Birthday October 21, 1975
Officer of Directorate "B"
Biography
early years
Andrey Turkin was born on October 21, 1975 in Orsk. Andrey grew up without a father, so he learned to tinker, saw, and plan early. While studying at school, Andrei practiced hand-to-hand combat in the school section and sang in the choir. After the eighth grade, wanting to help his mother, Andrei left school, enrolling in vocational technical school No. 63, from which he graduated with a degree in driver-fitter.
Service on the Tajik-Afghan border
In December 1993, Turkin was called up for military service in the Armed Forces. There he ended up in the Border Troops of Tajikistan, where he took part in the fighting on the Tajik-Afghan border. In July 1995, Turkin was transferred to the reserve with the rank of sergeant, after which he returned to the Krasnodar region, where he worked and studied at the institute.
In the group "Vympel"
In April 1997, Andrei Turkin joined Directorate “B”. In the ranks of Vympel, Turkin participated in hostilities in Chechnya and in the operation to free hostages in Dubrovka.
The last battle in Beslan
Together with the Vympel group, Turkin arrived in the city of Beslan in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, where on September 1, 2004, a group of 32 terrorists captured over a thousand children and adults in school building No. 1.
After explosions occurred on the third day in the gym where most of the hostages were kept, causing a partial collapse of the roof and walls of the gym, the surviving people began to scatter. Andrei's assault group received orders to storm the building, as the militants opened fierce fire on the hostages. Even at the beginning of the assault, Turkin was wounded when, as part of his unit, under heavy fire from militants, he burst into the school building, but did not leave the battle. Covering the rescue of the hostages with fire, Lieutenant Turkin personally destroyed one terrorist in the dining room, where the militants had driven many of the hostages who survived the explosions in the gym. When another bandit threw a grenade into a crowd of people, Andrei Turkin covered it with his body, saving the hostages at the cost of his own life.
For the courage and heroism shown during the performance of a special task, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of September 6, 2004, Lieutenant Andrei Alekseevich Turkin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation (medal No. 830).
Memory
He was buried at the Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye cemetery in Moscow.
In the Hero’s homeland in the city of Orsk, in the Heroes’ Square on the Walk of Fame, a bust of the Hero of Russia was installed. The name of the Hero of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant Andrei Turkin, was assigned to the cadet class of Orsk Cadet School No. 53.
In the Krasnodar Territory, in the village of Dinskaya, Municipal Educational Institution Secondary School No. 1 bears his name. There is also a memorial plaque installed in front of the school entrance.
Personal life
Wife - Natalya. Sons - Vyacheslav (born 2001) and Andrey (born five months after his father’s death and was named in his honor).
Awards and titles
- Hero of the Russian Federation
- Suvorov Medal
- Medal "For saving the dead"
- Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree
Hero of Russia Andrei Turkin will never know that he had a second son, who was named exactly the same as his deceased father. Carrying out his military duty in Beslan,...
Hero of Russia Andrei Turkin will never know that he had a second son, who was named exactly the same as his deceased father. While fulfilling his military duty in Beslan, the lieutenant of the Vympel group covered a grenade thrown by terrorists at Beslan schoolchildren on September 3, 2004. At the cost of his life, he saved several children. And today the saved children are friends with his two sons and thank him for the fact that their father became a savior.
Mother and son - two friends
It’s bittersweet to look at photographs in which a single woman-mother, who raised her only son, stands next to a bronze bust of a dead blood woman. She put her hand on his shoulder. She felt cold, but did not remove her hand. It was her son, Andrei Turkin, a special forces officer.
He was born in 1975, in the ancient Ural city of Orsk, but due to family circumstances - his mother did not like to remember this - they moved to the Krasnodar Territory, to the southern village of Dinskaya. Andrei understood one very important thing early on - he was the only one with his mother and tried to take on all the male part of the work, all the responsibility. She raised him so wisely that she was able to become a true friend for her son.
Immediately became a driver and mechanic
And the little family lived a very difficult life. I had to go to work to earn money - pick fruits and vegetables, dig potatoes. It was the 90s, when the country of the Soviets finally collapsed, and with its death, the hopes of many families for a normal life collapsed. In those years, people adapted to difficult circumstances. Andrey always helped his mother. She did not hide anything from him, consulted, discussed with the boy how best to act in a given situation. He understood that it was very difficult for her. Therefore, having received nine years of secondary education, he went to study at a local vocational school and could work in two specialties at once - as a driver or a mechanic: this was said in his first diploma. I went to work.
The dog waited for him at the bus stop for a year and a half
He had a compassionate soul. His mother recalled that, as a schoolboy, he read a story in the newspaper about a dog without a leg and begged his mother to go to Krasnodar and take the unfortunate puppy home. The dog then went to the bus stop every day and met his owner. And when Andrei went into the army, she was very sad, ran out of the house, looked at the road for a long time and again ran to the bus stop. And so it was for the entire year and a half that he served.
And the mother also recalled that Andrei brought a flea-ridden, tortured kitten from an abandoned farm, fattened it, cured it - it turned out to be a beautiful kitty. Once he even brought a lonely horse wandering around the village. And when mom said that the horse most likely had an owner, Andrei went to look for him. And - I found it. It turns out that this horse left the gypsy camp located near the village.
Unloaded wagons to pay for school
Before the army, he was boxing and dreamed of being a bodyguard. But money was needed to attend special courses. My mother didn't have any. And then Andrei decided to go unload the cars - he earned money.
His mother said that testing went on for three days. On the third and final day, he asked her to iron his trousers - suddenly a piece of paper fell out of his pocket. It was a prayer. Andrey was a believer. And then the mother realized that her son was very seriously preparing to complete the bodyguard course and follow the military path.
He joined the army with pleasure and considered this step as the next stage in his professional career.
"Zorgol" and "Bulduruy"
He tried not to tell his mother anything, so that the poor woman would not worry, would not worry about him. After all, he ended up serving in the Argunsky border detachment, whose area of responsibility included guarding the border with China. The border guards were located in the small village of Priargunsk. This detachment was famous for the fact that there were two registered outposts on its territory.
The Zorgol outpost is named after Vitaly Kozlov, who died in 1945: during the pursuit of the Japanese invaders, the Soviet border guard was captured, suffered all the agony of torture - he was killed with a bayonet.
The second outpost was called “Bulduruy” in honor of the border guard Yakov Perfishin. He also died during battles with samurai.
The names of the heroes of the past became examples of courage for subsequent generations of border guards. For Andrey too. Replacement maneuver groups, rapid reaction groups, mobile barriers, horse patrols - Andrei went through all this together with his colleagues.
In 1995, he voluntarily went to guard the Tajik-Afghan border at a time when a civil war was going on in Tajikistan, and it was unbearably difficult for the country to contain the rampant banditry and terrorism. Andrei repeatedly entered into battle with militants rushing into the country. They carried drugs - death for many people. In battles, Andrei became an experienced fighter. Received the military rank of sergeant.
The teachers did not know that he fought with bandits
After the army, he went to study at IMSIT (this academy of marketing and social information technologies is located in Krasnodar). As the rector of this educational institution recalled, Andrei was very different from the guys in appearance: he was smart, stricter and more responsible. I tried to pass the sessions with positive marks. And yet, joy always sparkled from his eyes. Everyone who knew the student Turkin speaks about this amazing openness and responsiveness.
Classmates remember him as a kind, sympathetic and cheerful person. You could feel the warmth and kindness emanating from him. His rich inner spiritual life was reflected on his face - as if a light was shining when Andrei told something to his classmates.
He sometimes said that studying was not his main role in life, and that he wanted to return to the army.
After the first year, I transferred to the correspondence department. None of his classmates suspected that Andrei had passed a strict selection process for a special unit of the Vympel group of the Russian FSB. It was 1997.
Photo for memory with the President of Russia
The operation to free the hostages on Dubrovka in Moscow in 2002 took place with the participation of Andrei. He covered his comrades. A unique photograph has been preserved in which the special forces who took part in the release of the hostages met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and, of course, took a photo as a souvenir. Andrey is also in this photo.
He told his mother that he was working with documents, and did not want her to worry and worry about him. He didn’t quit his studies at the Academy of Marketing, he struggled to pass the sessions, although unsuspecting teachers threatened to expel him for not passing the sessions on time. Who could have imagined that at that time he was undergoing a much tougher selection process in the 2nd operational combat department of the Vympel group. He learns to master a parachute, adjusts equipment, studies the basics of diving and mining equipment, undergoes special tactical, engineering, operational, fire and many other types of training. He descended from a hovering helicopter, ran hundreds of kilometers on skis, shot from a Makarov pistol and many other types of weapons.
Usually he was placed on the head patrol - Andrei was very resilient. Then he was given a machine gun and he became one of the key figures in the detachment, showing his best side during the battles during the second Chechen war.
His colleagues told how they had to stop after a successful special operation in a dugout that did not protect them from the rain. Clay and water fell on the shoulders of the special forces, and the rain continued to fall; many were not in a great mood. And then Andrey took out a harmonica and began to play. Jokes and jokes immediately rained down, everyone came to life. He knew how to provide moral support to his friends at the right time.
One day they were all simply exhausted from a multi-kilometer forced march, fatigue and heavy duffel bags pressed people to the ground, everyone literally fell off their feet. And then Andrei said that in his backpack there was a piece of smoked lard and a real bottle of moonshine from his native Kuban village. Here, if you want, your mood will instantly lift.
Call sign – “Circassian”
For his dark skin and southern dialect, Andrei’s endurance and courage, his military friends nicknamed him “Circassian.” This became his call sign.
By order, the 2nd unit of the Vympel group immediately went to the crash site of the Mi-8 helicopter. Special forces from the first unit of the Vympel group were waiting for help. Terrorists from Basayev’s gang could attack them at any moment. We had to hurry. Andrei was one of the first to reach the crash site of the helicopter and began to pull out the wounded. One of the pilots had his leg pinned in the cockpit, and the wounded helicopter pilot could not get out. Turkin carefully pulled him out from under the rubble, built a homemade drag and, together with the soldiers, they evacuated the wounded man to the main gathering place.
In the Vedeno region, the 2nd division was combing the area, when suddenly there was a bang - a mine. Taking a closer look, the scouts saw that the area was completely covered with deadly traps: the bandits had disguised them under fallen leaves. And on the field, in the distance, a wounded soldier lay, and it was necessary to go to him. “Circassian” went first; it cleared a dangerous path for everyone and skillfully cleared mines. They reached the wounded soldier and carried him out without loss.
Happy young father
In 2001, Andrei became a father. Happiness came to him after he met a good girl, Natasha. They got married. The bride in a white dress hugged a birch tree on one side, and on the other, her embarrassed and happy husband held her hands. They had a son. And dangerous business trips to the Caucasus continued. In between, Andrei went to school, came home to his young wife and son, visited his parents and friends, and they celebrated birthdays together.
A special holiday, Border Guard Day, was Andrey’s favorite. He put on his uniform, green beret, awards and met with his border guard friends. Andrey didn’t tell anyone about his new job. Although his friends understood that he was engaged in a dangerous task because the number of awards on his chest became more and more every year.
He received the medal “For Services to the Fatherland”, 2nd class, and in the spring of 2004, the commander of the Vympel group sent a nomination for the Order of Courage, but Andrei did not have time to receive it.
September 1, 2004. Beslan.
Beslan has become another hot, bloody spot on the map of the country. 32 terrorists seized school No. 1 during a ceremonial gathering of over a thousand children, teachers and parents.
All people in the country watched with alarm and pain what was happening on television. And Andrei Turkin’s mother also watched the terrifying footage and did not suspect anything that her son was there, in Beslan. After all, he called her the day before and said that he would go on vacation to Sochi to visit his colleague.
But in a matter of minutes Turkin changed his mind when he learned about the tragedy in North Ossetia. He wrote a report asking to be sent to a special operation in Beslan. He couldn't stand aside. He never even dreamed of being on the beach at that moment when his comrades were risking their lives for the sake of their children.
Two hours before death
Andrei Turkin’s colleagues in the Vympel group managed to photograph him two hours before his death, when he was sitting on an armored personnel carrier in a green bulletproof vest.
The special forces received orders to storm the building when the bandits began to explode grenades inside the premises.
The militants captured the children right on the school line and herded them into the gym. And they hung grenades on basketball hoops. High school student Nadya Badoeva was placed under this ring and surrounded with ammunition. That's how she sat. And when the assault began, the bandits began to herd the children into the dining room. At that moment, a grenade fell next to Nadya. She only remembered how a man in camouflage uniform rushed on top of the grenade. And the girl didn’t understand anything else. She woke up in the hospital and wanted to know only one thing - the name of her savior. Nadya had serious wounds to her legs, and her body was cut in several places by shrapnel. She remained alive only thanks to the act of a man who died so that she could live. Several children who were next to Nadya also survived.
After the operation in Beslan to rescue captured schoolchildren, the Vympel special forces detachment will be missing ten fighters. These were the largest losses in the entire history of the 2nd Division. According to the materials of the government commission that investigated this high-profile crime against life, the special forces officers acted correctly and competently, in accordance with the combat situation.
A few days after the assault, Nadya Badoeva’s relatives were able to find out that their daughter was saved by Lieutenant Andrei Turkin. For his feat, he was posthumously awarded the highest title of the country he always defended. The Hero of Russia Star No. 830 was received by the widow Natalya Turkina.
He never knew that his wife, despite the terrible grief, gave birth to a healthy boy. The second son of Andrei Turkin was named in honor of his deceased father. Nadya Badoeva’s relatives and she herself often come to visit their little sons, Vladislav and Andrey Turkin. His name lives on earth. The kids, just like the rescued children of Beslan, enjoy the sun and life. This joy was given to them by special forces officers.
Hero Russian Lieutenant Andrei Alekseevich Turkin died on September 3, 2004 in the city of Beslan, while saving the lives of children, he covered a grenade thrown by a terrorist at hostages.
The boy grew up with his mother, without a father, so he learned early how to tinker, saw, plan, and knew how to do a lot with his own hands. He managed to combine different hobbies: he practiced hand-to-hand combat in the school section and sang in the choir, and not only sang, but also was a lead singer!
He will also be a lover of singing, jokes and leading singers in his adult, serious life. This life will begin early: after the eighth grade, wanting to help his mother, he left school and entered SPTU No. 63.
After graduating from college and receiving the specialty of a driver-fitter, in December 1993 he was called up to serve in the Armed Forces of the Trans-Baikal Border District in the Argun Border Detachment, then served under a contract in a group of border troops in Tajikistan, and even managed to take part in hostilities.
Returning home, he entered the correspondence department of the Krasnodar Institute of Marketing and Information Technology Systems. Even before the army, I attended bodyguard school.
In April 1997, a significant event occurred in his life - he was enrolled in Directorate “B” of the TsSN FSB of Russia.
Andrey successfully mastered the basics of special forces science: fire, operational, physical, parachute, light diving and mountain training. He was among the first to master some complex elements of industrial mountaineering. Skillfully rappelling from a hovering helicopter. In all classes the results are brilliant!
Andrei was a cheerful and sociable guy, he did not turn sour under any circumstances, he knew how to support his comrades in difficult times and defuse the situation either with a kind deed, or a joke, or a song. He knew a lot of funny jokes and jokes: “I had a dog with a wet nose, he suffered from fleas...”...
Nothing human was alien to this brave guy. He was kind to his family. In his free time, he liked to sit in friendly company, talk about life, and was always the life of the table. He did not like to curry favor or curry favor with his superiors. He did not recognize false authorities, entered into an argument if he felt he was right, and persistently proved it. Because of this, he sometimes had conflicts. But he was firmly convinced that he was right. He was an officer in an elite special forces unit. After all, in intelligence, everyone has the right to vote, and only the commander, after a thorough analysis of all options, makes a decision.
Andrei Turkin also participated in the operation to free the hostages at the Theater Center on Dubrovka. He had many more dangerous business trips. Evidence of this is the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, second degree, with swords. He was even nominated for the Order of Courage, but did not manage to receive it...
Andrei's life was short but bright. He left a noble mark. He fully fulfilled his earthly duty, his purpose in life. For a moment I managed to be a husband, leaving a young beautiful wife...
"Thank you for these lips,
Thank you for these hands
Thank you, my dear,
For being in the world.
My only one, thank you!
For being in the world!”
Lieutenant Andrei Turkin, as part of the Vympel special forces unit, arrived in Beslan, where on September 1, 2004, terrorists captured more than a thousand children and adults in school building No. 1. On the third day, having received an order to storm, Turkin’s group broke into the building through the gym.
Andrei and his partner were immediately cut off from the main group by distraught hostages, who were rushing about without understanding anything. A terrorist appeared from a cloud of smoke, fired a short burst and disappeared. Turkin was wounded. The bullet hit Andrei under his bulletproof vest, but he felt no pain.
The gunman then came around the corner and threw a hand-held fragmentation grenade into the crowd of children. There was no time left to think. Andrey jumped with lightning speed and covered the grenade with himself. In the roar of the gunfire, no one, including the hostages saved from certain death, heard the explosion.
For the courage and heroism shown during the performance of a special task, Lieutenant Turkin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. In Andrei’s homeland in the city of Orsk, a bust was erected in his honor. The lieutenant's name was assigned to the class of Orsk Cadet School No. 53.
died in battle
Andrey Alekseevich Turkin(October 21, Orsk, RSFSR, USSR - September 3, Beslan, North Ossetia-Alania, Russia) - Russian serviceman, officer of Directorate “B” (“Vympel”) of the Special Purpose Center of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, lieutenant , who died during the release of hostages during the terrorist attack in Beslan. Posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.
Biography
early years
Service on the Tajik-Afghan border
The last battle in Beslan
For the courage and heroism shown during the performance of a special task, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of September 6, 2004, Lieutenant Andrei Alekseevich Turkin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation (medal No. 830).
Memory
Family
Mom - Valentina Ivanovna Turkina. Wife - Natalya. Sons - Vladislav (born 2001) and Andrey (born five months after his father's death and was named in his honor).
According to Valentina Ivanovna, the Turkin family now considers the Badoev family their blood relatives, and they go to visit each other several times a year. Valentina Ivanovna herself was the most dear guest at the wedding of Nadezhda Badoeva, saved by Andrei Turkin.
Awards and titles
- Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree
see also
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Notes
Links
. Website "Heroes of the Country".
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Excerpt characterizing Turkin, Andrey Alekseevich
- How do they tell fortunes in the barn? – asked Sonya.- Well, at least now, they’ll go to the barn and listen. What will you hear: hammering, knocking - bad, but pouring bread - this is good; and then it happens...
- Mom, tell me what happened to you in the barn?
Pelageya Danilovna smiled.
“Oh, well, I forgot…” she said. - You won’t go, will you?
- No, I'll go; Pepageya Danilovna, let me in, I’ll go,” said Sonya.
- Well, if you're not afraid.
- Luiza Ivanovna, may I? – asked Sonya.
Whether they were playing ring, string or ruble, or talking, as now, Nikolai did not leave Sonya and looked at her with completely new eyes. It seemed to him that today, only for the first time, thanks to that corky mustache, he fully recognized her. Sonya really was cheerful, lively and beautiful that evening, like Nikolai had never seen her before.
“So that’s what she is, and I’m a fool!” he thought, looking at her sparkling eyes and her happy, enthusiastic smile, making dimples on her cheeks from under her mustache, a smile that he had never seen before.
“I’m not afraid of anything,” said Sonya. - Can I do it now? - She stood up. They told Sonya where the barn was, how she could stand silently and listen, and they gave her a fur coat. She threw it over her head and looked at Nikolai.
“What a beauty this girl is!” he thought. “And what have I been thinking about so far!”
Sonya went out into the corridor to go to the barn. Nikolai hurriedly went to the front porch, saying that he was hot. Indeed, the house was stuffy from the crowded people.
It was the same motionless cold outside, the same month, only it was even lighter. The light was so strong and there were so many stars on the snow that I didn’t want to look at the sky, and the real stars were invisible. In the sky it was black and boring, on earth it was fun.
“I’m a fool, a fool! What have you been waiting for so far? thought Nikolai and, running onto the porch, he walked around the corner of the house along the path that led to the back porch. He knew that Sonya would come here. Halfway along the road there were stacked fathoms of firewood, there was snow on them, and a shadow fell from them; through them and from their sides, intertwining, the shadows of old bare linden trees fell onto the snow and the path. The path led to the barn. The chopped wall of the barn and the roof, covered with snow, as if carved from some kind of precious stone, glittered in the monthly light. A tree cracked in the garden, and again everything was completely silent. The chest seemed to breathe not air, but some kind of eternally youthful strength and joy.
Feet clattered on the steps from the maiden porch, there was a loud creaking sound on the last one, which was covered with snow, and the voice of an old girl said:
- Straight, straight, along the path, young lady. Just don't look back.
“I’m not afraid,” answered Sonya’s voice, and Sonya’s legs squealed and whistled in her thin shoes along the path towards Nikolai.
Sonya walked wrapped in a fur coat. She was already two steps away when she saw him; She also saw him not as she knew him and as she had always been a little afraid. He was in a woman's dress with tangled hair and a happy and new smile for Sonya. Sonya quickly ran up to him.
“Completely different, and still the same,” thought Nikolai, looking at her face, all illuminated by moonlight. He put his hands under the fur coat that covered her head, hugged her, pressed her to him and kissed her on the lips, above which there was a mustache and from which there was a smell of burnt cork. Sonya kissed him in the very center of his lips and, extending her small hands, took his cheeks on both sides.
“Sonya!... Nicolas!...” they just said. They ran to the barn and returned each from their own porch.
When everyone drove back from Pelageya Danilovna, Natasha, who always saw and noticed everything, arranged the accommodation in such a way that Luiza Ivanovna and she sat in the sleigh with Dimmler, and Sonya sat with Nikolai and the girls.
Nikolai, no longer overtaking, rode smoothly on the way back, and still peering at Sonya in this strange moonlight, looking for in this ever-changing light, from under his eyebrows and mustache, that former and present Sonya, with whom he had decided never again to be separated. He peered, and when he recognized the same and the other and remembered, hearing that smell of cork, mixed with the feeling of a kiss, he deeply inhaled the frosty air and, looking at the receding earth and the brilliant sky, he felt himself again in a magical kingdom.
- Sonya, are you okay? – he asked occasionally.
“Yes,” answered Sonya. - And you?
In the middle of the road, Nikolai let the coachman hold the horses, ran up to Natasha’s sleigh for a moment and stood on the lead.
“Natasha,” he told her in a whisper in French, “you know, I’ve made up my mind about Sonya.”
-Did you tell her? – Natasha asked, suddenly beaming with joy.
- Oh, how strange you are with those mustaches and eyebrows, Natasha! Are you glad?
– I’m so glad, so glad! I was already angry with you. I didn't tell you, but you treated her badly. This is such a heart, Nicolas. I am so glad! “I can be nasty, but I was ashamed to be the only happy one without Sonya,” Natasha continued. “Now I’m so glad, well, run to her.”
- No, wait, oh, how funny you are! - said Nikolai, still peering at her, and in his sister, too, finding something new, extraordinary and charmingly tender, which he had never seen in her before. - Natasha, something magical. A?
“Yes,” she answered, “you did great.”
“If I had seen her before as she is now,” thought Nikolai, “I would have asked long ago what to do and would have done whatever she ordered, and everything would have been fine.”
“So you’re happy, and I did good?”
- Oh, so good! I recently quarreled with my mother over this. Mom said she's catching you. How can you say this? I almost got into a fight with my mom. And I will never allow anyone to say or think anything bad about her, because there is only good in her.
- So good? - Nikolai said, once again looking for the expression on his sister’s face to find out if it was true, and, squeaking with his boots, he jumped off the slope and ran to his sleigh. The same happy, smiling Circassian, with a mustache and sparkling eyes, looking out from under a sable hood, was sitting there, and this Circassian was Sonya, and this Sonya was probably his future, happy and loving wife.
Arriving home and telling their mother about how they spent time with the Melyukovs, the young ladies went home. Having undressed, but without erasing their cork mustaches, they sat for a long time, talking about their happiness. They talked about how they would live married, how their husbands would be friends and how happy they would be.
On Natasha’s table there were mirrors that Dunyasha had prepared since the evening. - Just when will all this happen? I'm afraid I never... That would be too good! – Natasha said getting up and going to the mirrors.
“Sit down, Natasha, maybe you’ll see him,” said Sonya. Natasha lit the candles and sat down. “I see someone with a mustache,” said Natasha, who saw her face.
“Don’t laugh, young lady,” Dunyasha said.
With the help of Sonya and the maid, Natasha found the position of the mirror; her face took on a serious expression and she fell silent. She sat for a long time, looking at the row of receding candles in the mirrors, assuming (based on the stories she had heard) that she would see the coffin, that she would see him, Prince Andrei, in this last, merging, vague square. But no matter how ready she was to mistake the slightest spot for the image of a person or a coffin, she saw nothing. She began to blink frequently and moved away from the mirror.
- Why do others see, but I don’t see anything? - she said. - Well, sit down, Sonya; “Nowadays you definitely need it,” she said. – Only for me... I’m so scared today!
Sonya sat down at the mirror, adjusted her position, and began to look.
“They’ll definitely see Sofya Alexandrovna,” Dunyasha said in a whisper; - and you keep laughing.
Sonya heard these words, and heard Natasha say in a whisper:
“And I know that she will see; she saw last year too.
For about three minutes everyone was silent. “Certainly!” Natasha whispered and didn’t finish... Suddenly Sonya moved away the mirror she was holding and covered her eyes with her hand.
- Oh, Natasha! - she said.
– Did you see it? Did you see it? What did you see? – Natasha screamed, holding up the mirror.
Sonya didn’t see anything, she just wanted to blink her eyes and get up when she heard Natasha’s voice saying “definitely”... She didn’t want to deceive either Dunyasha or Natasha, and it was hard to sit. She herself did not know how or why a cry escaped her when she covered her eyes with her hand.
– Did you see him? – Natasha asked, grabbing her hand.
- Yes. Wait... I... saw him,” Sonya said involuntarily, not yet knowing who Natasha meant by the word “him”: him - Nikolai or him - Andrey.
Andrey Alekseevich Turkin(October 21, 1975, Orsk, RSFSR, USSR - September 3, 2004, Beslan, North Ossetia - Alania, Russia) - Russian serviceman, officer of Directorate "B" (Vympel) of the Special Purpose Center of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation , a lieutenant who died during the liberation of hostages during the terrorist attack in Beslan. Posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.
Biography
early years
Andrey Turkin was born on October 21, 1975 in Orsk. Andrey grew up without a father, so he learned to tinker, saw, and plan early. While studying at school, Andrei practiced hand-to-hand combat in the school section and sang in the choir. After the eighth grade, wanting to help his mother, Andrei left school, enrolling in vocational school No. 63 in the village of Dinskaya, from which he graduated with a degree in driver-fitter.
Service on the Tajik-Afghan border
In December 1993, Turkin was called up for military service in the Armed Forces. In 1993-1995 he served in the Argunsky border detachment of the Transbaikal border district. In 1995, he volunteered to go to Tajikistan, where he took part in hostilities on the Tajik-Afghan border. In July 1995, Turkin was transferred to the reserve with the rank of sergeant, after which he returned to the Krasnodar region, where he worked and studied at the institute.
In the group "Vympel"
In April 1997, Andrei Turkin joined Directorate “B”. In the ranks of Vympel, Turkin participated in hostilities in Chechnya and in the operation to free hostages in Dubrovka.
The last battle in Beslan
Together with the Vympel group, Turkin arrived in the city of Beslan in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, where on September 1, 2004, a group of thirty-two terrorists captured over a thousand children and adults in school building No. 1.
After explosions occurred on the third day in the gym where most of the hostages were kept, causing a partial collapse of the roof and walls of the gym, the surviving people began to scatter. The operational combat group, which included Andrei Turkin, received an order to storm the building, as the militants opened heavy fire on the hostages. Even at the beginning of the assault, Turkin was wounded when, as part of his unit, under heavy fire from militants, he burst into the school building, but did not leave the battle. While covering the evacuation of the hostages with fire, Lieutenant Turkin personally destroyed one terrorist in the dining room, where the militants had driven the hostages who survived the explosions in the gym. When another bandit threw a grenade into a crowd of people, Andrei Turkin saved the lives of the hostages by shielding them from the explosion with his body:
We shouted not to shoot, that there were hostages here. Then the Alpha men knocked out the grate and jumped into the dining room. A militant named Ibrahim jumped up from behind the stove and threw a grenade shouting “Allahu Akbar.” There was an explosion and my leg was crushed by a shrapnel. The Alpha man jumped on us and covered us with himself. Then they started saving us. I didn’t see that my leg was bleeding, I tried to get up and felt that my leg had collapsed under me. I fell, but still continued to crawl. Then they pulled me out.Nadezhda Badoeva, hostage rescued by Andrei Turkin
For the courage and heroism shown during the performance of a special task, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of September 6, 2004, Lieutenant Andrei Alekseevich Turkin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation (medal No. 830).
Turkin was buried at the Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye cemetery (site 75a) in Moscow along with eight other Alpha and Vympel officers who died in Beslan.
Memory
- In the Hero’s homeland in the city of Orsk, in the Heroes’ Square on the Walk of Fame, a bust of the Hero of Russia was installed. The name of the Hero of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant Andrei Turkin, was assigned to the cadet class of Orsk Cadet School No. 53.
- In the Krasnodar Territory, in the village of Dinskaya, a street is named after him. Secondary school No. 1 located in the village also bears his name, and a memorial plaque is installed in front of the school entrance. The village hosts boxing tournaments in memory of the Hero.
- In the city of Krasnodar, on the building of the Academy of Marketing and Social Information Technologies (IMSIT), where Andrei Turkin studied, a memorial plaque was installed in memory of the hero’s feat.
- The Children and Youth Center for Patriotic Education in the city of Novaya Lyalya, Sverdlovsk Region, bears the name of Hero of Russia A. A. Turkin. There is a memorial plaque on the façade of the center building.
- A photograph of A. A. Turkin with a description of the feat is installed on the stand “Heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia - students of the Red Banner FSB border department in the Trans-Baikal Territory” in the city of Chita.
Family
Mother - Valentina Ivanovna Turkina. Wife - Natalya. Sons - Vladislav (born 2001) and Andrey (born five months after his father’s death and was named in his honor.
According to Valentina Ivanovna, the Turkin family now considers the Badoev family their blood relatives.
Awards and titles
- Hero of the Russian Federation
- Suvorov Medal
- Medal "For saving the dead"
- Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree
