In the internal forces, the Kalach brigade is respected. Housed near Volgograd in the town of Kalach-on-Don, she repeatedly took part in hostilities in the North Caucasus. They say about her: "Grated." Five in its composition were awarded the Star of the Hero of Russia. Among them, the only woman in the entire history of the participation of federal forces in local conflicts is Irina Yanina, a nurse, a sergeant of the internal troops.
Involuntarily refugee
A native of the city of Taldy-Kurgan, Irina, born in 1966, lived with her family in Kazakhstan before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Here she got married, gave birth to two children. After graduation, she was engaged in the most peaceful profession on earth - she worked as a nurse in a maternity hospital. But the 90s came, which made Russians in Kazakhstan strangers. And at the family council, it was decided to move to Russia. So Irina Yanina with parents and children ended up in the Volgograd region.
In a small town no one was waiting for them. I had to start from scratch: rent a house, get a job, apply for citizenship. The husband could not stand the first. He left, leaving his wife with children without a livelihood. In order to somehow support the family, the young woman put on her military uniform, settling in the military unit 3642 in 1995. By that time, the youngest daughter had died from acute leukemia. Irina just needed to do business in order to survive the grief. Guaranteed salaries, rations and benefits to military personnel determined her choice.
“We will fight and come home ...”
Together with her 22nd brigade ("Kalach"), already in 1996, Irina Yanina visited Chechnya. There will be two such business trips during the first campaign. In total, in a war, a young woman will have to spend 3.5 months fulfilling the duties of a nurse. Seeing death in the eyes is not an easy test. But for her, it was a way to somehow solve her social problems. A dream arose - to earn money for her son in an apartment so that he did not know the difficulties that her family had encountered.
The second Chechen campaign began in Dagestan. Basayev’s gangs and Khattab’s mercenaries, supported by the Islamists of the Kadar zone, moved here. In July 1999, the transfer of special forces and explosive detachments to Makhachkala began to prevent the fomentation of a civil war in the republic. Already on August 7, Chechen separatists entered Botlikh. The federal forces were tasked with ousting them to the territory of Chechnya. As part of the evacuation team of the Kalach brigade, the young woman again found herself in the war. This trip was the most difficult for her. Life in the field was hard. And in a letter to the parents on whom she left her eleven-year-old son, the young woman wrote that she wanted to go home. She regretted not leaving the service. These were moments of weakness, after which Irina promised: “We will fight and come home.”
Battle of Karamahi
In mid-August, the Dagestan village of Karamakhi with its five thousandth population joined the Islamic republic. Having expelled local authorities and set up roadblocks, it soon turned into an impregnable fortress. Here a detachment of militants (about 500 people), led by field commander Jarulla, was entrenched. Peace talks with Wahhabis yielded no results. And on the 28th from the side of the federal forces, shelling of the settlement began, which was followed by internal troops and the Dagestan riot police. The militants let in armored personnel carriers to slam the trap and destroy the special forces. This triggered the beginning of a combined arms operation. Local residents in a hurry left the village, which will be fully occupied by the federals only on September 8th. In the bloody battles to clean up Karamakhi, the Kalach brigade also took part, in which Irina Yanina helped the wounded soldiers.
Death in battle
It arrived on August 31. On the last day of summer, the 1st battalion entered the outskirts of the village, where the militants were waiting for them, setting up a real massacre. To help the commander of the 22nd brigade sent three armored personnel carriers. In one of them, in addition to the shooter and gunner, was Irina Yurievna Yanina, a nurse. She provided the evacuation of seriously wounded. Having already assisted 15 fighters, she took out from under bullets those who could not move independently. Three times leaving for the heat, she saved another 28 comrades, leaving for the fourth time.
Among them will be those who will owe her their lives. During the loading, a young woman picked up a machine gun to cover the evacuation of the wounded. Leaving the battlefield, an armored personnel carrier was hit from ATGM. The missile caused a fire, the driver lost consciousness. Irina helped get out wounded, but she herself did not have time to escape. The detonated ammunition cut short the life of a 32-year-old nurse who was performing her military duty. And for privates Lyadov I.A., Golnev S.V. and captain Krivtsov A.L., the August day of the 31st will be the second birthday.
From the memoirs of colleagues
The health worker Larisa Mozhukhina recalls her friend as a cheerful and helpful person, always ready to help. Her death shocked everyone. The remains of a young woman fit in a small handkerchief - the war was so merciless to her.
Corporal Kulakov was the driver of the APC, where Irina Yanina burned alive. After the shell hit, he came to his senses only when only he and the nurse remained in the car. Getting out through the hatch from her side, he tried to pull out a young woman. But because of the torn off unloading, he fell on the asphalt. The car was dragged forward several meters, and after a few minutes, the ammunition exploded.
A colleague Andrei Trusov recalls that for forty days, friends carried pieces of the ashes of Irina Yanina with them, as if, even after death, a heroic nurse could help in the most difficult moment.
Sergeant VV Irina Yanina - Hero of Russia
In October, the Presidential Decree awarded the Star of the Hero of Russia for the operations against terrorists in Dagestan and for the courage shown during the operation to clean up Karamakhi. She will forever remain the only woman to receive such a high reward for participating in a military conflict in the North Caucasus.
Her son turned 27. Eugene works in the same military unit where his mother served. Until now, he has been rereading her letters from the war and trying to understand how so much sense of duty and self-sacrifice came from in an ordinary fragile woman. Brought up by his grandparents, he always had before his eyes the example of a mother whom he was used to be proud of.
Since 2007, on the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland, the country returns to their feat, holding celebrations to honor the living and commemorate the fallen. In 2012, stamps were issued in memory of some of them. One also captures Irina Yanina, whose photo is difficult to find and see these days.