General killed by his wife under Yeltsin. Lev Rokhlin

15.02.2024

Not only during his short life, but also after his death, General Rokhlin attracted the close attention of the people. He passed his life's journey in striving and struggle aimed at improving the quality of life of the entire country. A strong army, developed science, a stable economy - all for the benefit of humanity.

Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin was born on June 6, 1947 in Kazakhstan. The mother raised the future general, like his three brothers, alone. Rokhlin's father was detained for political reasons shortly after the birth of his son. In the 10th year of Lev’s life, the Rokhlin family moved to Tashkent. It was there that the future famous general spent his youth.

Starting from school, Rokhlin was distinguished by high academic performance and efficiency. This allowed him to receive his subsequent education at the Higher Combined Arms Command School in Tashkent, and his higher education at the Academy named after. Frunze, as well as at the Academy of the General Staff.

Having received a combined arms qualification, the young officer refused the required leave and immediately went to service. He was assigned to a group of Soviet troops in East Germany. The service took Rokhlin from the Arctic to the Turkestan district.

From 1982 to 1984, the future General Rokhlin served in Afghanistan. He started as a regimental commander, but in the second year of service he had a division under his command. He personally took part in battles and was seriously wounded several times. Nevertheless, the command decided that he could not cope with one military operation and, as a result, in 1983 he was removed from his post and appointed deputy commander of a motorized rifle regiment. But for impeccable service, in less than a year the general is restored to his previous position.

The end of 1994 - the beginning of 1995 included service in the Chechnya region. He headed a separate corps on the territory of the republic, participated in a number of operations to capture areas of Grozny and in campaigns organized for negotiations with militants. Having numerous awards received over the years of service, General Rokhlin refused the title “Hero of the Russian Federation” for participating in the battles in Grozny.

Not stopping there, he begins work on his political career. Already in 1995, he was elected to the State Duma of the second convocation. In 1996, General Rokhlin joined “Our Home is Russia”. This tandem brought him a position in defense.

September 1997 was a turning point in the general's career. He makes the fateful decision to create his own political party. He was one of the strongest opposition leaders of the time, who was worried about the fate of the army and the country as a whole. However, conversations among Rokhlin's colleagues and associates that he was preparing a coup to remove Russian President Boris Yeltsin from office led to Rokhlin being removed from his position.

On the night of July 3, 1998, the politician died in a country house located in the Moscow region. The accusation was brought against his wife, Tamara, but who killed General Rokhlin was not precisely established.

As a result of lengthy trials, Tamara Rokhlina, who refuses to admit her guilt, was sentenced to 4 years of suspended imprisonment and 2.5 years of probation.

Some facts regarding the life and death of the general remain in question. Whether he wanted to carry out a coup, who killed L. Ya. Rokhlin and for what purpose, this worries the people of Russia to this day.

In the Prionezhsky region of the Republic of Karelia, a monument to General Rokhlin was erected. For all this time, he deserved more than one fair award, which marked his courage and selfless service for the good of his Motherland.

More than 17 years have passed since a killer bullet ended the life of State Duma deputy, military general and simply wonderful person Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin. He fought in Afghanistan, went through the First Chechen War, was seriously wounded and shell-shocked, but still survived. And he was shot in peacetime, in bed, at his own dacha in the Moscow region. What was Lev Rokhlin like and what did he want? The life and death of the general, as well as versions of his death - read about all this further.

The beginning of the way

He was the youngest of three children. His father, Yakov Lvovich Rokhlin, went through the Great Patriotic War and, returning home to Aralsk (Kazakh SSR), could not get a job at the school where he worked before the war, he had to get hired in a fishing artel. On June 6, 1947, his second son was born, who, following Jewish traditions, was named after his grandfather. In 1948, when Lev was not even eight months old, his father was arrested, and since then nothing has been known about him. Most likely, he died in the Gulag, like thousands of Soviet citizens illegally convicted. The mother, Ksenia Ivanovna, was forced to raise three children alone.

About ten years after the above events, the mother’s relatives helped the Rokhlins move to Tashkent. Here Lev Yakovlevich graduated from school and went to work at an aircraft factory, from where he was drafted into the army. Having served the required term, he returned to his native land and, like his older brother, entered the Tashkent military school in 1967. When submitting documents, Vyacheslav and Lev Rokhlin either deliberately hid, or did not know, that their father was a Jew, since according to the documents they themselves were listed as Russian. If they had told the truth, the brothers would no longer be able to count on a good promotion, since such a background was not welcomed in those days.

Military career

The future General Rokhlin graduated from the Tashkent School with honors in 1970. He was among the top ten cadets. By that time, Lev Yakovlevich had been married for two years. He was immediately assigned to serve in a group of Soviet troops stationed in the GDR, in the city of Wurzen. After 4 years, he entered the Military Academy named after. Frunze. Like previous educational institutions, he graduated with honors in 1977. After this, Rokhlin served in the Turkestan, Transcaucasian and Leningrad military districts, as well as in the Arctic.

Afghan period

In 1982, the future General Rokhlin went to fight in Afghanistan. There he commanded one of the motorized rifle regiments stationed east of Fayzabad. It is worth noting that he took part in many military special operations carried out on Afghan territory, and was always distinguished by courage, determination and resourcefulness.

But in April of the following year, Rokhlin was removed from his position, demoted and sent to another regiment. His fault was that he made, in the opinion of the high command, the wrong decision. The fact is that one of the battalions of his regiment was ambushed by the Mujahideen in some mountain gorge. Then the regimental commander realized that his soldiers were in a disadvantageous position and would not be able to continue the battle without suffering heavy losses. To avoid unnecessary casualties, Rokhlin gave the order to blow up the blocked equipment and retreat. As a result, the battalion escaped the trap with minimal losses.

After this, Lev Yakovlevich served as deputy commander of the 191st motorized rifle regiment located in Ghazni. In the winter of 1984, his boss was put on trial for abandoning his soldiers to certain death in a headquarters surrounded by rebels, and he himself shamefully escaped using a helicopter. Meanwhile, Rokhlin took command and led his subordinates out of the deadly ring. After this incident he was reinstated. Under his command, the regiment fought very successfully. Take, for example, the operation carried out in the fall of 1984. It consisted of capturing a rebel base located in the Urgun area.

Seriously wounded

This operation was the last one carried out by Lev Rokhlin on the territory of Afghanistan. While flying over the area where the fighting took place, his helicopter was shot down. This time, the death of General Rokhlin was bypassed, and he survived. However, the wound turned out to be serious: his spine was damaged, his legs were broken, etc. First he was treated in Kabul and then in Tashkent hospitals.

The doctors' verdict was disappointing: to be discharged from the army for health reasons. But since Rokhlin did not imagine his life in the entire ranks of the armed forces, he somehow got a different wording from the doctors and still remained in the service. By the way, his wife, Tamara Pavlovna, was a nurse. She got a job at the hospital where her husband was being treated and was by his side throughout the course of treatment.

Further service

After being discharged from the hospital, Rokhlin was appointed deputy division commander in the Turkestan garrison of Kizil-Arvat. By that time he had a daughter and an eight-month-old son, who soon fell ill with encephalitis, which immediately affected his general development. After this, Tamara Pavlovna had to leave her job and run around hospitals with a disabled child.

Two years later, Lev Rokhlin is transferred to serve in Azerbaijan, where he becomes involved in the suppression of the rebellious Baku nationalists who provoked the massacre of Armenian families in Sumgait. When the collapse of the Soviet Union occurred, he decided to return to Russia. In 1993, Rokhlin entered the General Staff Academy and, as usual, graduated with “excellent” marks. After he became a major general, he was offered the position of commander of the 8th Volgograd Corps.

First Chechen War

From December 1994 to February 1995, Lev Yakovlevich and his soldiers participated in military operations in Chechnya. The facts speak about how General Rokhlin, whose biography was already full of military exploits, led his subordinates. The actions of his 8th Guards Corps were among the most effective and also suffered the least losses. This spoke only of one thing: their commander was a skilled and talented military leader.

Before the war, Rokhlin was considered by some to be a tyrant, since he paid great attention to combat training. As time has shown, he was right, and Suvorov’s well-known saying “hard in training, easy in battle” fully justified itself. In Grozny, General Rokhlin fought along with his soldiers. Together with them he celebrated the New Year 1995. Of the 2,200 Volgograd residents who fought with him in Chechnya, 1,928 soldiers were nominated for awards, but only about half received them. Rokhlin himself considered it right to refuse the title of Hero of Russia. He explained his action by saying that he could not accept rewards for the shed blood of his fellow citizens.

Political activity

It must be said that General Lev Rokhlin did not fight for the sake of any career achievements, and he received his awards not by sitting in the rear and pleasing his superiors, but by performing selfless service for the good of his country. While fighting in Chechnya, he realized that the Russian army itself was in dire need of protection, and above all, from insatiable officials and incompetent authorities.

In 1995, on the eve of the State Duma elections, one of the parties called “Our Home is Russia” took advantage of his unlimited authority. It was then that his career as a politician began. He entered this highest body of power, joined the NDR faction and was soon elected chairman of the Duma Defense Committee. It took him very little time to understand the main thing - the government led by President Yeltsin was deliberately destroying the army. Therefore, two years later he leaves his party, and then the NDR faction.

New movement

In 1997, General Rokhlin became the initiator and main organizer of a new political force. It became known as a movement in support of the army, defense industry and science. The purpose of this organization was not only to protect, but also to revive the Armed Forces of the state. It was very difficult to do this under the conditions of that time. The goal of this movement was to ensure that all citizens of Russia, without exception, strictly observe the Constitution, and the government, in turn, undertakes to fully ensure all the rights and freedoms prescribed in it. In addition, the new force demanded that the authorities carry out democratic reforms.

Quite quickly the movement grew into a national front, which openly opposed the then existing Yeltsin regime. Rokhlin himself turned from an ordinary military general into one of the most famous and influential political figures in Russia. This movement frankly frightened the entire government leadership. Its leader began to be called a provocateur, pushing the army to carry out a military coup in the country. But, despite this, Rokhlin’s authority grew every day, and not only in army circles, but also among the population. He was rightfully recognized as the most active opposition politician of 1997-1998.

Elimination of an objectionable general

Passions were brewing. The climax was the night of July 2-3, 1998. The next morning the news announced that General Rokhlin had been killed at his dacha, located in the village of Klokovo near Moscow. According to the official version, his sleeping wife, Tamara, shot him while he was sleeping, and the reason for this was a banal family quarrel.

At the end of autumn 2000, the Naro-Fominsk City Court found the wife of General Rokhlin guilty of the death of her husband. Tamara Pavlovna appealed to the relevant authorities with a complaint that the period of pre-trial detention was too long, as well as the deliberate delay of the trial. Her claim was satisfied and monetary compensation was paid. Five years later, a new trial took place, where she was found guilty of murder for the second time and sentenced to four years probation.

The real reasons for the tragedy

There are still several versions about how the murder of General Rokhlin occurred. As mentioned above, the first and official one is a family quarrel. But how can you believe this? General Rokhlin's wife, Tamara Pavlovna, who had been following him unfailingly all these years to the military garrisons where he had to serve, and raising two children, one of whom is disabled, suddenly, for no apparent reason, kills her husband because of an ordinary family quarrel. ... Although the woman was convicted, convincing evidence of her guilt was never presented.

The second version of the murder is political, in which Russian special services are involved. In this regard, there is information that the GRU and the KGB operated special departments that were engaged in the direct liquidation of people who had become objectionable or dangerous to the authorities.

The second version is also supported by the fact that not a single fingerprint, including that of the general’s wife, was found on the murder weapon - the pistol. This suggests that professionals acted, and not an ordinary woman who had once again quarreled with her husband.

In the Rokhlin murder case, there were two fairly strong pieces of evidence that there were strangers in the house. The first of them is the closed front door before the murder and open after it. The second evidence is that three charred corpses were found in a forest belt not far from the general’s dacha, and, according to the testimony of local residents, they were not there before Rokhlin’s murder. This means only one thing: they appeared there immediately after the murder of Lev Yakovlevich. The conclusion suggests itself that the bodies in the forest belt could belong to Rokhlin’s killers, who were removed after the crime they committed.

Protecting the honor and dignity of the family

The life and death of General Rokhlin is still in the news. Information about those who ordered and organized the murder was never made public. And, as time has shown, nothing has changed in the vertical of power over these 17 years. The same Yeltsin formula still applies: it’s either bad or nothing about the Rokhlins. Therefore, no one was surprised when another dirty material about their family appeared in Express Newspaper.

This time, the daughter of General Rokhlin, Elena, filed a lawsuit against the corrupt media for the protection of honor and dignity. In court, the authors of the slander dodged as best they could, having absolutely no evidence regarding their fabrications. In addition, they were stalling for time in every possible way by not appearing at the meetings. As a result, the court ordered the newspaper to publish a refutation. But for this to happen, the general’s daughter had to walk around the bailiffs’ offices for a whole year and a half!

Conclusion

It should be noted that after Lev Yakovlevich, an equal opposition leader did not appear in Russia. And this is not surprising, because no one else had such popularity among the civilian population and military personnel. He enjoyed what is called real authority among the people.

This was Lev Rokhlin. The life and death of the general should serve as an example for modern false patriots who are engaged in inflating a non-existent problem concerning the so-called “enemies” of Russia, without taking any concrete action. It is necessary to remember what this man did for the Russian army and for the country as a whole. And also try to implement and even increase everything that General Rokhlin stood for and was killed for.

"We should have arrested the president"
Military coup: unknown details of Rokhlin's conspiracy

On July 20, 1998, Boris Yeltsin was supposed to be arrested - power in the country would pass to the military. Two weeks earlier, the organizer of the conspiracy, General Lev Rokhlin, was found murdered at his own dacha. 13 years after the failed coup, RR spoke with participants and witnesses of the conspiracy and recreated the picture of the proposed change of power.

I didn’t really think much of it, to be honest. I thought everyone was in favor. And who could be against it? To the Kremlin Regiment, damn it, right through the Spasskaya Tower with two suitcases full of shutters, they were rushing, they could barely close them - such suitcases! - Retired Colonel Nikolai Batalov jumps up from his chair, spreads his arms to the sides, and you understand: the suitcases were really huge, and there really were a lot of closures in them. But the Kremlin regiment needed them because their carbines had no bolts and were not combat rifles.

Now Batalov works as the director of “general issues” of one of the chemical plants in the Volgograd region. And at that time he was first deputy commander of the 8th Army Corps, and then headed the regional branch of the Movement in Support of the Army. And he was allowed to see almost all the details of the plan to seize power. He can talk about this completely freely, because no criminal case has been opened regarding those events; officially, there was no conspiracy. And no investigator is interested in what exactly he carried in his suitcases through the Spasskaya Tower.

And so, I have these suitcases of bolts, and another comrade has a lot of cartridges,” continues Batalov. - They passed and left. We were preparing... But we turned out to be complete suckers! We were no conspirators. That's where they got burned.

By that time, Rokhlin and his immediate circle were under total surveillance and wiretapping - this is beyond any doubt. That is, everyone knew what he was preparing... - the former commander of the Airborne Forces, General Vladislav Achalov, told RR, an interview with whom we recorded just a few weeks before his unexpected death.

Rebel General

Lev Rokhlin was indeed preparing a military coup. This was, perhaps, the only precedent in the entire post-Soviet history of what could be called a “real military conspiracy.” And if we take it more broadly, then throughout Russian history after the Decembrist uprising. Indeed, over the past two centuries, in all the revolutions, coups, and rebellions, if the army played any role, it was the role of an extra.

Lieutenant General and State Duma deputy Lev Rokhlin, who at one time refused the title of Hero of Russia for the “civil war in Chechnya,” developed such vigorous opposition activity in 1997–1998 that he frightened both the Kremlin and other oppositionists. “We will sweep away these Rokhlins!” - Boris Yeltsin threw in his hearts, and deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation contributed to the removal of the rebel from the post of head of the parliamentary defense committee.

The military general who stormed Grozny during the first Chechen campaign got into the State Duma on the lists of the quite official movement “Our Home is Russia.” But he quickly disagreed with the weak party in power (Rokhlin called the head of the NDR Chernomyrdin among his associates nothing more than a “spider”), left the faction and created the Movement in Support of the Army, Defense Industry and Military Science (DPA).

The organizing committee of the movement included former Minister of Defense Igor Rodionov, former commander of the Airborne Forces Vladislav Achalov, ex-head of the KGB Vladimir Kryuchkov and a number of equally notable retirees with significant influence and connections among the security forces.

Then there were trips to the regions, a personal plane, helpfully provided by one of the leaders of the military-industrial complex, meetings with governors, packed halls in large cities and the most remote military garrisons.

Rokhlin and I went on several business trips - to Kazan and other places,” General Achalov recalled, “I heard speeches, saw how he was perceived. He expressed himself extremely harshly. It is unthinkable to hear such a thing from a federal deputy today. And everyone was afraid of him then - not only the Kremlin, but also the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party...

There were times when we gathered in a very narrow circle at his dacha, there were literally five or six of us,” Achalov continued. - Of course, initially there were no plans for an armed seizure of power or an armed uprising. But then the life situation pushed me towards this. Because the leapfrog in the state was gaining momentum, growing simply catastrophically quickly. You remember 1998, right? Since the spring, the boy Kiriyenko was prime minister, and in August there was a default. So imagine what would have happened if Rokhlin had not been killed in July. The option of involving the army was not at all excluded.

Achalov did not talk about any additional details. He mentioned, however, that Rokhlin “could rely on the Volgograd 8th Corps in any matter.” Rokhlin has commanded this corps since 1993. With him he went through the “first Chechen war.” And even when he became a deputy, he paid very special attention to him: he regularly met with officers, personally supervised the issues of rearmament and equipment of the corps, turning it into one of the most combat-ready formations.

About two years after Rokhlin’s death, I talked with the officers of this Volgograd corps, they told me something, and, based on these stories, something could really work out there, - the head of the “Union of Officers” Stanislav Terekhov assures us, the same thing time part of Rokhlin's entourage.

Coup Plan: Army

“So you want details,” Colonel Batalov looks at me thoughtfully.

Early morning, we are sitting in the bar of a Volgograd hotel. I emphasize that almost a decade and a half has passed, all statutes of limitations have expired, and many things can be discussed openly. Finally the colonel agrees:

Fine. How was this event even planned? They wanted a forceful seizure of power. Power! There wasn’t even any talk about any “protest events.” This is so, not serious. It was here, in the center of Volgograd, on the Square of the Fallen Fighters and the Renaissance Square, that it was planned to withdraw the forces of the corps.

Literally like the Decembrists on Senate Street? - I clarify.

Right. But Yeltsin did not have the same forces here that Nicholas I had in St. Petersburg, who shot the rebels with grapeshot. Apart from the corps, there were no forces here at all. Well, a brigade of internal troops in Kalach. Another convoy battalion. And there would be no one to stop us if we really went out.

After the corps' performance, notification occurs to other army units. We would be supported in a variety of places. I don't know the whole scheme. I speak for what I know. Here is the Kremlin regiment, the security regiment, it was divided in half: part of the command was for Rokhlin, part was for the president. This regiment could not have stopped us, even if we had come straight to the Kremlin. The main reserve command post of the armed forces was simply bought - they gave money to whoever needed it, good money, and he said: “That’s it, at this time the security will be removed. I’ll leave, and here’s your connection with the whole world.” And with the country - there’s nothing to say, with all the army structures. We had two transport planes, let’s say, in the Pacific Fleet, Marines, two battalions, spent two or three days at the airfield.

For what? To fly to Moscow?

Yes! And the same thing happens in the Black Sea Fleet. A brigade of marines stood ready in Sevastopol. Naturally, the Ryazan Higher Airborne School. The cadets' internships were cancelled. They were somewhere at the training grounds, but at a certain point they were returned to Ryazan. Because Ryazan is two hundred kilometers from Moscow. The school was one hundred percent for us. And there was an agreement with the leadership of the Taman and Kantemirovskaya divisions that at least they would not oppose us.

Coup Plan: Citizen

It was a solid system project that met all the requirements of what is called in science “system engineering of projects,” Rokhlin’s former adviser Pyotr Khomyakov provides the scientific basis for the failed coup. - There are classic works on this subject. The same Jenkins. The core of the project in this case is military action by the army. And the environment for implementation is mass protests, information campaigns, local political support, economic support. And even external support. Based on this, we analyzed commodity flows in the capital. And the presence of powerful, active strike committees in settlements along these routes. It was planned that on the eve of the army's action, the strikers would allegedly spontaneously block the routes along which certain goods were delivered to Moscow, the absence of which would cause social tension. For example, cigarettes. The absence of smoking would have inflamed the situation in Moscow, and negative sentiment would have grown.

How did you know all these routes?

Yes, from the Moscow City Hall! Luzhkov was a direct participant in Rokhlin’s project. By the way, on the day of the general’s assassination, a meeting between Rokhlin and Luzhkov was scheduled for 11 a.m. to clarify some details. The Moscow media, on Luzhkov’s command, would blame the Kremlin for the tobacco crisis.

In Rokhlin’s team, Khomyakov was responsible for developing mechanisms for socio-economic support for army performances. At the same time, he was a political observer for RIA Novosti, and also a Doctor of Technical Sciences, a professor at the Institute of System Analysis of the Russian Academy of Sciences. RR found him in Georgia: in 2006, he joined the Russian dwarf ultranationalist organization Northern Brotherhood, and after the leader of the Brotherhood, Anton Mukhachev, was arrested, he fled to Ukraine, where he asked for political asylum, and from there to Georgia.

In parallel with the creation of a commodity shortage, mass protests were planned.

Everything was planned out. Who from which region is responsible for what after arriving in Moscow. Bridges, train stations, telegraphs. It’s not difficult to paralyze the operation of the apparatus, says Nikolai Batalov. - Ten people came and turned off the substation - that’s all, there was no connection. And the rest is the same. They came and announced on TV: “Yeltsin has been overthrown, sent into retirement - this is his abdication.” And what? He needs a soldering iron... - he would definitely sign a renunciation. And the State Emergency Committee are idiots, forgive the expression, who were shaking and didn’t know what they wanted. We clearly knew what we wanted and what needed to be done. Fifteen thousand - twenty thousand people would come to Moscow in one day just from Volgograd. This would be enough to paralyze the activities of all government institutions. Personally, I had to bring one and a half thousand. I already had it planned: some by train, some by bus.

Where did the money come from for this?

Rokhlin gave. One day he says: “24 thousand dollars is for expenses associated with the promotion of the people.” Although many helped from the bottom of their hearts. For example, the head of the railway depot, when I came to him to ask for help - to transport people to Moscow, said: “We’ll hook up a couple of cars to a passenger train, you’ll fill it with people.” There were buses and refrigerators with food. The director of one of the factories told me: “Here is a connected refrigerator, completely filled with stew. This is all from my factory, everything was purchased. Second refrigerator - different food for you.” And, let’s say, the mayor of Volzhsky said: “I’ll give you forty buses.” Well, it didn’t work out forty - he was supposed to provide about fifteen buses. Evgeniy Ishchenko was our mayor for a time, then he was imprisoned under a far-fetched pretext. I met with him in 1998 and said: “We need to help a little - change people’s clothes the same way.” He bought, I don’t know, five thousand sets of uniforms with his own money. I drove a car - I have a V8, a Lada - I did reconnaissance of the route: where to park, where to refuel. On the way, I looked at where the gas stations and oil depots were. I even prepared special receipts - that when we take power, we will return the money - as much as the diesel fuel was poured for...

Where did Lev Rokhlin get his financial support? Apparently, it was indeed from enterprises close to him in the military-industrial complex, which were then suffering from the curtailment of state defense orders.

Rokhlin had a very clear program for supporting manufacturing business, in the development of which I and my colleagues from the Institute of Systems Analysis of the Russian Academy of Sciences took part - I actively consulted with them, says Pyotr Khomyakov. - So the manufacturing businessmen supported the general and secretly assisted him in every possible way. Thus, most of the strikes of that period were organized by them themselves, of course, without advertising it, and they agreed with the general on the time and place of these strikes. During the May holidays of 1998, a series of performances took place under the flags of the Movement in Support of the Army. It was also a sounding of the army environment - how active officers of different units support the events, how the command of these units feels about this. Everything was checked. As a result, the march of army units to Moscow would be politically triumphant. And each regiment that moved up near Moscow would have deployed into a division, supported by columns of literally hundreds of thousands of strikers.

External support had to come from the West. Of course, not from NATO, but from Alexander Lukashenko.

“I myself did not participate in organizing this event, but I know from other members of the team that there was a secret meeting between General Rokhlin and Lukashenko in the forest on the border with Belarus,” says Khomyakov. - You know, it’s interesting: when Lukashenko gave a press conference at RIA Novosti and walked into the hall, Rokhlin stood in the aisle, letting Alexander Grigorievich pass. They didn't say hello. But they exchanged such meaningful glances! This was clear only to themselves and to those who were in the know and standing nearby. Then, when some persistent journalists said that they said hello, the general smiled and answered: “What are you talking about?!” But we do not know each other. We stood two meters from each other and didn’t say a word to each other.”

Unsuccessful rehearsal

The first attempt to perform was scheduled for the twentieth of June. Lev Rokhlin then once again came to Volgograd.

After the bathhouse, we discussed this whole matter, in the morning the commanders left, and at four in the morning everything here began to buzz: we were blocked by a brigade of internal troops. The same one from Kalach,” recalls Nikolai Batalov. “I rush to Lev Yakovlevich and say: “So and so, what should I do? We've been covered." But they didn't know where the command post was. The command post has already entered the field, there are twenty vehicles, communications and everything else. Rokhlin says: “Let’s return everything to its original state. And I'm going to Moscow. Nothing will work out - they’ll tie everyone up.” The event had to be postponed. He didn’t live for two weeks... I was on the eight - I put Lev Yakovlevich in prison and drove him to Moscow, straight to the State Duma. He made it to the meeting and there he said: “I don’t know anything.” While he was alive, he covered us. And then they called me to the FSB. But by that time I had left the post of deputy corps commander and only headed the DPA department. And the officers were mocked. Some were immediately fired, others were transferred. They let me listen to our entire conversation in this bathhouse.

Have you been written to?

Yes. In general, they all knew. When Rokhlin spoke directly to someone in the steam room, they did not have these recordings. We went there one by one. It was hot - the equipment apparently didn’t work. And in the hall they heard everything...

After the incident, the illustrious corps was disbanded. Just as demonstratively as his officers were going to threaten the capital. In the Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad we could not find the corps banner that was originally displayed there. It turned out that he was requested to Moscow, to the Central Museum of the Armed Forces, and handed over to the banner archive. So that nothing in Volgograd will remind you of the building.

Kazantsev (Viktor Kazantsev, at that time commander of the troops of the North Caucasus Military District - “RR”) then personally told me: “Putschist, you will not serve with me, go to Transbaikalia,” recalls the former communications chief of the 8th Corps Victor Nikiforov.

He is one of those who were suspected of involvement in preparing the rebellion. Although Nikiforov himself still denies this.

Lev Yakovlevich once flew here, they arranged, as usual, officer gatherings,” he says. - We drank. I wasn't there, unfortunately. And then the hot heads started: “What is Moscow, we will crush it, the people will rise up!” The mood is fighting after Chechnya. And there was Rokhlin’s careless statement that “the divisions are all with us, and the aviation will support.” People were just sitting at the table in the kitchen, drinking. And the guys from the KGB-FSB listened to them. And Rokhlin then dropped: “Nikiforov has everything, he has warehouses, equipment.” And I have really good zone equipment, a workshop, a warehouse. Not to take Moscow, but to defend our homeland. I wasn't at that meeting! And still they dragged me to the FSB, and a year later they kicked me out of the army. Only because Rokhlin said my last name once.

Viktor Nikiforov's words can be interpreted in different ways. One can assume that he did participate in the conspiracy, but even now, after 13 years, he is afraid to admit it. Or you can believe him, and then it turns out that General Rokhlin did not fully understand whose support he had and whose he did not, and became a hostage to his own inner circle, which assured him that the army unconditionally supported his actions. In any case, the chances of the conspirators no longer seem so obvious.

Unfortunately, Rokhlin set himself up as an inexperienced politician. Let’s speak directly, somewhat straightforward,” recalls the leader of the “Union of Officers” Stanislav Terekhov. - I’m also straightforward, but I feel where there is a traitor, I feel it in my gut. Rokhlin either felt it or not, but there were too many strangers around him.

After the failure of the first coup attempt, the second, decisive attack was scheduled for July 20. And on July 3, Lev Rokhlin was shot.

Committee for the Salvation of Russia

Did the conspirators have a real plan of action in case of victory? Yes and no. But they imagined the first organizational steps.

From the point of view of political realities, a certain transition period was assumed. Military revolutionary dictatorship! - Peter Khomyakov is extremely frank. - But Lev Yakovlevich did not want to prolong this period at all. It was planned to immediately convene the Constituent Assembly. And then full-fledged competitive elections. There was no doubt that he and his team would have won these elections quite honestly.

There should have been five people in the transitional government, says Nikolai Batalov. - I am a military man, and for me this is super-democratic. But I don’t know who these five are.

Well, Rokhlin should have been among them?

No, no, one hundred percent! He did not want to be in supreme power. Neither a dictator nor a ruler. No one. He is an instrument, performing a task - overthrowing Yeltsin and his clique.

And five people come to power - the Committee for the Salvation of Russia. Everyone is equal. There is no chairman. In the regions, institutions “watching over the authorities” are being created through the structures of the DPA. The executive branch, the legislative branch, the army, the police, and everything else revolve around them. For example, I was supposed to be such a “supervisor” in the Volgograd region. He would immediately receive a lieutenant general: his own power! If I wanted to, I would hang myself a colonel general. So there was something to fight for. But that’s just me, figuratively.

According to Batalov, the conspirators were concerned even with such a seemingly minor issue as preventing anarchy and chaos after the coup:

We even thought, no matter how much unrest there was, how we could prevent this from happening. Who knows? You destroyed something somewhere, and the crowd will continue to destroy it. Who needs this? We didn't want any of this.

Shot at the conspiracy

On July 3, 1998, Rokhlin was killed at his own dacha in the village of Klokovo, Moscow region. The prosecutor's office claimed that his wife Tamara shot at the sleeping general with a medal pistol. The reason is a family quarrel.

The general’s supporters are sure: this is the Kremlin’s revenge and an attempt to prevent army protests. Vladislav Achalov directly calls the murder “political”, says that after Rokhlin’s death “burnt corpses” were found in the forest - this is how “the liquidators or those people who participated in this operation” were liquidated. Pyotr Khomyakov testifies to the same thing:

The security was bribed. Three murderers hid in the attic. They killed the general and left the dacha. Then they themselves were eliminated right there in a forest plantation located 800 meters away. The corpses were doused with gasoline and set on fire. It was 29 degrees outside. Then they said in all seriousness that the corpses lay there for two weeks. Version for idiots!

Colonel Batalov - he was at the dacha the day before the murder and returned there in the morning after it - is more restrained and confident that “Tamara Pavlovna most likely killed,” but at the same time he stipulates that “she is not a murderer, just a murder weapon. She lay zombied in the hospital for three months. They could have injected her with something, treated her, and so she shot her husband.”

In the end, Rokhlina’s case was dropped. In 2005, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the complaint of the general's widow about the lengthy trial process, noting that the length of the trial, more than six years, constituted a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights regarding the “right to a fair trial within a reasonable time.” . After this, the Naro-Fominsk court sentenced Rokhlina to four years in prison, but counted the detention in a pre-trial detention center into this period. Rokhlina was released and did not challenge the verdict. Thus, a status quo that was convenient for everyone and continues to this day was established. Law enforcement officers are no longer pursuing the general’s widow, but they are not looking for other killers either.

For me, the main thing is that Tamara Pavlovna is free,” Rokhlina’s lawyer Anatoly Kucherena explains to RR. - Everything else is not so important now...

The investigation into the failed coup also ended in nothing. No charges were brought against anyone. Everything was limited to a purge of the officer ranks and the disbandment of the 8th Army Corps.

List of cities visited by Rokhlin in the summer and autumn of 1997

Vladimir
21.07.1997

Nizhny Novgorod
24.07.1997

Ryazan
28.07.1997

Pskov
31.07.1997

Tula
03.08.1997
“Our immediate task is to change the political course of the state”

Maykop
08.08.1997

Volgograd
15.08.1997

Kirov
22.08.1997

Izhevsk
23.08.1997

Murmansk
25.08.1997

Permian
25.08.1997

Chelyabinsk
27.08.1997

Saransk
31.08.1997
“We need a velvet revolution, we must prepare the people so that there is no blood”

Bryansk
31.08.1997

Yoshkar-Ola
01.09.1997
“Nothing can be improved in this country with the people who are now in power, who are plundering the country.”

Volgograd, Mamayev Kurgan. General Lev Rokhlin awards officers and soldiers who served in the first Chechen campaign

These conspirators are simpletons...
But the fate of Russia could change.
Hasn't changed...

"We should have arrested the president"
Andrey Veselov, Viktor Dyatlikovich, Anastasia Novikova

"On July 20, 1998, Boris Yeltsin was supposed to be arrested - power in the country would have passed to the military. Two weeks before this, the organizer of the conspiracy, General Lev Rokhlin, was found murdered at his own dacha. 13 years after the failed coup, RR spoke with participants and witnesses of the conspiracy and recreated the picture of the expected change of power

Rebel General

About two years after Rokhlin’s death, I talked with the officers of this Volgograd corps, they told me something, and, based on these stories, something could really work out there,” the head of the “Union of Officers” Stanislav Terekhov assures us, also at one time part of Rokhlin’s entourage.

Coup Plan: Army

“So you want details,” Colonel Batalov looks at me thoughtfully.

Literally like the Decembrists on Senate Street? - I clarify.

For what? To fly to Moscow?

Coup Plan: Citizen

How did you know all these routes?

In parallel with the creation of a commodity shortage, mass protests were planned.

Where did the money come from for this?

External support had to come from the West. Of course, not from NATO, but from Alexander Lukashenko.

Unsuccessful rehearsal

The first attempt to perform was scheduled for the twentieth of June. Lev Rokhlin then once again came to Volgograd.

Have you been written to?

He is one of those who were suspected of involvement in preparing the rebellion. Although Nikiforov himself still denies this.

After the failure of the first coup attempt, the second, decisive attack was scheduled for July 20. And on July 3, Lev Rokhlin was shot.

Committee for the Salvation of Russia

Did the conspirators have a real plan of action in case of victory? Yes and no. But they imagined the first organizational steps.

There should have been five people in the transitional government, says Nikolai Batalov. - I am a military man, and for me this is super-democratic. But I don’t know who these five are.

Well, Rokhlin should have been among them?

No, no, one hundred percent! He did not want to be in supreme power. Neither a dictator nor a ruler. No one. He is an instrument, performing a task - overthrowing Yeltsin and his clique.

According to Batalov, the conspirators were concerned even with such a seemingly minor issue as preventing anarchy and chaos after the coup:

Shot at the conspiracy

The general’s supporters are sure: this is the Kremlin’s revenge and an attempt to prevent army protests. Vladi-slav Achalov directly calls the murder “political”, says that after Rokhlin’s death “burnt corpses” were found in the forest - this is how “the liquidators or those people who participated in this operation” were liquidated. Pyotr Khomyakov testifies to the same thing:

For me, the main thing is that Tamara Pavlovna is free,” Rokhlina’s lawyer Anatoly Kucherena explains to RR. - Everything else is not so important now...

The investigation into the failed coup also ended in nothing. No charges were brought against anyone. Everything was limited to a purge of the officer ranks and the disbandment of the 8th Army Corps."

Who killed General Lev Rokhlin and why?

09.23.2011 www.forum-orion.com5558 170 59

There are a lot of gossip, rumors, and versions surrounding the mysterious death of General Lev Rokhlin. This is understandable: the military general, who was a political competitor to the Kremlin, was killed under very strange circumstances. After a short time, the unknown Putin becomes director of the FSB, and then occupies the Kremlin. Are these events connected and who is behind the murder of General Lev Rokhlin, who intended to remove Yeltsin from power? This will be discussed in the article.

We also bring to your attention “CONFESSION OF GENERAL ROKHLIN”

The recording was made shortly before the murder.

On July 3, 1998, at 4 o’clock in the morning, at his own dacha in the village of Klokovo near Naro-Fominsk, the chairman of the All-Russian movement “In support of the army, defense industry and military science” (DPA), State Duma deputy General Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin, was shot dead.

Immediately the media hastened to voice everyday versions: “the killer is Tamara Rokhlina’s wife” (“NG”, 4/07/1998), “he was killed by his 14-year-old son” (!) and “the fingerprints on the PSM pistol coincided with the fingerprints of his wife "(Izvestia, 07/4/1998, - in fact, the traces were washed away!), "the gold scam" (Kommersant-daily, 07/4/1998), "the half-Jew became friends with the near-Black Hundred public" (" Today", 4/07/1998), etc.

Lev Yakovlevich loved the common man and strived for him to become the master of his life, his country and the future of his children. That’s why he enjoyed fantastic popularity in civilian life and among the troops, where he was lovingly called Dad. He organized the Movement in Support of the Army, Defense Industry and Military Science (DPA), openly calling on Yeltsin to voluntarily resign as president. In response, the whole country heard: “We will sweep away these Rokhlins!..”.

His wife Tamara Pavlovna was immediately accused of murdering the rebellious general. She was put in a pre-trial detention center for a long year and a half. For what? If there is evidence, take the case to court. But the sick woman was left to rot in crowded, stuffy cells, while at home her sick son Igor, a lifelong disabled person of group I, suffered without affection and care. Do you want to see him? Write a “confession” and we will spare you. But she stood her ground: “I didn’t kill.” The 18-month prison pressure did not break her spirit.

Who sheltered the killers?

Besides, did he pull the trigger of a pistol at the general’s temple on that fateful morning? Fearing the truth and revelations, the authorities made the “domestic process” closed from the public and the press.

In her last word at the trial on November 15, 2000, this tormented woman made a sensational statement about her support for her husband’s desire to “peacefully throw off the Kremlin temporary workers from the neck of the muzzled people.”

Leva believed, she said, that such actions were consistent with the UN Charter, which even approved the uprising of the people against a tyrannical state. Whether my husband was right or wrong in considering Yeltsin and his government tyrannical and anti-people, let the Russian people judge. I personally supported him. In the face of my inevitable death, I now declare once again - I believe that my husband, General Lev Rokhlin, was right.

My husband was killed, but not by Yeltsin’s services and people, but by his own guards. Now this is obvious to me. A huge amount of money, collected from all over Russia by Lyova’s like-minded people to finance the action to liberate the country, disappeared from the dacha immediately after the murder of her husband. And his security guard Alexander Pleskachev is soon announced in a new capacity as a “new Russian” with a Moscow residence permit, the position of head of economic security, and even studies at a higher educational institution and does not hide from the court that the General Prosecutor’s Office helped him in everything. Chance helped the enemies of my husband: the common criminal Pleskachev and his accomplices did a vile deed “for them.”

There are plenty of reasons for such statements. Three “bodyguards” (the general’s security guard, a soldier - the dacha guard and the driver) were unable to answer the lawyers’ basic questions. For example, “What were you doing on the night of the murder, and how could it happen that you did not hear two shots that rang out in the rooms of the dacha?”

All three dodged, got confused and lied so much that their involvement in the murder of the DPA leader became more and more obvious. The defendant’s arguments that three unknown masked men killed her sleeping husband, and then beat her and threatened to kill her if she did not “take the blame,” remained unrefuted.

I followed this process from beginning to end, was at the court hearings and once wrote that the “Family,” which already did not expect the repentance of the sovereign defendant, was taken aback and regarded her speech as a rebellion. There is no doubt for me that it was on her order that the judge of the Naro-Fominsk City Court, Zilina, sentenced Tamara Pavlovna to 8 years in prison. At the same time, she did not provide any evidence of her involvement in the murder of her husband.

Already in the “zone,” this unbroken woman, with the help of lawyer A. Kucherena, filed a complaint with the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights, which caused a stream of caustic comments in the media. However, having examined the case “Rokhlina v. Russia”, he recognized the correctness of her complaint and decided to recover 8 thousand euros from the Russian authorities in favor of the plaintiff as compensation for moral damages for illegal criminal prosecution.

After all the protests, on June 7, 2001, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation issued a verdict: the sentence against the convicted T.P. Rokhlina was canceled as illegal, unfounded and unfair, and she was released on her own recognizance. Return all materials of the case to the Naro-Fominsk court for re-examination by another panel. This decision could be interpreted unambiguously: the general’s widow is innocent, we must look for his real killers.

On the same night that General Rokhlin was killed, there was an attempt on the life of his associate, the head of the Profit law firm, Yuri Markin, who was involved in the theft of oil by a number of large companies. Soon, not far from Klokov, in the forest near the village of Fominskoye, 3 badly burned corpses of strong-built men, 25-30 years old, with bullet wounds were found (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 7/07/1998). The Russian press has repeatedly quoted the statement of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on November 18, 2000, that he “warned General Rokhlin two days in advance about the impending assassination attempt.” A day before the murder, FSB surveillance of Rokhlin’s house was suddenly lifted (Novye Izvestia, 07/8/1998). Deputy head of the FSB Central Election Commission B. Neuchev then stated: “We have every reason to assert: the death of General Rokhlin is not related to his political activities” (“Arguments and Facts”, 07/13/1998). On November 27, 1999, Mikhail Poltoranin, in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, made a sensational confession: “I know who killed Rokhlin. It wasn’t my wife who did this...” In her last word at the trial on November 15, 2000, Tamara Rokhlina openly spoke out in support of her husband’s plans to “peacefully throw off the Kremlin temporary workers from the neck of the muzzled people.”

According to Rokhlina, “a huge amount of money collected from all over Russia by her husband’s like-minded people to finance the action to liberate the country disappeared from the dacha immediately after the murder.” In 2001, when on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin offered her a pardon in the Mozhaisk colony; the general’s widow rejected this deal with her conscience, considering it a betrayal of the cause for which her husband fought and gave his life. In the early 2000s. For the first time, versions were heard in the media about the involvement of newly elected President Vladimir Putin in the elimination of Lev Rokhlin. And in his 2010 book, Poltoranin named all the participants for the first time, which he spoke about at a press conference: “I could not say directly that Putin organized the murder of Rokhlin, they would immediately sue and demand evidence. However, the entire totality of reliably established events and facts surrounding this murder show that this is by no means my “guess” or a free “assumption”. The decision to kill, I know for sure, was made at the dacha in their narrow circle by four people - Yeltsin, Voloshin, Yumashev and Dyachenko. They first wanted to entrust Savostyanov, the head of the Moscow FSB, but then settled on a security officer “with cold fish eyes”, capable of anything... And it is hardly a coincidence that almost immediately after the murder of Rokhlin, the head of the then FSB Kovalev was roused from bed at night and hastily , in just 20 minutes, they were forced, in accordance with the Presidential Decree, to transfer their powers to the newly appointed V. Putin. And this concerned the most powerful intelligence service in the world! For what merit? And is all this by chance? General Rokhlin was shot on July 3, 1998. And on July 25, the unknown Putin was appointed director of the FSB by President Yeltsin...

According to Poltoranin, real power in the country is in the hands of the “bokhan” led by the ruling Medvedev-Putin tandem. In his book, Poltoranin touched upon the newly minted Russian oligarchs who have amassed fabulous fortunes from the plunder of public property; in particular, Yeltsin’s banker Abramovich owns numerous enterprises, mines and mines, including the most profitable of them in Mezhdurechensk, and even the entire port of Nakhodka. Moreover, all companies of this oligarch pay taxes on income at their place of registration in Luxembourg. Putin, well aware of this, pretends that everything is in order. It is not surprising that other Russian oligarchs, who long ago prepared “landing sites” for themselves in the West, as well as senior government officials, do exactly the same. According to Poltoranin, Putin and Medvedev have become even greater servants of the oligarchy than Yeltsin: “Both the president and the prime minister keep their money in Western banks... When they come to the G8 or G20, they are directly and unceremoniously threatened the loss of their money if they do not do what is beneficial to the West.

Lieutenant General and State Duma deputy Lev Rokhlin, who at one time refused the title of Hero of Russia for the “civil war in Chechnya,” developed such vigorous opposition activity in 1997-1998 that he frightened both the Kremlin and other oppositionists. “We will sweep away these Rokhlins!” - Boris Yeltsin said in anger, and deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation contributed to the removal of the rebel from the post of head of the parliamentary defense committee.

“I went on several business trips with Rokhlin - to Kazan and other places,” recalled General Achalov, “I heard speeches, saw how he was perceived. He expressed himself extremely harshly. It is unthinkable to hear such a thing from a federal deputy today. And everyone was afraid of him then - not only the Kremlin, but also the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party...

“There were times when we gathered in a very narrow circle at his dacha, there were literally five or six of us,” Achalov continued. — Of course, initially there were no plans for an armed seizure of power or an armed uprising. But then the life situation pushed me towards this. Because the leapfrog in the state was gaining momentum, growing simply catastrophically quickly. You remember 1998, right? Since the spring, the boy Kiriyenko was prime minister, and in August there was a default. So imagine what would have happened if Rokhlin had not been killed in July. The option of involving the army was not at all excluded.

“Two years after Rokhlin’s death, I talked with the officers of this Volgograd corps, they told me something, and, based on these stories, something could really work out there,” the head of the “Union of Officers” Stanislav Terekhov, also assures us. at one time part of Rokhlin’s entourage.

The Rokhlin movement, the founding congress of which was held in 1997 in Moscow, so quickly acquired such a scale that in military units there were proposals to begin a mass action to accept pledges of allegiance to General Rokhlin at officer meetings with a call on him to lead the movement of military personnel and military-industrial workers complex of the country and other citizens of Russia, in accordance with the constitutional norms of the Russian Federation, to save the state from destruction.

Rokhlin’s supporters believed that if these legal actions of citizens took on a massive scale and affected up to 70 percent of the personnel of the most important parts of law enforcement agencies, social movements and organizations, then the country would have objective preconditions for a vote of no confidence in the policies of the country’s leadership in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Having such organized support of the people, the Federal Assembly will be able, without experiencing pressure from the executive branch, to remove the president from power and hold new presidential elections. Lev Rokhlin could become the president of Russia, because time itself should have nominated a leader who would lead the policy of restoring the destroyed country. In this sense, Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin - a man with a Jewish surname, Jewish blood and a true patriot of Russia - was sent to the country by God himself - his reign would not have had those dubious deviations that plague the reign of President Putin, who is ultimately forced to act in the interests of restoring a destroyed country. However, Lev Rokhlin, unlike most Russian politicians, had no one behind him except honest people. He was not a protege of any of the bandit clans.

Rokhlin was killed, and the “democratic” press, unable to come up with a single significant accusation against the general, tried to do everything to banish his name from people’s memory. Let's remember Lev Rokhlin with a kind word.