There are heroes who remain in the memory of the people for a long time. Because they differ from others in that they live not for themselves, but for others, trying to make people's lives better. This was General Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin, a favorite of ordinary soldiers and Russia's hope for a better life. This dream was not destined to come true: in the prime of his life, the general's life was cut short.
Tragedy Night
In the evening broadcasts of all TV channels in Russia on July 4, 1998, the main news was the murder of General Lev Rokhlin and the arrest of his wife Tamara Rokhlina, who was the main suspect. The country froze in shock: the military general, who went through Afghanistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Chechnya, was wounded in his sleep in bed at his dacha in the village of Klokovo. Lev Yakovlevich was a legendary figure who was deservedly respected by ordinary citizens and feared in power. His straightforward and honest character helped him in battles, but on the sidelines of power he was a hindrance and made many enemies.
Lev Rokhlin was buried by the wholecountry: the first to come were miners who left their position in front of the government building, where they went on strike. They banged their helmets on the asph alt and chanted: “Yeltsin is a murderer!” Nobody believed the version that Tamara Rokhlina shot her husband in her sleep. The events that were unfolding in Russia at that time led to the hypothesis that it was a political assassination: the combat general was very popular among the people and quickly gained real strength. The army and the people could follow him, and this was a real danger to the existing government.
And we will sweep away all Rokhlins
The suspicion that the death of Lev Rokhlin was beneficial to the Kremlin was aggravated by Yeltsin's statement shortly before the fateful events:
I felt that there is some kind of, you know, the fortress begins and we will sweep away these, of course, Rokhlins. Here. Such, you know, anti, anti-destructive, constructive actions. No, we don't need them.
To Yeltsin's statement, General Rokhlin replied that he could be killed, but never swept away. Everyone who knew Lev Yakovlevich closely noted his difficult character: straightforward, intractable, quick-tempered, meticulous, with a heightened sense of justice. He did not tolerate sloppiness and betrayal. Of course, the behind-the-scenes games of great power were not to the liking of the military general, he believed that it was possible to manage in fair and just ways. Fortunately, he had a great commanding experience behind him, where he implemented his principles of decency. Somewhere this idealistic attitude to life was laid down in early childhood.
Tyuha-matyukha
LionYakovlevich Rokhlin was born on June 6, 1947 in the city of Aralsk in the Kazakh SSR. Lev never knew his father. He was taken away from home on the then-popular accusation of being an enemy of the people. Nothing is known about his further fate, he disappeared somewhere in the expanses of the Gulag, like thousands of other people. Mother, left alone with three small children in her arms, and Levushka was then only eight months old, with the stigma "Family of the Enemy of the People", lived in very difficult conditions. Growing up, Leo saw how his mother was exhausted in order to feed her family. Then he promised himself that he would do everything in his power to alleviate the fate of his mother. This is how the character of the future general begins to form.
At school, Leo did not occupy a leading position, he was quiet, silent, he studied well. Well, just some kind of tyukha-matyuha. For the first time, he showed what he was capable of when a new girl appeared in the class. He liked her so much that he wanted to date her. However, there were high school students who decided to move the unlucky gentleman. But little was left of the quiet excellent student, Lev fought with a group of guys not for life, but for death. After that, no one could call him a matyuha.
Tamara
After graduating from school with a gold medal, Lev Rokhlin went to work at a factory, then he served in the army. After demobilization, he decides to enter the Odessa Shipbuilding Institute. He was not accepted to the institute because of a fight during the exams, in which Lev stuffed the face of a boorish insolent. The decision to become a military man came spontaneously, at the station, where he got into a conversation with a graduate of the Tashkent Military School. a lionleaves for Tashkent and enters the school.
As a cadet of a military school, he met a girl who did not leave him indifferent. Tamara worked as a nurse in a hospital. Love inspired and pushed to reckless actions. A beggar student, as Lev Rokhlin was then, in order to impress the bride and her parents, sells a watch, the only valuable thing, and buys a large teddy bear. With this gift, he comes to Tamara's house to meet her parents. Soon the young lovers got married, they had a daughter and a son.
Tough trials
In Turkmenistan, where the family moved to a new duty station, the son of Lev Rokhlin at the age of one fell ill with encephalitis. The boy suffered a clinical death and remained disabled for the rest of his life. The mental development of Igor Rokhlin, the son of Lev Rokhlin, lagged behind the norm, he was constantly tormented by severe epileptic seizures. Tamara Rokhlina leaves her job and devotes all her time to her son. Living with a mentally ill child is a difficult test for parents. To see how your child suffers every day, and to be unable to help him - not everyone can stand this. Naturally, in such a situation, breakdowns are inevitable for a woman caring for a sick child.
If the psychological atmosphere in the family is difficult, it is difficult for a man to be in such an environment, he prefers to leave. The future general went headlong into work, often coming home only to spend the night. As Lev Rokhlin’s daughter Elena will say in an interview: “We rarely saw our father: he left early and came very late.”This behavior of her husband offended Tamara. When she needed support and help, her husband was at work, giving all his energy to other people's children: soldier boys.
Afghanistan
Worried about his son Igor, Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin, powerless to help him somehow, gives all of himself to those whom he can save. He was disliked in the army by officers and soldiers, considering him a petty tyrant who had muzzled everyone with military-tactical training. There was no rest from him day or night. But Rokhlin very clearly understood the meaning of the phrase once said by the commander Alexander Suvorov: "It is hard in learning - it is easy in battle." It is the skills acquired that will save lives. He made sure of this from his own military experience.
Lev Rokhlin's military career is a path through the front lines of the planet's hot wounds: Afghanistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Chechnya. In all places where Rokhlin had to command, his nature as a real commander was manifested. In Afghanistan, he commanded the 860th separate motorized rifle regiment. In June 1983, he received an order to check the area where the sweep was carried out. It was already clear to Rokhlin, without any checks, that the section of the mountains that had been subjected to air strikes would show nothing. The Mujahideen will only wait for the reconnaissance group to shoot everyone.
Pain for life
But the order is subject to execution. Naturally, the groups did not return from the mission. And when the high authorities reproached Rokhlin that, they say, they did not cope well with the execution of the order, he, in spite of any ranks, laid out everything in anger,what he thinks: "What a task - such a result." At the same time, not very literary words were used. He will worry all his life for the guys who died then because of a stupid order.
For disrespect for his superiors, he is removed from his post, but he is not sent to the USSR, but is appointed deputy commander of the 191st separate motorized rifle regiment. In less than a year, the former commander of the 191st separate motorized rifle regiment, during the attack of the Mujahideen, cowardly fled in a helicopter, leaving his regiment. Lev Rokhlin took command in that battle, fought on a par with the soldiers, then he was officially reinstated as commander.
War is inevitable
In all the places where Rokhlin had to serve, he invariably took care of the officers and soldiers. There are many stories that the general was not worried about either the external surroundings, or fame, or criticism. For him, the main thing was always one thing - to save the lives of the guys for whom he bore not formal, but real responsibility. He cared for his people with his heart. Successful for Rokhlin was the battle in which there were minimal losses, and it would be better if there were none at all.
In 1993 he commanded the Volgograd 8th Guards Army Corps. And, without changing his principles, he brought people to exhaustion. Everyone hated him then. And he only said: "You'll see, there will be war, it is inevitable." And when the First Chechen campaign began in 1994, the fighters of General Rokhlin realized how right their commander was when the acquired skills pulled them out of the clutches of death literally every day. At the same time, servicemen from other units died in large numbers due to the illiteracy of commanders and their lack of training.
Dad
The soldiers fell in love with their general and called him dad behind his back. Lev Yakovlevich was an example of a commander leading people. He lived in the same difficult conditions in which the soldiers lived: in mud, darkness and cold. The general was no different from the private: an army pea jacket, a hat with ear flaps with deflated flaps, and boots. He could be seen in combat, riding on the armor of an armored personnel carrier with his cracked goggles and scribbling something on a clipboard.
When the general was offered to lead the assault on Grozny, he agreed with one condition: "I will fight only with those whom I myself choose." After inspecting the combat units, he sent many home under the pretext that he did not need cannon fodder, thus saving the lives of unfired young soldiers who had just been called up for military service. Thanks to the military tactics developed by Rokhlin, many soldiers returned home from the war.
Power Strike
Lev Rokhlin sent his corps home after the capture of Grozny. And he was going to return to Chechnya. But the popular general became a prominent figure and was very attractive to promote the political party Our Home is Russia. He was offered to join the party and go to the elections to the State Duma. Here the general saw an opportunity to help the army at a high level and agreed. In addition, he was promised to help the officers with apartments, who served for a long time in the GDR, and after the fallThe Berlin Wall returned to Russia.
In the State Duma, he is appointed to the post of chairman of the defense committee. After reviewing the documents, he begins to understand the extent of the collapse of the army. He cannot allow this. His faith in honest politics is collapsing. Lev Rokhlin begins a struggle against the power of Yeltsin, but the politically naive general launches frontal attacks and is defeated. He leaves the PDR and the State Duma and creates his own party, the Movement in Support of the Army, Defense Industry and Military Science (DPA).
Riot?
It's been 20 years since the murder. The life and death of Lev Rokhlin left numerous questions and mysteries. Why and who killed the general? During the investigation of the murder, there were 4 versions in the work:
- Murder on domestic grounds. The suspect is Rokhlin's wife.
- Theft. The suspects are Rokhlin's guards.
- Chechen trail. The suspects are Chechen fighters.
- Political footprint. Suspects – …
An investigation into the version of contract killing for political reasons showed that there were many materials talking about the preparation of military operations by Rokhlin, which would lead to the impeachment of President Yeltsin, the cancellation of the results of privatization and the return of the country to its former positions. Rokhlin was the most radical opposition to the authorities. His bold statements at rallies and calls for the overthrow of the traitors could not go unnoticed. They were afraid of him. The riot was supposed to take place on July 20, 1998, and on July 3, he is very conveniently killed. But the version has not been proven.
Wife or thieves?
When Tamara Rokhlina was arrested, she confessed to the murder of her husband, but when she saw her daughter, she managed to say:
I'm taking over, I don't want you to die. They threatened me, I will do as they tell me, because I love you very much.
Already after, having calmed down a little and having come to her senses, Tamara will change her testimony. She will tell that three masked men broke into the house, beat her and, threatening her and her son, killed Leva. Rokhlina suspected her husband's guards of the attack, who coveted the money collected for the election campaign. Suspicion took place, because one of the guards after the death of Rokhlin suddenly became rich. But no one finished this version either.
Chechen trail
There were suspicions that Chechen fighters took revenge on the military general. When Lev Rokhlin took Grozny, a reward of 200 thousand dollars was announced for his head. This version could also have taken place, but remained only a version.
Although there was no sufficient evidence that his wife killed the general, she was found guilty and given 8 years. Then the term was reduced to 4 years, and when the passions around the murder of Rokhlin subsided, she was released, apologized and paid compensation in the amount of 8 thousand euros.
The life of Lev Rokhlin, an honest general, a naive politician, an unhappy father and a misunderstood husband, ended at the very end. He will remain in history the only person who refused the award of the Hero of Russia, simply saying: "In a civil war, generals cannot gain glory. The war in Chechnya is not the glory of Russia, but itstrouble".
