The Kalach brigade is respected in the internal troops. Stationed near Volgograd in the town of Kalach-on-Don, she took part in the hostilities in the North Caucasus more than once. They say about her: "Grated". Five of its members were awarded the Star of the Hero of Russia. Among them, the only woman in the entire history of the participation of federal forces in local conflicts is Irina Yanina, a nurse, a sergeant of the internal troops.
Reluctant refugee
A native of the city of Taldy-Kurgan, Irina, born in 1966, lived with her family in Kazakhstan before the collapse of the Soviet Union. She married here and had two children. After graduating from college, she was engaged in the most peaceful profession on earth - she worked as a nurse in a maternity hospital. But the 90s came, which made Russians in Kazakhstan strangers. And at the family council it was decided to move to Russia. So Irina Yanina with her parents and children ended up in the Volgograd region.
In a small town theirno one was waiting. I had to start everything from scratch: rent a house, get a job, apply for citizenship. The first could not stand the husband. He left, leaving his wife and children without a livelihood. In order to somehow support the family, the young woman put on a military uniform, having settled in military unit 3642 in 1995. By that time, her youngest daughter had died of acute leukemia. Irina just needed to get down to business in order to survive the grief. A guaranteed salary, rations and military benefits determined her choice.
Let's fight and come home…
Together with her native 22nd brigade ("Kalach") already in 1996, Irina Yanina visited Chechnya. There will be two such trips during the first campaign. In total, a young woman will have to spend 3.5 months in the war, performing the duties of a nurse. Seeing death in the eyes is not an easy test. But for her, it was a way to somehow solve her social problems. A dream was born - to earn an apartment for her son so that he would not know the difficulties that her family faced.
The second Chechen campaign started from Dagestan. Basayev's gangs and Khattab's mercenaries, supported by the Islamists of the Kadar zone, moved here. In July 1999, the transfer of special forces and explosive detachments began to Makhachkala to prevent the incitement of a civil war in the republic. Already on August 7, Chechen separatists entered Botlikh. The federal forces were given the task of pushing them into the territory of Chechnya. As part of the evacuation group of the "Kalach" brigade, the young woman again found herself in the war. This business trip turned out to be for her.complex. Life in the field was hard. And in a letter to her parents, on which she left her eleven-year-old son, the young woman wrote that she wanted to go home. She regretted not leaving the service. These were moments of weakness, after which Irina promised: “We will fight and come home.”
Battle of Karamakhi
In mid-August, the Dagestan village of Karamakhi with its 5,000-strong population joined the Islamist republic. Having expelled local authorities and set up roadblocks, it soon turned into an impregnable fortress. A detachment of militants (about 500 people) led by field commander Jarulla entrenched here. Peace negotiations with the Wahhabis failed. And on the 28th, federal forces began shelling the settlement, which was followed by internal troops and the Dagestan OMON. The militants let in armored personnel carriers to close the trap and destroy the special forces. This prompted the start of a combined arms operation. Local residents in a hurry left the village, which will be completely occupied by the federals only on September 8th. The Kalach brigade, in which Irina Yanina assisted the wounded soldiers, also took part in the bloody battles to clear Karamakhi.
Die in battle
It's August 31st. On the last day of summer, the 1st battalion entered the outskirts of the village, where the militants were waiting for them, having arranged a real massacre. The commander of the 22nd brigade sent three armored personnel carriers to help. In one of them, in addition to the shooter and the gunner, there was Irina Yuryevna Yanina, a nurse. She provided the evacuation of the seriously wounded. Having already helped 15 fighters, she is out of the bulletstook away those who could not move independently. Traveling into the thick of it three times, she saved another 28 comrades, going after the rest for the fourth time.
Among them will be those who will owe her their lives. During loading, a young woman picked up a machine gun to cover the evacuation of the wounded. Leaving the battlefield, the armored personnel carrier was hit by an ATGM. The rocket projectile caused a fire, the driver lost consciousness. Irina helped the wounded get out, but she herself did not have time to escape. A detonated ammunition set ended the life of a 32-year-old nurse who was doing her military duty. And for privates Lyadov I. A., Golnev S. V. and captain Krivtsov A. L. August day on the 31st will be the second birthday.
From the memories of colleagues
He alth worker Larisa Mozzhukhina remembers her friend as a cheerful and sympathetic person, always ready to help. Her death shocked everyone. The remains of a young woman fit into a small handkerchief - the war turned out to be so ruthless to her.
Corporal Kulakov was the driver of the armored personnel carrier where Irina Yanina burned to death. After being hit by a shell, he came to his senses only when only he and the nurse were left in the car. Getting out through the hatch on her side, he tried to pull the young woman out. But due to interrupted unloading, he fell to the asph alt. The car was dragged forward several meters, and minutes later the ammunition exploded.
Co-worker Andrey Trusov recalls that for forty days friends carried particles of the ashes of Irina Yanina with them, as if after deatha heroic nurse could help in the most difficult moment.
Sergeant VV Irina Yanina - Hero of Russia
In October, by presidential decree, Yanina was awarded the Star of the Hero of Russia for military operations against terrorists in Dagestan and for her courage during the operation to clean up Karamakhi. She will forever remain the only woman to receive such a high award for participating in the military conflict in the North Caucasus.
Her son is 27. Eugene works in the same military unit where his mother served. He still rereads her letters from the war and tries to understand where in an ordinary fragile woman there was such a sense of duty and self-sacrifice. Raised by his grandparents, he always had before his eyes the example of his mother, whom he used to be proud of.
Since 2007, on the Day of the Heroes of the Fatherland, the country has been returning to their feat, holding festive events to honor the living and commemorate the fallen. In 2012, stamps were issued in memory of some of them. One also depicts Irina Yanina, whose photo is quite difficult to find and see these days.
