Are all “Afghans” really Afghans?
The further the war goes into the past, the fewer witnesses of military events remain alive, the lower the content of truth in the stories about it.
But the imagination of screenwriters and writers is one thing, and outright lies are quite another. Enterprising people unashamedly enjoy the respect that participants in military events evoke among those around them. Some do this to skip the line to see a doctor, others - to give weight to their own person. They are exposed infrequently, because it is too blatant a lie, too great a blasphemy. In the photo: Chairman of the Council of Veterans of the Airborne Forces, VSN and combatants Oleg Kuznetsov
"Nobody except us?"
The chairman of the local branch of the Irkutsk regional branch of the Interregional public organization of veterans of airborne troops and special forces “Union of Russian Paratroopers”, Yuri Kotyugov, contacted the editors of the newspaper “Gorozhanin” after many years of confrontation with his opponent Oleg Kuznetsov. Surprisingly, the paratroopers, formidable and invincible on the battlefield in peacetime, were unable to independently understand the situation. It is illegal to take physical measures, and it has not yet been possible to bring him to legal responsibility.
— I met Oleg Vitalievich Kuznetsov (necessary clarification - this character is just the namesake of the teacher of school No. 46 and the head of the tourist club Oleg Vitalievich Kuznetsov - author's note ) in 2004, during the celebration of Airborne Forces Day at the Glory Memorial. He came in a vest and introduced himself as a distant relative of Yuri Kosachenko (a brotherly paratrooper who died in Afghanistan). He said that he served in Afghanistan. I had no doubt about his veracity, especially since I had seen him in photographs more than once surrounded by Afghan veterans (one of them, taken in the late 80s, hung in the city military registration and enlistment office).
The idea of uniting airborne veterans was in the air, and when it came to creating a public organization, I proposed his candidacy for the post of chairman. He is an active, energetic person. Thanks to his efforts, it was possible to use sponsorship funds to put in order the grave of a soldier who died in Afghanistan (the city Council of Veterans, headed by Alexander Elokhin, “didn’t have money for this” - he said that funds were not allocated for those buried in Soviet times), the paratroopers received anniversary medals “80 years of the Airborne Forces” (as it turned out later, they were fakes - the certificates are noticeably different from the real ones).
Did greed ruin you?
It may be that if Oleg Kuznetsov had been a little more modest, he would not have been exposed to this day. If he had refused an invitation to a reception with the governor in 2008 under a plausible pretext, all the Afghan paratroopers would still have considered him one of their own.
“For a long time no one doubted that he belonged to the internationalist warriors.” Taking advantage of this, he managed to get an apartment in the MZhK-ovsky building on Sovetskaya, where he now lives. And when military service veteran Konstantin Cheremnykh said at a meeting of the Veterans Council that Kuznetsov was not an Afghan, I believed Kuznetsov - he said that military commissar Alexander Voloshin had slandered him. He even told some story about how drunken officers beat conscripts on the way to the assembly point, and supposedly Voloshin has not liked Kuznetsov since then. I know how easy it is to denigrate a person, so I believed him and advised him to go to court. But he did not file a lawsuit - they say it would take a long time and be expensive.
However, it later turned out that in 2008, the military registration and enlistment office sent Oleg Kuznetsov to the governor’s reception in honor of Victory Day for his active public work, at which the invited veterans received a bonus of 5 thousand rubles. But his name was not on the bonus payment sheet. The military commissar received a call from the region and asked: who did he send? Then they began to look into the activist’s track record. A request sent to the Ministry of Defense received an answer that she was not included in the lists of participants in combat operations in Afghanistan. Kuznetsov was not embarrassed by this, he only replied meaningfully: “They won’t say anything about me in Podolsk, since my personal file is in the “Kontor” (KGB - author’s note).
At the same time, in 2008, his certificate of participation in the Great Patriotic War (series BB No. 4118480, date of issue 05/23/03), issued by the Social Protection Committee of the Bratsk administration and giving the right to benefits provided for in Article 16, was confiscated. 1 of the Federal Law “On Veterans”. When asked about the unusual form of identification, its owner replied that “there were no other forms in social security at that time.” Kuznetsov voluntarily returned 34 thousand rubles to the Pension Fund, without waiting for prosecution - the state is not to be trifled with!
At a meeting of the Council of the city public organization of internationalist soldiers and combatants on May 4, 2010, Oleg Kuznetsov was expelled from the organization. However, this did not bother him at all.
Employees of the fraternal military registration and enlistment office made an inquiry and found out that reserve lieutenant Kuznetsov began serving in a tank unit in the Belarusian Military District, and after “training” he was sent to the then calm and peaceful city of Grozny in the Chechen Republic.
Kuznetsov’s military ID, issued in 1991 and signed by military commissar Dyuzhev, bears a stamp with a double-headed eagle, although at that time the country still used the coat of arms of the USSR. True, when the proceedings began, he urgently “lost” this ticket and received a new one in August 2012 (however, the old one has shown more than once that there are witnesses). But I still have a copy of the “lost” document.
About medals
— A separate story is the “iconostasis” on Kuznetsov’s camouflage. He illegally wears a guards badge (the tank unit in which he served does not have a guards rank). And the medal “From the Grateful Afghan People” is adjacent to the medal “For Service in the North Caucasus”, established by the SDR in 2005. In the certificate for the medal “70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR,” which was awarded in 1988, it is clearly visible that the year 1988 was corrected to 1991 using a typewriter. Moreover, this is not the date of issue (this column is empty), but the date of the Decree on the establishment of the medal. But the signature on the certificate belongs to the colonel who headed the military registration and enlistment office in 1988-89. Kuznetsov does not have the right to wear this medal - it was not awarded to everyone (the list of those awarded is clearly indicated in the decree). And although this award is an anniversary one, it is a state award!
The origin of the letter of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “To the internationalist warrior for courage and military valor shown in the performance of international duty in the Republic of Afghanistan” is also of great interest. (Before the withdrawal of a limited contingent of troops, this was the only state award for “Afghans” for participating in the war - author’s note). If you don’t know the nuances, you won’t suspect anything, only in this document the coat of arms of the USSR, the inscription “to an internationalist warrior” and a number of other elements are printed in gold, while in Kuznetsov’s case they are printed in black paint. It was filled out manually, and he used a typewriter.
Moreover, for a long time he wore someone else’s medal “For Courage,” but after the police became interested in his person, the military award disappeared from his jacket. Kuznetsov “explained” it this way: “yes, he said, he wore it, but then he gave it to some veteran, but I don’t remember which one.” It is difficult to find out who it belonged to, since the medal was numberless.
No crime?
Twice Yuri Nikandrovich and Viktor Vedernikov (the current chairman of the Council of the city public organization of internationalist soldiers and combatants) filed statements against Kuznetsov to the police. The first decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case was made by senior police lieutenant D.A. Zakharov - it is dated 06/22/12. The second similar one was signed on 02/03/2014 by the senior district commissioner of OP No. 2 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Major A.N. Fadeev (however, it was not approved by the deputy head of OP-2 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Andrei Agunovich). The wording is the same: “for lack of corpus delicti.” According to Kuznetsov, “awards were presented to him by various public organizations.” The police believe it. But the prosecutor’s office doesn’t believe it - on December 27, 2013, both chairmen went there in search of justice, and they were listened to. The investigation is ongoing.
Airborne Forces Awards
Airborne Forces Medals
We all know what airborne troops are, and how proud men who served in the armies of the USSR or the Russian Federation are to belong to them.
To be a paratrooper means to be a strong, brave and courageous person. All these truly masculine character traits are celebrated with dignity in the Airborne Forces - Airborne Forces medals have always been a source of special pride for soldiers and officers. The Russian airborne troops are the reserve of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and the basis of the mobile rapid reaction forces of our army. Any military action takes place with the participation of landing forces, and well-deserved awards are rightfully received. But not everyone has military awards of the Airborne Forces - we live in peacetime. Therefore, many who served in the airborne forces wear anniversary medals of the Airborne Forces, which one can be proud of just as much as combat medals - after all, service in the Airborne Forces is responsible and difficult. The birthday of the Airborne Forces is considered to be 08/02/1930, and since then everyone who served in the airborne forces can wear these awards with honor - both military medals of the Russian Ministry of Defense and anniversary or honorary badges classifying the cavalier as a member of the Airborne Forces.
Thus, the medal “80 Years of the Airborne Forces” has several versions, and if for some reason it was lost, then you can restore it much faster by ordering a copy from our enterprise. Honorary badges and medals of the Airborne Forces can also be purchased on specialized websites of falerists or our company. You can also order certificate forms here. There are also special insignia, for example, the medal of the Order of Army General Margelov, which is awarded to officers retired from the Airborne Forces and Airmobile Forces, Special Forces or Marine Corps.
Veterans of the airborne troops are awarded a special insignia - the medal “Veteran of the Airborne Forces” or the medal “In Memory of Service”.
But the most common are honorary and memorial badges and medals, for example, the medal “For Service in the Airborne Forces” and the medal “70 Years of the Airborne Forces.” The latter was established in 2000 for the Airborne Forces, Special Forces GRU and DShV, as well as for other formations of the Armed Forces. It often happens that a well-deserved award does not reach its owner - he is awarded only documents, the preparation of which is carried out by the commonwealth and public organizations. This oversight can be easily corrected - you can buy Airborne Forces medals upon request. We produce Airborne Forces medals in compliance with all customer conditions and requirements, both with and without a certificate. Read more
The history of the appearance of airborne insignia
From the moment the airborne troops appeared, individual divisions began to create special insignia of the Airborne Forces, and the design, even at the initial stage of their existence, was significantly different from the insignia of other branches of the military. The peculiarity is that the various signs of the Airborne Forces were designed to reflect the history of a specific military unit.
This led to the fact that the insignia of the Airborne Forces of individual divisions have minor differences in details, but in general they are very similar. For example, an integral attribute of almost all landing badges, regardless of division, is the color blue - a traditional symbol of nobility and devotion to heaven.
Breast stripes and lapel insignia on a paratrooper's uniform are complemented by chevrons, the shape of which has undergone certain changes over time. But in general, the emblems depicted on them are timeless. In 2015, an order was signed according to which modern chevrons should have a rectangular shape, in the lower part of which the emblem of the military branch should be placed. Although the history of the appearance of chevrons and their interpretation in the classical sense implies that a chevron is a V-shaped galloon (stripe).
Airborne Forces insignia
The insignia of the airborne troops is a subject of interest to many falerists who are interested in
collecting badges on military and army themes. From the very beginning of the creation of the Airborne Forces, in their individual divisions there was a desire to somehow highlight distinctive signs so that they would not be similar to other military badges. What also stood out was the desire to capture on these badges the very essence of the troops, as well as their history. And not only troops, but individual divisions. This is the reason that in different military units it often happens that breastplates differ in some details, although most of the elements are common. Common details shared by the USSR and Russian Airborne Forces badges include the presence of blue, which symbolizes the sky and purity. I agree with the orders of the Airborne Forces commander in divisions that small, medium and large size badges are approved.
It is also necessary to note the presence of general airborne sleeve insignia, which can be official and unofficial. Soviet and Russian ones are very similar, the difference lies in small details related to state symbols: under the Soviet Union, for example, a red five-pointed star was depicted on the sleeve insignia of the Airborne Forces, while the Russian Airborne Forces depicted a double-headed eagle (coat of arms) or a tricolor (flag). But otherwise, traditions are timeless.
Varieties of emblems and signs of the Airborne Forces
Since 2005, Russia has expanded the range of symbols of the airborne troops, developing small, medium and large emblems. They were created according to the canons of classical heraldry and were used in official documentation, as well as as the basis for various paraphernalia.
Small
It is an image of a flaming grenade with wings. The entire Small Airborne Forces emblem is painted gold. The symbolism of “angelic” wings reflects a high readiness to make self-sacrifice. In addition, Grenada traditionally symbolizes the most trained of army units, and the sign of wings in heraldry also signifies their high maneuverability.
Average
The main figure is the image of a golden double-headed eagle with an imperial crown, whose chest is decorated with the coat of arms of Moscow (St. George the Victorious slaying the snake on a red shield). The winged grenade, as well as the sword in the eagle’s paws, are often drawn in silver.
Big
This emblem of the Airborne Forces is considered its official coat of arms. It is a round shield of sky blue color, framed by a golden oak wreath - a symbol of courage, perseverance, strength and valor. The small and medium emblems of the Airborne Forces are also included in the design of the coat of arms.
The history of the appearance of signs and awards of the Airborne Forces
Special insignia, introduced exclusively for paratroopers, appeared with the emergence of airborne troops in the 1930s. They represented the “Parachutist” badge, introduced in 1931. Since 1936, this sign has been supplemented with a small replaceable pendant, which indicates the number of parachute jumps made.
At the same time, no other special emblems and signs of the Airborne Forces were created for quite a long time. Only after 1946, having become a separate branch of the military, paratroopers received a sleeve patch. The situation changed with the arrival of Vasily Filippovich Margelov as commander of the Airborne Forces, who comprehensively modernized these troops and did not leave aside such an aspect as the appearance of the airborne paratroopers.
The main symbol of the airborne troops
Since 1955, in connection with the introduction of a new military uniform in the Armed Forces of the USSR, the famous emblem of the Airborne Forces has appeared - a parachute with airplanes taking off on its sides. This emblem appeared on buttonholes, later on chevrons, and until now has become the basis of almost all symbols of the Airborne Forces, its recognized logo.
Special emblems for individual military units and formations were not practiced in the Soviet Army. In the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, on the contrary, this tradition began to develop very quickly, and divisions and brigades of the Airborne Forces were among the first. These units began receiving their own emblems in 1993.
Are all “Afghans” really Afghans?
The further the war goes into the past, the fewer witnesses of military events remain alive, the lower the content of truth in the stories about it. But the imagination of screenwriters and writers is one thing, and outright lies are quite another. Enterprising people unashamedly enjoy the respect that participants in military events evoke among those around them. Some do this to skip the line to see a doctor, others - to give weight to their own person. They are exposed infrequently, because it is too blatant a lie, too great a blasphemy.
In the photo: Chairman of the Council of Veterans of the Airborne Forces, VSN and combatants Oleg Kuznetsov
"Nobody except us?"
The chairman of the local branch of the Irkutsk regional branch of the Interregional public organization of veterans of airborne troops and special forces “Union of Russian Paratroopers”, Yuri Kotyugov, contacted the editors of the newspaper “Gorozhanin” after many years of confrontation with his opponent Oleg Kuznetsov. Surprisingly, the paratroopers, formidable and invincible on the battlefield in peacetime, were unable to independently understand the situation. It is illegal to take physical measures, and it has not yet been possible to bring him to legal responsibility.
— I met Oleg Vitalievich Kuznetsov (necessary clarification - this character is just the namesake of the teacher of school No. 46 and the head of the tourist club Oleg Vitalievich Kuznetsov - author's note ) in 2004, during the celebration of Airborne Forces Day at the Glory Memorial. He came in a vest and introduced himself as a distant relative of Yuri Kosachenko (a brotherly paratrooper who died in Afghanistan). He said that he served in Afghanistan. I had no doubt about his veracity, especially since I had seen him in photographs more than once surrounded by Afghan veterans (one of them, taken in the late 80s, hung in the city military registration and enlistment office).
The idea of uniting airborne veterans was in the air, and when it came to creating a public organization, I proposed his candidacy for the post of chairman. He is an active, energetic person. Thanks to his efforts, it was possible to use sponsorship funds to put in order the grave of a soldier who died in Afghanistan (the city Council of Veterans, headed by Alexander Elokhin, “didn’t have money for this” - he said that funds were not allocated for those buried in Soviet times), the paratroopers received anniversary medals “80 years of the Airborne Forces” (as it turned out later, they were fakes - the certificates are noticeably different from the real ones).
Did greed ruin you?
It may be that if Oleg Kuznetsov had been a little more modest, he would not have been exposed to this day. If he had refused an invitation to a reception with the governor in 2008 under a plausible pretext, all the Afghan paratroopers would still have considered him one of their own.
“For a long time no one doubted that he belonged to the internationalist warriors.” Taking advantage of this, he managed to get an apartment in the MZhK-ovsky building on Sovetskaya, where he now lives. And when military service veteran Konstantin Cheremnykh said at a meeting of the Veterans Council that Kuznetsov was not an Afghan, I believed Kuznetsov - he said that military commissar Alexander Voloshin had slandered him. He even told some story about how drunken officers beat conscripts on the way to the assembly point, and supposedly Voloshin has not liked Kuznetsov since then. I know how easy it is to denigrate a person, so I believed him and advised him to go to court. But he did not file a lawsuit - they say it would take a long time and be expensive.
However, it later turned out that in 2008, the military registration and enlistment office sent Oleg Kuznetsov to the governor’s reception in honor of Victory Day for his active public work, at which the invited veterans received a bonus of 5 thousand rubles. But his name was not on the bonus payment sheet. The military commissar received a call from the region and asked: who did he send? Then they began to look into the activist’s track record. A request sent to the Ministry of Defense received an answer that she was not included in the lists of participants in combat operations in Afghanistan. Kuznetsov was not embarrassed by this, he only replied meaningfully: “They won’t say anything about me in Podolsk, since my personal file is in the “Kontor” (KGB - author’s note).
At the same time, in 2008, his certificate of participation in the Great Patriotic War (series BB No. 4118480, date of issue 05/23/03), issued by the Social Protection Committee of the Bratsk administration and giving the right to benefits provided for in Article 16, was confiscated. 1 of the Federal Law “On Veterans”. When asked about the unusual form of identification, its owner replied that “there were no other forms in social security at that time.” Kuznetsov voluntarily returned 34 thousand rubles to the Pension Fund, without waiting for prosecution - the state is not to be trifled with!
At a meeting of the Council of the city public organization of internationalist soldiers and combatants on May 4, 2010, Oleg Kuznetsov was expelled from the organization. However, this did not bother him at all.
Employees of the fraternal military registration and enlistment office made an inquiry and found out that reserve lieutenant Kuznetsov began serving in a tank unit in the Belarusian Military District, and after “training” he was sent to the then calm and peaceful city of Grozny in the Chechen Republic.
Kuznetsov’s military ID, issued in 1991 and signed by military commissar Dyuzhev, bears a stamp with a double-headed eagle, although at that time the country still used the coat of arms of the USSR. True, when the proceedings began, he urgently “lost” this ticket and received a new one in August 2012 (however, the old one has shown more than once that there are witnesses). But I still have a copy of the “lost” document.
About medals
— A separate story is the “iconostasis” on Kuznetsov’s camouflage. He illegally wears a guards badge (the tank unit in which he served does not have a guards rank). And the medal “From the Grateful Afghan People” is adjacent to the medal “For Service in the North Caucasus”, established by the SDR in 2005. In the certificate for the medal “70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR,” which was awarded in 1988, it is clearly visible that the year 1988 was corrected to 1991 using a typewriter. Moreover, this is not the date of issue (this column is empty), but the date of the Decree on the establishment of the medal. But the signature on the certificate belongs to the colonel who headed the military registration and enlistment office in 1988-89. Kuznetsov does not have the right to wear this medal - it was not awarded to everyone (the list of those awarded is clearly indicated in the decree). And although this award is an anniversary one, it is a state award!
The origin of the letter of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “To the internationalist warrior for courage and military valor shown in the performance of international duty in the Republic of Afghanistan” is also of great interest. (Before the withdrawal of a limited contingent of troops, this was the only state award for “Afghans” for participating in the war - author’s note). If you don’t know the nuances, you won’t suspect anything, only in this document the coat of arms of the USSR, the inscription “to an internationalist warrior” and a number of other elements are printed in gold, while in Kuznetsov’s case they are printed in black paint. It was filled out manually, and he used a typewriter.
Moreover, for a long time he wore someone else’s medal “For Courage,” but after the police became interested in his person, the military award disappeared from his jacket. Kuznetsov “explained” it this way: “yes, he said, he wore it, but then he gave it to some veteran, but I don’t remember which one.” It is difficult to find out who it belonged to, since the medal was numberless.
No crime?
Twice Yuri Nikandrovich and Viktor Vedernikov (the current chairman of the Council of the city public organization of internationalist soldiers and combatants) filed statements against Kuznetsov to the police. The first decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case was made by senior police lieutenant D.A. Zakharov - it is dated 06/22/12. The second similar one was signed on 02/03/2014 by the senior district commissioner of OP No. 2 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Major A.N. Fadeev (however, it was not approved by the deputy head of OP-2 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Andrei Agunovich). The wording is the same: “for lack of corpus delicti.” According to Kuznetsov, “awards were presented to him by various public organizations.” The police believe it. But the prosecutor’s office doesn’t believe it - on December 27, 2013, both chairmen went there in search of justice, and they were listened to. The investigation is ongoing.
Differences between airborne insignia and badges and medals
Many collectors are trying to buy not only Airborne Forces badges, but also real Airborne Forces combat medals. It should be clearly understood that only combat veterans were awarded combat medals and decorations. While badges can be purchased on the open market, an award given to a veteran is unlikely to be purchased. A true Airborne Forces veteran will sell his award badges only as a last resort, and then he will try to buy them back.
Unfortunately, at present there are companies that mass produce any airborne awards, although these signs are only a copy, which do not carry any real value and are fake.
Airborne Forces anniversary medals
Paratroopers are always proud of more than others. They are the elite of the fatherland. Defenders of their homeland. They are those whom both military and civilians look up to.
In this online store, you can inexpensively buy the following anniversary medals and badges at modest prices:
Medal "Airborne Forces 85". This is not a state award. Dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the airborne troops. The obverse depicts a soldier against the background of a parachute and an airplane. The medal is made of brass. It will proudly decorate the uniform of both a military man and a veteran. Its price is more than affordable.
Medal "Airborne Forces 80". The front side features an eagle. In the beak there is a number, a laurel branch and a ribbon. On the reverse side is the Airborne Forces symbol.
Commemorative anniversary awards. The price for a product of this type can be seen on the website pages. In most cases, they have inscriptions of this kind: “Veteran of the Airborne Forces”, “For the service of the Airborne Forces”, “Army General Margelov”, etc.
The last on this list is the anniversary medal of the Airborne Forces, especially respected. Issued by the “Union of Russian Paratroopers” to both foreign and Russian citizens who have made a huge contribution to military affairs. It can also be seen and purchased on the pages of the online store. Any Airborne Forces medal is a reward for a great common cause, significant contribution and courage.
