova was taken away by the military.

Like Elza Kungaeva, Budanov's victim, she was stuffed into an armored personnel carrier right in slippers and a dressing gown. For two days the military did everything to hide the place where they are holding the kidnapped teacher. On May 31, her mutilated corpse was thrown into the ruins of one of the Argun houses...

Secondly, the people of Chechnya have been waiting and are waiting for the outcome of Budanov's case. If the colonel wins, not justice, then there is still no hope that Chechnya will be a territory where Russian laws are in force, it will remain land under the heel of bandits, and the people living there now do not care what form and whose salary get these bandits. The main thing is that they kill.