What happened to the Ovechkin family? Killer children led by the heroine mother

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Ovechkin family- a large family from Irkutsk who hijacked a Tu-154 plane (tail number 85413) on March 8, 1988 with the aim of escaping from the USSR.

Background

In 1988, the Ovechkin family consisted of a mother and 11 children (the father, Dmitry Dmitrievich, died on May 3, 1984, a few days after the beatings inflicted by his eldest sons), including 7 sons who were part of the family jazz ensemble “Seven Simeons” and officially were listed as musicians during the association of city parks "Leisure".

Mother - Ninel Sergeevna (51 years old), worked as a saleswoman. Children - Lyudmila (32 years old), Olga (28 years old), Vasily (26 years old), Dmitry (24 years old), Oleg (21 years old), Alexander (19 years old), Igor (17 years old), Tatyana (14 years old), Mikhail (13 years old), Ulyana (10 years old), Sergey (9 years old). The family lived in Irkutsk, in two three-room apartments on Detskaya Street, building 24. In addition, they retained a private house in the suburb of Rabochee with a plot of eight acres (currently the site of the house is abandoned, and the house itself is dilapidated).

The eldest daughter Lyudmila lived separately from the rest of the family and did not take part in the hijacking of the plane.

The ensemble was organized at the end of 1983 and soon achieved victories in a number of music competitions in various cities of the USSR, became widely known: the Ovechkins were written about in the press, filmed documentary etc. At the end of 1987, after touring in Japan, the family decided to flee the USSR.

Airplane hijacking

The attack on the plane was carried out by police officers. The capture group failed to prevent the terrorists from detonating the explosive device with which they tried to commit suicide: when it became clear that the escape from the USSR was unsuccessful, Vasily shot Ninel Ovechkina at her request, after which the older brothers tried to commit suicide by detonating a bomb . However, the explosion turned out to be targeted and did not bring the desired result, after which Vasily, Oleg, Dmitry and Alexander shot themselves in turn with the same sawn-off shotgun. As a result of the fire that started from the explosion, the plane was completely burned out.

In total, 9 people were killed: five terrorists (Ninel Ovechkina and her four eldest sons), a flight attendant and three passengers (the passengers were shot as a result of a botched hijacking); 19 people were injured and injured (two Ovechkins, two police officers and 15 passengers). The Ovechkins are buried in Vyborg in the village of Veshchevo at the city cemetery. [ specify]

Court

Olga Ovechkina at trial

Sergei played in restaurants with Igor for some time, then traces of him were lost.

According to 2002 data, Tatyana got married, gave birth to a child and settled in Cheremkhovo. In 2006, Tatyana took part in the release of the documentary series “The Investigation Conducted...”, which was dedicated to the capture.

Reflection in culture

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

The case of the attempted hijacking of a plane by the Ovechkin family is the loudest and most resonant case in the late 80s of the last century. It was widely covered in the press and discussed in every Soviet family. Ordinary citizens were outraged not so much by the audacity of the hijackers, but by their very personalities. If the Ovechkins had been repeat offenders, seasoned criminals, the case would not have received such publicity.

Jazz ensemble "Seven Simeons"

The hijackers turned out to be the most common Soviet “cell of society.” Ninel Sergeevna Ovechkina was a heroine mother with many children, raising 11 children almost single-handedly. Her husband, Dmitry Dmitrievich, drank during his lifetime and paid little attention to his offspring. He died 4 years before the events described and left his wife to cope with a huge family on her own.

Ninel Sergeevna performed this role well. Moreover, many of the children were already adults and actively helped her raise the kids. By Soviet standards, the Ovechkins lived an average life. They had 2 three-room apartments in Irkutsk itself and a house with a plot in the suburbs, but the mother’s pension and the salaries of the older children were very small.

Ninel Sergeevna’s sons were incredibly musical and therefore organized a jazz ensemble called “Seven Simeons”. A documentary was made about them. They were very proud of “Simeons” and even sent them on tour to Japan. This rare luck became a turning point in the fate of the Ovechkins themselves and many people who found themselves on board the plane they hijacked in 1988.

The desire to escape from the impoverished country of total shortage

During the tour, the young musicians were given a very tempting offer from a London record company. Even then, the “Seven Simeons” could have asked for asylum from Great Britain and stayed abroad forever, but they did not want to leave their mother and sisters behind in the USSR. They would never be released abroad; and they would have hunted him down at home.

Returning home after the tour, the boys suggested that their mother flee the USSR. There were probably stories about beautiful life Abroad. That’s when the plan to hijack the plane matured. Ninel Sergeevna not only supported this idea, but also completely supervised the preparation. The plan was implemented on a holiday - March 8, 1988.

How the capture took place

The Ovechkins prepared very carefully for the hijacking of the plane. The shapes of cases for musical instruments were specially changed so that weapons could be carried in them. Already after tragic events On board the TU-154 (tail number 85413, flight Irkutsk - Kurgan - Leningrad) 2 sawn-off shotguns, about a hundred rounds of ammunition and several improvised explosive devices were found.

It was easy for the Ovechkins to carry such an arsenal. The musicians were well known in hometown and were practically not inspected. All Ovechkins took part in the capture, except eldest daughter Lyudmila. She was married, lived in another city (Cheremkhovo) and did not know about the impending escape from the USSR.

When the Ovechkins, led by their mother, were on board, they waited for the plane to make an intermediate landing in Kurgan to refuel. Then they demanded that a course be set for London. At first, the pilots took the requirement as a joke. The situation immediately changed when sawn-off shotguns appeared in the hands of the older Ovechkins. The Simeons threatened to blow up the plane if they did not comply.

Summary of the case

No one was even going to let the hijackers go abroad. The plane was landed at a military airfield in Veshchevo, after which it was stormed. During the capture, 9 people were killed (five of them were terrorists), 19 were wounded. The would-be hijackers were determined. In case of failure, they decided to commit suicide so as not to be tried as traitors to the Motherland. The eldest son Vasily (26 years old) shot his mother and then committed suicide.

24-year-old Dmitry did the same, having previously killed the flight attendant Zharkaya T.I. Oleg and Sasha (21 and 19 years old) passed away in a similar way. At the trial, 17-year-old Igor was sentenced to 8 years in prison. His pregnant 28-year-old sister Olga is 6 years pregnant. She was the only one against the hijacking of the plane and until the very end tried to dissuade her relatives from the criminal undertaking.

Lyudmila, Ninel Sergeevna's eldest daughter, became the guardian of her younger sisters and brothers. She also adopted a newborn niece, whom Olga gave birth to in prison. Thus ended the case of the first hijacking of an airplane in the USSR with the aim of fleeing abroad.

The first message about that terrible tragedy, which occurred on March 8, 1988, appeared only 36 hours after the incident: “An attempt to hijack the airliner was thwarted. Most of the criminals were destroyed. There are dead. The injured were provided with assistance on the spot. The USSR Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal case." On the third day it became clear: the flight attendant and three passengers were shot dead, four terrorists and their mother committed suicide, dozens of people were injured, the plane burned to the ground. And the most incredible thing: the hijackers are famous musicians, a large jazz family, the Irkutsk “Seven Simeons”, famous throughout the country.

The ensemble “Seven Simeons” was created in 1983, and it consisted of members of the same family - the Ovechkin brothers: Vasily, Dmitry, Oleg, Sasha, Igor, Misha and Sergey. At the time of the events described, the eldest Vasily was 26 years old, the youngest Seryozha was only 9. The brothers toured the country, were participants in the Moscow Festival of Youth and Students, and once even went to perform in Japan. They were shown on TV, a documentary was made about them, and in all respects they fit the model of an exemplary Soviet family.

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Originating from peasants, Siberians, they lived in wooden house without amenities on the outskirts of Irkutsk, they milked cows, mowed grass and at the same time played on musical instruments and were drawn to art. In addition to the sons, the family had four more sisters and their mother, the heroine mother Ninel Sergeevna. What pushed this in all respects wonderful family so much scary step? And what exactly happened on board the Tu-154 on March 8, 1988?

The chronology of events looked as follows. The Ovechkins and their entire family went on tour to Leningrad. Only their older sister Lyudmila was not with them. She had gotten married by that time and had been living her life separately from the others for several years. The Ovechkins came on board. They were recognized and smiled at. The large double bass did not fit into the X-ray machine, and they did not even examine it. We missed it like that. After all, “Simeony” has been considered almost the main Irkutsk attraction for several years. During the flight, the brothers played chess and talked. Oleg was joking about something with the flight attendant Vasilyeva. Everything was going as usual, but suddenly, after refueling in Kurgan, the Ovechkins took sawed-off shotguns from their double bass case and demanded that the crew proceed to London. It turned out that they had slightly increased the dimensions of the case in advance so that it could not fit into the X-ray machine. They hoped that local airport workers would not manually search members of a model Soviet family. And their calculation turned out to be correct.

Historytime.ru

So, the Ovechkins demanded to be taken to London. From the ground, the crew was ordered to convince the terrorists that the plane would not be able to fly to England without another refueling. Then the brothers demanded that refueling be done in some capitalist country, and they were promised that the plane would land in Finland. But in fact, they were not going to let anyone go to Finland. Moreover, by order of the commander of the Northwestern Air Defense, the Tu-154 was accompanied by a military fighter. As is clear from a number of publications on this topic, the fighter pilot was given an order to destroy the passenger plane along with all passengers if it attempted to fly out of the country.

For the operation to neutralize terrorists, the operational headquarters chose a military airfield in the village of Veshchevo near Vyborg. The crew was informed that in order to bring the capture group to full readiness, we need to take a little more time. It was ordered to explain to the Ovechkins that if they fired even one shot, they would be exterminated like rabid dogs. In the meantime, “in conditions of democratization” they face at most 2-3 years in prison. Flight attendant Tamara Zharkaya came out to see the Ovechkins. She calmed them down and convinced them that the plane was landing in the Finnish city of Kotka. The brothers almost believed it, but then they saw that their native Soviet soldiers, armed with machine guns, were hurrying along the runway of this “Finnish” city to the landing site. Out of despair and rage, Dmitry shot the flight attendant. As a result, Tamara Zharkaya became the only victim of the Ovechkin family. All other people were killed and maimed by those who came to save them.

Krasvozduh.ru

Subsequently, it turned out that the special forces who arrived to neutralize the terrorists were in fact completely untrained in such operations. These were ordinary police officers who knew how to deal with street hooligans, but did not know the specifics of working in the narrow space of an airplane. One of the policemen participating in the operation directly stated this in court. Four special forces soldiers entered the cockpit through the windows. Several more people were able to get into the luggage compartment. Apparently, they didn’t know what to do next. The police abruptly opened the cockpit door and started shooting. At the same time, not a single terrorist was injured, but they hit three ordinary passengers at once. The musicians, with return fire, wounded both special forces soldiers, and those bleeding were also evacuated from the plane through the window. The policemen who were in the luggage compartment began shooting through the floor, but these shots did not harm the armed brothers. True, one of the bullets hit the thigh of unarmed 9-year-old Seryozha, the youngest member of the ensemble.

Krasvozduh.ru

Realizing that their situation was hopeless, the Ovechkins decided to kill themselves. They surrounded Sasha, who had been holding the bomb all this time, and connected the wires. However, the explosion turned out to be so weak that only Sasha died from it; the others were not even injured. Then the brothers began to shoot themselves. Dmitry killed himself first. Then Oleg. And Vasily first shot his mother and then shot himself. Of the direct participants in the crime, only 17-year-old Igor survived. According to him, he did not want to die and when he saw that his mother’s skull had opened after Vasily’s shot, he hid in the toilet. Meanwhile, due to an explosion, a fire started on the plane, and at the Veshchevo airfield, which the headquarters management so prudently chose for the rescue special operation, there was only one fire engine. Passengers opened one of the plane's doors and began to jump from a four-meter height onto the concrete runway to escape the fire. Almost all of them broke their legs. Someone broke their spine.

But below, instead of help, they were met with beatings from the military men stationed there. According to the recollections of the passengers, they were beaten severely. The rescuers were afraid that the Ovechkins might be among those jumping out, and therefore, just in case, they beat everyone, including the women. They hit people on the head with boots, hit them with rifle butts, cursed, ordered not to move, and at least one of those who moved was shot in the lower back. While new fire engines arrived from Vyborg, the plane managed to burn completely. Subsequently, nine charred corpses were found in the cabin: four Ovechkin brothers, their mother, flight attendant Tamara Zharkaya and three passengers accidentally killed by the capture group. The theft was so brilliantly prevented Soviet plane in England.

A year later, the film crew, who had once filmed a documentary about the wonderful musical brothers, made another documentary - this time about the events of March 8. The authors of the film tried to get a comment from Colonel Bystrov, who commanded the operational headquarters that day.

- Why would I comment on something to you? - the colonel was surprised. - What the heck? I'll call the regional committee now. Is it clear to you or not?

Youtube

And yet, what made seemingly successful people, recognized musicians, take such a crazy step? On this score there is different points vision. Now the media is inclined to believe that the driving force behind this whole story was the Ovechkin’s mother, who was ready to do anything for the sake of her ambitions - even to kill innocent people. The homeland gave her family everything: recognition, prospects, two three-room apartments in Irkutsk, and she dreamed of fairy tales about sweet life in the West. It is believed that the impetus for this idea was the ensemble's tour to Japan. There the “Simeons” saw a brighter life than in Irkutsk, and coveted it.

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But that wasn't even the main thing. It was November 1987, perestroika began, and, according to KGB officer Zvonarev, employees of their department at that time began to monitor tourists abroad less vigilantly. They still accompanied all groups, but their discipline had become loose: instead of strictly suppressing everything unwanted contacts released Soviet people, they went shopping and relaxed. As a result, Oleg Ovechkin was able to meet with some person in Japan, and he promised their ensemble a good contract with a recording studio in London. The brothers tried to get to the American embassy in Tokyo right then, but they had no money, and for Golden ring The taxi driver refused to take them. And then the brothers decided to return. Moreover, there was no mother or sisters with them in Japan, and in those days not returning from abroad meant saying goodbye to relatives forever. And the Ovechkins decided to prepare at home for the escape and carry it out with the whole family.

Russian newspaper

According to another version, it was the sons who initiated the escape, not the mother. And it was not greed and vanity that pushed them to take this step, but poverty and the hopelessness of their lives. They grew up in a very difficult family. Ninel Sergeevna lost her parents when she was not yet 6 years old. My father died at the front in 1942, and a year later my mother was shot by a watchman in a state farm field. She tried to take 8 potatoes out of there. Ninel grew up in an orphanage. I worked as a salesman all my life. After her daughter died during childbirth, she vowed to give birth as many times as God willing. And she eventually gave birth to eleven children. Her husband drank heavily. So, when he got drunk, he started shooting out the window, and everyone who was nearby, just in case, had to fall to the floor out of harm’s way and lie there without moving. Some sources report that in 1984, while defending himself from beatings, he was killed by his own children.

Nosecret.com

However, other media reports say that he simply died, leaving his wife and 11 children to survive as best they could. The family had to constantly struggle with domestic instability, and then with poverty. After they were given two three-room apartments, life only got worse. Previously, they at least lived by subsistence farming: cows, pigs, rabbits, chickens, and a vegetable garden. Now I had to make do with my mother’s pension of 52 rubles a month and the 80-ruble salaries of my two children. Music did not bring them money in the USSR. Tours, certificates, shows on TV, but they were not allowed to hold paid concerts. And then they found themselves abroad for the first time and saw a completely different life. There was no way for them to try to leave officially at that time. And then they decided to hijack the plane.

They will show everyone that they have real weapons, intimidate them, and they will be released. The authorities will not risk the lives of dozens of people in order to keep some Ovechkins on their territory. But the brothers, alas, miscalculated this. From the testimony at the trial, the captain of the Tu-154 ship Kupriyanova: he was asked about the instructions existing in such situations. One of the points was “in exceptional cases, fulfill the demands of the hijackers.”

-Have you tried to fulfill their demands? - asked the people's assessor.

“I don’t understand,” the commander answered, “why their demands were fulfilled.”

- What do you mean why? Well, maybe there wouldn't be such a result.

“I believe that the best outcome was to land in our own country, at our own airfield,” said Kupriyanov.

The trial took place in the airport building in Irkutsk. During the trial, the court received angry letters demanding the execution of all surviving Ovechkins:

“Do not judge, but tie it to the tops of birch trees in the square and tear it into pieces.”

Maksimova, teacher

“Shoot everyone and show it on TV.”

Tonin, internationalist warrior

“We ask that the highest punishment be death, so that they know what the homeland is.”

On behalf of the party meeting, party organizer Goncharov.

But only two surviving members of the Ovechkin family were tried - Igor, the one who did not want to die and hid in the toilet, and Olga. The older sister Lyudmila did not take part in the hijacking and did not even know about her brothers’ plans. Two younger brother and two younger sisters The Ovechkins were minors, and they were also not tried, but were sent to a boarding school. At the trial, Olga was pregnant. She was sentenced to 6 years in prison, and she gave birth while in prison.

Russian newspaper

Igor was sentenced to 8 years.

Russian newspaper

As a result, all the children, including Olga’s daughter, who was born in prison, were taken in by elder sister Ovechkinykh Lyudmila. By that time she herself had three.

Russian newspaper

It became eight. Igor and Olga served only half their sentences. Olga left the colony embittered, began to drink a lot, and a few years later her roommate killed her. Igor led a musical group in the colony, played in restaurants when he was free, but also drank, was arrested for drug distribution and died, as they say, in strange circumstances in a pre-trial detention center. One of the younger sisters, Ulyana, drank a lot, threw herself under a car twice, survived, and lives on disability benefits. Most junior Sergei Several times he was unable to enter the music school; now nothing is known about him. And finally, Mikhail is the most talented of all, the one whom the Ovechkin’s music teacher called a real black musician, meaning that he feels jazz like a true black jazz player. He went to Spain, played in street jazz bands, lived on alms, subsequently suffered a stroke, and was confined to a wheelchair.

The loudest plane hijackings in the USSR

Behind Soviet period from 1954 to 1989, 57 attempts to hijack aircraft were made on the territory of the USSR. In at least four cases of theft aircraft Schoolchildren and students took part.

Tu-104 hijacking

The worst in terms of the number of victims was the hijacking of a Tu-104 plane in May 1973 (flight Moscow - Chita). At an altitude of 6500, the policeman accompanying the plane shot the hijacker Tengiz Rzayev, who was holding a bomb, in the back. The plane disintegrated in mid-air, killing 81 people.

Tu-134 hijacking

On November 18, 1983, a Tu-134 aircraft was flying on the route Batumi - Kyiv - Leningrad. There were 57 passengers on board, including seven terrorists - children of high-ranking parents from Georgia - who carried weapons through the “deputy hall”. The group was headed by an artist from the Georgia-Film film studio, the son of professor Joseph Tsereteli. Having taken flight attendant Valentina Krutikova hostage, the terrorists burst into the cockpit and demanded to fly to Turkey, and when they tried to disarm them, they killed two pilots. Another pilot was wounded, but was able to wound two hijackers. The pilots subsequently locked themselves in the cockpit and made sudden maneuvers to knock the invaders off their feet. They, in turn, opened fire on the passengers, killed flight attendant Valentina Krutikova and one passenger, and also seriously wounded 10 more passengers on the plane (one of the passengers was killed by mistake by a special forces group after landing, when he ran out of the plane and was mistaken for a terrorist).

At Tbilisi airport on November 19, as a result of the special operation “Nabat,” the criminals were captured and the passengers were released. The surviving hijackers were sentenced to death with the exception of student Tinatin Petviashvili - she received 14 years in prison.

An-24 hijacking

On October 15, 1970, an Aeroflot An-24 aircraft flew from Batumi to Krasnodar. There were 46 passengers on board at the time. Pranas Brazinskas, who worked as a store manager in Vilnius, and his 13-year-old son Algirdas were sitting in the front row. Both had sawn-off shotguns. A few minutes after takeoff, Pranas Brazinskas called the flight attendant and demanded that the plane be turned around and landed in Turkey. The hijackers threatened with death for failure to comply with the order. They killed a flight attendant and shot the ship's commander in the spine. The plane landed in Turkey.

In October 1970, the USSR demanded that Turkey immediately extradite the criminals, but this demand was not fulfilled. The Turks decided to judge the hijackers themselves. They were convicted of hijacking and murder, but four years later they were released under an amnesty. Later they lived in the USA. In 2002, Pranas Brazinskas was killed by his own son in California.

Hijacking of a Tu-154 plane to Pakistan

On August 19, 1990, a Tu-154 aircraft was hijacked by prisoners from the temporary detention center in the city of Neryungri. The hijackers demanded that the plane be sent to Pakistan. 15 prisoners were transported to the city of Yakutsk by Tu-154 plane. Five minutes later, a “danger” signal arrived at the aircraft commander’s console. The terrorists managed to smuggle a sawn-off shotgun on board the plane, which was given to the bandits by one of the friends of the hijacker leader. They gave a piece for a bomb laundry soap. The prisoners took the passengers and three police guards hostage, taking their weapons.

On the afternoon of August 19, the plane landed again in Neryungri. The terrorists demanded machine guns, walkie-talkies and parachutes. On the evening of August 19, the plane flew to the city of Krasnoyarsk, and at 23:00 Moscow time landed in Tashkent. The four hijackers, who had minor charges, chose to surrender to the authorities and remain in the USSR. On August 20, the plane with 36 hostages and 11 terrorists remaining on board flew to Pakistan, where it landed in the city of Karachi. After landing at the airport in Pakistan, the hijackers were arrested. They were later convicted. All terrorists were sentenced to death penalty. Two prisoners hanged themselves in prison, one died from heatstroke. In 1991, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. The bandits themselves filed appeals for their return to the USSR, but they were refused. In September 1998, the terrorists were granted amnesty in honor of the 50th anniversary of Pakistan's independence. Two natives of Ukraine remained in Pakistan, six hijackers were extradited to Russia. The court of Yakutia handed them the most severe sentence - 15 years in prison.

04/23/1999 at 00:00, views: 72458

They tried to escape from the USSR. It can be considered the latter: the hijacking of a plane with hostages, followed by a bloody denouement, took place in 1988. There were three years left before the collapse of the country. Of the 11 terrorists, six survived: a pregnant woman, a minor teenager and four minors. 11 years have passed since that terrible March 8th. All this time, human curiosity did not allow either the criminals who had served their sentences or the growing children to relax for a minute. Terrible glory followed them on their heels. With the release of the film “Mama,” interest in Ovechkin surged from new strength. They again became the subject of hunting for curious people. The Ovechkins categorically refuse to meet with journalists. But for MK they made an exception. Our reporter not only met these people, but also lived in their family... - I am proud of my last name. I will never change it. This is my family. And we will sue Evstigneev. Nobody even asked our opinion. “We learned everything from the newspapers,” fumes one of the prototypes of the film “Mama,” Igor. “I found a lawyer who will handle the case, and he has no doubt that the law is on our side.” After all, everything had just started to calm down, and then again they were shouting on all corners: Ovechkins, Ovechkins... Today information about terrorists and their hostages has become as familiar as a weather report, and no longer evokes almost any emotions in Russians. Then, 11 years ago, the seizure of a plane with hostages on the territory of the USSR for the purpose of hijacking was not just an out-of-the-ordinary event - it was a shock. And when it became known that the invaders - big family from Siberia, a musical group that included children, the whole country froze in shock. The terrorists, paradoxically, were very naive. They demanded that the pilots fly to London, not even suspecting that they could be extradited to the Soviet authorities, and if not, the Ovechkins faced life imprisonment under British law. Why then was the decision made to seize the plane against the interests of the hostages? According to the direct participants in the assault, it was for ideological reasons, so that in future other hijackers would be discouraged. There were 11 terrorists on the plane. The mother, Ninel Sergeevna Ovechkina, and the eldest sons - Vasily, Oleg, Dmitry and Alexander - died. The rest ended up in the dock. The trial lasted 7 months. 18 volumes of the case were written with various testimonies. And on September 23, the Leningrad Regional Court made a decision: “For armed hijacking of an aircraft with the aim of hijacking it outside the USSR, Olga Ovechkina was sentenced to 6 years in prison, Igor Ovechkin - to 8. Four - Sergei, Ulyana, Tatyana and Mikhail - were released from prison. criminal liability due to childhood." The mining town of Cheremkhovo is located 170 km from Irkutsk. In front of the entrance there is a poster - "The health of the people is the wealth of the country." At 8 pm the streets of the city are empty. Here they drink everything that burns, and all year round wear winter hats. Here, every month, information appears about missing children who are never found. Here three year olds fighting with dogs in the market over a randomly dropped fish head. The Ovechkins found shelter here. We knew that they refused to communicate with journalists, but we still came. We arrived in the evening - trains run here three times a day. And suddenly: “Come into the house, only suicides ride on the evening train.” So spend the night already. We were seated at the table. After the trial, the younger "Simeons" were offered to be sold to Amsterdam. The eldest daughter, Lyudmila, the only one of the 11 Ovechkin children, was lucky enough at one time, long before the plane was hijacked, to get married and leave Irkutsk. The second daughter, Olga, was forbidden by her mother and brothers to choose her destiny; her betrothed turned out to be a Caucasian. “Have I forgotten how the chocks mocked us Russians in the army?” - Vasya reproached her. “It took me a long time to get used to this outback,” says Ovechkin’s older sister. - Gradually, of course, I got used to it. I’ve been working at the open-pit mine for 15 years now, sorting coal. Work - in two days. The rest of the time I work part-time in the market. To earn a piece of bread, Lyudmila sells candies, cookies, and marshmallows all day in 40-degree frost. She has Chronical bronchitis, but she is glad that there is at least such a job. “Okay, Seryozhka is helping,” sighs Lyuda. - The same one who was wounded on the plane... In 1988, Sergei turned 9 years old. He knew nothing about the family’s plans; the younger ones were not privy to criminal plans. He still didn’t fully understand why brother shot his mother, why the plane burned down, why his leg hurt so much. Now he is 20. - That year I was assigned to the Cheremkhovo music boarding school. I played the saxophone. Then I tried to enter the music school in Irkutsk. The first year they immediately told me: “You know, your name is still widely known, so you’d better come back in a year.” For three years I've been knocking down thresholds admissions committee. There is no more strength. And I’ve already abandoned the tool. I'll probably join the army. The summons has already arrived. Serezha has a bullet wound in his left thigh. The operation was not performed. Doctors believed that the body would eventually reject the bullet. After that ill-fated International women's day Lyudmila took Ulyana and Tanya to her place. Seryozha and Misha were also constantly at home; their boarding school was located next door. Yes, there were three of our own. And soon another “daughter” appeared - Larisa. Native sister Olga gave birth to her in the colony. Now 25-year-old Tanya got married, gave birth to a child and lives in Cheremkhovo. Ulya works and lives in Irkutsk, Misha - in St. Petersburg. This family eats once a day, and what they cook up quick hand. They don't have time anymore. A lot of work. 6 cows, 6 pigs, 12 chickens require care. There is one in the kitchen round table for everyone. The room has one large bed. There are photographs of my mother on the walls. Even the old custom in the family remained: if any problem or question arose, do not solve it alone. On family council will discuss everything together. A the last word now remains with Lyudmila, as it used to be with her mother. However, photographs, letters from relatives and the “Seven Simeons” records have not survived. In March 1988, 2 huge bags of records were confiscated from the family. “We believe that our mother raised us well,” the Ovechkins recall, “no one went to the cinema, no one danced at discos, no one drank vodka in basements.” But they worked from morning to night. Money was needed. How can we feed such a family without them?! Today our children also have no time to go for walks, and their elders don’t let them in. Tears suddenly appear in Lyudmila's eyes. - You know, I wanted to become a journalist. I even tried to write. Mother didn't give it. Then they thought I would become an actress. And then she told me: “What an actress you are, look at your rough hands, and your conversation is not the same. Throw this rubbish out of your head and better get busy with the garden.” So I didn’t get anywhere. I couldn’t go against my mother’s will. After the trial, the authorities suggested that Lyudmila publicly renounce her mother. Her house was constantly crowded with journalists and business people. One businessman from Amsterdam even offered to “give up” the younger Ovechkins to him for good money in order to revive the “Seven Simeons” ensemble, which had become scandalous. Lyudmila refused everything. Together with the Ovechkins we watch the film “Mama”, then documentary footage of the tragedy of March 8, 1988. “I didn’t even know anything about their departure,” says Lyudmila sadly. “That day we were just going to visit our mother with the children... Now March 8 is not a holiday for us, but a day of mourning.” When charred corpses appear on the screen, Lyudmila tells all the children to leave the room. She herself cannot hold back her tears. Turns away. - I was called to a plane that had already burned down. I was terrified. In my presence, the fighters threw everyone to the ground, handcuffed them, and beat them on the legs. In total, there were 9 burnt corpses on the plane. Four were lying together, near the toilet. It was impossible to make out which of them was which. The remains were numbered, packed in plastic bags and taken away for examination. They were buried near Vyborg, in the village of Veshchevo, under numbers. “We were there only once, but we never found the grave,” says Lyudmila. - But we haven’t gone there for 10 years, and we’re unlikely to go there. There is no money, and it is unknown on which hillock to put the flowers... Terrorist in labor Olga gave her last testimony in court while sitting. She was 7 months pregnant. Despite the family's threats against her beloved, she continued to meet with him and was expecting a child. Until the very last moment, Olga was against the plan. She even tried to disrupt the trip; from March 5 to 6 she did not come home to spend the night. The brothers then caused a scandal for her, locked her in the house, and did not take their eyes off her all day. Olga was given a sentence less than the minimum - 6 years (according to the law - from 8 years to capital punishment). Olya was a second mother to all her brothers and sisters. Even from the conclusion she wrote: “Lyuda, send warm clothes to Igor. Tell him, let him take care of his hygiene. How is he feeling, tell me everything. It’s hard for me, I miss him very much. I’m still waiting, waiting for something good, but there’s nothing.” (10/19/1988) Olya gave birth to a girl in the colony. The girl spent the first six months of her life on a bunk. There was no children's home at this institution. The administration of the colony decided to transfer Olga to Tashkent and hand over the child to Orphanage . “Lord, how much effort and nerves we spent to take Larochka to us,” recalls Lyudmila. “They didn’t want to give it to us for a long time.” But we still managed to pick up the little one. So she lived with us for 4 years, until Olga left prison. But this was a completely different person. Rude, impudent, evil. She took her daughter to Irkutsk. I contacted some Fazil. She placed Larisa in a commercial kindergarten, then in a paid school. The girl studied very poorly. And one day I came to them, I saw Lariska all dirty, hungry, and Olga was drinking vodka at her neighbor’s and said to me: “Why should she study, she’s already beautiful. She’ll get married early.” Olga works at the central Irkutsk market. Sells red fish. She was not at work that day. “You’re looking for her in vain, she doesn’t talk to journalists at all,” the neighbors at the counter squealed in one voice. - So she is a good woman, talkative, but she behaves cautiously with strangers. What she experienced will never be forgotten, and you are adding fuel to the fire. By the way, she didn’t like the film at all. The two iron doors to Olga’s apartment were never opened for us. Only the neighbor stopped: “Olga hardly communicates with anyone.” And we only go to her after a phone call. Igor, why didn't you shoot yourself? - Ovechkin?! How could you not know! Half an hour ago a drunk came in, they say in one of the restaurants in Irkutsk. - Yes, you go around the central taverns, you will definitely find it. Or visit him at work, at the Old Cafe. Midnight. The place where Igor works is hidden in one of the dark alleys of Irkutsk. “If you agree to marry me, I’ll give an interview,” and without this phrase it was clear that the man standing in front of me was drunk. - You know, I still have work to do. The administrator does not allow drinking. Maybe you can tweet? I’ll grab a beer on the street, it’ll make it easier to start a conversation. Just be careful, otherwise they’ll notice... you’ll be fired from your job. - I drink heavily because I have a lot of problems. Both everyday and psychological. I understand that there is no escape from them. I don't know why I'm talking to you... Journalists are enemy number one for me. I even had to fight with some of them. In this life I want a little peace. So that they don’t point fingers at me, which often happens. People specially come to the Old Cafe to look at me. This is very disgusting. At first, Igor was in the Angarsk juvenile colony. When he turned 18, he was transferred to an adult, to Bozoi. In total, he spent 4.5 years in prison. In the colony he was the leader of a brass band and a vocal-instrumental ensemble, which he himself created. When he was released, he began working part-time in restaurants playing the piano. Gradually I recruited guys and created a group. He married a singer from the group. Lived in St. Petersburg for a year. But the family could not be saved. He started drinking heavily. The girl left, leaving her husband without money, without an apartment, without a soloist. Now he plays the synthesizer in a new restaurant, where he earns 64 rubles a night, and writes scores for Irkutsk orchestras for free, although this work costs at least 500 rubles. “I don’t want to come up with a name for my group, and in the colony the ensemble was nameless,” says Igor. - For me always best name And the best group, of course, "Seven Simeons". I remember this story every day... The fear remains. Fear of explosion, fear of prison, fear of death, fear of... mother. There wasn't a single night when I didn't dream about it... Before the trial, my hair was completely black, but now - do you see? Then he turned gray in just a month. At the trial, Igor was constantly asked: “All of yours took their own lives, but what about you? Why didn’t you shoot yourself?” The teenager was silent. Igor is still looking for an answer to this question. “If I were older, I would shoot myself,” says my sister. “There’s a mistake in the film,” says Igor, “however, it’s the same as in all the newspapers... What does mom have to do with it?” No one understood that my mother, no matter how bad they said about her, could not do such a thing. By the way, she was already 52 years old then. She found out about everything on the plane, but it was too late. The instigator was Oleg... And how it all began! The head of the family became a mother-heroine out of principle. And it all began on the outskirts of a working-class suburb of Irkutsk. “There is no street called Children’s anywhere else,” local residents say. - And they called it that because kids came running here from all over the area. But the Ovechkins were not heard here... It was a family where the younger ones unquestioningly obeyed the elders, and all together - the mother. She kept the children with her, separating them from the outside world with a palisade of bourgeois and philistine habits. According to her instructions, all the boys entered the music school, and the daughters, like their mother, went into the trade sector. Teachers high school No. 66, where in different time The Ovechkins studied, they say that they did not participate in clean-up days and other events. “But work was always in full swing on their plot, the children were always fussing about in the ground, rushing like crazy to get water, repairing the house, caring for the cattle,” says the granny from the neighboring house. - None of the Ovechkins smoked or drank. The whole day was spent at work. And at night, until two o'clock, they beat the drums. I couldn’t sleep under this thunder... The Ovechkin house is the last one on this street. The gate is firmly fused with the ground. All that was left of the once neat home were rotten boards, somehow holding each other together, a leaky roof and a sign with the number 24. Local kids burn fires in the walls of the house in the evenings; the older ones set up a drug den here. And 11 years ago there were only flowers on the 8 acres here. “Why are they needed?” the hostess thought. “You can’t spread them on bread.” “I’ll tell you everything in my heart,” Uncle Vanya, an old-timer on Children’s Street, smelled slightly of fumes. - Ninka was a creature and a whore. She ruined all the children and drove her husband to the grave. What a foreign name she invented for herself! We called her Ninka anyway. I remember that I sold vodka underground; it contained more water than alcohol. Ninel Sergeevna's parents are villagers. The father died at the front when the girl was 5 years old. A year later, the mother dies absurdly. I was coming back from field work and decided to dig up five potatoes. The drunk watchman, not understanding what was happening, shot at point-blank range. The girl was sent to an orphanage. At the age of 15 he took her in cousin, whose wife became her godmother. At the age of 20, Ninel Sergeevna married the “notable driver” Dmitry Vasilyevich Ovechkin, the young couple received a house from the executive committee. And a year later the first child was born - Lyudmila. The second daughter was born dead. Then Ninel Sergeevna swore: “I will never kill a single child in myself. I will give birth to all of them.” Over the course of 25 years, her house was filled with 10 more children. - She greatly terrorized her husband, Mitka. As soon as the man drank 50 grams, he started screaming throughout the entire neighborhood. Although he was not a drunk, he sometimes drank heavily,” says Uncle Vanya. If a Siberian man says that Ovechkin “drank heavily,” there is no doubt that he was not dry. To this day, the neighbors remember how Dmitry Vasilyevich fired a gun through the window of the house, while the children were all lying on the floor. In 1982, Ovechkin's leg was paralyzed. He died in 1984. The eldest of the Ovechkin sons, Vasya, was a deputy troop drummer at school. Ninel Sergeevna loved him more than anyone. Only Vasya forgave all his whims and pranks. Only he was allowed to postpone work until the next day. I only hoped for him on the plane. Only he trusted the right to shoot himself. Olga's colleagues didn't even know that she was from large family. The older brother's fiancee only caught a glimpse of his mother once. I learned about what happened from the newspapers. We never visited, we didn’t let neighbors into the house, we didn’t make friends. However, they were of no particular interest to anyone. The eldest, Lyudmila, got married early and left Irkutsk. Olga worked as a cook at the Angara restaurant and traded at the market. Igor, Oleg, Dima studied at a music school and helped with the housework. Vasily served in the army. And the youngest went to school. Ninel Sergeevna herself for a long time worked in a wine and vodka store, and later in the market. She sold milk, meat and herbs. In 1985, during Prohibition, she sold vodka through the window around the clock. No one remembers Ninel Sergeevna raising her voice at any of the children. But on the plane, when one of the sons began to beg: “Please don’t blow up the plane,” the mother covered his mouth and shouted: “Be quiet, you bastard! We must fly to any capitalist country, but not to a socialist one!” We didn’t notice that they approached us: “What are you looking at?” - the young man spat. - Go away from this place, we have already bought this plot from the executive committee. This, in fact, is where the story of house No. 24 on Detskaya Street ends. But really, for so many years, none of the Ovechkins visited their father’s house? - Why? Olga came recently and looked at the half-rotten shack,” the neighbor sighs. “I then asked her: “Olenka, when are you going to build? The boys will burn down the hut, and we, God forbid, will catch fire.” And she threw in my direction: “Let it all burn with a blue flame!” Who was waiting for them outside the cordon? Information about the “Seven Simeons” first appeared in 1984. Vasya read a fairy tale about seven boys in “Native Speech”. Later, the East Siberian studio produced a film of the same name, which won a prize at international film festival. Vasily, Dmitry and Oleg began their musical careers at the School of Arts in the wind instruments department. In 1983, Vasya came to the department’s teacher, Vladimir Romanenko, with the idea of ​​creating family jazz. This is how Dixieland "Seven Simeons" came into being. In April 1984, they made their debut on the stage of Gnesinka. That same year, the city gave the family two 3-room apartments. The younger ones grew up on government support. The group was gaining momentum. 1985 - festival in Riga "Jazz-85", then - World Festival of Youth and Students, participation in the "Wider Circle" program. It was then that the mother realized what a profitable product music was. They began to give currency concerts for foreigners in the Center international trade. In the fall of 1987 we went on tour to Japan. There was still not enough money. A solution was found. To leave their homeland, to go to a place where they pay “thousands” for striking the strings, where until recently they were well received, which means they will now be received with joy. “Romanenko himself often told us: “Guys, in Russia they don’t understand jazz, no one needs you here, you need to leave here, you will only be appreciated abroad,” Igor recalls. “It kept getting into our brains, and we began to believe and dream about other countries. When the money ran out, when they stopped inviting us to concerts, when they began to forget us, we were finally convinced of this... Irkutsk Regional School musical arts is located in the very center of the city. Everyone here knows Romanenko. He changed a lot after the trial. Then the teacher had a thick dark beard and luxuriant hair. Now he looks even younger. Clean-shaven face, neatly trimmed. “I won’t talk to you,” he immediately interrupted us. - And so they dragged so much through the courts, they wrote so much, and it’s all untrue. We have always been friends with this family, even now. The guys write me letters, come and talk. Everything has improved, but you are reopening old wounds again! At the trial, Romanenko refuted all of Igor’s testimony that he had repeatedly advised them to leave. He hasn’t communicated with the Ovechkins for about 10 years. “To be honest, none of them were very good musicians,” the head teacher of the school, Boris Kryukov, talked to us. - Some were lazy, others were not given it. For example, we took Seryozhka three times, and all to no avail. The guy didn’t want to, and couldn’t, study. Of course, he was greatly spoiled by the boarding school and bad company. There were two talents in this family - Igor and Mishka. One has perfect pitch, the other is very diligent. But Igor was unable to continue his studies due to drunkenness, and Misha was a great guy. He went to St. Petersburg and created his own group. He generally tries to communicate less with his family. Mikhail's fate turned out, perhaps, better than anyone else. He married the daughter of a famous Irkutsk poet. He went to St. Petersburg and created his own group. I have already gone on tour to Italy. True, the performances ended again in the spirit of the Ovechkins. “They got drunk there, or something, and did such things that they were urgently deported from the country,” Luda laughs. 24-year-old Mikhail may be drafted into the army. “I’ll never go there,” he says, “I’ll do anything, I’ll pay any money, but after that day I can’t even see a weapon, let alone hold it in my hands.” Ulyana turned 22, and today she works at the Irkutsk reception center. Recently, two 17-year-old girls escaped from her care. It’s not easy to live in Irkutsk with the surname “Ovechkin”. Many relatives replaced her. - I often think, what if they did emigrate? Who would need them there? - Kryukov reflects. - No, no one. Just in Soviet time It was necessary to show once what kind of families we have, what an exemplary country we have, so they went on tour for a year, the state paid them bonuses, gave them money. But it all ended quickly. No one even needed them in Moscow, what can we say about England?! During the last campaign, terrorists were gathered by the whole world. A turner of the regional consumer union, Yakovlev, made threads and plugs for explosive devices in exchange for a bottle of vodka. Former industrial training master Trushkov charged 30 rubles for turning metal glasses. Prusha obtained and illegally sold them weapons, from which he made 150 rubles. A mechanic at the Melnikovsky poultry farm and at the same time the sound engineer of the ensemble bought gunpowder for them and loaded guns, supposedly for hunting. At the same time, he knew very well that no one in the Ovechkin family hunted. The double bass, stuffed with weapons and an improvised explosive device, hit the plane solely due to the negligence of the inspection service. The plane could have been released without the slightest damage to the pride of the USSR, but it was landed near Vyborg, where the capture group was already waiting. The assault was carried out ineffectively. Flight attendant Tamara Zharkaya was killed, three passengers were shot in the shootout, and Igor and Sergei were wounded. When the Ovechkins set the plane on fire, there was only one fire truck on the airfield. She failed, and the signal to the paramilitary fire department of Vyborg came when the plane was already on fire. The remaining cars arrived at the charred remains. Excerpts from the testimony of Mikhail Ovechkin: “The brothers realized that they were surrounded and decided to shoot themselves. Dima shot himself under the chin first. Then Vasily and Oleg approached Sasha, stood around the explosive device, and Sasha set it on fire. When the explosion was heard, none of the guys was not injured, only Sasha's trousers caught fire, as well as the upholstery of the chair, and the window glass was broken. A fire started. Then Sasha took the sawn-off shotgun from Oleg and shot himself... When Oleg fell, his mother asked Vasya to shoot her... He shot mom in the temple. When mom fell, he told us to run away and shot himself." This tragedy is, first of all, ridiculous. In 1988, the Ovechkins did not have the slightest opportunity to escape abroad. And they walked over the corpses. Toward what they thought was a bright future. Now it’s impossible to believe, but the Ovechkins’ fear of the OVIR, which would refuse them, the fear of the consequences of refusal, was stronger than the fear of retribution for the armed hijacking of the plane, for the death of the hostages. “The authors of “Mama” did not understand anything about what happened,” the Ovechkins say unanimously, “there was no point in taking the history of our family as the basis for the script.” Some video traders define the film "Mom" as an action film, others call it a melodrama. “Buy “Mama,” advised a woman selling cassettes in a subway passage, “a wonderful family movie”... “The Iron Curtain” was opened two years after the bloody hijacking of the plane.

On March 8, the large Irkutsk Ovechkin family, consisting of a mother and 11 children, attempted to hijack a Tu-154 plane in order to escape from Soviet Union abroad. However, their idea failed: after the aircraft landed in the wrong place, it was stormed. At the same time, five newly minted terrorists died: mother, Ninel Ovechkina, and her four eldest sons. A show trial was held over the surviving children. We would like to highlight this topic and tell how the Ovechkin family hijacked the plane. COMMAND STRUCTURE

In that ill-fated year, the Ovechkin family consisted of a mother, Ninel Sergeevna, and 11 children aged from 9 to 32 years. There was another, the eldest daughter, Lyudmila, but by that time she had already married and lived separately from her relatives, and therefore did not participate in the hijacking of the plane. There was once a father in the family, but he died back in 1984 from severe beatings inflicted on him by his eldest sons. However, then there was no evidence, and if there was such an incident in the biography of the Ovechkins, then why did the sons beat own father- unclear.
From left to right: Olga, Tatyana, Dmitry, Ninel Sergeevna with Ulyana and Sergey, Alexander, Mikhail, Oleg, Vasily

The male Ovechkin family consisted of seven brothers, who early years studied music. Even in 1983, they turned to a teacher at the Irkutsk School of Arts for help to help them create a family jazz ensemble, the so-called jazz band. The teacher was not averse to it, and as a result, the jazz group “Seven Simeons” appeared.

Gradually, the newly formed group began to gain popularity. The brothers began to be invited to play at local events held in Irkutsk. They even performed in the city park during the holidays. But truly great success came to them in 1984, when they took part in the “Jazz-85” festival at the national level. After him, “Seven Simeons” began to be invited to film television programs and even made a documentary about them. In 1987, the Ovechkin family, consisting of mother and sons, was invited to tour to Japan. It was then that the head of the family, Ninel Ovechkina, having visited the other side of the Iron Curtain, came to the conclusion that they were very unlucky to be born and live in the Soviet Union. That's why the idea of ​​fleeing the USSR came up.

LONG PREPARATION

While touring Japan, everyone came to the conclusion that with such talent and success they could achieve real fame abroad. After returning home, the Ovechkin family, led by Ninelya Sergeevna, began to hatch an escape plan. Since in the USSR everyone would not be allowed abroad, the family decided to hijack a plane on domestic airlines and then fly it to another country.
The implementation of the plan was scheduled for March 8, 1988. That day, the entire Ovechkin family, except for the eldest daughter Lyudmila, who was not in the know, bought tickets for a Tu-154 plane flying Irkutsk - Kurgan - Leningrad. Friends and airport employees were told that the Ovechkins were going on tour and therefore were taking a lot of musical instruments with them. Naturally, they were not given a thorough search. As a result, the criminals managed to smuggle two sawn-off shotguns, one hundred rounds of ammunition and homemade explosives on board the aircraft. All this stuff was hidden in musical instruments. Moreover, by the time the plane was hijacked, the Ovechkin family had already managed to sell all the things from the house and buy new clothes in order to pass as one of our own abroad.

PLANE hijacking
Nine-year-old Sergei Ovechkin

Already at the very end of its journey, when the plane was approaching Leningrad, the Ovechkins, through a flight attendant, passed a note demanding to fly to London or any other capital of the country. Western Europe. Otherwise they threaten to blow up the plane. However, the crew of the aircraft decided to cheat and told the terrorists that the plane would not have enough fuel and would therefore need to be refueled. It was stated that the plane would be refueled in Finland, but the pilots who contacted ground services landed the plane at a military airfield near the Soviet-Finnish border.

TRAGEDY ON BOARD
Olga Ovechkina at trial

Having noticed Soviet soldiers at the airfield, the Ovechkins realized that they had decided to deceive them, and opened fire. One of the older brothers shot the flight attendant, after which they all tried to break down the door to the cockpit. Meanwhile, the assault began. Realizing that they had failed, Ninel Sergeevna demanded to be shot, after which the plane was blown up. One of the older brothers shot his mother, but the bomb explosion was targeted and the desired effect could not be achieved. But as a result, three passengers were killed and 36 more were injured. After this, the older brothers - Vasily, Oleg, Dmitry and Alexander - took turns shooting themselves with a sawn-off shotgun. The explosion started a fire, as a result of which the plane was completely burned out.

CONSEQUENCES

On September 8, 1988, the trial of the surviving Ovechkins was held. Older brother Igor and sister Olga received eight and six years in prison, respectively. The minor Ovechkins were initially sent to an orphanage. However, then their older sister Lyudmila took them under her wing. Olga, whose daughter was already born in prison, and Igor served only half of their sentences and were released.