On October 6, 1995 in Grozny, an attempt was made on Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Anatoly Romanov.

The wife of the former Commander-in-Chief of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Anatoly Romanov, Larisa Romanova. Photo: RIA Novosti / Oleg Lastochny

During his passage under the bridge near the Minutka Square, a guided explosive device went off. Almost all the soldiers who accompanied the general in armored vehicles, and assistant Alexander Zaslavsky, died. Romanov was seriously injured - for 22 years he has been bedridden. And all this time next to him is his devotee wife Larisa Vasilievna.

And here he is, so serious! So arrogant! ..

They met 47 years ago in Saratov. Larisa, after graduating from a book college, got a job at the House of Books. Anatoly Romanov, a cadet of the military command school of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was on vacation.

- Friend Nina once admitted that she was meeting with two cadets, - Larisa Vasilievna recalled. - Tolya was already the sergeant major of the battalion, his friend from Ukraine Sasha Kolesnikov was a senior sergeant. And then they took turns, then went together to her on leave. Both are good: they took her to the cinema, to museums, gave flowers and sweets. But nothing else. She says to me: help, let me meet with Sasha, and you with Tolya.

On October 3, 1970, Nina introduced her friend to her future husband. 20-year-old Larisa had never seen either Tolya or Sasha before, and by and large she didn't care who to be friends with. Well, since a friend asked ...

- We met. And you know ... I liked Sasha more. Tolya already had a very beautiful, purely male figure of Apollo. He played volleyball, devoted a lot of time to gymnastics ... And now he is so serious! So over-me-ny! He casually smokes a cigarette ...

Sasha immediately perked up: “Oh, our regiment has arrived! Well, let's go for a walk. " And it was scary to approach Tolya. Kolesnikov is a light-hearted, joker, girls usually like these: you can giggle with him, play off jokes. Anatoly is the exact opposite: serious, reserved. Affected by the fact that he came to the school after serving - in his 22 many already had lieutenant shoulder straps. In addition, the eighth child in the family, the last, as the parents said, who pinned great hopes on him. His father, a disabled person of the first group, had a leg amputated - Tolya took care of him, helped. After school he worked at the Belebeyevsky (in Bashkiria) machine plant. Larisa Vasilievna still keeps a clipping from a local newspaper with a note about the young milling machine operator Romanov. Anatoly was very proud, he said: they noticed me already then ...

- We have a beautiful embankment in Saratov, and all young people usually flocked there. We walked and talked. We agreed to meet next weekend, but the guys were not released. We saw each other, probably, only a month later. But then preparations began for the military parade. I had to communicate in between rehearsals, snatches. Tolya, of course, became softer. And Nina's desire to establish a serious relationship with Sasha grew stronger. Although, most likely, neither one nor the other had any plans to marry at that time. Yes, and I did not think about marriage - I wanted to go to college.

However, six months later, on March 8, the "arrogant" Anatoly offered the girl his hand and heart. Gallant, he always came with flowers. He brought field workers from the camps. Or borrowed from someone in the country, making excuses: "they grow up ownerless."

- Tolya explained that being a military man's wife is extremely responsible; he has a very secret part, almost at the level of the Kremlin: everything is controlled, questioned, you cannot make a wrong step. “This is not what you think,” he said. And I didn’t think anything. He just talked so romantically about Franz Josef Land, where there are only barracks of soldiers and polar bears (what kind of girls are there?), About Svalbard that intrigued me.

Anatoly Romanov knew how to infect with his work, idea, lead. Later, many years later, Larisa Vasilievna will understand why, despite the difference in rank and age, young guys loved him so much - he was a very good conversationalist. It will be fun, interesting, the future general promised the bride. But he did not promise mountains of gold ...

And before that, the guys declared their love to Larisa, but so seriously ?! She was moved.

Chechen mother appeals to the commander of the united group of federal forces, Lieutenant General Anatoly RomanovPhoto: RIA Novosti

- I am Gemini according to the horoscope: spontaneous, emotional. He is Libra, more balanced. I think the difference in characters brought us closer together and created that aura that allowed us to live happily ever after.

Larisa fell in love without memory. Secret troops, distant islands ... Romance! And the father reacted to the upcoming marriage of the third, youngest daughter differently. I didn't really like the military. And not because the student did not like it. It's just that, having fought for ten years (he started with Finnish and ended up in the forests of Lithuania), he probably reasoned more sensibly.

Larisa and Anatoly got married only a year later.

- That study, then cholera in Saratov. Then he built a military camp and disappeared almost all summer. I would run on dates after work, in a tracksuit, so that the patrol would not be spotted. We have such a Kumysnaya glade there: he had to descend 6 kilometers from the mountain and the same amount - to climb back ...

Methodically, like a cadet, he taught his wife to iron trousers

The Romanovs lived in Saratov for 12 years - as the best graduate, Tolya was left to pass on experience to the cadets. During this time he graduated from the Academy. Frunze, Larisa - an economic institute, they had a daughter, Vika. And in 1984 Anatoly Alexandrovich was transferred to the Urals.

- A completely different life began there. Much more difficult ... Of course, it was hard to get used to. You must understand: no one is waiting for the officer's wife anywhere. In addition, Tolya really had serious troops and an extremely responsible job. All the time - cadets: first a platoon, then a company, a battalion; all day on duty. And since he always treated his duties very scrupulously, everything affected us.

Larisa Vasilievna worked, and in the evenings she sat down with Vika to do her homework. She also cooked, washed, cleaned. The husband had no time for his daughter. If on a rare weekend a family managed to get out of the city, to the mountains, it was a great joy for everyone.

- The whole house was on me. But what about? Tolya is a pedant: every day there should be a fresh shirt, ironed trousers. God forbid, at the parade, one floor of the greatcoat will go one centimeter behind the other. And how it had to be steamed is a whole science! I remember the first time I stroked his trousers ... It was something! Methodically, as a cadet, he taught me to stroke so that there were no three arrows.

In what is interesting with Tolya, Larisa was convinced in the first years of their life together. As a trade union leader, she often arranged contests at work, competitions - her husband took part in them, helped with advice. And, despite all his seriousness, he turned out to be very sentimental in family life. He liked that the table was well served, that there were flowers and candles burning. For the music to play.

- Tolya spoiled us. Sometimes on Sunday we dined at the best Saratov restaurant "Volga" in those years - from an early age he taught his daughter to secular manners.

In all other respects, perhaps, the life of officer Romanov and his family was not even sentimental at all. Larisa was worried about her husband, sometimes, like any woman, she was offended that he pays little attention to the family.

The Chechen mother appeals to the commander of the united group of federal forces, Lieutenant General Anatoly Romanov. Photo: RIA Novosti

- There was no particularly rich atmosphere in the house: it is unrealistic to carry headsets with you all the time. Of course, many lived better. And we have only a camp bed and the only property - a huge library, which, due to its weight, created a lot of inconvenience. The rest was constantly bought and sold. Such a life...

What was the most difficult thing about her, I asked Larisa Vasilievna, realizing that, probably, this is not moving and not even a constant feeling of temporary housing.

- The most difficult thing is to wait, said the officer's wife. First - when he comes on leave, he will return from the camp. Then - from the service, from business trips.

She is waiting now. Waiting for her husband's condition to improve ... Otherwise, how to live?

The wife took it upon herself ... She is waiting and waiting for her husband from the service - he will return tired ... She begins to calm down, slowly disposes to a normal conversation.

- Then, of course, his homework distracted him. He did everything himself, he even repaired the TV. When? And what is the night for? We painted and glued wallpaper at night ...

After the first trip to Chechnya, he became tougher, more nervous

Moving to Moscow was Anatoly's dream. He immediately said to his wife: a soldier who does not dream of becoming a general is bad; I will. And she would try not to believe it.

Although Larisa herself did not like the capital. She loved to come here: to crawl around museums, theaters, wander around Zamoskvorechye, in the places of Pushkin, Chekhov ... But she considered it difficult to live here.

- Probably, in the Urals it is harder in the everyday sense, in the intellectual sense, but people there are more sincere and sincere. There are more places in Moscow where you can have fun and express yourself. And the city itself is tough: everyone is secretive, there is great disunity. Remember the phrase from the movie "The most charming and attractive": "Are you from the Urals?" This is how we looked at first: gullible, naive.

Larisa Vasilievna's experiences in the capital increased. Over the years, my husband's job has become more and more difficult. At the same time, the well-being of the family probably increased. However, here Romanova immediately got a job. And for many years she worked as the commercial director of a large bookstore.

Since 1993, the Interior Ministry troops have been increasingly used in hot spots. Anatoly Aleksandrovich became deputy commander, and more than once traveled to the North Caucasus. But as soon as the armed conflict began in Chechnya, my wife had bad thoughts. Anatoly said more than once that he was Kulikov's “deputy for combat and fighting,” that is, for combat training. Therefore, Larisa understood well: it was her husband who would go to war. And latently all the time I was waiting for this moment.

- The troops were brought in at the end of October 1994, and on the 20th of December Tolya had already returned. This was the first business trip to Chechnya. Active hostilities began on New Year's Eve, and when, after a month or two, his children began to die, he was very worried. I went there several times and returned completely different. The psyche of a person who has been to a war changes. This is immediately noticeable. Tolya became tougher, more nervous ...

Larisa Vasilievna was in anxiety all the time. One thing was shown on TV - my husband was telling the truth. The tension increased, the body was malfunctioning, but the general could not afford to get sick. He strengthened himself, began to run more, did exercises more actively. He knew: to fall down, to leave the troops is impossible.

I dreamed of leaving for a desert island, if only without "turntables"

- On September 27, we celebrated his 47th birthday, and a day later Tolya left. Of course, he could not write. Agreed, he will call. I tried every day: alive, well ... I don't need anything else ...

After October 10, the general promised his wife to come for a couple of weeks on vacation. Larisa Vasilievna was preparing, she wanted to finish repairing the apartment by his arrival. And Romanov dreamed of going somewhere to a desert island, so as not to see anyone, not to hear ... Even to a banal dacha with roosters. If only without the "turntables".

At noon on October 6, 1995, Anatoly Alexandrovich, as usual, dialed his home number. But Larisa Vasilievna had health problems, and she went to the hospital. The master who was doing the repairs told about the call. And an hour later, Vika's daughter came. After graduation, she began teaching at the school and arranged to meet with fellow students on the weekend.

“I didn’t let her go. It was necessary to wash everything, hang it up, put it on. What are you saying, dad is coming soon - no weekends. We had a bit of an argument.

Offended, Vika went into the kitchen. She turned on the TV and heard a snippet of the announcer's phrase: "... Zaslavsky died, Romanov was wounded." She ran to her mother - she brushed it off: come on ... But in the next news release, the information was repeated.

Larisa Vasilievna sat in a daze. I didn't cry. Tears will come later. All the time ... Even when we talked to her in the hospital, she did not hide them, but only silently swallowed

I rushed to call the Ministry of Internal Affairs - everyone is silent. Nobody wanted to say anything to the wife of the seriously wounded general. As if the unknown would make her feel better.

- He is seriously wounded, but alive, said Tolin deputy, General Shkirko... And Kulikov advised me not to go to Chechnya: you will not help him, and you should not look at all this once again. A scalpel plane was sent for Tolya ... I did not personally know his assistant, Colonel Zaslavsky. I only knew that the family had two student daughters, and they lived in a hostel. Tolya asked Kulikov to give Sasha an apartment. On that day, the colonel called his wife: "The minister signed a report, in the near future we will be given an apartment." These were his last words ...

Commander of the united group of federal forces in Chechnya, Lieutenant-General Anatoly Romanov. Photo: RIA Novosti / Podlegaev

For a month they did not know whether he would live or not

And again, for the umpteenth time, the Romanovs began a different life. Only now she was not at all like the old one. There is nothing to even compare. As there are no analogues of the general's injury, he has a severe brain concussion. Doctors wrote to Larisa Vasilievna a whole list of reasons why her husband should not have survived. In the best case, he could hold out for 5-7 days. And after the injury ... almost 22 years have passed.

- All this iron, so to speak, fell on him ... The state was deplorable. Several operations were performed at once. But they didn’t let me into intensive care for a long time. Tolya was lying on a huge bed - all in tubes, sensors, systems. And for a month the doctors could not say whether he would live or not. They said one thing: his injury is incompatible with life.

On November 5, 1995, Romanov was awarded the title of Hero of Russia, two days later he became Colonel General. After some time, the doctors were finally convinced that Anatoly Alexandrovich had conquered death.

- For a long time he was on artificial nutrition, lost a lot of weight. Probably, they left Buchenwald better. They began to fatten. At first he did not react to anything. He still cannot speak. Because there are holes in the throat. But the swallowing reflex is restored ...

General's day in the hospital is scheduled literally by the minute. Three times - massage, exercise therapy, walks. He already understands everything. And he answers questions with his eyes. He is taught to read again, to distinguish colors. Together with his wife and daughter, Romanov watches old family videos, follows the events ...

- The reaction is different. It happens that he demonstratively closes his eyes, and that's it ... But we try to instill in him the reflexes that he had. Before he was wounded, he drank only vodka or good brandy. When we celebrate something, we give a little cognac - he, as before, relishes for a long time, then swallows. At one time, Tolya read all Kuprin, Chekhov, Alexei Tolstoy - we are trying to re-lay this information. There is improvement from new drugs. But how much is yet to come, no one knows. After all, he always considered himself healthy, therefore, when they are filming now, he has a complex ...

Doctors call the general's condition stable, they say there are manifestations of active mental activity, but due to large brain lesions, communication is limited. And there are many fragments left.

- I would not work ... But I will not live on his pension. It is not elevated - like all the heroes of Russia. Unfortunately, the costs are high. I have to buy a lot: the same diapers, baby food. Tolya has a strong allergy - we get out with the help of baby creams, powders. Last year, distinguished guests arrived, felt how warm it is here - they immediately brought a split system. There is no money for this in the hospital. Even the bed is ours. The hospital broke down, I was tormented, tormented, then I asked the guys who served with Tolya - they gave a new one.

Former commander of the united group of forces in Chechnya Anatoly Romanov at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, where the Gifts of the Magi are presented. Photo: RIA Novosti / Valery Melnikov

- Tired of such a life? I asked, knowing the answer.

- Oh-oh, I'm used to it. And, probably, she adapted to it ... But what to do?

Get used to everything. Even to grief, suffering. But to see the torment of a loved one and understand that you are not able to help him is unbearable. Larissa Vasilievna perks up, remembering something pleasant, not related to her husband's illness. But where will you run away from her?

- Tolya always followed the fashion: so that everything was combined, it was discreet, but stylish. He loved French perfumery, changing shirts, ties. The first among the military began to wear a wedding ring. After all, they couldn't, it was considered bad form. And he was not ashamed. They recognized him by the ring - he was so wounded ...

Each has its own share. Of course, says Larisa Vasilievna, it would be better if all this had not happened, and they would have lived with their husband peacefully in the Urals. Lost your posts, titles, improved living conditions. She was never greedy for them. But nothing can be returned. You have to live in this reality.

- Unfortunately, I have not been given another.

P.S. We talked with Larisa Vasilievna in the ward of Anatoly Alexandrovich in the military hospital named after N.N. Burdenko. But for several years now, the Colonel-General has been undergoing treatment at the Main Clinical Hospital of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Balashikha. Larisa Vasilievna does not work now. Their granddaughter Anastasia is 12 years old. And Anatoly Romanov himself turns 69 on September 27 ... Who knows how long he would have lived after the assassination attempt in Chechnya, if there were no loving devoted wife nearby? What Larisa Vasilievna does is akin to a daily feat. And her dedication seems to be limitless. Definitely, the general was very lucky in love ...

Fatal october

The fate of General Romanov is mercilessly cut into two parts of different sizes. In one of them, he is still full of a bright, strong, courageous life, which, as it seems to everyone, is just entering the time of real prosperity. Forty-seven years old. A peasant son who has just become the commander of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. A husband and a father who found simple human happiness in his close-knit family.

In another part of his life, which lasts almost eighteen long years, he is a seriously wounded man with life still glowing in him like a candle flame. Hospital ward and white coats of doctors. An undefeated general, whose consciousness has not yet returned from the war ...

Since the spring of 1995, he got into the lenses of many journalistic television cameras and cameras, when, after the dramatic storming of the Chechen capital and the displacement of militants into the mountains, the Russian government began to strengthen the peaceful order of life in the cities and villages of Chechnya. Often, without protection, Romanov fearlessly entered the villages where the militants were still hiding. I talked with representatives of the rural authorities and clergy, with residents, for whom the future world was not an abstract concept, but meant the return of a familiar life: with the scent of fresh bread, a sense of security, pensions for the elderly and education for children.

In Chechnya, which until recently lived in separatist dreams, it was precisely these things that suddenly turned out to be the most scarce. It often happened that after a conversation with Romanov, residents themselves drove the remaining militants out of the villages, and the flags of Ichkeria hanging on administrative buildings were quickly replaced by the tricolor flags of the Russian state.

In the summer of 1995, Romanov was approved as the commander of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and was appointed commander of the United Group of Federal Forces on the territory of the Chechen Republic. A participant in the negotiation process with the leaders of illegal armed groups, he was responsible for the development and implementation of the so-called military block of issues.

Romanov's natural diplomatic talent, his ability to translate the most violent disputes into a constructive dialogue and turn former foes into new adherents by charm alone made his participation in the peacekeeping process unique in its own way.

But most importantly, ordinary Chechens began to trust Romanov. The further - the more. And in this sense, for the ideologists of the rebellion and Chechen separatism, as well as for those who were hiding behind their backs in those days, General Romanov remained a deadly figure.

This world rolled downhill on October 6, 1995, the day when General Romanov, who left Khankala for Grozny to meet with Ruslan Khasbulatov, was seriously wounded. A high-explosive charge, equivalent to 30 kilograms of TNT, was remotely detonated at about 13 hours, when part of the column of internal troops, including the Romanov UAZ and several escort armored vehicles, had already been pulled into a tunnel near Minutka Square in Grozny.

Of those who were in Romanov's UAZ, the assistant to the commander, Colonel Alexander Zaslavsky, and the driver, private Vitaly Matviychenko, immediately died. A little later, private Denis Yabrikov, a soldier from the special-purpose unit "Rus" of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, who was guarding the general that day, will die of wounds. Another two dozen people were wounded and shell-shocked.

Immediately after the explosion, the tunnel was clouded with smoke. Among the human bodies scattered by the explosion, it was not immediately possible to find Romanov. He was identified by a belt with a general's buckle and a gold wedding ring on his right hand ...

Relay of salvation

The struggle for the life of General Romanov has already become a story worthy of a detailed story about the courage, patience and professional skills of those people who saved the wounded Romanov, who have been treating him all these years.

In Moscow, the Minister of the Interior, General Anatoly Kulikov, was the first to know about Romanov's injury. For him, Romanov was not only a military leader who had recently replaced Kulikov himself as commander of the internal troops and commander of the United Group, but also a close friend.

The minister had just returned from Chechnya the day before, and in the morning of October 6 he had time to speak with Romanov on the phone, receiving his morning report.

The commander of the helicopter link (he is also the commander of the Mi-8 helicopter crew), Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Karamyshev (lives in Khabarovsk), on that day, was not supposed to fly anywhere at all: it was his birthday free from combat work. But war is war. According to her laws, the crew - in addition to the commander, it included Captain Andrey Zhezlov (lives in Kostroma) and onboard technician Senior Lieutenant Alexander Gorodov (lives in Chita) - still had to fly to the Severny airfield. They had already requested permission for the return flight, when the command came to drop in "on the meadow" - that was the name of the helicopter pad of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Khankala. They explained: “There are eighteen“ three hundred ”(seriously wounded).

There were indeed wounded. On a stretcher. All in blood and torn camouflage. The Aviation Command Officer, who silently smoked a cigarette and didn’t really explain anything, in the end made a strange reservation: they say, the commander will fly with you now.

The pilot knew the commander of the United Group Romanov well. Respected that he did not behave like a master in front of his subordinates. For intelligence. For the fact that forty-seven-year-old Romanov could twist the sun on the horizontal bar, wearing a heavy soldier's body armor for the load.

He expected to see a smart, tall general with his assistants now, wondering inwardly at the suppressed nervousness of the people around him. He did not immediately realize that Romanov himself was wounded, who, along with other victims, should have been immediately evacuated to the Vladikavkaz military hospital.

Concentrating, Karamyshev figured that the shortest path, which takes 17 minutes of flight, is the road through Bamut, which is firing at helicopters. A guaranteed safe route would take them almost twice as long.

We were in a hurry. We passed Grozny. "Eight" was ten meters above the ground at a speed of 315-320 kilometers per hour, significantly exceeding the permitted speed. So we jumped out into the open field. Out of the corner of his eye, Karamyshev saw how a blurry silhouette suddenly rose from the arable land and soared upward with a candle. I managed to make a maneuver and - almost jumped over the eagle flying to intercept, like an anti-aircraft missile. A powerful blow shook the fuselage. The bird slammed into the steering headlight with all its might, turning it around and splattering the bottom of the helicopter with eagle blood. This was discovered later, wondering at his own luck: if a frontal blow or a bird hit the engine, the helicopter could simply crash.

Near Bamut, 152-mm self-propelled artillery mounts were beating with all their remarkable strength. There was a planned shelling in the squares, and the "eight" had to scour between the sultans of gaps in order not to get hit by a flying projectile or its fragments.

At the airfield, Karamyshev landed on the move. I also glanced at my watch - we got there in exactly a quarter of an hour. The wounded were handed over to local doctors. And they only had to shake their heads: "Another ten minutes, and they could not rush ..."

Lieutenant Colonel Karamyshev, who controlled the helicopter, could not know what was happening in flight behind him, in the troop compartment of the turntable. The medical team on board formed spontaneously even at the time of loading the wounded.

Just graduated from the military medical faculty, lieutenant of the medical service Dmitry Davydov boarded a helicopter to accompany the wounded soldiers of the special task force "Rus", whose chief medical officer he was on this first mission to the war. Volunteers boarded the turntable, lieutenant colonel of the medical service Yevgeny Kirichenko and nurse warrant officer Irina Burmistrova.

Among the wounded, Davydov immediately recognized Denis Yabrikov. He was in the protection of Romanov and with him got into the epicenter of the explosion. Denis was still alive, his face was bandaged, but to Davydov's question "How are you?" quite cheerfully moved his lips: "Normal." (Denis Yabrikov will die later, already in the Vladikavkaz garrison hospital, from injuries incompatible with life.)

The condition of two more wounded - a soldier in a gray police uniform and an officer in camouflage - seemed just as grave, if not worse. The officer's pressure was generally "zero". Only after handing over the wounded alive from hand to hand to the local doctors did they hear from the helicopter crew who had just been delivered to Vladikavkaz and who was in the torn to pieces and bloody officer's camouflage ...

The decision to send a military aircraft-hospital "Scalpel" to Vladikavkaz was made almost instantly. The chief anesthesiologist of the Main Military Clinical Hospital named after Academician N.N. Burdenko, Honored Doctor of Russia, Colonel of the Medical Service Mikhail Rudenko received, after returning from another operation.

He was summoned by the head of the hospital, Major General Vyacheslav Klyuzhev. Rudenko only asked Klyuzhev how many minutes he had left ...

Twenty, ”the head of the hospital replied, and Rudenko sighed with relief in response: his suitcases with the necessary equipment, medicines and materials that could come in handy in any situation complicated by the circumstances were always collected ahead of time.

Soon, the entire team of military doctors of the Military Hospital. N.N. Burdenko, consisting of Mikhail Ivanovich Rudenko, Sergei Nilovich Alekseev, Grigory Borisovich Tsekhanovsky, Vladimir Borisovich Gorbulenko and Igor Borisovich Maksimov, hastily loaded into a car, was already heading towards the Chkalovsky airfield near Moscow.

Upon arrival in Vladikavkaz, it turned out that Romanov had very severe intra-abdominal bleeding caused by a ruptured liver. Hastily changed his clothes, Rudenko went to the operating room ...

We must pay tribute to the medical personnel of the Vladikavkaz Garrison Hospital, led by Colonel Rudolf Nikolayevich An. Everything possible was done there to save the wounded. But the nature of the injuries received by Romanov and his condition required the immediate evacuation of the wounded to Moscow.

General Romanov ended up in the intensive care unit of the Burdenko Main Military Clinical Hospital.

In principle, he was killed, - Major General Vyacheslav Klyuzhev would later say about Anatoly Romanov.

However, he will immediately add: "He would have been killed if from the first minute of his salvation he had not been in the hands of top-class professionals ..."

The fight continues

Despite the severity of the injury, this eighteen-year struggle for the life of the general does not stop to this day - for doctors, for Larisa's wife and daughter Victoria, for close comrades.

It is possible that Romanov would not have lived a day if Larisa Romanova, his wife, had not been with him. Love is not called a heroic deed, as long as it lives in its own pleasure, but any heroic deed becomes possible if it is driven by true love.

For the last four years, General Anatoly Romanov has been in the Central Hospital of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, located in Balashikha, near Moscow. Nurses from the internal troops are around the clock next to him. Over the years, they have changed a lot, but each of them has invested a considerable share of labor, supporting the life of the wounded general in the troubles that last day and night.

After the reconstruction of the hospital here, with the care of the current commander-in-chief of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, General of the Army Nikolai Rogozhkin, a special unit for Romanov was equipped in one of the buildings. He often sits in his wheelchair near the window opening, and it is difficult to say what is in his soul.

Shortly before his injury, General Romanov, without any pathos, told his colleagues: “Each of us is ready to complete a combat mission, even if it costs him his life. Nobody wants to die, but if need be ... ”- he paused, never finishing his sentence.

It is not important that at that moment he did not yet know his fate. The important thing is that together we were ready to go to the end. And, having set off with Romanov, we never regretted it.

On September 27, 2011, the Hero of Russia, Colonel-General Anatoly Alexandrovich Romanov, turned 63 years old. The fate of this amazing and courageous person is mercilessly cut into two parts of different sizes by the drama. In one of them, he is full of a bright, strong, courageous life. A peasant son who became the commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. A husband and a father who found simple human happiness in his close-knit family. In another - a seriously wounded man in the ward of the Main Military Clinical Hospital named after N.N. Burdenko, in whose consciousness the fireball of a terrible explosion has been inexorably rolling on him for 13 long years. Beats backhand with a fierce shock wave, as on that day, October 6, 1995, when his general UAZ and several armored personnel carriers, without reducing speed, flew into the tunnel under the bridge near Minutka Square ...

A high-explosive charge equivalent to 30 kg of TNT was detonated at about 13:00, when part of the column of the Internal Troops, including Romanov's UAZ, had already been pulled into a tunnel near Minutka Square. It was a powerful explosion, calculated to kill several dozen people. The fact that this happened in a confined space only aggravated the consequences: the blast wave, repeatedly reflected from the concrete walls, literally blew the UAZ to shreds. "In principle, he was killed," the head of the hospital to them. Burdenko, Major General of the Medical Service Vyacheslav Klyuzhev. Many people were injured. Among the human bodies scattered by the explosion, it was not immediately possible to find Romanov. He was identified only by the belt with the general's buckle. All his companions in the car - assistant colonel Alexander Zaslavsky, driver private Vitaly Matviychenko and security guard - soldier of the special-purpose "Rus" unit of the Internal Troops, private Denis Yabrikov, were killed.

Officer's fate

Anatoly Alexandrovich Romanov was born on September 27, 1948 in the village of Mikhailovka, Belebeevsky District of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, into a large peasant family. His father, Alexander Matveyevich Romanov, respectfully referred to by his fellow villagers as "Uncle Sanya", a former infantry sergeant and order bearer, was seriously wounded at the Kursk Bulge and returned from the war without his right leg. And today all fellow villagers respectfully remember the working family of the Romanovs.

Anatoly Romanov studied well at school. He was famous for his kind, open character, intelligence, hard work and love for sports. After graduating from the eight-year school in the village, he studied for two more years at secondary school No. 1 in the regional center - the city of Belebey. There, before being drafted into the army, he worked as a milling machine operator at a factory. Fellow villagers, teachers and foremen at the plant already noticed Romanov's inclinations of leadership. However, even in their wildest dreams about the future career of Tolik Romanov, they saw him more as the chairman of a large collective farm than a military leader known throughout Russia. But such is the fate that in the fall of 1967 sent the future general as an ordinary rifleman to one of the units of the 95th division of the Internal Troops near Moscow to protect important state facilities and special cargo.

Romanov turned out to be an exemplary soldier, having passed all the service steps of a junior commander in two years of military service. It is noteworthy that in 1969 senior sergeant Romanov was retired from the position of acting platoon commander. This means that in his regiment, twenty-year-old Anatoly Romanov had great confidence in his command.

Everything else in the life of A. Romanov is a firmly chosen officer's fate. From 1969 to 1972 A. Romanov studied at the Saratov Military School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR named after F.E. Dzerzhinsky. After graduation, he was among the best graduate lieutenants left in the school as a course officer, whose platoon will soon be considered the best, ahead of all other cadet units in academic performance and discipline. The glory of an intelligent, honest and fair officer-teacher will accompany Romanov for the next 12 years, when, step by step, within the walls of his own educational institution, he will go from a course officer to a teacher of the department of fire training, and then and further - a battalion commander of cadets.

In 1984, Major Anatoly Alexandrovich Romanov will write a report with a request to transfer from a military educational institution to the troops - to the 546th regiment of the Internal Troops deployed in the Urals, which guarded one of the most important defense enterprises of the country. A year later, he will lead this regiment, for the skillful command of which in peacetime he will be awarded the Order of the Red Star.

The rapid career growth of Romanov is due precisely to the highest business qualities of the general: chief of staff of the 95th division of the Internal Troops in 1988, student of the Military Academy of the General Staff in 1989, commander of the 96th division of the Internal Troops in 1992, chief of special units Of the Internal Troops for the protection of important state facilities and special cargo in 1993, in the same year - Deputy Commander of the Internal Troops - Head of the Combat Training Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in 1995. This is how the former Minister of Internal Affairs, General of the Army A.S. Kulikov: “Ever since our joint study at the Academy of the General Staff, I was impressed by his manner of accurate and precise execution of orders. No matter how you tortured him, he remembered every detail of any operation, was extremely efficient and never left the workplace until he was convinced that everything is debugged to the smallest detail ... ".

He was responsible for the development and implementation of the so-called "military bloc" issues. His sphere of concern included the most acute problems born of the armed confrontation: observance of the ceasefire, disarming militants and accepting weapons from the population, eliminating autonomous bandit groups that were not subordinate to anyone, establishing local authorities in many localities ...

However, beyond the scope of urgent information messages listing the number of seized machine guns and grenade launchers, there remained the main thing that constituted the true program of the changes that were being prepared in Chechnya. On the eve of the assassination attempt on October 6, 1995, Romanov himself outlined her most important positions in an interview with Obshchaya Gazeta columnist Alexander Trushin: We, the military, believe that this is wrong, the decisive word should be for politicians. Then - the economy. The republic must be restored, thinking first of all about the troubles of a particular person, about providing him with housing. At the same time, one should deal with life-supporting infrastructure: lighting, communications, roads, bridges, transport: And, of course, the creation of such governing bodies of the Chechen Republic that will be ready for real self-government. And our role is to provide assistance, advice, training. My goal is to bring society to elections without violence. So that no one and nothing put pressure on the voter so that there was no Russian tank, no machine gun or a militant near the polling station. . ".

In many ways, what is happening in today's Chechnya is the 13-year-old "Romanov program" that the irreconcilable militants tried to destroy together with the general himself. As a result, this attempt turned out to be for the Chechen Republic, its people and its economy only one stolen years and numerous human losses. As Comrade Romanov, Colonel Alexander Kislitsyn, once sagaciously remarked: "If Anatoly were healthy, a lot would have gone differently ...".

An attempt to disrupt the negotiation process

Today it is reliably known where and why Lieutenant General Anatoly Romanov urgently left. In Grozny, in the office of the deputy head of the territorial administration of federal executive bodies in the Chechen Republic, Vladimir Zorin, he was scheduled to meet with Ruslan Khasbulatov, who retained a certain political influence in his native Chechnya after the well-known Moscow events in October 1993.

Khasbulatov flew in from the Russian capital with new political initiatives to resolve the Chechen crisis. Romanov, who tried to consolidate the Chechen political, religious and social elite on the basis of any reasonable and meaningful ideas, did not refuse any contacts and discussions. He knew that all the armchair schemes would remain dead until the people themselves realized the benefits of a peaceful life and peaceful coexistence with neighbors. Romanov sought and found strong sprouts of common sense in Chechen society and relied on authoritative people whose word had weight in cities and villages, in bazaars and in mosques.

Khasbulatov's ideas, brought from Moscow, were not indisputable, but interesting. He was already waiting for the general, so Romanov, who was late for the meeting, was in a hurry, and he himself appointed the shortest route of movement.

After the assassination attempt on General Romanov, the negotiation process in Chechnya, in which Anatoly Romanov was an important participant, undoubtedly collapsed, if not in form, then in essence. Today, few people know that the members of the delegation acting on behalf of the federal government, without exception, in those days literally walked "under a bullet": the day before, an attempt on the life of Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government Oleg Lobov ended in failure, the cars of Valentin Zorin and Vyacheslav Mikhailov were fired upon, and The Chechen militants' lists of the most important targets included the Minister of Internal Affairs, General Anatoly Kulikov, and many other senior officers of the Ministry of Defense, Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Security Service.

And all the same, the attempt on Romanov's life was perceived as a special deceit. Although not a central, but a very important link was knocked out of the chain of negotiators: Romanov was responsible for the block of military issues, and his manner of a diplomatic, intelligent man, able to neatly dampen the most violent disputes and "push through" the most difficult issues in favor of the federal forces, made him participation in the peacekeeping process is unique in its own way.

People liked General Romanov. I liked him at first sight, and there was something else in him that made anyone, even the most rabid fighter, come to terms with his calm arguments. And in this sense, for the ideologists of the rebellion and Chechen separatism, for those who were hiding behind their backs in those days, Romanov remained a deadly figure.

The assassination attempt on the general was a planned action

And today the question of the responsibility of those guilty of committing this crime remains topical. It is known that on the fact of the terrorist act committed on October 6, 1995 in Grozny against the commander of the United Group of Federal Forces in the Chechen Republic, Lieutenant General A.A. Romanov, on the same day criminal case No. 24 was opened.

His fate is dramatic, as is the whole story: on August 9, 1996, the materials of this criminal case were burned along with other papers as a result of a direct hit of a shell into the building of the Federal Security Service for the Chechen Republic. In December of the same year, the investigation of the case was suspended "due to the failure to identify the person to be charged as an accused." It is clear that after the signing of the Khasavyurt agreements of 1996 and the gangster bacchanalia that reigned after them on the territory of the Chechen Republic, it was difficult even to talk about the continuation of any investigative measures where the very name of Romanov was torn apart by the anti-Russian propaganda of the Ichkeria authorities.

However, having established themselves in power, the leaders of Ichkeria no longer concealed the main authorship of the terrorist plan. In an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta on January 13, 1999, one of the active leaders of the separatist movement, former President of the CRI Zelimkhan Yandarbiev (was included in the list of UN terrorists, died in 2004 in Qatar. - Author's note), when asked by the correspondent whether the attempted assassination of General Romanov by a planned action, answered frankly: “Yes, it was a planned operation ... the territory of the Chechen state ... ". According to Yandarbiev, "any politicians in Russia ... should have been allowed into the air at that time."

Yandarbiev's revelations, however, did not clarify the mechanism by which the militant leaders took a decision to carry out a terrorist act, as well as the specific names of the organizers and perpetrators of the assassination attempt. Only after the start of the counter-terrorist operation on the territory of Chechnya, which began in 1999 and revealed some secrets of the separatist leadership, there was evidence that the organization of this assassination attempt may have been entrusted to one of the five commanders of the Herat detachment groups Ayub Vakhaev (put on the wanted list in 2001 ., died in 2005 in Chechnya. - Author's note) by Aslan Maskhadov himself.

It can be said with a high degree of confidence that those whose names were mentioned in one way or another in the list of possible perpetrators of this terrorist act, most likely, were swept away by the very course of the anti-terrorist operation that followed in 1999. This does not abolish the responsibilities of the investigation to establish all, without exception, persons involved in the assassination attempt on General Anatoly Romanov, in the murder of Colonel Alexander Zaslavsky, Private Vitaly Matviichenko, Private Denis Yabrikov, as well as the wounding of another fifteen servicemen.

However, the most just retribution of Russia to these criminals is the very fact that the soldier's and peacekeeping feat paid in blood was not in vain. Obvious changes in the Chechen Republic and the ideas of social and economic revival accepted by all its inhabitants are the sprouts of those seeds of trust and goodness that were sown by Anatoly Romanov.

Shortly before this event, Lieutenant General Anatoly Romanov was awarded the Order of Military Merit. This event was marked by one more circumstance: on the back of the order presented to Romanov and in the order book, the ordinal number of the award was indicated - 1. In this one can see another symbol in its exclusive, indisputably the first in importance of Romanov's role as a peacemaker.

Fight for life

From 1 pm on October 6, 1995, when the explosion thundered, the struggle for the life of General Romanov did not stop for a second. The main command post for the rescue of General Romanov was the office of the head of the military medical department of the Civil Command of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Honored Doctor of Russia, Candidate of Medical Sciences, Major General of the Medical Service Yuri Sabanin. He recalls: "I met the Scalpel in Chkalovsky. Transport was organized. I got on the plane and did not immediately recognize Anatoly Aleksandrovich: the head is huge, swollen: Let's go to the intensive care unit. When they did a computed tomography, they saw that the commander's brain was literally stuffed with hematomas. It became clear that the situation is more complicated than previously thought. They called the best doctors and for the first time sighed with relief when the first ten, most critical days passed. We urgently needed a ventilator. We got it from England by a passenger plane. And on November 10, on Police Day, Anatoly Sergeevich Kulikov, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia, and I went to Romanov, who had just been brought into the ward from the pressure chamber. us in full dress uniform, he suddenly, to our surprise, suddenly made an attempt to get out of bed, but to no avail. some kind of impulse. I must admit that Kulikov and I had tears, not that they were welled up in our eyes, both were crying, only silently ... By the New Year, the process began to fade, hematomas began to turn into scars ... ".

From October 7 to December 21, 1995, Anatoly Alexandrovich Romanov was in the intensive care unit of the hospital. Burdenko. As the treatment progressed, it became clear that the greatest problem was the cerebral hemorrhage that occurred during the detonation of the land mine. This equated Romanov with people who survived a severe stroke, so the 35-year-old neuropathologist, Major of the Medical Service Igor Aleksandrovich Klimov, became Romanov's attending physician.

Romanov is alive. But if he is not indifferent to what is happening, his reaction to what is happening is expressed either by displeased facial expressions or tears. Those of Romanov's friends who come to visit him from time to time take it very hard. Only Klimov sees in this a peculiar language of Romanov, with which he could explain himself to the world.

It is terrible to imagine that Romanov, while remaining a thinking person, cannot find means of expression and is struggling to explain to us the things that are simple and obvious to him. Those who have been with Romanov for all these thirteen long years are reluctant to say that sometimes the general wakes up in the middle of the night. Horror rushes in his eyes, his body shudders from the oncoming pain. It seems that the shock wave, born of the October explosion, remained wandering in this damned tunnel and there will be no end to it until a clear answer to the question is received: who needed it?

"I am not a widow. The hero is alive."

There is also an amazing feat of Romanov's wife, Larisa Vasilievna, who has remained the soul of his salvation all these years, a reliable guardian of his interests and rights, a source of the greatest belief that her Tolya will definitely return home.

Every day for thirteen years she comes after work and on weekends. Caring for Romanov is humanly difficult. Year after year, by trial and error, the experience was accumulated, which today allows us to maintain the general's vital functions at a decent level.

Romanov's nutrition is a separate chapter. The basis is the usual hospital food - soufflé, broths, cereals. Canned beef or pork meat from the Tikhoretsk baby food factory is added to them. It is the tastiest, most high-calorie, it contains no additives that cause allergies. When Larisa Vasilievna first came to the specialized department of the Children's World, the saleswoman asked about the child's age. Anyone in her place, perhaps, began to cry, and she, having gathered all the remaining will into a fist, somehow unscrewed from a direct answer.

But, no matter how far Romanov is from us, he always noticeably comes to life when he hears Larisin's voice. One can feel that he is overwhelmed by a wave of peace when she is near: On those days when Vika's daughter comes with her granddaughter Nastya, one feels that Nastya interests him. Romanov watches her closely and graciously accepts her hugs and kisses. Nastya knows that her grandfather is ill, but this does not negate the energetic Romanov blood in her, which in spite of everything reaches out and reaches out to her loved one.

In 1995, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Lieutenant General Anatoly Alexandrovich Romanov was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. In the same year he was awarded the next military rank "Colonel General". Following the news that the general's adjutant brought Larisa Romanova to the hospital, the corresponding decree of the President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin. The accompanying video footage was cut from a recent chronicle. On them, the still smiling and strong Romanov was confidently moving somewhere, explaining something to journalists and the officers accompanying him on the move. This image of him was different from the motionless body lying in intensive care, and this only made him bitter.

At some point, Larisa Vasilievna was overwhelmed by resentment. Therefore, to the offer to receive his star of the Hero of Russia for her husband, she then answered harshly and uncompromisingly: "I am not a widow. The hero is alive. Give him! ..". The awarding ceremony took place only six years later, on July 30, 2002, in the ward of the hospital. Burdenko, when the commander-in-chief of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Colonel-General Vyacheslav Tikhomirov, attached the highest award of the Motherland to the cloth of the officer's shirt, which Colonel-General Romanov was wearing on the occasion of the celebration. He was calm and exalted at that moment, and it became clear that everything was done properly ...

"Own world

FOR 8 years already, Larisa Vasilievna has been visiting her husband at the hospital. If the weather is fine, dresses him up and takes him out for a walk. They walk around the hospital yard and she tells him the news. Anatoly Aleksandrovich listens - he is happy, worried, indignant. Despite the general improvement, General Romanov is still unable to speak. He communicates with the world in silence, with his eyes. “Of course, I cannot understand literally what he wants to say,” says Larisa Vasilievna. - But all his feelings, thoughts, emotions are quite understandable to me, and to his friends, and to the medical staff. He is very categorical in his manifestations. Immediately makes it clear who he wants to see and who not. What he wants to listen to, and what is better not to stutter. "
After the tragedy, Larisa Vasilyevna had to learn to understand her husband anew. “He is next to me,” she says, but somewhere in her own world. What is in this world of his, I do not know. I am sure of only one thing: he remained the same. The person I knew. He also enjoys the arrival of friends and family. He also worries about everyone. When I told him about my daughter's wedding, he began to cry. The only thing he doesn't want to hear about is the war. He stopped all attempts to talk to him about Chechnya, soldiers, and the army. He does not want to know more about the side of life that almost ruined him. "
The only thing that Hero of Russia Romanov reacts to calmly is the songs of the Great Patriotic War. Very often he asks to include him "Dark Night", songs about tankers. In general, the daily routine of a combat officer has changed little. At 8 o'clock he is already washed, shaved and dressed. At 9, a kind of exercise takes place: specialists give him a special massage. The doctor clearly monitors the diet: during all this time, the general has not recovered and has not lost a single gram of weight. “Eight years have passed, during which time he got better,” says Larisa Vasilievna. - So, there is hope that he will finally return. We are all waiting for him. "

"Not hard?

With a husband like General Romanov, no. I have always been proud to be his wife. The wife of a combat officer. Even now, when the authority of the army has fallen, I believe that being the wife of an officer is prestigious. Of course, during our youth, the state looked at us somewhat differently than it does now. Then the military, as in every normal country, were the backbone of the state. And now I get the impression that the state does not need the army to be strong and loyal. Therefore, her status was debunked. That is why our officers are paid so little. Perhaps this is my delusion, but it seems to me that if General Romanov now remained in the ranks of our army, then there would be more order in it.
- Do you remember how small these trees were when we just arrived at this hospital, - asks her husband Larissa, - and now they have grown. We stayed here with you, Tolya, delayed ...
And again, the eyelids twitch slightly noticeably. He agrees. Delayed. "

Every country has its own great people. General Romanov became one of such heroes of Russia and an example to follow. This courageous and strong man has been fighting for his life for many years. All this time, next to him is his faithful wife, who also performed her special, feminine feat and became an example for many military wives.

General Romanov's health remains unchanged today. He cannot speak, but reacts to speech. His battle continues.

Childhood and adolescence of the future general

Anatoly Romanov is a peasant by birth, he was born in Bashkiria on September 27, 1948. This was the village of Mikhailovka in the Belebeevsky district. In 1966 he graduated from high school (ten grades) and was drafted into the army (1967). General Romanov, whose biography has significant events, served in the internal troops, where he rose to the rank of sergeant. According to the memoirs of his wife, he grew up early, obviously, this had a significant impact on his future destiny, which he decided to associate with the army.

After completing his military service, Romanov had a desire to become useful to his homeland, and in 1969 he entered the Saratov Military School named after V.I. F. Dzerzhinsky. Anatoly studied for three years, after which he remained in the service in this educational institution.

Further career of Anatoly Romanov

An interesting point was that a tradition appeared later - the presentation of a cash prize. This scholarship was named after the Hero of Russia, Colonel-General Romanov. It is awarded to the best university student. It should be noted that even Anatoly's wife came to the first ceremony.

The career and study of the future General Romanov continued. Soon he became a student of the Combined Arms Academy. Frunze and finished it in 1982. Then he was again sent to serve in the Saratov School - to command a battalion. In 1984 he became deputy commander, and in 1985 he was sent to the Sverdlovsk region to command the 546th regiment of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Their task was to guard a strategic defense enterprise.

In 1988, Romanov became chief of staff of the ninety-fifth division, which was called upon to protect important state facilities, as well as special and special cargoes of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In 1989 Anatoly continued his education at the Academy of the General Staff of the USSR Internal Troops. He graduated from his studies in 1991, and a year later he was appointed commander of the ninety-sixth division of the Interior Ministry of the Russian Federation. In early 1993, the future General Romanov became the head of special units of the Internal Troops, which guarded important government facilities and special cargo. And from the middle of the same year, he was appointed Deputy Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, and then head of the Combat Training Directorate.

Also, Anatoly Romanov, a general in the future, became a participant in those distant and terrible events that took place in the fall of 1993 in Russia, namely, the confrontation between the Supreme Council and the President, on whose side he acted.

In 1995, his career went up - Romanov was appointed Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. At the same time, Anatoly became the commander of the Joint FV group in Chechnya. He was actively involved in establishing order in that region in the post-war period.

Family life of General Romanov

As always, life is full of accidents. This happened in the family of Anatoly. The future general Romanov met with his wife by chance, thanks to his friend, who liked his girlfriend Larisa. This happened while he was a student at the Saratov military school.

The four of them walked, and sympathy gradually began to appear between the young people, which after a while grew into something more. According to the recollections of Larisa's wife, Anatoly looked after her very beautifully, always came with flowers (albeit field flowers). A few months later they got married (Romanov was then in his third year of college). A new, family life began, and Larisa realized that her husband was a real man, and she was behind him, like behind a stone wall.

The young people first lived in an apartment with their parents, after which they were allocated their own housing, which they began to repair. Some time later, the couple had a child. The daughter was named Victoria. Anatoly changed a lot after her birth. He and his daughter could do all sorts of children's and funny things - they ran around the apartment, fought with pillows, read fairy tales.

However, there was also a lot of seriousness in upbringing. Romanov demanded that Victoria learn to be organized and responsible, instill in her the rules of good manners (for this purpose they specially went to cafes). An interesting moment was how he helped his daughter overcome her fears when he forced her to recite poetry, because she loved to do it, but was shy.

This whole family idyll was canceled out by the assassination attempt that happened on October 6, 1995. But even the special state of General Romanov did not change the attitude of his wife Larisa towards him. She also remained faithful to him, looked after him, believed in the best for many years. There was a hope in her that love could do a lot.

The assassination attempt on Anatoly Romanov

This happened, as it was written above, on October 6, 1995 at about one o'clock in the afternoon in a tunnel near Minutka Square in Grozny. Romanov was on his way to a meeting from Khankala when the irreparable happened. A high-explosive device was installed in the tunnel, which was detonated remotely. It had a charge equal to about 30 kg of TNT.

The assassination attempt was clearly being prepared for Romanov, because the charge was detonated under his car. Two people died at once - the driver Vitaly Matviychenko and the assistant Zaslavsky. Another private Denis Yabrikov died a few days later. About two dozen people were wounded and concussed.

General Romanov's condition after the assassination attempt was very grave. He was immediately sent to the Burdenko hospital, where he was for a long time.

Treatment and life of Romanov after the assassination attempt

According to the reviews of those who were on the rescue operation of that attempt, no one believed that Anatoly could be saved. His body was riddled with shrapnel. However, General Romanov eventually leveled off, although it did not bounce back. This was largely due to the fact that he was quickly provided with highly qualified medical care.

As soon as they identified Anatoly (which was difficult to do), they sent him to the Vladikavkaz hospital, and very quickly. In military medical practice, this is considered a very good chance of a positive outcome. Also in the shortest possible time after the wounded Romanov was sent the plane-hospital "Scalpel", which flew the best doctors of the hospital. Burdenko.

On October 7, Anatoly was transferred to the intensive care unit of the hospital. There he was until December twenty-first. Everyone was worried about the question: "What will happen to General Romanov?" There was a lot of excitement and hype around his name due to the fact that Anatoly is a very famous person.When everything calmed down a little, an experienced neuropathologist Igor Aleksandrovich Klimov was appointed as the attending physician of Romanov.

Why him? Since the main injuries were in the head area, and during the explosion, Romanov began to be considered a person who received a stroke. Klimov was constantly looking for new opportunities to bring the general's lost consciousness to the surface.

The victim stayed in this hospital until 2009, then he was transferred to the Main Military Clinical Hospital of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, which is located in Balashikha.

The feat of the wife of General Anatoly Romanov

Also worth noting is the special feat that Romanov's wife Larisa performed. This is true love that overcomes all obstacles in its path and can return from oblivion, as it happened with Anatoly. General Romanov's state of health is such that it is very difficult to take care of him, moreover, he has to do it every day. This has been going on for many years, and Larisa Romanova devoted herself entirely to her husband.

She is his hope and the savior of his soul, the bridge that connects him, who is on the other side, with this world. During the time that the treatment continues, Larisa has overcome a lot.

From the moment of the tragedy, when General Romanov fell into a coma, his wife learned to understand him anew by the blinking of her eyelids, by their alarming trembling, and now, of course, now she understands her husband better than anyone else and sees how he rejoices at the arrival of loved ones and relatives, and also friends.

She also regularly came to visit the father and daughter of the general, Victoria. Now Anatoly also has a granddaughter, Anastasia, who is growing up as a real tomboy and requires grandfather's attention, although she understands that he is sick.

Larisa Romanova is trying very hard for her husband to live a normal life even in this state. They sometimes go out of town to their dacha. Also recently we went to the gifts of the Magi. These trips, of course, require medical insurance in case of unforeseen circumstances, as well as strong assistants, since Anatoly weighs about seventy kilograms, but the benefits of them are undeniable.

General's condition today

General Romanov's health has remained unchanged for several years. Of course, this is a significant improvement over what was in the first years after the injury. He does not speak, however, he can express himself with facial expressions, sometimes with waves of his hand.

Also, the general is constantly being massaged, he has no bedsores. Of course, this is thanks to the efforts of the medical staff and Larisa's wife. He also works out on a bicycle, he can slightly twist his pedals, although this happens forcibly. However, such activities are necessary to keep the muscles in good shape.

In addition, music sounds in the general's chamber, family photographs hang on the walls, sometimes he watches television programs, although he cannot stand military sounds - shooting, explosions. So, if anyone has a question: "Is General Romanov alive or not?", Then it is quite possible to answer that all the necessary conditions have been created for him.

Further predictions

What can be said about further forecasts of the general's health? It is very difficult to state something unequivocally here, since there is progress, but it is taking very small steps. For example, through an experimental experiment, they found out that the general can read what is written on a piece of paper. Now, according to his wife, a special computer program is being written for him, which would allow him to type text on a virtual keyboard with a glance. This would be undoubted progress for further treatment, which General Romanov so needs. Is this Hero of Russia alive or not? Of course, yes, although not like ordinary people. But progress does not stand still, moreover, there were cases when people came out of such a state after very many years of being in it.

Assignment of the rank of colonel-general

Despite what happened to General Romanov, on November 7, 1995, he was awarded the rank of Colonel General by decree of the President of the Russian Federation.

General awards

Anatoly Romanov, Colonel General of Russia and former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Commander of the Federal Forces in Chechnya, has four medals during his military service.

The first award he received was This happened back in Soviet times, when Romanov was exemplary in fulfilling his military duty.

On October 7, 1993, Anatoly received the Order For Personal Courage, and on December 31, 1994, General Romanov (photo of the award below) received the Order For Military Merit, and under the first number. This award is given to those soldiers who valiantly fulfill their military duty, as well as perform feats and show courage (by this time Romanov had already visited several hot spots).

The most important and tragic award in his life was the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, which he was awarded on November 5, 1995 after the tragic events on Minutka Square in Grozny. Then he was seriously injured and fell into a coma for a long time.

The memory of the hero in the cinema

Despite what is happening to General Romanov now, he remains a hero of his country. That is why a documentary film was shot (2013), which tells about the event that crossed out the whole life of this person. It also describes the memories of people who surrounded Romanov - friends, family, direct participants in those events.

The film is called "General Romanov - a devoted peacemaker". Its premiere was attended by many of Anatoly's colleagues and friends. And how many warm words were said, told about the general's heroism, courage and truly peacekeeping ability! The release of the film was timed to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the Hero of Russia Romanov. The picture was filmed at the expense of the "National Unity" Foundation.

An interesting point that surfaced during the work on the film is that someone benefited from the elimination of Romanov, because otherwise everything could have ended much earlier and more peacefully, even during the first campaign. He truly had the gift of a peacemaker, as well as a special ability to conduct any negotiations, for this General Romanov suffered, whose biography has such tragic moments.

Conclusion

As you can see, it doesn't matter at all what a person was born, what matters is who he could become in the process of his life. Anything is possible with the proper perseverance and commitment. After all, even what is happening to General Romanov now shows his fortitude, his thirst for life. He has a lot of admirers, those who consider his exploits to be symbols worthy of the highest award.

During his tenure as commander in Chechnya, he averted many possible bloody clashes only by the power of his word and persuasion. At the same time, Romanov achieved the disarmament of the population. A timetable for accepting weapons from various militant groups was also agreed. He did a lot to prevent the war from starting again, but he himself suffered from it.

His every moment, lived after the assassination attempt, takes place in the struggle for a normal existence. One should be proud of his feat, give his example to the desperate, and also continue to believe in the best. After all, the most important thing is never to give up and not give up.