“The survivors are in front of you”: how was the fate of those who survived the battle at the 12th border post in Tajikistan

“Outpost, at once! The survivors are in front of you, ”said Lieutenant Andrei Merzlikin, Lieutenant Colonel Vasily Masyuk, head of the 117th Moscow Border Detachment. If these words were heard now, they would circulate all the news releases, they would be printed on T-shirts. But 27 years ago, few heard them.

After the collapse of the USSR, Russian border guards served on the borders of an already defunct country. On July 13, 1993, at the 12th outpost of the Moscow border detachment in the area of ​​the Sari-Gor settlement, they were attacked by a large group of Mujahideen. For more than 11 hours, the outpost personnel reflected enemy attacks. 25 soldiers and officers were killed. 18 border guards managed to get out of the encirclement. When the chief of the outpost died, the command was assumed by 24-year-old lieutenant Andrei Merzlikin. He told RT about that day.

"One of the first shares of Khattab"

- There are two versions of why the battle began at the 12th outpost. One is the retaliation of the Mujahideen. The other is a breakthrough. What was that really?

- The action of retaliation means punishing people who have harmed the state or done something bad. We did not attack Afghanistan. First, we sat quietly at home, albeit already in the collapsed Soviet Union, but still in our state. Secondly, there was a civil war in Tajikistan. Third, regular units of the Afghan army, the 55th division of Kazi Kabir, attacked.

In relation to this situation - definitely it was not a breakthrough. They had nowhere to go on, solid mountains on. But this is not retribution. Rather, a kind of revenge for failed actions of intimidation that took place over the course of six months at the 16th, 15th, 14th, 13th, 11th, and 10th outposts. And then here is ours.

- The purpose of these actions is to make you leave there?

- Yes. 1993 was the year when it became clear that the Soviet Union had completely collapsed, all the republics were already independent, and everyone was trying to establish themselves. There was a civil war in Tajikistan, a war for power.

Naturally, the border troops then prevented not only the oppositionists and Salafists who wanted to come to power instead of Rakhmonov to gain a foothold, but also restrained the transit flow of drugs through Tajikistan to Russia and further to the West. When our border guards were unable to get through, such attacks were made to force the Russian state to decide on the withdrawal of troops. It was state terrorism, by and large.

- Can we assume that for us it was the second Afghan war?

- Not. I think this is completely different. We were there just as we are in Syria: at the request and in agreement with the government of Tajikistan, we defended the borders, the external borders of the CIS. This was in no way a continuation of those events. It is still, to a greater extent, a civil war, a struggle for who will come to power: Kulyab Rakhmonov or the opposition. And the struggle for the continuation of drug trafficking, which then formed there, and is still operating today - on an even larger scale.

“Why did we need this?” Was it peacekeeping? Did we have any obligations to Rakhmonov? Or was it an attempt to protect the Russians?

- We could not protect the Russians then. Who could have escaped from there, already escaped, because it was an absolutely categorical situation: from love to hate. Even people who were friends with Russian families were attacked there.

For us, no matter how high it may sound, it was still the protection of external borders. Because at that time, the internal borders with the countries of the former Union were not yet settled. And so far it was impossible to talk about their full protection in such a situation. Therefore, our main task was to contain the onslaught from the outside.

All that we then received in Chechnya is the results of that confrontation to some extent. It didn’t work there - they spread to Chechnya. The same Khattab. Our outpost is his first test action against Russian troops.

- That is, Khattab commanded one of the groups that attacked the outpost?

- At least from those documents that were collected by our intelligence (and I read them), this is one of the first independent actions of Khattab.

“There was cowardice and betrayal”

- Who served at the outpost?

- Most of them are guys who came to serve on the border, paratroopers from Germany.

- Were there any signs that there could be attacks? Besides the fact that the situation itself spoke of this?

- There were things that can be classified as mystical. We had a room of a control radio station where two gyurzes lived. And I, since I was the deputy chief of the outpost for combat training, was in charge of the weapons warehouse, I had a cobra there, which I fed with diluted milk powder. Two days before the battle, all the snakes fled. The rats also all ran away. All animals are gone. But this is about mysticism.

We understood that when everyone around us fought and left us alone, we need to wait for troubles. Moreover, the location was worse than us, probably only at the 16th outpost, which was then sequestered. In February 1993, there was also a battle.

If you look at our outpost from a tactical point of view, then this is a tidbit, which, by and large, was not difficult to destroy. Therefore, sooner or later this was to happen.

The series of decisions made by some leaders led to the fact that the outpost was almost destroyed. On the eve of the 11th or 12th, we were forced to transfer ammunition to a warehouse.

- Was that an order?

- Yes, it was an order. The ban on the exit of outfits on the approaches to the outpost. There was a team to organize them directly on the territory of the outpost itself, and not to expel the militants' likely approach to the outpost. I will not say how events would develop if the outfits were on the tracks and we would be better prepared, this is a subjunctive mood.

When we only noticed the militants, the entire outpost completely went to the strong point, combined with the town of the outposts, took up the defense and accepted the battle. We were mentally prepared, although we probably did not expect so many people to trample on us.

There, on the outpost, there were cowardice and betrayal of some fighters. And, to my great regret, these people were still awarded medals “For Courage”, although they fled with weapons and ammunition.

- How many such people were there?

- Enough.

“And the group you left is all who survived the battle?”

- Not. With us came out both those who survived the battle, and those who were merciful. Those guys who were seriously injured also came out. And the next day six more people came out, among whom were also real fighters and cowards.

• Lieutenant Andrei Merzlikin reports to Lieutenant Colonel Vasily Masyuk, Chief of the 117th Moscow Border Detachment
• © 1tv.ru

“Were there those who stayed at the outpost?”

- There were two people left. One, Aminov, was seriously injured. There was no chance to endure. We quietly covered him, there was a grave wound in the stomach and arm. I took the sin upon myself. The next day we found him alive.

And Barbash Kolya. He also survived. We still communicate with him. When we were already leaving the outpost, we called him, and he already heard nothing. "Spirits" then they climbed everywhere. And Kolya went down to the outpost, sat out. Then, when the reserve came up, Kolya crawled out. For himself and for us it is still a mystery how he survived. Apparently, not his time was then.

- And the chief of the outpost, Mikhail Mayboroda, why was he not given the Hero? This is not due to the fact that he died at the very beginning of the battle?

“I can only guess.” Someone in this situation should have been extreme. It seems to me that they made Misha extreme.

The fact that the outpost lasted so much, conquered so much that it was ready is his merit. Let not as ready as we would like, but was. Michael died in 20-25 minutes. In general, 30 minutes are given to destroy such an outpost like ours. We managed to hold out more. So, I think that’s not the point. For example, our common friend with Mikhail, Dmitry Razumovsky, one of the first to die in Beslan, caused the militants to fire on himself. And they gave him a hero posthumously.

“I don’t always believe people who are starting to tell how something has fundamentally affected them.”

- Resignations in the leadership after those events - the commander of the Border Troops of the Russian Federation Vladimir Shlyakhtin and Minister of Security Viktor Barannikov - what did they mean? That it was possible to avoid these losses, that their error was recognized?

- It's hard to say, it was a mistake, not a mistake. Here, rather, the totality of all the factors that played the unfortunate role then. There was a fence around the outpost, but it did not work, and the Basmachis knew about it. Taking into account the radio interception, there was information that there was an attack on the 10th or 11th outposts. Therefore, the reserve initially moved there. When they already realized that this was a mistake and tried to contact us, the wired connection was cut off.

There was also a confluence of circumstances. Exactly a week before, our device for charging batteries for radio stations broke down. They took him to repair. That is, we had only a wired connection, which was cut off.

The factor of remoteness also played its role: the 13th outpost closest to us is 25 km away. The 11th outpost seems to be nearby, but there are 42 km and two days' journey through the mountains. And on the eve of these events, militants came and met with scouts. They were assured that they would protect us from Wahhabis. Someone believed, someone not.

- Where are the dead buried? At the place where the outpost was, now there is a monument.

- All are buried at the place of residence. And at that place a monument was erected in accordance with the order of the Minister of Security on the assignment of the outpost of the honorary name "25 heroes".

• © Vladimir Petrov / YoTube

- How did your fate come about after that fight?

“I don't know how to answer.” I continued to serve. I still serve, until recently, in the state security organs. Say how the fight affected? Probably any of us would like this to not happen again. For me this is a joyless event.

- In battle you had to take responsibility for a large number of people. Have you started to look at some things differently?

- I was 24 years old then. You know, I was very lucky with my parents. It would be hard for me to be different in character, because my mother was a teacher in the same school in which I studied. And she was immediately told about all my leprosy.

I don’t always believe people who are starting to tell how something influenced them radically, broke. I consider such people weak-minded. Of course, this event somehow influenced me, it could not pass without a trace. But I graduated from a military school, and we were all prepared for service.

The profession of the border guard is to wait for the intruder to go, and then to catch up with him. Military people are called upon to defend their homeland, and for this sometimes it is necessary to kill enemies.

I mentally prepared for the fact that there could be a situation where we will either kill us or they will kill us. Inside, of course, something remains. But to radically change something - no. As it was, it remained so.

- You stayed there, in Tajikistan, or were you immediately transferred to another duty station?

- I really wanted to stay, but due to family circumstances I could not: mom and dad are disabled people of group I. Therefore, I transferred to the territorial security agencies. Unlearned in Nizhny Novgorod, in our special institution. Then he served further.

"Chad says he played me"

- The film "Silent Outpost" was shot on these events. What do you think of him?

- We are friends with the director of the film Sergey Makhovikov. By and large, with an unspoken blessing, he removed it. When other people were going to shoot it and I saw the script, I categorically refused to participate in it. Sergey rewrote it on those events. And this film is not only about the 12th outpost. Real historical facts were woven into the outline of the script, but Sergey combined them into one story. Three different cases came together in the film. But in general, all the work has been done historically very correctly.

• Shot from the movie "Quiet outpost." Director Sergey Makhovikov
• © YoTube

Actor Andrei Chadov says that he played me. But he even looks somewhat similar to the head of the outpost, to Mikhail Mayborod. And I told him: "Of course, you played him, with that charisma that he had."

The atmosphere of our outpost is very well conveyed in the film. We could get together in the evening near the warehouses, sit, drink tea, sing songs with a guitar. Competitions were held with different prizes in order to irritate the personnel.

There is also the series "Outpost", there is also an episode about this battle. From their film crew I did not communicate with anyone. But there are a lot of such interesting facts that even for me were a shock, because no one could know about them except me and Mikhail Mayboroda.

- I would like to clarify about parallel stories. That is, the events that are shown in the film are real. But in life they were not connected in one knot?

- Yes, they occurred in different places and at different times existed independently of each other. But, indeed, there was such a story with the wife of an officer who was abducted by dushmans.

- And Yevlanov? It seems to me that the actor who plays Sergei Evlanov is very similar to a real hero.

- There was such a wonderful person, director Sergei Govorukhin. We met in 1995 after his injury in Chechnya, when his leg was amputated. He then told me very correct words: "A true film about a war can only be documentary."

But even a documentary is still a matter of presentation: what is shown, what is an off-screen text. One and the same event can be presented and commented in different ways, shown in different angles.

I owe life to Sergey Evlanov. And I do not hide it. Although he denies this.

- What was his fate? He is the second who was awarded the title of Hero of Russia, of those who survived.

- Sergey Evlanov left for his homeland. Now he lives in Yekaterinburg, heads the foundation named after 25 heroes of the 12th outpost. He works with children, creates detachments of young border guards, and works for our future. He goes in for sports, attracts children to boxing, hand-to-hand combat. He already has several thousand children in this fund.

• Brothers Michael and Ivan Mayboroda at the 12th outpost
• © YoTube

“Have you ever come together — everyone who came out of battle?”

- No, only after the award. Eight people gathered for the 20th anniversary; they came to Lipetsk. And that’s it. Because so many do not want to remember this. They tried to interview some, or even just talk with them about those events, to tell something, - many simply flatly refuse. As well as Ivan Mayboroda (brother of the chief of the frontier post, who was on its territory and along with everyone heroically proved himself in that battle. - RT ).

Unfortunately, he committed suicide several years ago. On the 20th anniversary of the battle, a film was made, and he went there to the outpost. And a year later he laid hands on himself. He never "returned from the battle."

When I came to Vanka, we sat down and he began to engage in strategy, tactics, how to fight, how not to. And all the time: war, war, war ... And he remained in this war. She, unfortunately, still took it.

“Why did Mikhail then take him to his outpost?” Did he want the little brother to be looked after?

- Yes and no. On the one hand, because Vanya had to go to serve in the Kazakh army. And Michael decided that he would better serve in the Russian troops. Then there was an urgent question: which homeland to swear? The second is to really look after. Vanya had a complex character. There were bad habits. But at the outpost he fully served. And the fact that he came out of that battle is probably also God's providence for his parents: one son was killed, the second was present at the same time and did not shame his name, he fought along with everyone. Therefore, both are awarded the same awards.