Hell in freezing weather

Late 1982 Last days Brezhnev era. Autumn of the year, autumn of the General Secretary. On that day, the first snow fell in Moscow, and in the morning the thermometer showed negative minus 10 degrees for the fans. Therefore, it is not surprising that an unusually small audience, as for a European cup match during the Iron Curtain, gathered in the stands of Luzhniki - only about 17 thousand spectators (to be precise, 16 thousand 643 tickets were sold). Predicting low spectator activity, the stadium administration artificially concentrated the vast majority of spectators in one place - on stand C (its capacity at that time was 23,000 seats),

(...2 rubles 50 kopecks for death...)

(Captain of "Spartak" Oleg Romantsev and his counterpart from "Harlem" Martin Haar before the match in 1982 (FC Spartak Moskva))

they say, it is easier for the police to keep order. It should be noted that the Spartak rival Haarlem did not have enough stars from the sky and spent almost the entire match on the defensive, fighting off Muscovites' attacks with all their might. However, the goal of Edgar Hess in the debut of the match for a long time remained the only one: Gavrilov, Cherenkov, Rodionov and their partners were very wasteful of scoring chances that evening. Already desperate to see at least once the ball in the opponents' goal, "Spartak" fans reached for the exits a few minutes before final whistle. The police, having formed a "living" corridor, energetically pushed the people to the icy steps. On that fateful evening, only one passageway was open. Meanwhile, the wards of Konstantin Ivanovich Beskov stubbornly went forward and at the last minute of the meeting they won the right to a corner. The Red-Whites were able to convert this standard into a goal: Sergei Shvetsov, who jumped higher than everyone else, headed the ball into the net of the guests' goal (by an evil irony of fate, Konstantin Yesenin, who wrote a report on this match for the Futbol weekly, called this goal long-awaited). This event provoked the tragedy. The people who had already left the stands, having heard a joyful cry announcing the second goal scored by Spartak, tried to return to the stands to witness, at least, the celebration of success by their favorites. Two streams of people met on the icy steps. The crowd pressed in from above and below. In a matter of seconds, the frozen staircase turned into a living hell, and the cries of "Spar-tak" were replaced by death moans. Luzhniki was immediately cordoned off by the police. The Soviet people learned about the tragedy from the reports of the Finnish, Swedish radio, as well as the Voice of America and the BBC. On October 21, the Vechernyaya Moskva newspaper published a very veiled message: “Yesterday at Luzhniki, after football match There has been an accident. There are casualties among the fans." For a long time, this information was the only mention of the Luzhnikov tragedy in the Soviet press. The subject was taboo. Then it was believed that people dying in stadiums were the lot of Western society, and such a tragedy could not happen in the world's first socialist country. For some reason, the authorities believed that the silence of the tragedy was identical to its absence. According to an absurd and blasphemous order from above, the relatives were able to bury the dead only after 13 days. The time of parting at the entrance of the house was also regulated - 40 minutes in the presence of a policeman.

And then there was judgment. The main culprit of the tragedy was called the commandant of the Grand Sports Arena Panchikhin, who had worked in his position by the day of the tragedy for two and a half months. He was sentenced to one and a half years of hard labor. At the same time, the leaders of the stadium Lyzhin, Kokryshev and Koryagin were found not guilty.

"I'd rather

didn't score!"

The first publications about the "Luznikovskaya" tragedy appeared in "Soviet Sport" seven years after the fateful events. They included eyewitness accounts, memories of the parents of the victims (and most of the victims were young people), a monologue of the then investigator for especially important cases of the Moscow Prosecutor's Office, Alexander Speer, exposing the fans. Perhaps, none of the publications of "Soviet Sport" of the period of the late "perestroika" caused such a great reader resonance. Many letters from all over, then big country ended with the words: we must not allow the repetition of such tragedies in the future. In 1989, for the first time, relatives of the victims were allowed to honor their memory at the site of the tragedy. The author of the fatal goal, Sergei Shvetsov, then said: “I wish I hadn’t scored that damned goal!”

Years have passed. Times have changed. A memorial to the victims of the tragedy was opened at Luzhniki Stadium and the victims were remembered by name. Every year in October, flowers are brought to the place of death.

(Alexey Ryzhkov)

(October 20, 1982, at the end of the match for the UEFA Cup, in which Spartak played with the Dutch Haarlem at the central Lenin Stadium (BSA Luzhniki), a tragedy occurred that claimed the lives of 66 (according to official figures) people.)

Anikin Volodya
14 years

Bokutenkova Nadezhda
15 years

Borisov Oleg
16 years

Viktorov Oleg
17 years

Ermakov Anatoly
43 years

Zozulenko Vyacheslav
18 years

Karpasov Maxim
17 years

Klimenko Alexander
18 years

Kostylev Alexey
18 years

Larionov Yuri
19 years

Lebed Sergey
16 years

Milkov Alexey
17 years

Novostruev Mikhail
15 years

Pyatnitsyn Nikolay
23 years old

Samovarova Elena
15 years

Sergovantsev Valery
19 years

Tamanyan Levon
19 years

Other dead:

Abdulaev Eduard
15 years
Abdullin Anver
29 years
Bagaev Sergey
14 years
Baranov Igor
17 years
Bezhentseva Victoria
17 years
Berezan Alexander
15 years
Budanov Mikhail
17 years
Volkov Dmitry
16 years
Voronov Nikolai
19 years
Golubev Vladimir
33 years
Grishakov Alexander
15 years
Deryugin Igor
17 years
Evseev Anatoly
16 years
Egorov Vladimir
16 years
Zhidetsky Vladimir
45 years
Zavertyaev Vladimir
23 years old
Zaev Alexey
17 years
Zarembo Vladimir
28 years
Zisman Evgeny
16 years
Kalaijan Vartan
—
Kalinin Nikolay
—
Curbs Egbert
23 years old
Kiselev Vladimir
40 years
Koroleva Elena
16 years
Kustikov Vladislav
16 years
Kutsev Nikolay
27 years
Lisaev Vladimir
24 years
Lichkun Nikolay
30 years
Luzanova Svetlana
15 years
Martynov Alexander
22
Mosichkin Oleg
17 years
Muratov Alexander
39 years
Panes Michael
37 years
Politico Sergey
14 years
Popkov Alexander
15 years
Radionov Konstantin
16 years
Rodin Sergey
16 years
Skotnikov Stanislav
16 years
Sudarkina Zinaida
37 years
Uvarov Mikhail
14 years
Usmanov Dmitry
17 years
Usov Sergey
17 years
Fedin Konstantin
16 years
Funtikov Vladimir
24 years
Khlevchuk Igor
18 years
Chebotarev Oleg
20 years
Chernyshev Viktor
42 years
Shabashev Igor
19 years
Shagin Igor
18 years

In memory of the victims of the tragedy in Luzhniki

Not missing a real chance, Shvetsov scored the winning goal,
And now the final whistle sounds - the suicide match is over.
And then we were all glad that we won today.
No one knew back then about the meanness of the old cop

They let us all in one passage,
Fifteen thousand is power
And there were steps in the ice,
And the railing broke.
Hands stretched out in horror
And there a fan died in the crowd,
And from the crowd there were sounds:
“Back, guys, everyone back!”

The crowd parted silently
The picture of horror is full
There were corpses, and many corpses,
And blood flowed down the steps;
And twisted faces
We will not forget, for the life of me.
A fan of cops is not afraid
And zealously avenges the death of friends.

The twentieth number is a bloody Wednesday.
Fan, you will remember this day forever.
The match was played for the UEFA Cup.
Played "Haarlem" and our "Spartak" (Moscow).

www.redwhite.ru

Tennis player Andrei Chesnokov:

“Five minutes before the end of the match, everyone started quietly leaving. Spartak led 1-0, and in the second added minute they scored the second goal. It turned out that everyone was rushing to the exit, and then they scored a goal, everyone stopped, someone ran back to see what happened. This confusion has begun.

It was dark. Someone may have fallen on the steps, someone also fell on him, and it turned out like a blockade - it was impossible to get out. A person is lying, another one is on him, another is on him ... Such pressure, it's unbelievable. I saw it all.

I'll be honest, everything crunched and hurt, I thought this was the end. But when it would come, I didn't know. But I was still a tennis player, like a dodgy snake. And I got out of there, made some kind of movement, jumped over ten people and ended up on an island between the railings.

I was standing there with some soldier, a man in military uniform, and the guys grabbed us by the legs, asking: Save us! Help! We beg! And we could not do anything, because if someone is pulled out of this crowd, everyone clings to him, everyone wants to live. We tried"

“October 20, 1982 after a football match at the Grand Sports Arena Central Stadium named after V. I. Lenin, when the spectators left, as a result of a violation of the order of movement of people, an accident occurred. There are victims. An investigation into the incident is underway."

Eyewitness:

“When I was at this match, I was 14 years old. Guys died, mostly from 18 to 23. It happened like a tornado. That is, a person can stand half a meter away and not touch a hair on his head ... People fell down the icy steps ... I fell and already began to choke, but the guys pulled me out. I walked away and stood by the hedges. Before my eyes, the railing began to bend and the span collapsed. These events tried to be silenced. A wave of funerals began. At the Vagankovsky cemetery every day there were 5-10 processions"

Eyewitness:

“It's hard to remember. The major left one gate open, and we passed through it. The staircase collapsed. It is very difficult to remember. When we were moving towards the subway, we saw how the bodies were stacked”

From an interview with eyewitness Amir Khuslyutdinov to Life.ru:

“The tragedy at Luzhniki is the main milestone in my life. That evening, I went from a child to an adult. All of us who went through this nightmare have matured quickly. In that crush, I lost my friends, the guys we were rooting for in the stands, my brothers, if you will, and my first love. There was evidence that fans were being pushed to exit. And now, imagine, a huge crowd of many thousands, pushed from behind, makes their way to one single exit.

Monument to fallen fans in Luzhniki

In a dense stream of fans moving towards the gate, pushing each other. One sharp push, another, and now someone who was weaker fell, someone walking behind him stumbled on him and also found himself underfoot ... But people continued to move, trampling the weak. The instinct of self-preservation is such a thing that sometimes completely turns off conscience and compassion. People, surrounded on all sides by the crowd, suffocated, lost consciousness, fell ... Panic grew, and no one, no one was able to take control of the situation.

On the very balcony where the two streams joined, there were railings. Well-welded railings. However, they could not withstand the pressure of a large number of people. Those who fell from the balcony escaped with fractures. Those who remained at the top, were under the rubble"

The material uses materials from the civil journalism agency "

The stadium had not yet been equipped with a roof over the stands, and by the beginning of the game, only two stands were cleared of snow and opened for fans: "A" (western) and "C" (eastern). Both stands could accommodate 23,000 spectators.

During the match, there were only about four thousand spectators in stand "A", the majority of fans (about 12 thousand) preferred stand "C", which is located closer to the metro. Most of the fans came to support Spartak, there were only about a hundred Dutch fans.

Until the very last minute of the match, the score was 1:0 in favor of Spartak, and many frozen spectators rushed to the exit. According to some reports, the police sent people down the stairs, according to others, only one exit from the podium was open.

The tragedy happened in the last minute of the match. Twenty seconds before the final whistle, Sergei Shvetsov scored the second goal against the guests. Hearing the joyful roar of Spartak fans, the spectators who managed to leave the stands turned back and faced a stream of people going down. In a narrow space, on the icy steps, there was a crush. Those who stumbled and fell were immediately trampled down by the crowd. Metal railings could not withstand the load, because of which people with high altitude fell on bare concrete.

According to the official version of the investigation, 66 people died as a result of the tragedy. According to unofficial information, which was not disclosed for many years, about 340 people lost their lives that day.

The Soviet authorities tried to hide information about the tragedy. The next day, the only message appeared in the newspaper "Vechernyaya Moskva" - a small note on the last page: "On October 20, after a football match at the Grand Sports Arena of the Central Stadium named after V.I. Lenin, an accident occurred as a result of a violation of the traffic order of people. There are victims. An investigation into the circumstances of the incident is underway."

The truth about what happened at the match, the authorities reported only in 1989.

During the investigation of the tragedy, it was found that only fans were on the stairs during the stampede - there were no police officers among the dead.

As a forensic medical examination showed, all 66 people died from compression asphyxia as a result of compression. chest and belly. None of the victims died in the hospital or in the ambulances. 61 people were injured and injured, including 21 seriously.

Officially, the stadium director Viktor Kokryshev, his deputy Lyzhin and the stadium commandant Yuri Panchikhin, who worked in this position for two and a half months, were named as the main culprits of the tragedy. A criminal case was initiated against these persons under Article 172 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (negligent performance of official powers). The court sentenced each of them to three years in prison. However, at that time, an amnesty was issued in connection with the 60th anniversary of the formation of the USSR, under which Kokryshev and Lyzhin fell. Panchikhin's sentence was reduced by half. He was sent to forced labor.

To criminal liability Major Semyon Koryagin, commander of the police unit that ensured the protection of public order on the "C" podium. But in connection with the injury received in a stampede at the stadium, the case against him was separated into a separate proceeding, and later he fell under an amnesty.

In 1992, on the territory of the Luzhniki sports complex, a monument was erected to those who died at the stadiums of the world (architect Georgy Lunacharsky, sculptor Mikhail Skovorodin). The plaque at the memorial reads: "This monument was erected to the children who died on October 20, 1982 after a football match between Spartak Moscow and Harlem from Holland. Remember them."

October 20, 2007 at the Luzhniki stadium, timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the tragedy. Veterans of Spartak and Harlem met in the match, including the participants of the 1982 game: Rinat Dasaev, Sergey Rodionov, Fedor Cherenkov, Sergey Shvetsov, the Dutch Eduard Metgood, Kate Masefield, Frank van Leen, Peter Ker and others.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

At the very end of the match 1/16 of the UEFA Cup between Spartak and the Dutch Haarlem, a crush arose in the stands, in which, according to official figures, 66 people died. According to unofficial data, collected mainly by the relatives of the victims, there are significantly more than 300.

On October 21, 2017, in the match of the 14th round of the RFPL championship, Spartak hosts Amkar. In memory of the terrible tragedy that happened 35 years ago, a memorial plaque will be installed at the Otkritie Arena stadium, and the meeting will begin with a moment of silence…

How it was?

October 20, 1982 in Moscow was not just cold, but very cold. For mid-autumn - extremely cold. Even the day before, the city was covered with snow, by evening the temperature dropped below minus 10. Many have become somehow not up to football. A match that could have sold out on a good day (the playoffs of the European club tournament after all!), lost its original attractiveness, and the stands of the 82,000th "Puddle" eventually did not fill even a quarter. Which in the end, no matter how blasphemous it sounds, affected the scale of the tragedy.
"Spartak" in this pair was considered, of course, the favorite, and already at the very beginning of the match confirmed its status: in the 16th minute, Edgar Hess opened the scoring. It seemed that it would go on and on, just have time to follow the scoreboard, but that was not the case. The match suddenly took on a viscous character, and the fans had to entertain themselves with winter fun in order to keep warm. Snowballs flew around the entire perimeter, and the police also got it, which reacted extremely negatively to the “aggression” ...
Not everyone had the strength and patience to wait for the final whistle. Toward the end of the match, the stiff fans moved out, creating a dense stream at the so-called "first" stairs of stand C, for some reason the only one left for the passage. According to one version, because of the negligence of the stadium workers. On the other - because of the revenge on the part of police officers for snow shelling during the match.
Be that as it may, in this artificially created "pipe" a dull crush gradually arose: there were too many people who wanted to quickly dive into the subway and the corridor was too narrow, leaving no room for maneuver.
And it must happen that 20 seconds before the end of the match, Spartak forward Sergei Shvetsov succeeded in another precise blow- 2:0! The reaction of the crowd was as predictable as it was unexpected: a dense mass of people moving in one direction suddenly stood up and swayed back. The front rows slowed down, the rear rows continued to move by inertia ...
“When I saw a strange, somehow unnaturally upturned face of a guy with a trickle of blood from his nose and realized that he was unconscious, I was scared,” one of the eyewitnesses of the tragedy later recalled. - The weakest perished already here, in the corridor. Their limp bodies continued to move towards the exit along with the living ones. But the most terrible thing happened on the stairs. Someone tripped and fell. Those who stopped in an attempt to help were immediately swept away, knocked down and trampled on. Others continued to stumble over them, the mountain of bodies grew. The stair railings failed.
It was the most real meat grinder. Creepy, unreal picture...

Top secret

In our time, when every fan has his own media in his pocket, it’s impossible to think that the authorities have kept information about the terrible Luzhnikov tragedy as secret as possible. On October 21, Vechernyaya Moskva published the following information in small print: “An accident occurred at Luzhniki yesterday after the end of a football match. There are casualties among the fans." And for a long time it was the only mention of the Luzhnikov tragedy in the Soviet press.
About what happened in Moscow on October 20, 1982, the country found out only after 7 years, when the journalists of "Soviet Sport" took up the investigation. Yes, and very quickly, literally after the first publication, they shut their mouths.

Who is guilty?

Special services carried out “work” with the stadium workers and eyewitnesses, officials were carefully instructed, the investigation was kept as secret as possible. That is why it is still unclear how, why and through whose fault the terrible tragedy became possible.
- I was among the militiamen who ensured public order on that tragic evening, - militia colonel Vyacheslav Bondarev recalls. - After a while, many blamed the policemen for the tragedy, but, in my opinion, it is the administration of the Grand Sports Arena that is to blame for what happened. It so happened that the bulk of the audience gathered in the East and West stands, each of which at that time could accommodate about 22 thousand. The North and South stands were completely empty. When the game came to an end, the people gradually began to leave their seats and head for the exit. And suddenly Spartak scores the second goal. General rejoicing began, and the fans, who were about to go home, moved in the opposite direction. Confusion, crush. Here to let people on south stand, and even open the exits there ... Then the human flow would pass through the exits from the four stands. Alas, this was not done. Then everything happened like in a nightmare. I saw how the ambulances arrived, how the evacuation of the victims began. There was no blood. People received so-called non-mechanical damage. In a crazy stream, some fans fell to the ground, others immediately fell on them. Those who found themselves at the very bottom of the resulting pile of bodies, apparently, died from the stampede, some simply suffocated. The stairs leading to the exit were covered with ice and snow, the stadium workers did not even bother to sprinkle them with sand. People slipped and fell, at best they got injured ...


Tragedy at Luzhniki
- These are all cop stories, - retorts the famous "Professor" - Amir Khuslyutdinov, one of the most respected Spartak fans, who found himself at the epicenter of events 35 years ago. - How many times it happened. People leave the podium, and then Spartak scores a goal. Everyone shouts, rejoices, but continues to move. Nobody ever returned. This version was invented by the police so that no one could see their guilt in what happened. Like, two threads collided, and they could not do anything about it.
I had a ticket to stand B, but since the opponent was not very significant, and there were not many people for the match, a thousand spectators were placed in stand A, the rest were sent to stand C. The rest are 14 thousand 200 people. Two mid-flight stairs from the upper sectors led to one so-called common balcony. And of the four exits, only one was open. The snowballs also played their part. The people who were supposed to keep order in the stadium and obey the law got really angry with us because of this snow shelling. There was evidence that fans were being pushed to exit. In a dense stream of fans moving towards the gate, pushing each other. One sharp push, another, and now someone who was weaker fell, someone walking behind him stumbled on him and also found himself underfoot ... But people continued to move, trampling the weak. The instinct of self-preservation is such a thing that sometimes completely turns off conscience and compassion. People, surrounded on all sides by the crowd, suffocated, lost consciousness, fell ... Panic grew, no one was able to take control of the situation.
On the very balcony where the two streams joined, there were railings. Well-welded railings. However, they could not withstand the pressure of a large number of people. Those who fell from the balcony escaped with fractures. Those who remained at the top, were under the rubble ...

Found the extreme

The tragedy was investigated by the investigative team of the Moscow Prosecutor's Office, and according to purely external signs - interrogations of 150 witnesses, more than 10 volumes of the case - there seem to be no questions for the investigation. But it is clear that an objective investigation of the Luzhnikov tragedy in the conditions of that time was completely impossible. The culprits were simply named.
The sword of "justice" eventually fell on the commandant of the Grand Sports Arena Panchikhin, who, in fact, had nothing to do with organizing the match, and in general worked in this position for a couple of months. It is known that Panchikhin was discharged for 3 years of corrective labor, of which he worked one and a half. Director of the BSA Kokryshev, who was sentenced to the same 3 years, was granted an amnesty. And about other punishments, even if they were, history is silent.
“The authorities were not afraid of us, but of the performance of Spartak fans,” recalled Raisa Viktorova, mother of 17-year-old Oleg, who died in Luzhniki, in an interview with Sport-Express. - They didn’t let me go to court at all, since the summons was sent only to the name of my husband. I made a scandal. I didn't care at the time. Not much time had passed, and we were ready to tear all the police to pieces. The case consisted of 12 volumes. Nevertheless, one day was enough for the court. They came to the conclusion that it was just an accident, and one commandant was punished. Many years later, an investigator named Speer, who handled our case, fell seriously ill. He was tormented by his conscience, and he wanted to apologize to us, his parents, for following the authorities' lead, but he did not have time. And we knew from the first day that the police were to blame. When a year later they came to the place of death of our guys to honor their memory, KGB officers with impenetrable faces in black jackets and ties were standing around. We were not even allowed to lay flowers. We threw them over the fence. All sorts of obstacles were repaired for almost ten years. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary, a memorial was erected in Luzhniki, and I bow low to the people who paid attention to us ...

And now about football

In the return match, Spartak beat the Dutch no less confidently - 3:1 - and made it to the 1/8 finals, where they failed to cope with the Spanish Valencia (0:0 and 0:2).
But who cares now?

On October 20, 1982, a tragedy occurred at Luzhniki Stadium, which was included in the list of the most nightmarish disasters at stadiums in the world. In a terrible crush after the UEFA Cup match Spartak - Harlem, a tragedy occurred: according to official figures, 66 people died. Among the spectators of that match was Alexander PROSVETOV, now a columnist for "SE". A few years ago, he told the truth about that story by talking to the parents of the victims.

SNOWBALLS AS A TOOL OF PROTEST

We could very well be in their place. We are three 26-year-old friends who went on October 20, 1982 to the Spartak-Harlem match. On November 1, the author of these lines flew to work as a TASS correspondent in Benin, and it was a farewell trip for me to football together with Artem and Mikhail. Human memory does not store all the details. But much of that evening had sunk into her forever.

Almost all the spectators were placed on the East stand, which later became the C stand. It was crowded, but the police did not have to disperse their forces. The sliding bars at the entrance to the sector were suddenly closed, leaving a small opening the size of a gate. This "rationalization" made it easier for law enforcement officers to check the passports of young people. Minors unaccompanied by adults were then not allowed to evening events, and only a mouse would slip through such a gap. It was forbidden to shout at the stadium. From the podium for all sorts of exclamations, one or the other was taken out. In response, since the sleet had just fallen, snowballs flew at the policemen. At first there were timid single attempts, but gradually the shelling intensified. The police had not yet switched to winter uniforms, so their employees were wearing caps. After well-aimed throws from different sides, they flew off their heads to the joyful laughter.

The police were really confused - and the unthinkable happened: she retreated from the podium, - clarified Artem Petrov, a scientist working in America. - The people began to celebrate the victory over the tyrants. But most importantly, I remember that after the final whistle I tried to convince you and Misha: "There is no need to rush, let the crowd dissipate." When we finally went down to the corridor under the stands, you were indignant that the policeman grabbed the teenager by the scarf. He answered: "Yes, look what's going on there!" And for some reason he let the boy go.

I honestly don't remember this. But he did not forget how two policemen carried a soldier who sagged lifelessly in his greatcoat, like in a hammock.

We were returned to the podium, where we sat for another quarter of an hour, and then went out into the street through another sector, - continued Artem. - From a distance they saw that people were lying on the handrails of the stairs, bending over with their bodies. And we realized: they are dead. Nothing was reported in the newspapers the next day. We later learned what had happened by "enemy voices" from various acquaintances.

The weather was nasty, and the game as a whole was dull, - said Mikhail Snyatkovsky, businessman. - Everyone is cold. Some viewers secretly drank - then it was much easier to carry it with you than now. They even threw ice at the policemen. The second goal against “Harlem”, scored in the last minute by Shvetsov, caused incredible rejoicing. Everyone was euphoric. People who had already left the sector rushed back to find out what had happened, and maybe, if they were lucky, to watch the replay on the light board.

Sergey Shvetsov told me that he learned about the tragedy the day after the match from Nikolai Petrovich Starostin. However, the author famous phrase: "It would be better if I didn't score that goal," he admitted that it was unpleasant for him to mentally return to that day.

Why don't they ask how I scored four goals against Neftchi? No, everyone is interested in the "fatal goal". I had such a job - to score goals. And the sediment nevertheless remained for life.

Coming out of the stadium, we saw a nightmarish sight: lifeless bodies hung on the railing, and there was only one ambulance nearby," he said. Snyatkovsky.

- Then on the way to "Sportivnaya" we met a whole convoy of medical vehicles ...

That's what I don't remember. But we were definitely shocked. We rode the subway in silence - they forgot about the match at all. And when they arrived home, they began to call each other and ask: "Well, how are you, gone?" The condition was terrible. It's still scary to remember. But we, in fact, did not fall into that hell.

I stated our impressions, really, not out of boasting. It is not a merit to be in the epicenter of an earthquake and survive, because heavy beams and slabs did not fall on you. But there is still a picture before my eyes: a pile of bodies lies on the stairs, heads down. Some people get up with great difficulty and hobble, limping, away from this horror ...

COMMANDANT AS A SWITCHMAN

Mikhail Zazulenko after the match "Spartak" - "Harlem" was waiting at home for a laid table - the guy turned eighteen.

The police are definitely to blame for the death of our children, his father told me. Yuri Leonidovich Zazulenko. - I then worked in the KGB myself and had the opportunity to get acquainted with the circumstances of the case in great detail, I saw photographs from the scene. The key to the lattice gate was with the major, who locked it and left. There was a small hole left. And the crowd pressed on, so much so that the railing 20 millimeters thick under pressure turned around. People were literally compressed. Everyone has the same diagnosis - asphyxia, that is, suffocation. Of course, 200 - 300 victims, which I heard about, and then it was impossible to hide, but I doubt the figure of "66 dead".

There were so many corpses in three morgues, and they were taken to four. Even if only one person got into the fourth, then already 67. At the trial, they found a switchman, and whitewashed the police. The Minister of the Interior, Shchelokov, was still in power. When Andropov (an ardent opponent of Shchelokov) came to power, he was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee on November 12, 1982. - Note. A.P.), I was hoping he'd get this thing going. But Andropov was not up to us. On the other hand, we should have written to him, in which case he might have taken up our business closely, but we did not realize.

Questions remain. Some speak of two colliding streams of people, and Vladimir Aleshin, for example, who headed the Luzhniki spot complex in December 1982, at a meeting with SE journalists, he said that the police wanted to pull out the intruders throwing snowballs from the crowd, but the fans firmly held hands. Someone slipped on the icy stairs... It is indicative that everyone blames the law enforcement agencies today, but the same ones remained as if they had nothing to do with it.

On the dock were the leaders of the stadium: the director, his deputy and the commandant. The first two escaped the verdict (according to Aleshin, the deputy, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, was helped, in particular, by military awards). For everyone, the commandant, sentenced to three years, but in connection with the amnesty, served half the term.

I met this man at a reception at the Dutch embassy. We talked, although he noticed that he had not communicated with compatriot journalists for 25 years. The wife intervened decisively in the conversation: “I don’t want my grandchildren to read this. We already suffered. With a mark on the criminal record in the passport, they didn’t take any responsible work.” I promised not to give my last name in the newspaper.

When the tragedy occurred, the police were not there: they were sent to the bus of the Dutch, - said the ex-commandant's wife. - And they made my husband the scapegoat, as the youngest - he was then a little over thirty.

Ridiculous accusations were brought against me,” the former commandant stressed. - One of the points said that I could not establish the right relationship with law enforcement agencies. In fact, the trouble happened due to the fact that the police escalated the situation from the very beginning, its employees behaved tactlessly towards the fans.

The labor collective was ready to take me on bail, as was customary then, but Alyoshin refused to sign the letter.

LIFE FOR "SPARTAK"

It is noteworthy that the relatives of the victims do not hold a grudge against the commandant. "We, the parents, do not blame him," she told me bluntly. Raisa Mikhailovna Viktorova, who lost her only son in 1982 and headed an informal committee of fathers and mothers.

When the prosecutor's office was called for the first time, we formed a core of five activists,” she said. - Later, others joined - there were about twenty people. After all, not only Muscovites were among the victims, but also residents of Kuibyshev, Tambov, Ryazan, Chekhov, Serpukhov near Moscow.

After that match, I spent the whole night looking for my Oleg, a 3rd year student at the Moscow Institute of Radio Engineering, Electronics and Automation. He turned 20 in August. She called the hospitals, contacted the police. "Yes, he is with some girl, and you are worried," they told me. Oleg entered the morgue at six in the morning. So, he lay all night near the monument to Lenin, where the corpses were piled up. I learned this from the materials of the case, which the investigator suggested reading.

My Volodya was not allowed to play football alone - he was still in the 8th grade, - shared her memories Svetlana G. Anikina. - So his friends advised him: ask one of the adults to say at the entrance that you are with him. In the morning I rushed to Sklif and suddenly met Andropov there (by that time he was the secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Andropov left the leadership of the KGB in May 1982. - Note. A.P.). He was talking to the head doctor in the corridor. He asked what I was doing here. She replied that she heard that dead children were brought here. Andropov gave instructions to help. And threw the phrase: "There are a lot of corpses."

Husband, leaving, said: “I will give my life for Spartak,” she said. Guzel Talipovna Abdulina. - Who would have thought that his words would be prophetic. I stayed with my four and a half year old son in my arms.

Oleg was not particularly interested in football, - she noticed, in turn, Nina Maksimovna Borisova. - He played hockey. But the Komsomol committee of the technical school issued tickets for the match with parting words: "You must support our Soviet team." And the son said that he could not go. And then they began to deliberately make hooligans out of our children.

They demanded to bring characteristics from the place of study, they took an analysis of the alcohol content from the dead, and the husbands who were members of the CPSU were told: “Take your wives away,” they threatened with expulsion from the party, held them back during promotions, is still indignant Nina Aleksevna Novostrueva, whose son Mikhail was also a student at a technical school.

The court session, originally scheduled in the center of Moscow, was moved to the area of ​​the Molodezhnaya metro station, at that time a distant outskirts of the city. The women said that they walked like criminals through a long line.

The authorities were not afraid of us, but of the performance of Spartak fans, - noted Raisa Viktorova. - They didn’t let me go to court at all, since the summons was sent only to the name of my husband. I made a scandal. I didn't care at the time. Not much time had passed, and we were ready to tear all the police to pieces. The case consisted of 12 volumes. Nevertheless, one day was enough for the court. They came to the conclusion that it was just an accident, and one commandant was punished. Many years later, an investigator named Speer, who handled our case, fell seriously ill. He was tormented by his conscience, and he wanted to apologize to us, his parents, for following the authorities' lead, but he did not have time. And we knew from the first day that the police were to blame. When a year later they came to the place of death of our guys to honor their memory, KGB officers with impenetrable faces in black jackets and ties were standing around. We were not even allowed to lay flowers. We threw them over the fence. All sorts of obstacles were repaired for almost ten years. A memorial was erected in Luzhniki for the tenth anniversary, and I bow low to the people who paid attention to us and found sponsors.

At Yuri Leonidovich Zazulenko my question for help aroused strong emotions:

We were compensated only for the cost of the clothes that were on the dead, and they also paid for the funeral. What help could there be? Alyoshin did not allow us to erect a monument for ten years. Luzhkov was caught while he was playing football. Also recoiled.

MONUMENT STRONG AS OAK

In the 80s Georgy Sergeevich Lunacharsky, an architect by education, headed the Spartak fan club. Together with the sculptor Mikhail Skovorodin, they became the authors of the monument in Luzhniki.

The decision to create a monument was made by our fan association, - said Lunacharsky. - When I was at Luzhkov's, I said that we want to make a commemorative sign. Thus, we lulled the vigilance of the authorities: they thought that we wanted to attach a memorial plaque. Prepared two dozen options. At the same time, they tried to give the monument an international sound. Therefore, the inscription "To the dead in the stadiums of the world" is made in four languages.

Who financed the monument?