Azerbaijan in the late 1980s (3)

3. Preparation for the Invasion

- You quite thoroughly considered some details of the events preceding the deployment of the Soviet army in Baku on January 20, 1990. What can you say about this?

- Well, how can you say that the decision on the deployment of troops into Azerbaijan was made somewhere a week before the tragedy, if, on September 25, 1989, the Soviet government"s resolution (Council of Ministers of the USSR) No. 795-173 was issued on providing public security order in the country and additional payments? True, the document did not disclose which duty stations (in terms of benefits) were discussed, however, it was at its base that the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR No. 0169 dated October 18, 1989 was prepared (in accordance with Resolution No. 345 of the USSR Committee on Labor and social issues "On approval of a single form of certificate of eligibility"). Some Russian lawyers noted that the order was called as follows: "On secondment of personnel and serving in a state of emergency".

By the way, pursuant to the resolution of the Council of Ministers, for example, the 145th separate special motorized police battalion of the internal troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs was formed with a place of deployment in the city of Gomel. In unison appeared special motorized police battalions, which were part of the convoy divisions of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Although today it is not possible to find the copies of these documents in Internet, their presence is clearly visible. Thus, according to the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 1290 of December 15, 1990, "the fourth paragraph of the clause 4 of the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of September 25, 1989 N795-173" turned out to be inoperative from January 1, 1991. In turn, paragraph 10 Order No. 73 of February 22, 1993 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia "On Guarantees and Compensations to Employees of Internal Affairs Agencies and Military Personnel Performing the Tasks to Protect the Constitutional Rights of Citizens in Emergency Situations and Armed Conflicts", stated non-use of Order No. 0169. But what is interesting , for employees of the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation (2005 data) benefits and compensations were granted, which were credited for years of service in assigning a pension of one month of service for one and a half, "in formations that perform the tasks of maintaining public order and ensuring state security in emergency situations associated with mass antisocial manifestations" determined by the ministers of defense, internal affairs, justice and FSB of the Russian Federation, "but not earlier than from September 25, 1989".

So, "documented" and technologically, the preparation of the central Soviet government for January 1990 began three months before the tragedy.

- Are there any other facts testifying to the serious study by the top authorities of the Soviet Union of the question of the deployment the troops (in the true sense of the word) of the Soviet army in Baku?

- Even on the eve of January 20, there were ominous rumors in Baku about the presence in the city (or on the way to it) of reservists from the reserve of the USSR Ministry of Defense (southern regions of the Russian Federation.) Again, it"s not possible to find specific documents on this among open sources, but here the press of that time comes to the rescue and a discussion of this topic in some Internet forums.

So, in the Komsomolskaya Pravda report on the situation in Baku (February 10, 1990) information was given about the participation of reservists in the bloody anti-Azerbaijani massacre. As it was concretized, this category of military personnel meant "people mobilized urgently from the reserve". The "consequences" of their use in the operation are "well known", since "the reservists were not prepared, not informed, not trained", but they were "thrown into the inferno."

At the same time, in his interview with the same Komsomolskaya Pravda (January 28, 1990) Ivan Polozkov, who headed the Krasnodar Regional Committee of the CPSU at that time, recorded the existence of a decision "on recruiting reserve soldiers from the Krasnodar Territory (as well as from Stavropol, Rostov, etc.). d.) to the Transcaucasus. " According to him, "almost overnight, without any explanation, from some regions, where more than a hundred nationalities live, more than nine thousand people - mostly Russians, were called".

- It sounds strange: "mostly Russians" ... And "not mostly"?

- So it is, the contingent "not mostly" included almost (if not completely) reservists of the Armenian nationality from the southern regions of Russia. Confirmation of which is unequivocally viewed from the 2005 discussion on the Internet forum openarmenia.com, in the topic "Armenians in Kuban are still divided into "their own" and" (openarmenia.am). "I was one of the... reservists. There were from 100-to 200 people of Armenian nationality, like me, at the assembly point of Maykop. We were not openly sent by plane in Baku. There appeared ominous rumors that the ARMENIANS pay off and do not want to fly to WAR in Baku. So why our men should go to save these ARMENIANS. A BUNT has risen, just the very ones ... Cossacks and ... Gorbachev gave way (what could he do)," writes the participant in the discussion of the topic (the fonts and punctuation of the user are saved).

Probably, there is no need in additional comments on this revelation. Therefore, we can confine ourselves to specifying the independent Soviet military experts of the public organization "SHIT", which in the summer of 1990 conducted their own investigation of the Baku massacre and presented the Conclusion to the Chief Military Prosecutor"s Office of the USSR). According to experts, "the cruellest were the actions of the troops consisting of reservists, coming from the airport area," among whom "were persons of Armenian nationality."

- You quoted the central press of that time, including the Moskovskiye Novosti newspaper, whose position in covering events in our region during that period was biased towards Azerbaijan. But just that edition published excerpts from the Conclusion of the organization "SHIT". Let's hope that in our next conversation we will touch on this aspect.

- We'll try.