The hunt for the Stinger continued throughout the year. Only on January 5, 1987, during the course of a military operation of scouts, the first copy of this weapon was captured.

Reconnaissance group of lieutenants Vladimir Kovtun and Vasily Cheboksarov of the 186th Separate Detachment special purpose held aerial reconnaissance. Suddenly, from the helicopter board, the special forces noticed several Mujahideen at high speed rushing along the bottom of the Meltakai Gorge on motorcycles. Mi-24 with a special forces unit began the pursuit of alleged terrorists.

The intelligence of the scouts did not disappoint. As soon as they noticed that they were being pursued from the air, the motorcyclists stopped and opened fire indiscriminately from small arms. However, obviously realizing that she would not harm the helicopter great harm, the Mujahideen took out two sets of "stingers" and launched missiles. Fortunately, the rockets passed by, and one of the "turntables" landed in the gorge and landed the scouts. Another link of Soviet helicopters followed, and the special forces took the fight on the ground.

By joint efforts, the Mujahideen were destroyed. When Vladimir Kovtun examined the trophies, he found not only the Stinger MANPADS launch canister, but also a complete set of its technical documentation. This find looked like a huge success.

Kovtun's comrades, meanwhile, found another intact Stinger MANPADS near the motorcycles. The helicopters were saved from hits by the fact that, under intense shelling, the spooks did not have time to deploy antennas on the complexes and actually fired from them, like from ordinary grenade launchers.

A day later in all military units Soviet troops, located in Afghanistan, a real rejoicing began over the Stingers captured by the special forces.

In total, during the hunt for the Stinger MANPADS installations, the Soviet military captured eight complexes of these weapons, but no one received the promised Hero star. Managed less significant orders and medals.

The effect was colossal. Soviet and then Russian aviation designers in the shortest possible time managed to develop effective means combating imported MANPADS, thereby saving the lives of hundreds of domestic military pilots.

In January 1987, officers and men of the GRU GSH special forces group captured the first MANPADS (portable anti-aircraft missile system) of the American-made Stinger. After the successful completion of the task, several participants in the operation were presented with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but they never received this award.

Many people “from the other side” participate in the film - former Afghan field commanders Haji Sadar Aka and Muhamad Aref, CIA officer in 1985-1989 Nick Pratt, German cameraman Dittmar Hack, who walked with caravans across the Pakistani border and filmed battles with ours. They tell who fought against us and how, where and how the Mujahideen were trained and what their main tasks were, as well as the direct role of the CIA in the training of the Mujahideen. They answer questions calmly, frankly - so many years have passed, what can I say!

The film not only tells about the feat of the Soviet military, but also raises the deeper problems of that war. It shows the wider geopolitical environment, tells what happened in the highest echelons of power in the US and the USSR, what were the true levers and what were the goals of the two sides in this war.

Cast: Dmitry Gerasimov (retired lieutenant general, commander of the 22nd Special Forces Brigade in 1985-1988), Oleg Zaryvin (military transport aviation pilot, combat veteran in Afghanistan), Vladimir Kovtun (reserve colonel of the GRU General Staff) , Muhamad Aref (commander of the Mujahideen detachment in Holm), Haji Sadar Aka (field commander in Logar province), Nick Pratt (CIA officer in 1985-1989, veteran marines USA), Dittmar Hack (military cameraman).

Country Russia.
Production: TV company "AB-TV".
Release year: 2011.

Rocket MANPADS "Stinger"

The Pentagon and the US CIA, arming the Afghan rebels anti-aircraft missiles"Stinger", pursued a number of goals, one of which was the opportunity to test the new MANPADS in real combat conditions. By supplying the Afghan rebels with modern MANPADS, the Americans “tried on” them for the supply of Soviet weapons to Vietnam, where the United States lost hundreds of helicopters and planes shot down Soviet missiles. But the Soviet Union provided legitimate assistance to the government of a sovereign country fighting an aggressor, and American politicians armed the anti-government armed formations of the Mujahideen (“international terrorists” - according to the current American classification).

Despite the strictest secrecy, the first reports of funds mass media about the supply of several hundred MANPADS "Stinger" to the Afghan opposition appeared in the summer of 1986. American anti-aircraft systems were delivered from the United States by sea to the Pakistani port of Karachi, and then transported by Pakistani Armed Forces vehicles to the Mujahideen training camps. The supply of missiles and training of Afghan rebels in the vicinity of the Pakistani city of Rualpindi was carried out by the US CIA. After preparing the calculations training center they, together with MANPADS, were sent to Afghanistan by pack caravans and vehicles.

Rocket launch MANPADS "Stinger"

Gafar strikes

The details of the first use of the Stinger MANPADS by the Afghan rebels are described by the head of the Afghan department of the Pakistan Intelligence Center (1983-1987), General Mohammad Yusuf, in the book “The Bear Trap”: located only one and a half kilometers northeast of the runway of the Jalalabad airfield ... Fire crews were at a shouting distance from each other, located in a triangle in the bushes, since no one knew from which direction the target might appear. We organized each team in such a way that three people fired, and two others held containers with rockets for quick reloading ... Each of the Mujahideen chose a helicopter through open sight on the launcher, the “friend or foe” system signaled with an intermittent signal that an enemy target had appeared in the coverage area, and the Stinger captured the guidance head thermal radiation from helicopter engines ... When the lead helicopter was only 200 m above the ground, Gafar commanded: "Fire" ... One of the three missiles did not work and fell without exploding, just a few meters from the shooter. Two others crashed into their targets... Two more rockets went into the air, one hit the target as successfully as the previous two, and the second passed very close, as the helicopter had already landed... In the following months, he (Gafar) shot down ten more helicopters and planes with the help of "Stingers".

Mujahideen of Gafar near Jalalabad

Combat helicopter Mi-24P

In fact, two rotorcraft of the 335th separate combat helicopter regiment, returning from a combat mission, were shot down over the Jalalabad airfield. On approaching the airfield on the pre-landing direct Mi-8MT captain A. Giniyatulin was hit by two Stinger MANPADS missiles and exploded in the air. The crew commander and flight engineer, Lieutenant O. Shebanov, died, pilot-navigator Nikolai Gerner was thrown out by the blast and survived. A helicopter of Lieutenant E. Pogorely was sent to the area where the Mi-8MT fell, but at an altitude of 150 m his car was hit by a MANPADS missile. The pilot managed to make a rough landing, as a result of which the helicopter collapsed. The commander was seriously injured, from which he died in the hospital. The rest of the crew survived.

The Soviet command only guessed that the rebels used the Stinger MANPADS. We were only able to materially prove the use of the Stinger MANPADS in Afghanistan on November 29, 1986. The same group of Engineer Gafar set up an anti-aircraft ambush 15 km north of Jalalabad on the slope of Mount Vachkhangar (elev. 1423) and as a result of firing five Stinger missiles "The helicopter group destroyed the Mi-24 and Mi-8MT (three missile hits were recorded). The crew of the driven helicopter - art. Lieutenant V.Ksenzov and Lieutenant A.Neunylov died after falling under the main rotor during an emergency escape from the side. The crew of the second helicopter hit by a missile managed to make an emergency landing and leave the burning car. The general from the headquarters of the TurkVO, who was at that time in the Jalalabad garrison, did not believe the report about the defeat of two helicopters by anti-aircraft missiles, accusing the pilots that "helicopters collided in the air." It is not known how, but the aviators nevertheless convinced the general of the "spirits" being involved in the plane crash. The 2nd motorized rifle battalion of the 66th separate motorized rifle brigade and the 1st company of the 154th separate special forces detachment were alerted. The special forces and infantry were tasked with finding parts of an anti-aircraft missile or other material evidence of the use of MANPADS, otherwise all the blame for the plane crash would have been assigned to the surviving crews ... Only after a day (the general made a decision for a long time ...) by the morning of November 30 in the area of ​​​​the fall of helicopters arrived on armored search units. There was no longer any question of intercepting the enemy. Our company did not manage to find anything except burnt fragments of helicopters and the remains of the crew. The 6th company of the 66th Motorized Rifle Brigade, when examining the probable missile launch site, quite accurately indicated by helicopter pilots, found three, and then two more launch expelling charges of the Stinger MANPADS. These were the first physical evidence of the supply of anti-aircraft missiles by the United States of America to Afghan anti-government armed groups. The company commander who discovered them was presented to the Order of the Red Banner.

Mi-24 hit by fire from the Stinger MANPADS. Eastern Afghanistan, 1988

A careful study of the traces of the enemy's stay (one firing position was located on the top and one in the lower third of the slope of the ridge) showed that an anti-aircraft ambush was arranged here in advance. The enemy waited for a suitable target and the moment of opening fire for one or two days.

Hunt for Gafar
The OKSVA command also arranged a hunt for the Engineer Gafar anti-aircraft group, whose area of ​​\u200b\u200boperation was the eastern Afghan provinces of Nangar-har, Laghman and Kunar. It was his group that was beaten on November 9, 1986 by the reconnaissance detachment of the 3rd company of 154 ooSpN (15 obrSpN), destroying several rebels and pack animals 6 km southwest of the village of Mangval in the province of Kunar. The scouts then also seized a portable American shortwave radio station, which was provided by the CIA agents. Gafar took revenge immediately. Three days later, from an anti-aircraft ambush 3 km southeast of the village of Mangval (30 km northeast of Jalalabad), a Mi-24 helicopter of the 335th "Jalalabad" helicopter regiment was shot down by fire from the Stinger MANPADS. Accompanying several Mi-8MT, performing an ambulance flight from Asadabad to the hospital of the Jalalabad garrison, a pair of Mi-24s overcame the ridge at an altitude of 300 m without shooting IR traps. A helicopter shot down by a MANPADS missile fell into a gorge. The commander and the pilot-operator left the board, using a parachute from a height of 100 m, and were picked up by their comrades. Special forces were sent to search for the flight engineer. This time, squeezing the maximum allowable speed out of the infantry fighting vehicles, the 154 oSpN scouts arrived in the helicopter crash area in less than 2 hours. and its right ridge) simultaneously with the arriving helicopters 335 obvp.

Helicopters entered from the northeast, but the Mujahideen managed to launch MANPADS from the ruins of a village on the northern slope of the gorge in pursuit of the leading twenty-four. The "spirits" miscalculated twice: the first time - making a launch towards the setting sun, the second time - not finding out that not the slave helicopter of the pair (as usual), but four links of combat Mi-24s are flying behind the lead machine. Fortunately, the rocket passed just below the target. Her self-liquidator worked late, and the exploding rocket did not harm the helicopter. Quickly orienting themselves in the situation, the pilots inflicted a massive air strike on the position of the anti-aircraft gunners with sixteen combat rotorcraft. The aviators did not spare ammunition ... From the place of the helicopter crash, the remains of the flight engineer of st. Lieutenant V. Yakovlev.

At the crash site of a helicopter shot down by a Stinger

Wreckage of Mi-24 helicopter

Parachute canopy on the ground

MANPADS "Stinger" and its regular capping

Helicopter pilots with special forces on board were ahead of them by several minutes. Later, everyone who wanted to become the heroes of the day “clung” to the glory of helicopter pilots and special forces. Still, “Special Forces captured the Stingers!” - thundered the whole of Afghanistan. The official version of the capture of the American MANPADS looked like special operation with the participation of agents who tracked the entire route of delivery of the Stingers from the arsenals of the US Army to the village of Seyid Umar Kalai. Naturally, all the “sisters received earrings”, but they forgot about the true participants in the capture of the Stinger, paying off with several orders and medals, but it was promised that the first to capture the Stinger would receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

national reconciliation

How mockery looked like the shelling of a Mi-8MT helicopter with two MANPADS missiles on the first day of national reconciliation on January 16, 1987, making a passenger flight from Kabul to Jalalabad. On board the "turntable" among the passengers was the chief of staff of 177 oSpN (Gazni), Major Sergei Kutsov, currently the head of the Intelligence Directorate of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, lieutenant general. Without losing his cool, the commando officer knocked off the flames and helped the rest of the passengers to leave the burning board. Only one passenger could not use the parachute, as she was wearing a skirt and did not put it on ...

The unilateral "national reconciliation" was immediately taken advantage of by the armed Afghan opposition, which at that moment, according to American analysts, was "on the verge of disaster." It was the difficult situation of the rebels that was the main reason for the supply of the Stinger MANPADS to them. Starting in 1986, the airmobile operations of the Soviet special forces, whose units were given helicopters, so limited the ability of the rebels to supply weapons and ammunition to the interior of Afghanistan that the armed opposition began to create special combat groups to fight our intelligence agencies. But, even well-trained and armed, they could not significantly affect the combat activities of the special forces. The likelihood of them detecting reconnaissance groups was extremely low, but if this happened, then the clash was of a fierce nature. Unfortunately, there is no data on the actions of special groups of rebels against the Soviet special forces in Afghanistan, but several episodes of clashes, according to a single pattern of enemy actions, can be attributed precisely to the “anti-special forces” groups.

The Soviet special forces, which became a barrier to the movement of "terror caravans", were based in the provinces of Afghanistan bordering Pakistan and Iran, but what could the special forces do, whose reconnaissance groups and detachments could block no more than one kilometer of the caravan route, or rather, directions. The “Gorbachev reconciliation” special forces, which limited their actions in the “reconciliation zones” and in close proximity to the border, took it as a stab in the back, during raids on the villages where the rebels were based and their caravans stopped for the day. But still, due to the active actions of the Soviet special forces, by the end of the winter of 1987, the Mujahideen experienced significant difficulties with food and fodder at the "overcrowded" transshipment bases. Although in Afghanistan it was not hunger that awaited them, but death on mined paths and in special forces ambushes. In 1987 alone, reconnaissance groups and special forces intercepted 332 caravans with weapons and ammunition, capturing and destroying more than 290 units heavy weapons(recoilless rifles, mortars, heavy machine guns), 80 MANPADS (mainly Hunyin-5 and SA-7), 30 PC launchers, more than 15 thousand anti-tank and anti-personnel mines and about 8 million ammunition for small arms. Acting on the communications of the rebels, the special forces forced the armed opposition to accumulate most of the military-technical cargo at transshipment bases in the border areas of Afghanistan, which are hard to reach for Soviet and Afghan troops. Taking advantage of this, aviation of the Limited contingent and Air force Afghanistan began systematically bombing them.

Meanwhile, taking advantage of a temporary respite, kindly granted to the Afghan opposition by Gorbachev and Shevardnadze (at that time the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR), the rebels began to intensively build up firepower their formations. It was during this period that combat detachments and armed opposition groups were saturated with 107-mm rocket systems, recoilless rifles and mortars. Not only the Stinger, but also the English Blowpipe MANPADS, Swiss 20-mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns and Spanish 120-mm mortars are beginning to enter their arsenal. An analysis of the situation in Afghanistan in 1987 indicated that the armed opposition was preparing for decisive action, the will for which the Soviet “perestroika” had no will to do, who had set a course for the Soviet Union to surrender its international positions.

The first "Stinger", as it was

In 1986, “stingers” appeared in the hands of dushmans - rockets launched from the shoulder, having tremendous speed - it was impossible to get away from such a projectile, plus everything, the rockets had a “dog instinct” - they reacted to mass, heat, sound and, if the plane or a helicopter fell into their field of vision, things ended badly.

For a very long time, our army scouts could not get this missile, the dushmans protected it incredibly, they managed to find only empty boxes with batteries to maintain the microclimate and that's it. Therefore, throughout the 40th Army, they announced: whoever takes the first "stinger" will receive the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Moreover, they tried to buy the Stinger through nominees for five million Afghans, but this attempt did not lead to anything either.

The special forces also hunted for the Stingers. Seriously hunted. The 7th Special Forces Detachment, which was stationed in Shahdzhoy - not far from the Pakistani border, was also involved in this hunt. In the zone of action of the detachment itself, it was quiet, peaceful, but a little further, in the Kalata region, Jilavur was very restless. One helicopter was shot down there, then two more, then a civilian plane - an Afghan, regular one. Not far from its remains, the special forces found several starting blocks, a homing head cooler unit, glass fragments, and a wrapper with American markings. It was clear what technique to shoot down planes and helicopters. Much indicated that the "stingers" should be looked for in the area of ​​the village of Jilavur.

Major Evgeny Sergeev, deputy battalion commander from the 7th detachment, loved free hunting, free search. He decided to go on a free hunt this time. First, I decided to explore the area. He went on reconnaissance with four helicopters: two Mi-24s, which the paratroopers called "crocodiles" and two Mi-8s - these are ordinary civilian helicopters that were forced to fight: a heavy machine gun was hit in the nose, "nurses" were hung from the wings - unguided rockets.

Sergeev settled in the lead helicopter, took a seat at the machine gun, senior lieutenant Kovtun and three fighters sat with him, in the second helicopter - the inspection team of senior lieutenant Cheboksarov, there were two more officers in it: Valery Antonyuk and Konstantin Skorobogaty, plus several special forces. That's the composition and went on exploration, which they decided to combine with a free search: what if you get lucky? At first we moved along the concrete road, and then abruptly went into the gorge. The weather is good: the winter sun is half the blue cold sky, shining snow, on which every point is visible.

We walked quite a bit, as we found three motorcycles in front. Ordinary farmers in Afghanistan could not ride motorcycles, our guys too, only “darlings” could roll on motorcycles. And the motorcyclists themselves did not hide much, identified themselves, fired at the helicopters and made two hasty launches from MANPADS (portable anti-aircraft missile system). They responded with a Nurse strike and immediately went to land. The guided Mi-8 and two "twenty-fours" remained in the air - to cover from above.

When they sat down, Sergeev managed to notice that there was some kind of strange pipe in one of the motorcycles. Isn't it a Stinger? They jumped out into the snow. Kovtun with two paratroopers ran to the right after the fleeing dushmans, and Sergeyev with one of the guys ran straight along the road: it was impossible to let the "darlings" get away.

After a couple of minutes, it turned out that a whole group of dushmans was sitting nearby, who was not slow to come to the rescue. A fight ensued. Shooting, roar, bullets - this is a familiar environment for the special forces. Kovtun, meanwhile, outlined a target: a long-legged dushman, who very quickly spurred somewhere to the side. He had a pipe in one hand and a case in the other.

Since the case means that there are some important papers in it, the “darling” saves them, and the pipe is still something incomprehensible.

Suddenly, the runner grabbed the pipe with the hand in which the case was located, and with the other hand began to shoot back. The gentleman was smart. After a couple of minutes, the "darling" began to come off - in the mountains, he felt like a deer on a free grazing. Kovtun croaked into the "chamomile" - the radio communication apparatus: - Guys! It cannot be missed! And the long-legged "darling" went farther and farther. Then Kovtun, the master of sports in shooting, stopped and, as he himself said: “I took a full breath, sat down on my knee, took aim ...” In general, the “darling” did not go away. The case fell into the hands of Senior Lieutenant Kovtun.

The commandos who captured the first Stinger. In the center is Senior Lieutenant Vladimir Kovtun.

They threw two pipes into the helicopter, one empty, the other with stuffing, a case, they also took one wounded dushman - they injected him with promedol so that there was less pain, and took off - the place was too dangerous. The whole fight took no more than ten minutes. We went back along the same route.

Already in the helicopter, Kovtun opened the case, and there - all the documentation on the "stinger" - with descriptions and detailed instructions, with phone numbers and addresses of suppliers ...

The commander of the brigade, Colonel Gerasimov, flew to the 7th detachment, said that Sergeev, Kovtun, Sobol and Sergeant Autbaev were presented to the rank of Hero - from the inspection group, the future heroes were photographed, shook hands with them again - that was the end of the matter.

The first two MANPADS "Stinger", captured by special forces 186 ooSpN. January 1986

When the question reached the army authorities in Kabul, the plot changed. As Vladimir Kovtun said, high officials told him that the Stinger party was spotted back in the States, intelligence tracked its unloading in Pakistan, and then hung on its tail until the Stingers left for Afghanistan. As soon as THEY found themselves here, the Kandahar and our detachments were alerted. They were waiting for the spirits with the "stingers" to be within reach. And as soon as they got here, we, they say, quickly took off and worked out our own ... On a tip. But all this is the tales of the Vienna Woods, although for these tales a lot of people were awarded to the very top.

Sergeev on the far left with the captured Stingers

The direct participants in that battle, Sergeev and Autbaev, received the Order of the Red Star, and that was all.
Such tricks with awards happened both in the Great Patriotic War and at the time of the Afghan events ... Alas! Kovtun left Afghanistan with seven bullet wounds and three contusions - that's all his awards. Major Sergeev has no less wounds.

Special forces: hunting for "Stingers"

Limited in conducting raids and reconnaissance and search operations (raids), the Soviet special forces in Afghanistan stepped up ambush operations. The rebels paid attention to ensuring the safety of the caravans. Special attention, and the scouts had to show great ingenuity when withdrawing to the ambush area, secrecy and endurance - in anticipation of the enemy, and in battle - stamina and courage. In most combat episodes, the enemy significantly outnumbered the special forces reconnaissance group. In Afghanistan, the effectiveness of special forces operations in conducting ambush operations was 1: 5-6 (scouts managed to engage the enemy in one case out of 5-6). According to data published later in the West, the armed opposition managed to deliver 8090% of the goods transported by pack caravans and vehicles to their destination. In the spetsnaz areas of responsibility, this figure was much lower. The subsequent episodes of the capture by the Soviet special forces of the Stinger MANPADS fall precisely on the actions of scouts on caravan routes.

On the night of July 16-17, 1987, as a result of an ambush by the reconnaissance group 668 ooSpN (15 arr. Special Forces), Lieutenant German Pokhvoshchev, a pack caravan of rebels was scattered by fire in the province of Logar. By morning, the ambush area was blocked by an armored group of the detachment led by Lieutenant Sergei Klimenko. Fleeing, the rebels unloaded their horses and disappeared into the night. As a result of the inspection of the area, two Stinger and two Bluepipe MANPADS were found and captured, as well as about a ton of other weapons and ammunition. The fact of the supply of MANPADS to Afghan illegal armed groups, the British carefully concealed. Now the Soviet government has the opportunity to catch them in the supply of anti-aircraft missiles to the Afghan armed opposition. However, what was the point when more than 90% of the weapons to the Afghan "mujahideen" were supplied by China, and Soviet press bashfully hushed up this fact, "stigmatizing" the West. You can guess why - in Afghanistan, our soldiers were killed and maimed by Soviet weapons marked "Made in China", developed by domestic designers in the 50-50s, the production technology of which the Soviet Union transferred to the "great neighbor".

Landing WG SpN in a helicopter

Reconnaissance group of Lieutenant V. Matyushin (in the top row, second from the left)

Now it was the turn of the rebels, and they did not remain indebted to the Soviet troops. In November 1987, two anti-aircraft missiles shot down a Mi-8MT 355 obvp helicopter carrying 334 ooSpN (15 obvp) scouts. At 05:55, a pair of Mi-8MT under cover of a pair of Mi-24s took off from the Asadabad site and went to outpost No. 2 (Lahorsar, mark 1864) with a gentle climb. At 06:05, at an altitude of 100 m from the ground, the Mi-8MT transport helicopter was hit by two Stinger MANPADS missiles, after which it caught fire and began to lose altitude. The flight technician Captain A. Gurtov and six passengers died in the crashed helicopter. The crew commander left the car in the air, but he did not have enough height to open the parachute. Only the pilot-navigator managed to escape, landing with a partially opened parachute canopy on a steep slope of the ridge. Among the dead was the commander of the special forces group, Senior Lieutenant Vadim Matyushin. On this day, the rebels were preparing a massive shelling of the Asadabad garrison, covering the positions of 107-mm rocket systems. salvo fire and mortars by the crews of MANPADS anti-aircraft gunners. In the winter of 1987-1988. the rebels practically won air superiority in the vicinity of Asa-dabad with man-portable anti-aircraft systems. The front-line aviation still attacked the positions of the rebels in the vicinity of Asadabad, but acted ineffectively from extreme heights. Helicopters, on the other hand, were forced to transport personnel and cargo only at night, and during the day they made only urgent medical flights at extremely low altitudes along the Kunar River.

Patrolling the area of ​​​​the inspection WG Special Forces by helicopters

However, the limitations of the use army aviation the scouts of other special forces units also felt it. The zone of their airmobile operations was significantly limited to the safety of army aviation. In the current situation, when the authorities demanded a “result”, and the capabilities of the intelligence agencies were limited by the directives and instructions of the same authorities, the command of 154 oSpN found a way out of the seemingly impasse. The detachment began to use complex mining of caravan routes. In fact, the 154 ooSpN scouts created in Afghanistan back in 1987 a reconnaissance and fire complex (ROK), the creation of which in modern Russian army there are only conversations. The main elements of the system for fighting rebel caravans, created by the special forces of the "Jalalabad battalion" on the Parachnar-Shahidan-Panjsher caravan route, were:

- sensors and repeaters of reconnaissance and signaling equipment (RSA) "Realiya" installed at the borders (seismic, acoustic and radio wave sensors), from which information was received on the composition of caravans and the presence of ammunition and weapons in them (metal detectors);

- mining lines with radio-controlled minefields and non-contact explosive devices NVU-P "Okhota" (seismic sensors for target movement);

- areas of ambush by special forces reconnaissance agencies adjacent to the lines of mining and installation of SAR. This provided a complete blockage of the caravan route, the smallest width of which in the area of ​​crossings over the Kabul River was 2-3 km;

- frontiers of barrage and areas of concentrated artillery fire of outposts guarding the Kabul-Jalalabad highway (122-mm self-propelled howitzers 2С1 "Carnation", on the positions of which the operators of the RSA "Realiya" were located, reading information from the receiving devices).

- Helicopter-accessible patrol routes with special forces screening reconnaissance groups on board.

Combat-ready MANPADS "Stinger", captured by reconnaissance 154 oo Special Forces in February 1988

Such a troublesome "economy" required constant monitoring and regulation, but the results showed up very quickly. The rebels more and more often fell into a trap cleverly arranged by the special forces. Even having their observers and informants from among the local population in the mountains and nearby villages, probing every stone and path, they faced the constant "presence" of special forces, incurring losses on controlled minefields, from artillery fire and ambushes. Inspection groups on helicopters completed the destruction of scattered pack animals and collected the "result" from the caravans crushed by mines and shells. The peculiarity of the NVU-P is that this electronic device identifies the movement of people by ground vibrations and issues a command to sequentially detonate five fragmentation mines OZM-72, MON-50, MON-90 or others.

This episode ended the epic hunt of the special forces for the Stinger in Afghanistan. All four cases of its capture by Soviet troops were the work of special forces units and units operationally subordinate to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces.

Since 1988, the withdrawal from Afghanistan of a limited contingent of Soviet troops began with ... the most combat-ready units that terrified the rebels throughout the "Afghan war" - separate special forces. For some reason (?), it was the special forces that turned out to be the “weak link” in Afghanistan for the Kremlin democrats ... Strange, isn't it? Having exposed the external borders of Afghanistan, at least somehow covered by Soviet special forces, the short-sighted military-political leadership of the USSR allowed the rebels to increase the flow military aid from the outside and gave Afghanistan to them at their mercy. In February 1989, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from this country was completed, but the government of Najibullah remained in power until 1992. From this period, chaos reigned in the country civil war, and the "Stingers" provided by the Americans began to spread along terrorist organizations all over the world.

It is unlikely that the Stingers themselves played a decisive role in forcing the Soviet Union to withdraw from Afghanistan, as is sometimes portrayed in the West. Its reasons lie in the political miscalculations of the last leaders of the Soviet era. However, the trend towards increasing losses aviation technology as a result of its defeat by MANPADS missile fire in Afghanistan after 1986, it was traced, despite the significantly reduced intensity of flights. But, to attribute this merit only to the "Stinger" is not necessary. In addition to the same Stingers, the rebels still received large quantities of other MANPADS.

How the Stingers were captured in 154 OOSP

On February 14, 1988, in the area of ​​Northern Shahidan, during a planned ambush landing, the crews of 335 OBVP discovered a caravan and began to destroy it from the air, and the third company would finish the job on the ground. In the morning, 131 rgSpN 154 OOSpN under the command of Andrei Sokolov (instead of the wounded Sergei Smirnov) during the inspection captured two containers with launchers and two Stinger missiles - the first in Jalalabad. On February 16, 1988, the inspection reconnaissance group of special forces 154 oSpN, Lieutenant Sergei Lafazan, discovered a group of pack animals 6 km northwest of the village of Shahidan, destroyed by mines MON-50 of the NVU-P "Hunting" set. During the inspection, the scouts captured two boxes of Stinger MANPADS.

Andrey Sokolov and head of intelligence 335 OBVP with the first "Stinger"

The second "Stinger"

The commander of the inspection Rg SpN of the 2nd company, Lieutenant S. Lafazan (in the center), who captured the Stinger MANPADS on February 16, 1988

The third "Stinger" 154 oospn and Lieutenant S. Lafazan

Sergei Veretsky with the 4th Stinger

The result of the hunt of the Soviet special forces for the American "Stinger" was eight combat-ready anti-aircraft systems, for which none of the special forces of the promised Golden Star of the Hero ever received. The highest state award was awarded to Senior Lieutenant German Pokhvoshchev (668 oSpN), who was awarded the Order of Lenin, and then only for capturing the only two Blowpipe MANPADS. Meanwhile, the first Stinger MANPADS samples obtained by the special forces and their technical documentation allowed domestic aviators to find effective methods of confronting them, which saved the lives of hundreds of pilots and passengers of aircraft. It is possible that some technical solutions were used by our designers in the creation of domestic second and third generation MANPADS, superior to the Stinger in some combat characteristics.


MANPADS "Stinger" (above) and "Hunyin" (below) the main anti-aircraft systems of the Afghan Mujahideen in the late 80s.

After the war

On Poklonnaya Hill, in the museum, on the day of the withdrawal of our guys from Afghanistan, an exhibition called “Faithful to the Traditions of Feat” was opened, this exhibition was put together lovingly, touchingly.

The opening was attended by many distinguished guests. It was there that the conversation turned to how the first "stinger" was taken, how the guys were unfairly bypassed, and the main name of that story arose - Major Sergeev.

Major Sergeyev was remembered - in the truest sense of the word: he is no longer alive. He was already a lieutenant colonel, although ranks mean little to special forces. If only for retirement.

The audience decided: we need to return to this story, collect documents and send them to the Kremlin, to the awards department. Moreover, they offered to return to all four, presented in 1987 to the title of Hero, but Kovtun refused:

I don't need any title.

Why, Vladimir Pavlovich?

I give up my rank in favor of a commander who is no longer alive. He deserves more than all of us put together. If there is a lot of submissions, no one will receive a title, if documents for one Sergeyev are sent, the chances will increase several times.

Not so long ago, a decree on conferring the title of Hero of Russia to Sergeev Evgeny Georgievich was signed. No wonder they say: the truth is sick, but does not die.

Decree of the President Russian Federation dated May 6, 2012, for the courage and heroism shown in the performance of military duty in the Republic of Afghanistan, Lieutenant Colonel Sergeev Evgeny Georgievich was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously).


In the summer of 2012, at a ceremony in cultural center of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Major General I.D. Sergun, on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation, handed over the insignia of the Hero of the Russian Federation - the Gold Star medal - to the widow of E.G. Sergeeva ‒ Natalia Vladimirovna Sergeeva.

The museum on Poklonnaya Gora has played a good role in this story and I am sure it will play even more: according to the deputy director of the museum, Viktor Skryabin (a military general who knows what war is), a decision was made to create an "Afghan" branch. When materials begin to accumulate, presumably, we will learn many new names - those who have been unfairly overlooked by awards.

Some more time passed. It seemed to me that those who beat their chests with their fists and promised to achieve a Hero star for Vladimir Kovtun would keep their promises. But the matter was limited to promises: Kovtun was again forgotten.

Vladimir Pavlovich is now working in the Vladimir region, in the city of Alexandrov, he has his own poultry farm. They say it's very good. He develops and implements new technologies, pampers the townspeople with delicious products - in a word, he is busy the right thing, and tries not to remember the war. But it is impossible to forget the war, it sits deep in the memory and dreams at night: he sees his guys and the commander again, nothing can be done about it. Such is human nature.

Those who went through the fires and waters of the front, accomplished a feat, we can not forget in any way. Kovtun is worthy of the title of Hero - promised, by the way, twice - and if this does not happen, it will be a shame to everyone who fought in Afghanistan.

In the war in Afghanistan, a captured sample of the American anti-aircraft complex was promised the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. Who was the first? 30 years later, Zvezda found the unknown heroes of that story. In the autumn of 1986, already distant, the command of a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan received an order: by all means, recapture at least one serviceable American Stinger portable anti-aircraft missile system from the dushmans. The order was brought to the personnel of all units. It sounded like this: whoever captures the Stinger first will become a Hero of the Soviet Union. In a few months, our fighters got eight samples American weapons. Until now, it was believed that the first was a group of senior lieutenant Vladimir Kovtun from the GRU special forces: on January 5, 1987, special forces from helicopters noticed ghosts fleeing on motorcycles, destroyed them and found a “suitcase” with MANPADS among the trophies. But 30 years later, a colonel in the military reserve intelligence of the Airborne Forces Igor Ryumtsev puts a document in front of me. This is a response to a request to the archive of the Ministry of Defense, from which it follows that the first anti-aircraft complex was captured earlier - on December 26, 1986. And the guys from the reconnaissance company of the 66th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Vyborg Brigade, in which Igor Ryumtsev served, did it. It was with Operation Stinger that his combat biography began.
Go to Jalalabad

The first "Stingers" appeared in eastern regions Afghanistan. In September 1986, in the Jalalabad region, our turntables began to be shot down, and intelligence reported that the arsenal of the “engineer Gafar” gang was replenished with “pipes”. An engineer in Afghanistan is not a specialty, but a respectful treatment, something like "doctor" in India. Gafar, perhaps, was not very versed in technology, but he was a well-known field commander. The Stingers, which outperformed other MANPADS in terms of range, targeting accuracy and destructive power, made his gang extremely dangerous. This horror of helicopter pilots had to be considered and understood how to deal with it. In addition, the captured sample proved the supply of MANPADS to terrorists by the United States.

In the autumn of 1986, Senior Lieutenant Igor Ryumtsev had just arrived in the 66th Brigade. He got to Afghanistan after several "hacked" reports and with a dream to serve in the airborne assault battalion. In Kabul they offered warm place in the protection of the embassy - he flatly refused. Well, free will, Ryumtsev was sent to Jalalabad. There was a saying in Afghanistan: "If you want a bullet in the ass, go to Jalalabad." Ryumtsev quickly appreciated this humor.
- They usually went to the fighting, disguised as spirits, - says Ryumtsev. - Even mustaches and beards were glued, they were specially brought to us from the film studio "Belarusfilm". I remember the first fight well. There were 16 of us, in the village we immediately ran into two gangs with a total number of up to 250 ghosts. Miraculously, they managed to retreat and take up defense. They fought for several hours. Dushmans were already bypassing us, I thought: that's it, I fought back. But thank God, help arrived. Like in a movie: our turntables appear from behind the mountain, the spirits immediately begin to depart. Rocket, one more... Those who survived are being carried away. At that moment, Ryumtsev realized with every cell that helicopters and pilots must be taken care of like themselves. Five scouts - already a lotAt the end of November, information about the arrival of Stingers to the militants was flooded with intelligence reports. All the forces of the special forces were thrown into the search. The fighters lost their rest and sleep: anxiety followed anxiety, sometimes less than a day passed between sorties in the mountains, the guys barely had time to reload their automatic magazines. True, intelligence sometimes turned out to be a dummy.
“The dushmans themselves traded information,” says Igor Baldakin, a subordinate of Ryumtsev. In Afghanistan, he served as an urgent, in the 86th he was the commander of a reconnaissance platoon. - You are alerted, you rush into some gorge, where the complexes seem to be buried, and ... nothing. I remember once a local brought us into a trap. The whole day he drove through the mountains, showed where to dig. In the end, he brought me to an abandoned village. And shots rang out from behind the walls. We were ready for this, took up positions, opened fire in return. Apparently, there were few Dushmans, they quickly retreated. A large-caliber machine gun fired from a dominant height - a whole airborne assault battalion dug into the ground and could not raise its head. The commander of the reconnaissance company, Senior Lieutenant Cheremiskin, called Starley Ryumtsev and ordered to bypass the dushmans and suppress the firing point. The five of us went. - They walked around the height, climbed, - Ryumtsev recalls. - We see an adobe duval and two platforms protected by stone walls. A large-caliber machine gun, an anti-aircraft mining installation, spirits are fussing around - about ten people. It became uncomfortable. But the effect of surprise was on our side. Prepare grenades - throw - attack. Five spirits remained lying, slashed by fragments, the rest rushed down the gorge. Two were taken out of the machine gun, the rest left. Height taken! When the deputy battalion commander of the DSHB, captain Rakhmanov, came up to us, he was surprised: “Are there only five of you?” I will never forget how our intelligence officer Private Sasha Linga answered. He said: "Five scouts is already a lot." These were his last words. A few minutes later, the militants tried to recapture the height and opened heavy fire from three directions. The bullet hit Sasha in the head. Dushmans went on a counterattack with an unprecedented pressure for them. They fired from 120-mm mortars, they managed to push the enemy back with great difficulty and serious losses. Why the spirits clung to this height so much became clear a little later: seven large warehouses were equipped not far from the positions. - There were uniforms, and weapons with ammunition, and generators, and radio stations, - says Igor Ryumtsev. - They even found Strela anti-aircraft systems. But there were no Stingers.
Mina on the trail
How did they land in Afghanistan? For a couple of seconds. The helicopter descends a meter and a half and hangs only for a moment, necessary for the transition to climb. The paratroopers pour out one by one - "go, go." The latter are already jumping from three meters, and this is with full ammunition. Who did not have time - flies to the base, the turntable will not enter the second time. On December 26, 1986, the landing was even faster. From the duvals of the village of Landiheil, which was to be combed by the reconnaissance company, automatic bursts were heard - the turntables left almost instantly. One fighter did not have time to jump out, the rest scattered behind the boulders and took the fight. - There were fifteen of us, - says Igor Baldakin. - Spirits, apparently, about the same. They had a positional advantage: after all, they fired from behind the walls, and we - from behind the stones. The fight lasted for about an hour. I had a grenade launcher and three shots. Used up everything. In the end, they managed to knock out the spirits from the village, they retreated along the gorge. We saw how they dragged the wounded. The company broke up into groups of three, the soldiers began to explore the surroundings. Ryumtsev's group, which included the starley himself, Igor Baldakin and sergeant Solohiddin Radjabov, headed for the gorge. Step by step we moved along a narrow path - on one side a mountain, on the other a cliff. About 100 meters from the village there was a fork, a small path went up. And a little higher the ground seemed to be slightly loosened. Mine? This is true! Having neutralized the charge, the fighters moved up, observing all conceivable precautions. After all, an ambush could wait behind every stone. Or stretching.
Here is a crevice not visible from the road - such that only one person will squeeze through. And behind it is a cave where a man's foot has obviously stepped. One remained sentry, two more went down. A few minutes later I heard from below: "Take it." - There was a large warehouse, - says Igor Ryumtsev. - The same walkie-talkies, generators and weapons ... But there were also two pipes. We had not seen the Stingers before and did not suspect that we were lucky. Yes, and there was no time to rejoice too much, they called helicopters, handed over everything they found, and then we were transferred to another point. In the evening, when we were warming ourselves by the fire in the mountains, the radio suddenly came to life: from the headquarters they were ordered to urgently transfer the data of those who discovered the cave. Ryumtsev and his comrades found out that the two pipes were the same Stingers two days later at the base. The brigade commander gathered the personnel of the brigade in the club and announced: in accordance with the telegram of the Minister of Defense, Ryumtsev, Baldakin and Radzhabov would be presented to the highest government awards. The guys were congratulated, clapped on the shoulder ... But they never found their awards. To restore justice
If you type in an Internet search engine a request for hunting for the Stinger, World Wide Web will turn out a lot of information. The operation of the Kovtun group and other cases of the capture of MANPADS will be described in detail. But not a word about Igor Ryumtsev and his comrades. And it was this historical injustice that the Afghan veterans decided to correct. "But why did you wait so long?" I ask. - You remember what time it was. - says Ryumtsev. - War, then the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the collapse of the Union ... We scattered throughout the country. Even by country - Solohiddin Radjabov is from Tajikistan. Haven't seen each other for 20 years. And recently they began to meet, to remember the fighting youth. And somehow the question arose by itself: why does no one know that we were the first? We decided to send a request to the archive of the Ministry of Defense. I read the document again: "... intelligence implementation ... captured ... Stinger installation - 2 pcs."
That's right, it was 11 days earlier than Kovtun. True, there is no information in the combat log who specifically captured the MANPADS. But the award list of Igor Baldakin states: it was he who participated in the operation. Information about the rest should also be in the archives of the Ministry of Defense or the GRU, they just need to be found. And what will happen when they find it? Get Heroes? Why not. After all, none of those who mined the Stingers ever received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Either the ideas were lost somewhere, or they didn’t exist at all ... In 2012, 25 years later, the title of Hero of Russia was awarded to GRU officer Yevgeny Sergeev, to whom Kovtun’s group was subordinate. True, by the time of the award, Sergeev had already died for 4 years. Yes, and the Hero was given to him not for the Stinger, but for the totality of his merits. However, for Igor Ryumtsev, it’s far from awards. “We want our children and grandchildren to know how we fought and what we did for the country,” says Igor Ryumtsev. - We want anyone who is interested in hunting Stingers in Afghanistan to find out how it really was. Maybe we were lucky - just a little bit. But this is not just a find. We combed the mountains and villages, stormed the heights and lost comrades. And it seems to us that both we and those who died deserved the simple recognition of the fact that we were the first after all. You can read other materials from the latest issue of the Zvezda weekly by downloading the electronic version of the newspaper.

Reading time: 4 min

Second half of the eighties. The Soviet Union has been waging a protracted and bloody war on the territory of neighboring Afghanistan for seven years, helping the government of the republic to cope with the armed formations of radical fundamentalists and nationalists supported by the United States, Pakistan, and Iran.

Army aviation plays the most important role in carrying out operations against the Mujahideen. Soviet helicopters, turning into a real headache for militants, attack their positions, support the actions of motorized riflemen and paratroopers from the air. Air strikes became a real disaster for the Mujahideen, as they were deprived of their support - helicopters destroyed caravans with ammunition, food. It seemed that a little more and the DRA government troops, together with the OKSVA forces, would be able to neutralize the armed opposition.

However, very effective portable anti-aircraft missile systems soon appeared in the arsenal of the militants. During the first month of their use, the Mujahideen managed to shoot down three Mi-24 helicopters, and by the end of 1986, OKSVA lost 23 aircraft and a helicopter, which were shot down as a result of fire from the ground - from portable anti-aircraft missile systems.

The army aviation command decided to fly helicopters at extremely low altitudes - this was how they expected to avoid cars getting into the grip of the missile's homing head, but in this case the helicopters became an easy target for heavy machine guns enemy. It is clear that the situation required an early resolution, and the headquarters were racking their brains over what to do and how to secure helicopter flights over the territory of Afghanistan. There was only one way out - to find out what kind of weapon the Mujahideen use to fight Soviet helicopters. But how was it to be done?

Naturally, the command immediately came to the conclusion that it was necessary to carefully study the portable anti-aircraft missile systems used by the militants in order to decide by what means or what tactics they could be countered. It is clear that such MANPADS could not have Afghan or Pakistani production, so the Soviet command immediately "took the trail" of the United States, more precisely, the US Central Intelligence Agency, which almost from the very beginning of hostilities in Afghanistan provided comprehensive support to the Mujahideen formations.

The Soviet troops were given the difficult task of capturing at least one MANPADS used by the Mujahideen, which would allow developing more effective tactics to counter the new weapon. This task was to be carried out, as one would expect, by the special forces of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces.

In Afghanistan, the special forces solved a variety of tasks. Being the best trained fighters both in combat and morally and psychologically, Soviet military intelligence officers carried a very significant part of the entire combat load that the Soviet troops faced in this southern country. Naturally, tasks like the capture of the Stinger MANPADS could only be entrusted to the GRU special forces.

On January 5, 1987, the reconnaissance group of the 186th separate special forces detachment went on a combat mission. This detachment was formed in February 1985 on the basis of the 8th separate brigade special purpose. It included not only officers and soldiers of this brigade, but also servicemen of the 10th separate special-purpose brigade, then stationed in the Crimea, servicemen of the 2nd separate special-purpose brigade from Pskov and the 3rd separate special-purpose brigade from Viljandi. The support units were staffed by officers and ensigns from motorized rifle troops. On March 31, 1985, the 186th ooSpN was transferred to the 40th combined arms army, and organizationally included in the 22nd separate special-purpose brigade.

It was the scouts of this unit who had to perform a unique, very difficult and dangerous task - to capture MANPADS. Soldiers under the command of Major Evgeny Sergeev and Senior Lieutenant Vladimir Kovtun advanced to the combat mission. On two Mi-8s, Soviet servicemen set off towards Kalat, where they were to comb the territory near the road to Kandahar. Soviet helicopters flew at a very low altitude, which allowed the military to clearly see three Mujahideen moving along the road on motorcycles.

At that time in Afghanistan, only the Mujahideen could ride motorcycles on the mountain roads. Local peasants, for obvious reasons, did not have motorcycles and could not have. Therefore, Soviet intelligence officers immediately understood who they saw on the ground. Everyone understood and motorcyclists. As soon as they saw Soviet helicopters in the sky, they immediately dismounted and began to shoot from machine guns, and then fired two launches from MANPADS.

Later, Senior Lieutenant Kovtun realized that the Mujahideen did not hit the Soviet helicopters from their MANPADS only because they did not have time to properly prepare the complex for battle. In fact, they fired from MANPADS, like from a grenade launcher, offhand. Perhaps this oversight of the militants saved the Soviet military from losses.

Senior Lieutenant Vladimir Kovtun fired at the Mujahideen with a machine gun. After that, both Mi-8s went for a short landing. The scouts landed from helicopters, dispersed on the ground and engaged in battle with the Mujahideen. However, after a short time, reinforcements approached the latter. The battle became more and more fierce.

Vasily Cheboksarov, who commanded inspection group No. 711, later recalled that the Mujahideen and Soviet soldiers “beat” each other almost point-blank. When the machine gunner Safarov ran out of ammunition, he did not lose his head and "knocked out" the Mujahideen with a blow from the butt of his Kalashnikov machine gun. Surprisingly, in such a fierce battle, Soviet intelligence officers did not lose a single person, which cannot be said about the Afghan Mujahideen.

During the battle, one of the Mujahideen, clutching some kind of long bundle and a “diplomat”-type case, ran out of cover and ran, trying to hide. Senior Lieutenant Kovtun and two scouts ran after him. As Kovtun later recalled, the action movie in itself interested him least of all, but the oblong object and the diplomat were very interesting. Therefore, Soviet intelligence officers chased the Mujahideen.

The militant, meanwhile, was running and had already managed to gain a distance of two hundred meters from Soviet soldiers when Senior Lieutenant Kovtun managed to put him down with a shot in the head. No wonder the Soviet officer was a master of sports in shooting! While Kovtun "took" a militant with a diplomat, other scouts destroyed the remaining fourteen militants who participated in the shootout. Two more "dushmans" were taken prisoner.

Huge assistance in defeating the Mujahideen group was provided by helicopters, which did not stop firing at the militants from the air, supporting Soviet intelligence officers. Subsequently, the officer in command of the helicopters will also be presented with the main award of the USSR - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but he will never receive it.

The destruction of the Mujahideen detachment was far from the only and, moreover, not the most important victory of the Soviet intelligence officers. Senior Lieutenant Vladimir Kovtun, who shot the militant with an oblong bundle, naturally became interested in what kind of object was wrapped in a blanket carried by the militant. It turned out that this was the Stinger portable anti-aircraft missile system.

Soon the scouts brought two more "pipes" - one was empty and the other equipped. But most importantly, a diplomat fell into the hands of Soviet intelligence officers, which contained all the documentation for a portable anti-aircraft missile system. It was truly a "royal" find. After all, the bag contained not only detailed instructions for using MANPADS, but also the addresses of American suppliers of the complex.

The captured Stingers were taken to Kandahar, to the brigade headquarters. The scouts continued to carry out combat missions. Naturally, such an event could not go unnoticed by the command. Four scouts from the reconnaissance group that participated in the operation were presented to the high rank of Hero of the Soviet Union. On January 7, 1987, the commander of the 186th separate special forces detachment of the 22nd separate special forces brigade, Major Nechitailo, prepared presentations for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

But, for some reason, things did not go beyond the presentation. Although the capture of the Stinger, and even with detailed documentation, was indeed a real feat, and most importantly, it made it possible to solve the long-standing problem of ensuring the safety of Soviet army aviation.

Vladimir Kovtun says:

The commander of the brigade, Colonel Gerasimov, arrived. They decided to introduce me, Sergeyev, Sobol, the commander of the board on which we flew, and one sergeant from the inspection group to the Hero. For registration of the submission to the Hero, it is necessary to photograph the candidate. The four of us were photographed and ... In the end, they did not give anything. In my opinion, the “Banner” was given to Sgt. Zhenya had a party penalty that had not been lifted, and a criminal case was opened against me. Why they didn’t give the Hero the helicopter pilot, I still don’t know. Probably, he, too, was in disgrace with his command.

The result of the operation carried out by the GRU special forces soldiers was the capture of existing models of the most modern and effective American man-portable anti-aircraft missile system at that time. Experts were immediately puzzled by the development of countermeasures against the Stingers. Not much time passed and the losses of the Soviet army aviation in Afghanistan were sharply reduced.

As for the captured Stingers captured by scouts, they were presented at a press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DRA as irrefutable evidence of Western powers helping the Mujahideen. It turned out that the Stingers captured by Soviet intelligence officers were the first of a batch of 3,000 pieces, which was purchased by the Afghan Mujahideen in the United States for use against Soviet aviation.

However, no one denied this assistance. The US CIA launched the most active activity among the Afghan Mujahideen groups, and at that time the closest US ally in the region, Pakistan, directly participated in Afghan war, sending their instructors to the formations of the Mujahideen, placing camps and bases of the Mujahideen and even places of detention of Afghan and Soviet prisoners of war on the territory of the border provinces.

Years, decades have passed, and few today remember the feat of the Soviet military personnel who captured the Stingers. Evgeny Georgievich Sergeev, who then commanded the reconnaissance group, after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, continued to serve in the armed forces, participated in the localization of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

In 1995, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, Evgeny Sergeyev retired from the armed forces due to disability, lived in Ryazan for the last years, and in 2008, at the age of 52, died as a result of a long and serious illness resulting from injuries and contusions received in Afghanistan. But the well-deserved award nevertheless found Yevgeny Sergeev - by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 6, 2012, Lieutenant Colonel Sergeev Evgeny Georgievich was awarded the high title of Hero of the Russian Federation posthumously for the courage and heroism shown during the hostilities in Afghanistan.

Vladimir Pavlovich Kovtun rose to the rank of colonel, and in 1999, back in young age, was dismissed from the ranks of the RF Armed Forces - also for health reasons. But "in civilian life" a military officer quickly found his soul's work and took up farming in the Vladimir region.