Pavel Yakovlevich Popovskikh was born in 1946 in the village of Ploskaya, Kurgan region. Graduated from the Far Eastern Higher Combined Arms Command School. According to Popovskikh’s assignment, he ended up in the airborne parachute regiment, stationed in the city of Belogorsk, Amur Region. From there Popovskikh was transferred to Bolgrad, Odessa region.
In 1976, Popovskikh graduated from the reconnaissance department of the Shot course. Later he studied at the Academy. Frunze in Moscow (where, according to media reports, he met Pavel Grachev, who later became the country's Minister of Defense). At the Popovsky Academy he was secretary of the primary party organization.
In 1981, Popovskikh began working in the intelligence department of the headquarters of the Airborne Forces, and in 1990 he headed the intelligence department. In 1997, Popovskikh was transferred to the reserve with the rank of colonel. Subsequently, he worked as a consultant for the Neftestroyservice company.
In 1998-2006, Popovskikh appeared in the media as a suspect in the murder of Dmitry Kholodov, a journalist for the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. Since October 1994, when an explosion occurred in the newspaper’s editorial office, as a result of which the journalist died, Popovskikh was repeatedly interrogated by investigators from the Prosecutor General’s Office as a witness. In February 1998, Popovskikh was detained, and a few days later he was charged with organizing and carrying out the murder of a MK journalist. Subsequently, in addition to the Popovskys, four more former and current servicemen of the Airborne Forces were arrested in this case - the commander of the special detachment of the 45th Airborne Regiment Vladimir Morozov, his two deputies (Alexander Soroka and Konstantin Mirzayants), the deputy head of the Ross security company Alexander Kapuntsov and entrepreneur Konstantin Barkovsky. They were also charged with murder and a number of other crimes. According to investigators, Popovsky instructed his subordinates to deal with the journalist, not wanting complications in relations with Defense Minister Grachev, who had repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with Kholodov’s negative materials about the army and demanded that they stop.
The defendants spent more than two years in prison. In 2000, the case went to trial. The prosecution insisted that the defendants stole explosives, some of which were subsequently placed in a “diplomat” left in the storage room of the Kazansky railway station for Kholodov (this case allegedly contained documents of interest to the journalist about corruption in the Ministry of Defense). The prosecutor's court sentenced Popovskikh to 15 years' imprisonment with confiscation of property, to be served in a maximum security colony, and also requested that Popovskikh be deprived of his military rank and state awards.
On June 26, 2002, the Moscow District Military Court acquitted all those accused of killing Kholodov. On May 27, 2003, the military collegium of the Supreme Court, upon the protest of the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office, overturned the previously issued acquittal. In June 2004, the defendants, including Popovskikh, were again brought to trial and were again acquitted.
In March 2005, after the last acquittal came into force, Popovskikh exercised his right to rehabilitation and filed a statement in court asking for compensation for property damage, as well as “consequences of moral damage” caused by “illegal criminal prosecution "by the investigative authorities. In December 2004, the first consideration of the claim for the rehabilitation of the Popovskys took place. The claim was satisfied, but the court reduced the amount of damages to be compensated by the Popovskys from 3.5 million rubles to 2 million 135 thousand 341 rubles 65 kopecks. The court also ordered the state prosecutor in the Kholodov case, Irina Aleshina, to formally apologize to the Popovskikhs through the media.
In January 2006, it became known that the investigation into the murder of Kholodov by the Prosecutor General's Office would be resumed.
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In May 2006, a second hearing of the Popovskys’ claim took place in favor of the Popovskys - the court decided to recover about 2.8 million rubles in favor of the ex-head of Airborne Forces intelligence, thus satisfying the claim for rehabilitation. He also again ordered the Prosecutor General's Office to apologize to the Popovskikhs. In June of the same year, media reports appeared that the Russian Prosecutor General's Office appealed the reimbursement of Popovsky's funds for illegal criminal prosecution. Representatives of the department insisted that Popovskikh had no right to rehabilitation. In August 2006, the Supreme Court reduced the Popovskys' compensation to 2.5 million rubles, while at the same time freeing the Russian Prosecutor General's Office from making an apology.
Popovskikh - military officer, fought in Azerbaijan, Transnistria, Chechnya. Awarded the Order of Courage (for participation in the Chechen events), the medal "For Military Merit" (for the restoration of the constitutional order in the Azerbaijan SSR). In total he has 12 awards. He is the author of training manuals for intelligence officers and a number of publications in the media.
Popovskikh is married and has two children.
Former defendant in the murder case of Dmitry Kholodov
Retired Airborne Colonel, participant in combat operations in Azerbaijan, Transnistria and Chechnya. Chairman of the central council of the Union of Russian Paratroopers. He was accused in the case of the murder of Moskovsky Komsomolets journalist Dmitry Kholodov and was acquitted. Subsequently, he filed a lawsuit against the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia in connection with unfounded criminal prosecution.
Pavel Yakovlevich Popovskikh was born in 1946 in the village of Ploskaya, Kurgan region. Graduated from the Far Eastern Higher Combined Arms Command School. According to Popovskikh’s assignment, he ended up in the airborne parachute regiment, stationed in the city of Belogorsk, Amur Region. From there Popovskikh was transferred to Bolgrad, Odessa region.
In 1976, Popovskikh graduated from the reconnaissance department of the Shot course. Later he studied at the Academy. Frunze in Moscow (where, according to media reports, he met Pavel Grachev, who later became the country's Minister of Defense). At the Popovskikh Academy he was secretary of the primary party organization.
In 1981, Popovskikh began working in the intelligence department of the headquarters of the Airborne Forces, and in 1990 he headed the intelligence department. In 1997, Popovskikh was transferred to the reserve with the rank of colonel. Subsequently, he worked as a consultant for the company Neftestroyservis.
In 1998-2006, Popovskikh appeared in the media as a suspect in the murder of Dmitry Kholodov, a journalist for the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. Since October 1994, when an explosion occurred in the newspaper’s editorial office, as a result of which the journalist died, Popovskikh was repeatedly interrogated by investigators from the Prosecutor General’s Office as a witness. In February 1998, Popovskikh was detained, and a few days later he was charged with organizing and carrying out the murder of a MK journalist. Subsequently, in addition to the Popovskys, four more former and current servicemen of the Airborne Forces were arrested in this case - the commander of the special detachment of the 45th Airborne Regiment Vladimir Morozov, his two deputies (Alexander Soroka and Konstantin Mirzayants), the deputy head of the Ross security company Alexander Kapuntsov and entrepreneur Konstantin Barkovsky. They were also charged with murder and a number of other crimes. According to investigators, Popovsky instructed his subordinates to deal with the journalist, not wanting complications in relations with Defense Minister Grachev, who had repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with Kholodov’s negative materials about the army and demanded that they stop.
The defendants spent more than two years in prison. In 2000, the case went to trial. The prosecution insisted that the defendants stole explosives, some of which were subsequently placed in a “diplomat” left in the storage room of the Kazansky railway station for Kholodov (this case allegedly contained documents of interest to the journalist about corruption in the Ministry of Defense). The prosecutor's court sentenced Popovskikh to 15 years' imprisonment with confiscation of property, to be served in a maximum security colony, and also requested that Popovskikh be deprived of his military rank and state awards.
On June 26, 2002, the Moscow District Military Court acquitted all those accused of murdering Kholodov. On May 27, 2003, the military collegium of the Supreme Court, upon the protest of the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office, overturned the previously issued acquittal. In June 2004, the defendants, including Popovskikh, were again brought to trial and were again acquitted.
In January 2006, it became known that the investigation into the murder of Kholodov by the Prosecutor General's Office would be resumed.
In May 2006, a second hearing of the Popovskys’ claim took place in favor of the Popovskys - the court decided to recover about 2.8 million rubles in favor of the ex-head of Airborne Forces intelligence, thus satisfying the claim for rehabilitation. He also again ordered the Prosecutor General's Office to apologize to the Popovskikhs. In June of the same year, media reports appeared that the Russian Prosecutor General's Office appealed the reimbursement of Popovsky's funds for illegal criminal prosecution. Representatives of the department insisted that Popovskikh had no right to rehabilitation. In August 2006, the Supreme Court reduced the Popovskys' compensation to 2.5 million rubles, while at the same time freeing the Russian Prosecutor General's Office from making an apology. The press reported that Popovskikh received this money.
After the end of the litigation, Popovskikh often spoke on behalf of the interregional public organization of veterans of the airborne troops and special forces, the Union of Russian Paratroopers. Back in 2003, he became chairman of the central council of this organization, and since 2006 he has been its president. He repeatedly criticized the progress of reforms in the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and in October 2010 demanded an apology from Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who allegedly dismissed the commander of the Ryazan Higher Command School of the Airborne Forces Andrei Krasov and ordered the demolition of the temple built on the territory of the school.
Popovskikh - military officer, fought in Azerbaijan, Transnistria, Chechnya. Awarded the Order of Courage (for participation in the Chechen events), the medal "For Military Merit" (for the restoration of the constitutional order in the Azerbaijan SSR). In total he has 12 awards. He is the author of training manuals for intelligence officers and a number of publications in the media.
Popovskikh is married and has two children.
Materials used
Natalia Bashlykova, Pavel Korobov. The Minister of Defense attacked the church. - Kommersant, 10/18/2010. - No. 193/P (4493)
P. Popovskikh: Serdyukov must apologize for insulting an airborne officer. - Russian news service, 18.10.2010
Pavel Popovskikh. Military reform is like a warning. - Union of Russian Paratroopers, 11.03.2010
Pavel Popovskikh. Russia's military mistake could turn into a tragedy. - Segodnya.Ru, 20.05.2009
Pavel Popovskih Career: Citizens
Birth: Russia
Retired Airborne Colonel, participant in combat operations in Azerbaijan, Transnistria and Chechnya. He was accused in the case of the murder of Moskovsky Komsomolets journalist Dmitry Kholodov and was acquitted. Subsequently, he filed a lawsuit against the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia in connection with unfounded criminal prosecution.
Pavel Yakovlevich Popovskikh was born in 1946 in the village of Ploskaya, Kurgan region. Graduated from the Far Eastern Higher Combined Arms Command School. According to Popovskikh’s assignment, he ended up in the airborne parachute regiment, stationed in the city of Belogorsk, Amur Region. From there Popovskikh was transferred to Bolgrad, Odessa region.
In 1976, Popovskikh graduated from the reconnaissance department of the Shot course. Later he studied at the Academy. Frunze in Moscow (where, according to media reports, he met Pavel Grachev, who later became the country's minister of defense). At the Popovsky Academy he was secretary of the primary party organization.
In 1981, Popovskikh began working in the intelligence department of the headquarters of the Airborne Forces, and in 1990 he headed the intelligence department. In 1997, Popovskikh was transferred to the reserves with the rank of colonel. Subsequently, he worked as a consultant for the Neftestroyservice company.
In 1998-2006, Popovskikh appeared in the media as a suspect in the murder of Dmitry Kholodov, a journalist for the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. Since October 1994, when an explosion occurred in the newspaper's editorial office, as a result of which the newspaperman died, Popovskikh was repeatedly interrogated by investigators of the Prosecutor General's Office as a witness. In February 1998, Popovskikh was detained, and a few days later he was charged with organizing and carrying out the murder of a MK journalist. Subsequently, in addition to the Popovskys, four more former and current servicemen of the Airborne Forces were arrested in this case - the head of the special detachment of the 45th Airborne Regiment Vladimir Morozov, his two deputies (Alexander Soroka and Konstantin Mirzayants), the deputy head of the Ross security company Alexander Kapuntsov and entrepreneur Konstantin Barkovsky. They were also charged with murder and a number of other crimes. According to investigators, Popovsky trusted his subordinates to deal with the journalist, not wanting complications in relations with Defense Minister Grachev, who had repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with Kholodov’s negative materials about the army and demanded that they stop.
The defendants spent more than two years in prison. In 2000, the occupation was brought to court. The prosecution insisted that the defendants stole explosives, a portion of which was then placed in a “diplomat” left in the storage room of the Kazansky railway station for Kholodov (this case allegedly contained documents of interest to the journalist about corruption in the Ministry of Defense). The prosecutor's court determined retribution for Popovsky in the form of 15 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property, serving the sentence in a maximum security colony, and in addition asked to deprive Popovsky of his military rank and state awards.
On June 26, 2002, the Moscow District Army Court issued a not guilty verdict to all those accused of killing Kholodov. On May 27, 2003, the military collegium of the Supreme Court, upon protest from the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office, overturned the previously issued acquittal. In June 2004, the defendants, including Popovskikh, still appeared in court and were still acquitted.
In March 2005, after the final acquittal verdict entered into legal force, Popovskikh exercised his right to rehabilitation and filed a statement in court in which he asked to compensate him for property damage, as well as “consequences of moral damage” caused by “illegal criminal persecution" by the investigative authorities. In December 2004, the first consideration of the claim for the rehabilitation of the Popovskys took place. The claim was satisfied, and yet the court reduced the coverage of the damages compensated by the Popovskys from 3.5 million rubles to 2 million 135 thousand 341 rubles 65 kopecks. The court also ordered the state prosecutor in the Kholodov case, Irina Aleshina, to deliver an official apology to the Popovskys through the media.
In January 2006, it became known that the investigation into the murder of Kholodov by the Prosecutor General's Office would be resumed.
In May 2006, a second consideration of the Popovskys’ claim took place in favor of the Popovskys - the court accepted a conclusion to recover about 2.8 million rubles in favor of the ex-head of Airborne Forces intelligence, thus satisfying the claim for rehabilitation. He also ordered the Prosecutor General’s Office to deliver an apology to the Popovskys. In June of the same year, media reports appeared that the Russian Prosecutor General's Office appealed the reimbursement of Popovsky's funds for illegal criminal prosecution. Representatives of the department insisted that Popovskikh had no right to rehabilitation. In August 2006, the Supreme Court reduced the Popovskys' compensation to 2.5 million rubles, while at the same time freeing the Russian Prosecutor General's Office from making an apology.
Popovskikh - military officer, fought in Azerbaijan, Transnistria, Chechnya. Awarded the Order of Courage (for participation in the Chechen events), the medal "For Military Merit" (for the restoration of the constitutional order in the Azerbaijan SSR). This has 12 awards. He is the author of training manuals for intelligence officers and a number of publications in the media.
Today, the entire airborne brotherhood of Russia, the Soviet paratroopers, scattered by fate all over the world, are grieving from an irreparable loss. The legendary military officer, a man of high honor and unsurpassed valor, Pavel Yakovlevich Popovskikh, has passed away.
A veteran of the airborne troops and special forces, the former chief of intelligence of the Airborne Forces, a man from whose textbooks more than one generation of paratroopers was trained. Along his military path, one can study the bloody history of the last years of the USSR and the formation of Russia. Sumgait, Baku, Vilnius, Abkhazia, Transnistria and, of course, Chechnya...
In news reports today we read: “Accused murderer dies Dmitry Kholodov..." And not a word about the real life of Pavel Yakovlevich.
And this life was not easy. For the petty politicians who once ruled a great power, he, who had his own clear opinion on all pressing issues, seemed a suspicious and even dangerous figure. Popovskikh tried to stay out of politics, but life forced him to be closely involved in this thankless task. Not with idle speeches and Manilov’s projections, but, as befits a soldier, with weapons in hand, defending the power that was ready to feed him to the enemy - both open and hidden. For the head of him and each of the soldiers of the 45th Special Purpose Airborne Regiment he created, Dzhokhar Dudayev promised a high reward, and until these heads were brought, he forbade his Mujahideen from direct clashes with the “gray wolves” (the head of a gray wolf against the background of a parachute is the emblem of the 45th Special Forces Regiment).
During the New Year's assault on Grozny, the attempt to throw hats at the “bandits” cost the Russian army very dearly. What awaited our troops in the capital of Chechnya was not “a bunch of bearded thugs” who had gotten their hands on weapons, as the propagandists insisted, but a trained group well prepared for combat in urban conditions. Our losses were terrible. Under these conditions, the command threw its last reserve into battle - the newly formed 45th regiment under the command of Colonel Popovskikh. A unique and most combat-ready strike unit in Russia at that time.
The regiment was formed just a year before the events described and, in addition to combat units fired at in national military conflicts on the territory of the former USSR, had its own reconnaissance (both military, intelligence, and technical), its own UAV detachment, a psychological warfare detachment with tele and radio broadcasting and its own printing house. The basis for the emerging regiment was the 218th separate special forces battalion, which passed through Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia and Transnistria, as well as the 901st airborne assault battalion, which heroically defended itself in the Sukhumi siege. Pavel Yakovlevich recruited personnel for this regiment with special care. During the years of the liberal collapse of the Fatherland, the 45th Special Purpose Airborne Regiment, in fact, became the embryo of a new Russian army.
But on January 1, 1995, the command sent him to the hell of Grozny. Thrown as the last trump card to save the general’s heroically holding on group Rokhlina, shot by the Mujahideen from all sides. Today it seems absurd, but at that moment there were five Mujahideen for every one of our soldiers. Their training, supplies, and morale were much higher than those of our unexamined conscripts. It seemed that the soldiers who fell into the Chechen trap could either die or be captured. At that moment, the 45th regiment, led by its brave and unbending commander, appeared at the positions of the Russian troops. Having fought their way to General Rokhlin, the scouts broke all the militants’ ideas about how Russian soldiers fight.
Armed only with small arms and grenades, without mortars, artillery or air support, the regiment's maneuver groups actually tore the encirclement ring to shreds. Disappearing and appearing in the most unexpected places, the special forces began brutal extermination work in the rear of the Dudayevites. Very soon the enemy felt that the games were over. Having torn apart the militant units surrounding the remnants of General Rokhlin’s troops, the soldiers of the regiment, which the Mujahideen in panic had already dubbed “presidential”, went to the palace, which served as the headquarters of the rebel General Dudayev. The regiment captured the buildings of a residential high-rise and the Institute of Petrochemistry that covered the approaches to it. Having occupied these commanding heights, after careful reconnaissance and quiet mopping up, the Popovsky people swept away the security of the residence, opening the way for stalled motorized rifles and adjusting the fire of our artillery. The tide of the battle was turned, and victory, which seemed quick and absolute to the Dudayevites, slipped out of their hands.
But returning from the crucible of battle did not promise anything good for Pavel Yakovlevich. His involvement in the victory irritated many wearers of wide stripes and formal suits, who shamefully drained our army in the 1st Chechen War. And the proximity to the general Pavel Grachev, also a paratrooper and comrade P.Ya. Popovskikh at the Military Academy named after. Frunze actually made him a very convenient figure for attacking the then Minister of Defense (no matter how the author treated the controversial figure of General Grachev, it was just a dirty behind-the-scenes struggle between the power elites for influence on Yeltsin). Pavel Yakovlevich and several other officers of the 218th special forces battalion were accused of the high-profile murder of journalist Dmitry Kholodov on October 18, 1994.
The ordered legal chaos and pressure on the “suspects” with the aim of breaking their will, accepting the blame and, most importantly, exposing General Grachev to attack was extremely harsh. The unbroken colonel and his special forces became a bone in the throat of the Prosecutor General's Office and those who stood behind it. His perseverance and confidence in his own rightness, thank God, yielded results - the case fell apart miserably. The heroes were completely acquitted, rehabilitated and they were compensated for moral and material harm. And the search for the real killers of Dmitry Kholodov has since been unsuccessful. And there is no particular agility in this matter now.
Until his last day, Colonel Popovskikh was active in the patriotic education of the younger generation, worked in the Union of Russian Paratroopers and the International Union of Paratroopers. In 2010, he loudly addressed the Minister of Defense, despised by the army and the entire domestic military community Serdyukov demanding an apology to the head of the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School, hero of Russia, colonel, who had insulted him Andrey Krasov. The authority and respect of paratroopers, special forces and military intelligence officers for Pavel Yakovlevich cannot be overestimated. A combat officer, awarded 12 orders and medals, he was a real example for every Margelov warrior.
The textbooks on combat training written by him or under his leadership “ABC of a Scout”, “Training of a Military Scout”, “Single Training of Scouts”, “Reconnaissance Training of Parachute Units” have become a real encyclopedia for scouts and all those who choose this path. His articles on military reform were always sharp and insightful.
On February 5, 2018, Colonel Popovskikh passed away. But paratroopers don't die. They are returning to the sky! Peace be with you, commander, comrade, teacher and true warrior! May the sky greet you blue!
It is often said that he is her witness. In relation to the personality in question, such a definition will probably not be enough. Our interlocutor is not only a living witness to the history of his country, the Armed Forces and the Airborne Forces - he is its creator.
RIVER OF LIFE
In his book “Memoirs of the Chief of Intelligence of the Airborne Troops,” Alexey Vasilyevich compares human life with a water stream, starting with a small stream, gradually gaining strength and subsequently turning into a deep river. Whether this flow will be powerful and crystal clear, giving energy to others, or stunted and muddy, depends on the choice of each of us, the author is convinced.
The stream of life of Alyosha Kukushkin originates on October 23, 1924 in the village of Zayakoshie, Cherepovets district, Vologda region, in a large and friendly peasant family, where in addition to him there were four more brothers and three sisters. Father, Vasily Ivanovich, who had the “Egoria” (St. George Cross) for participation in the First World War, bequeathed to his sons to serve the Fatherland honestly. And the children fulfilled the order of the Knight of St. George. Five sons fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. It's a pity that not everyone returned home alive.
The pre-war years, which included the formation of Alyosha, were characterized by a great military-patriotic upsurge among young people. Every self-respecting town or village sought to acquire parachute towers - this branch of the military was becoming so popular. On one of them, the future Komsomol paratrooper Kukushkin made the first parachute jump in his life (by the way, the veteran still keeps his Komsomol card). Since one jump from a 30-meter creaky wooden structure cost a lot of money at that time - 1 ruble, Alexey had to save for weeks and even collect empty bottles for return. And so that the instructor would not “weed out” the thin young man (persons weighing less than 40 kg were not allowed to jump), Alyosha put on a few more shirts under his jacket to make him more “fat.” This is how the first meeting with the future work of my life took place.
FRONT PRACTICE
Alexey met the beginning of the Great Patriotic War as a ninth grader. Cherepovets, where he studied, became a front-line city - hospitals were deployed there and military units were formed. Faithful to his father’s orders and brought up in a patriotic spirit, the young man voluntarily joined a tank destroyer squad, where he learned to lay mines and prepare Molotov cocktails.
In August 1942, immediately after graduating from ten years of school, Alexey, in the direction of the military registration and enlistment office, became a cadet at the Lepel Infantry School, which at that time was located in Cherepovets. The days of intense study passed quickly. Already in December 1943, the newly minted junior lieutenant Kukushkin, in the pitch darkness of a frozen trench, received his 1st platoon of the 1st rifle company of the 635th rifle regiment of the 5th Army of the Western Front, fighting in the Belarusian direction. In front of the 19-year-old commander stood exactly half of the unit - 16 fighters of seven nationalities aged from 19 to 40 years. And the enemy is only 150 meters away.
Kukushkin received his first combat award - the medal "For Courage" - from the platoon commander for saving a wounded German, whom he and his subordinate, risking their lives, pulled out from no man's land. Thus, the theory, well mastered in school, began to be supplemented by harsh front-line practice.
Kukushkin received his first serious wound in March 1944 in a battle for an unnamed Belarusian high-rise, when a fascist fired a long burst from a machine gun from 15 meters at the advancing Red Army soldiers, led by their platoon commander. One bullet pierced his knee, and five more - the tails of his overcoat.
Long months spent in hospitals followed. Then there was a reserve regiment, the Shot course, and in February 1945, the commander of the rifle company, Lieutenant Kukushkin, was again in battle, this time on the 2nd Belorussian Front. In one of the offensive battles in the Koenigsberg area, the company commander receives another “ridiculous,” as he himself calls it, wound. A piece of frozen earth from a nearby mine explosion knocks him down, breaks his nose, jaw and knocks out his teeth. However, having come to his senses, with the help of orderly Sashka, he washed himself from a nearby puddle, and went not to the medical battalion, but to catch up with his subordinates who had gone ahead. The fighting spirit was so strong that there was no talk of “rest” in the hospital. Everyone, including the company commander, was sure that the war would soon end and this chance should not be missed!
The fighting for Lieutenant Kukushkin ended on May 4 on the Elbe. After the Victory, there was service in Germany, command of various units and even a border outpost guarding the demarcation line between the Eastern and Western parts of this country. In 1947, fate presented the already senior lieutenant with another test. During one of the inspections of combat training, which was carried out by a large Moscow commission, Kukushkin’s subordinate, an experienced front-line soldier, Sergeant Pavlov, out of excitement, dropped a grenade to the bottom of the trench in which the inspectors were crowded... At the last second, the company commander managed to grab and throw the F-1 over the parapet. Everyone remained alive, only three fragments still remain in Alexey Vasilyevich’s head, as a memory of a gross violation of safety measures during combat grenade launching. For this reason, this incident was not made public and, accordingly, the courage of the company commander was not noted.
NEAR MARGELOV
Afterwards he studied at the Academy named after M.V. Frunze, upon completion of which the graduate, instead of the promised Voronezh Military District, ended up in the Far East - in the 37th Guards Airborne Svir Red Banner Corps, commanded by Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Filippovich Margelov.
The corps commander did not greet the academy graduate very warmly, since he honestly stated that he had come to the Far East against his will.
-Are you going to jump? – the general asked menacingly.
“Since I came to the airborne corps, that means I’ll jump,” the graduate answered firmly.
This calmed the situation a little.
Soon Margelov changed his attitude towards the “academician,” as he nicknamed him at the first meeting, and subsequently trusted Kukushkin with the most important matters, being one hundred percent confident in him. Alexey Vasilyevich himself still considers Vasily Filippovich his teacher and mentor and dedicated several of his books to him. By the way, he kept his word to Margelov and subsequently made 512 jumps, with the last one at 61 years old.
Already as a commander, Margelov, realizing that numerous and not always well-thought-out reforms of that time had practically destroyed airborne reconnaissance, instructed Colonel Kukushkin to revive this extremely important area of activity.
Taking into account the front-line experience, absorbed with blood, Kukushkin took up the matter thoroughly. He worked on and proposed fundamental organizational and staffing changes in intelligence agencies and units. He began to persistently strive for significant technical re-equipment, the introduction of new principles for organizing communications and its technical equipment. Kukushkin came up with the idea of using unmanned aerial vehicles. He also proposed using motorized hang gliders as a means of short-range aerial reconnaissance.
Not everything planned was realized for various reasons, but nevertheless, the reconnaissance agencies of the Airborne Forces, thanks to the efforts of the intelligence chief, Colonel Kukushkin, reached a new level. And the role they play today is largely thanks to him.
For the revival of the reconnaissance agencies of the Airborne Forces, the development of methods for training reconnaissance officers and the creation of a special training base for the guard, Colonel Kukushkin was awarded the USSR State Prize.
Following the example of his mentor, Army General Margelov, Colonel Kukushkin sought to try on all innovations for himself and was the first to take risks. Thus, he personally experienced shelling of a tank from a grenade launcher with an inert grenade while inside the combat vehicle. Colonel Kukushkin was the first to land at one of the Czech airfields during the events of 1968. And only after personally verifying the safety of the route did he give the go-ahead for the landing of the remaining An-12s with paratroopers.
Colonel Kukushkin was one of the first to arrive in Afghanistan, even before the official start of hostilities, in order to prepare a meeting of the main landing forces and organize its use. For five years, the chief airborne reconnaissance officer regularly not only organized, but also personally participated in many operations carried out by paratroopers in this warring country.
NOT STAYED AWAY
There are many more worthy deeds on the account of the illustrious veteran of the Airborne Forces, on whose ceremonial jacket there are two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star, the Patriotic War, 1st degree, “For Services to the Fatherland,” 3rd degree, Alexander Nevsky, “Badge of Honor,” “For Service to the Motherland in Armed Forces of the USSR" III degree, medals "For Courage", "For Military Merit", "For the Capture of Koenigsberg", "For Victory over Germany" and many other awards by which you can study the history of the Fatherland.
After his dismissal from the Armed Forces, Alexey Vasilyevich did not remain an outside observer of the events taking place in the country and the army. For seven years he worked actively at the Research Institute of the General Staff, making a significant contribution to the scientific development of the principles and methods of special intelligence, many of which are still used today.
And even now, when due to the years he has lived he can already afford a well-deserved rest, Alexey Vasilyevich finds something to do. In three schools in Cherepovets, where he once studied, as well as in Moscow gymnasium No. 1290, he is a welcome guest. In these educational institutions, with his help, museums dedicated to the Airborne Forces have been created, which the veteran supports, including financially. He has written five books and a study of the history of his family family, starting from the time of Ivan the Terrible, as well as the history of his native village.
– I often meet with the leadership of the Airborne Forces, visit the regiments, and communicate with young people. I see that life does not stand still - the troops are being improved, intelligence is developing. This makes me very happy,” the veteran shared with satisfaction.
The following are only individual fragments of the unique fate of the front-line infantry soldier, reconnaissance paratrooper, which is so multifaceted that almost every episode is worthy of a separate narrative.
“I bow to you. For me, communicating with you is a great honor,” wrote in one of the letters a young paratrooper Mikhail Zinoviev from the Omsk Airborne Forces Training Center, who had the opportunity to meet the veteran before being drafted.
Isn’t this evidence that the large and pure river of life of a unique person not only continues to expand, but also gives rise to new streams, which over time will also turn into mighty streams full of creative forces!