The Belarusian fleet is in critical condition. Belarus has its own navy From Brest to Bykhov

The Baltic Sea closest to Belarus is located hundreds of kilometers from the borders of the republic. And yet, those Belarusians who believe that the republic has its own Navy are right. And that's why. For example, in the Russian Northern Fleet, Minsk patronizes the missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov from the operational squadron, the Grodno region takes care of the nuclear submarine Obninsk, and the hero city of Brest and the region cherish “their” small anti-submarine ship of the Kola Flotilla. There are also registered Belarusian warships in the Baltic. According to naval commanders, the assistance to the Russian Navy coming from the fraternal republic is very significant, both in goods and in money.

But Belarusians not only patronize the ships of the Russian Navy, they actually participate in the naval shipbuilding program. As we were informed at the General Staff of the Navy, a number of naval departments ordering equipment and weapons are working very productively with Belarusian enterprises. For obvious reasons, these factories and joint stock companies of Belarus were not named to us. However, it is quite possible to assume that the Belarusian production association Integral supplies microcircuits of medium and high degrees of integration for the latest Russian warships. By the way, this is one of the surviving radio-electronic industry enterprises in the CIS, which survived the difficult conditions of the first years of transition to the market. It is economically beneficial for the Republic to participate in the Russian ocean-going shipbuilding program.

At the end of this August, the largest-scale exercises in the Far East in the last 20 years ended. In addition to the Ministry of Defense, other security forces fought against terrorists, poachers, state border violators. One of the culminating events of the exercise was the launch of a cruise missile strike from a Tu-160 strategic bomber against an intruder ship in the Bering Sea. By the way, it was on this giant plane that Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov was in the co-pilot’s seat.

In the early 90s, entire foreign poaching fleets firmly established themselves in the strategically important and richest Far East. Even spawning rivers were blocked so tightly with nets that not only large red fish could not get there, but fry did not swim into Russian waters. The country's economy suffered colossal damage. Now the entire Russian military organization has stood in the way of foreign and, together with them, Russian predators. And this was confirmed in a conversation with a SOYUZ correspondent by the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Fleet Admiral Vladimir KUROEDOV.

The conversation with the commander-in-chief took place in two stages. He directly supervised the exercises and bore enormous responsibility for the maneuvers that unfolded over a vast territory. But he still found time to answer questions from a war correspondent for the SOYUZ newspaper. The first part of the conversation took place at the Ukrainka military airbase. According to the admiral, the exercises should help determine the tasks and place of the Navy in the fight against terrorism in a state of emergency. Only with such exercises can we find out why the most important state of emergency law for the state, adopted back in 2001, does not work. Therefore, the President of the Russian Federation ordered large-scale exercises of our entire military state organization to be held in all regions of Russia.

The second time I managed to talk with the admiral on the boat of the commander of the Pacific Fleet. The boat passed by warships. Most recently, they carried out combat training missions in the Indian Ocean. Admiral Kuroyedov spoke about the Russian shipbuilding naval program.

We need such a fleet, he said, so that we have the ability to protect and defend our interests in any zone of the World Ocean.

And then he seemed to ask himself a rather difficult question: how can such a fleet be built for Russia under the current conditions?

On this strategically important issue, the commander-in-chief relies on the opinions and conclusions of scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences and military research centers. According to him, it is necessary to build ships for the near sea zone, and only then start working on ships for the oceans.

Fortunately for us,” Vladimir Ivanovich explained the concept of the expensive shipbuilding program, “the ocean-going ships and submarines left to Russia from the former Navy of the Soviet Union allow our current fleet to solve all the necessary problems for another 15-20 years. There is enough resource. That’s why we are now conducting exercises in the Indian and Atlantic oceans and various seas. This potential is our support.

But with the ships of the near zone, which ensure the deployment of the main forces, the situation is very difficult. Therefore, the lead ships of the near sea zone have now been laid down, but this year the construction of an ocean-going combat ship will begin at one of the Russian shipyards. According to Russian naval doctrine, such ships will now be multi-functional. Russia abandoned the expensive program to create a fleet consisting of a series of identical ships - artillery, anti-submarine, missile. Now ocean-going ships will combine all these qualities.

At the same time, nuclear and diesel submarines will continue to be built for the submarine fleet. However, giant nuclear submarines with a displacement of up to 20 thousand tons will no longer be created. As Admiral Kuroyedov said, the maximum displacement of the submarines will be up to 12 thousand tons. Apparently, this figure is scientifically substantiated and verified as the most optimal. At the same time, the admiral added that he would really not like to lay down such a shipbuilding program that subsequent commanders-in-chief “will redo it and scold Kuroedov, saying that he didn’t finish looking at it, didn’t calculate everything.” After all, the fleet itself is not just a mass of ships with crews located in their bases. First of all, covering the state in strategic directions. For Belarus, these are primarily the Baltic regions and the northern seas. From there, cargo is delivered to the republic by sea. And these areas are precisely designed to support and protect the Baltic and Northern fleets. So far, Russian naval power is enough for this, but what will happen in a couple of decades? Admiral Kuroyedov refused to create new aircraft carriers.

Today and for the next five to seven years, I don’t see any tasks for aircraft carriers,” he said frankly. - For the safety of carrier-based aviation, we have one aircraft carrier. He will live for many more decades. We will not lose schools.

It is likely that the admiral did not mention another important circumstance: in the current economic conditions, the construction of aircraft carriers is very expensive. Investing huge amounts of money in them will hinder the development of other much-needed naval defense programs. And, according to experts, Admiral Kuroyedov has currently chosen the most optimal option for the development of the Navy.

Two American submarines secretly observed the exercises at sea from under the water. One was located at Cape Povorotny near Nakhodka, and the other off the coast of Kamchatka. And these submarines were detected in a timely manner by the latest Russian system, which was created over the past two years. Now from Primorye to Anadyr, the entire underwater, surface and air situation for 400 kilometers is visible at the naval command post. Not a single plane or ship will approach our borders undetected. This system was created primarily by the Ministry of Defense with the direct participation of the Ministry of Transport and the State Fisheries Committee. It allows you to quickly manage all law enforcement agencies in a huge region. At the Pacific Fleet command post, those on duty closely monitored the evolution of the American submarine off the coast of Kamchatka. In a few years, this system of issuing the most current information to the military and civilian leadership of Russia will cover the entire country.

And Admiral Kuroyedov spoke about one more new system. So far it only covers the Primorsky and Khabarovsk territories. But in the future it will also spread to the entire country. It was created by the same three ministries and also Roshydromet. It provides hydrometeorological support to the fleet.

The creation of this system, noted Admiral Kuroyedov, is already improving the effectiveness of combat forces by almost 50 percent. By 2005-2006 it will spread to all Russian fleets.

In addition, the fleet has already created satellite video communications. From the Navy command post in Moscow, you can communicate in video mode with any warship or aircraft anywhere in the World Ocean. In a normal conversation, consult with commanders, indicate the most likely course of action in a specific situation. Satellites of any ministries can be involved in it. It is simply impossible to intercept such information, according to experts.

It is worth adding that it is likely that a number of Belarusian enterprises participated in the creation of the latest Russian defense systems. It is possible that Belarusians will already take direct part in the next exercises of the Russian military organization in the Baltic. Aviation and air defense of the republic will reliably cover the Baltic Fleet and its bases.

What happened to Jen Psaki?! Best Quotes

At the State Department's latest daily news conferences, department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, who quickly gained internet fame for her comments and statements, was replaced by Marie Harf. But, apparently, Psaki will be quoted for a long time.

Jen Psaki gained fame almost immediately after the crisis in Ukraine began, and a “stupidity and incompetence rating scale” was even named after her.

The first episode that brought worldwide fame was Psaki’s clumsy comment after Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s leaked conversation with Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt about forming a government in the country. Then Nuland spoke obscenely about the European Union.

But there are much more comments from a US foreign policy representative that deserve attention. And most of them are like jokes.

Jen Psaki's best quotes

ABOUT VICTORIA NULAND'S PAST

Victoria Nuland
“You all know Victoria well and are probably aware that when she was 23 years old, she lived on board a Russian ship for 8 months and may have learned certain vocabulary there.”

Psaki, answering a clarifying question, suggested that on board this fishing vessel Nuland could have learned Russian profanity.

Journalists noted that the Deputy Secretary of State swore in English, without using expressions in Russian.

“Okay, I was joking,” Psaki said, and she herself laughed at her “joke.” But for some reason the media did not share her joy.

ABOUT THE SHORE OF BELARUS
"If Belarus invades Ukraine, the US 6th Fleet will be immediately transferred to the shores of Belarus."

And it doesn’t matter that Belarus does not have access to the sea shores.

Map of Belarus

ABOUT GAS SUPPLY FROM EUROPE TO RUSSIA

Structure of Gazprom natural gas supplies

"We want Ukraine to have access to additional volumes of gas if they are needed. As you all know, natural gas is transported via a gas pipeline from Western Europe through Ukraine to Russia."

True, Jen Psaki quickly corrected her mistake.

But the statement of the official representative of the State Department quickly spread across the Internet.

ABOUT "ELECTION CARUSELS"

"We do not recognize the results of the referendum that took place in Donetsk and Lugansk. There were reports of election carousels, pre-filled ballots, children voting and voting for absentees."

When asked by Associated Press correspondent Matthew Lee what an “election carousel” is, Psaki admitted that she was just reading the text and did not know what it meant. But she promised to check with her colleagues.

The journalist clarified that we are not talking about children riding on a carousel, she replied: “I think not, they have their own technology there.”

ABOUT UKRAINE'S DEBT FOR GAS

When asked about Russia’s demands to pay for gas supplied to Ukraine, and that payment for goods supplied is the basis of normal commodity-money relations, Jen expressed her point of view:

"I understand what they are saying. But if you consider the agreements that have been made between countries in the past and what is happening now, it is obvious that this is no longer just a business dispute."

She promised to further look into the issue when she returned to the office.

ABOUT US REPRESENTATIVES' VISITS TO UKRAINE

Vice President Joe Biden

Notable was the reaction of a State Department official to the question that the Ukrainian authorities were sending troops to Eastern Ukraine immediately after the visit of senior US representatives to Kyiv:

"I think you are simply repeating the words of Foreign Minister Lavrov."

But when asked to give an answer, Psaki suggested moving on to the next question.

ABOUT BABAY'S PHOTOS

Babai

Another gem was related to the discussion of the State Department’s evidence regarding the presence of Russian military personnel in eastern Ukraine. As evidence, Psaki cited photographs of a militiaman from Slavyansk nicknamed Babai:

“These photographs went around all the world’s media. They were on Twitter, and they are in the public domain. In the photographs we see that these people, judging by their external signs, are clearly related to Russia.”

Journalists were left perplexed and tried to develop the topic by asking Psaki whether all US government intelligence now depends on photographs on the Internet. But her answer did not clarify the situation:

"These pictures are from open sources. Draw your own conclusions."

Are you tired of it? - http://www.segodnia.ru/content/140638

It looks like citizens in many countries around the world who are interested in international politics will now be deprived of Jen Psaki's idiotic pearls. Apparently, even the Americans finally realized that it was unthinkable to listen to these “tales from the fool” anymore.

In any case, it was on Thursday that persistent rumors appeared that there was a replacement in the US State Department team. And that Ms. Psaki, who does not know what an election “carousel” is, will be replaced by her deputy, Marie Harf.

It is difficult to say whether the new press secretary of the US State Department will send the American fleet to the “shores” of Belarus, but everyone has already noticed that the massive pearl beads have been inherited by Harf. Apparently this is their dress code.

It is likely that these rumors will remain just rumors. The fact is that Psaki’s deputy more than once replaced her at briefings when her boss went on a voyage abroad. However, what journalist would refuse to cover such a fertile topic? And once again remember about Psaki’s speeches.

How, for example, can we forget that immediately after the referendums in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, Lady Jen literally said the following: “There were reports of election carousels, pre-filled ballots, children voting and voting for absentees.” But when asked by Associated Press correspondent Matthew Lee about what an “election carousel” is, she was unable to answer. B traditionally promised to clarify with her colleagues. When the journalist asked if we were talking about children riding on the carousel, she replied: “I think not, they have their own technology there.”

As stated by Psaki - the princess of the circus

A selection of Jane Psaki's funniest speeches.

Incompetence, or rather, blatant incompetence, is fashionable these days. Writers who plagiarize, surveyors who don't know a level from a theodolite, ophthalmologists who can't measure the distance between pupils, secretaries of defense who studied to be philologists, ambassadors sent by the government to a country they can't find on a map, future US presidents who don't know... how many states there are in their country - all these are the most common examples from modern times.

Recently, a supernova lit up in the firmament of career unknowns. In its light, the stars named G. Bush Jr. and B. H. Obama quickly dimmed.

Yes, the two named know and understand little, despite diplomas from prestigious universities and considerable managerial and political experience, but both are prone to fantasies (often wild), with which they have repeatedly surprised humanity and about which press secretaries then had to make statements: they say, Journalists misinterpreted the words of the head of state.

Jennifer Psaki, our supernova, doesn't need such excuses. She herself was Obama's press secretary, and now represents the State Department - and is aiming to become the White House press secretary. Her main difference from Bush Jr. and Barack Obama is that while the former, right from the psychiatrist’s couch, can assure all of humanity that God commanded him to attack Iraq, the latter announces to congressmen that the car is an American invention, then Jen is not capable of saying anything exciting. . She does not have what Clifford Simak called the power of imagination. And so she can simply flaunt (even, we would say, be proud) of her own ignorance of everything.

And there really is something to be proud of. “I know that I know nothing,” is Jen Psaki’s motto, which she borrowed from her comrade Socrates. She should drink more poison, but let's take pity on the young and beautiful woman. And, in the end, J. Orwell’s prediction regarding the United States must come true. “Ignorance is strength,” eh?

Jennifer Psaki (Jennifer Psaki, born 1978) has been involved in politics from a young age - from the age of 23. In 2004, at 26 years old, she was already deputy press secretary for John Kerry's election campaign. It would seem that there is where both experience and competence can come from. But Leo Tolstoy, who, according to Bunin’s calculations, read 14,000 books and dealt with tyrant kings, believed for a reason that the worst people aspire to power. To this we can add that the higher you rise to power, the more stupidity you will see. Today's United States is a brilliant example of this.

Psaki is the public face of the State Department, a figure who personifies the entire American foreign policy and reports on it at frequent briefings to journalists from the world's leading media.

What is Psaki reporting to the world? Why did it come to the point that this lady in Russia was nicknamed “the circus princess”, and Channel One talked about the transfer of the US 6th Fleet “to the shores of Belarus” (sic), since Lukashenko, allegedly according to Psaki, is about to invade the independent Ukraine?

“On the Internet there is already a series of jokes: “As Psaki said.” Such as: “If Belarus invades Ukraine, the US Sixth Fleet will be immediately transferred to the shores of Belarus.” The fact that Belarus has no coasts does not bother the State Department. As Psaki stated..."

Recently, speaking about referendums in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, Jen Psaki explained to assembled journalists: “The voting methodology is highly suspect, there are reports of election carousels, pre-filled ballots.” She also talked about “children’s voting” and “voting for those who are absent.” Associated Press correspondent Matthew Lee asked, "Forgive my ignorance, but what is an election carousel?" He received the answer: “I must admit that I am just reading this text.”

“This text” is the piece of paper from which Psaki spoke. Presumably, a scribble written by some nameless speechwriter, who are hired in batches by the American administration. “Let others write!” - this slogan, long ago invented by literary blacks, perfectly reflects not just the complete incompetence, but also the inability to think of American politicians.

“I think not, Matt,” the State Department star replied with a smile.

They also asked at the briefing about the market economy in which Russia and Ukraine participate. As you know, the first sells the second gas, but the second does not pay for it. This is an abnormal picture for a market economy. Or does Psaki believe that Russia has no right to demand money for its gas?

“The Russians say that they want to get money for the gas that they have already supplied to Ukraine,” said the aforementioned M. Lee. “You agree that this is the basis of normal commodity-money relations?”

Having tried to avoid a direct answer, but having failed in that fiasco, Psaki said: “Matt, I’ll be happy to look into this issue when I get back to my office.”

But here is a much more interesting statement from Psaki, which was quoted by Channel One:

“We want Ukraine to have additional access to gas volumes if they are needed. As you all know, natural gas is transported via a gas pipeline from Western Europe through Ukraine to Russia..."

As we can see, one of the mottos invented by the brilliant seer Orwell for a gloomy totalitarian future is being successfully implemented by Psaki in 2014. “Ignorance is strength”!

It's time to ask the question: why are these monstrously incompetent individuals running politics in the United States and voicing it without hesitation?

But the fact is that a career is contraindicated for an intelligent person. This is not an assumption, not a hypothesis. This has long been proven by scientists. The phrase “If you are so smart, then why are you so poor?” invented precisely to ridicule the clever people left behind.

Half a century ago, psychologist Edwin E. Ghiselli empirically proved that the most significant results in management are achieved not by people with the highest level of intellectual development, but by those with average intellectual abilities.

Other, more recent studies, usually associated with the so-called human capital theory, have established that wealth does not go hand in hand with intelligence. It turned out that a significant influence on the amount of personal income is primarily exerted by the family-economic background (that is, connections, kinship and family status), as well as the length of study associated with the mentioned “background” (without money to Harvard or the oldest College of William and Mary you won’t bother, and without a degree from a prestigious university they’re unlikely to be allowed into the White House). As for intellectual abilities themselves, these, according to researchers, had the least impact on the amount of individual income.

All this is not a secret behind seven seals; modern managers and economists have been teaching this for a long time. In Russian university textbooks on this topic, you can read, for example, V. I. Vidyapin and co-authors (“Economic Theory”, M.: INFRA-M, 2000) or V. P. Pugachev (“Personnel Management of an Organization”, M .: Aspect-Press, 1999).

So don't be surprised by what Psaki says. Both “background” and “average intellectual abilities” have an impact.

The chief engineer of the port, Grigory Artemchik, told us about the work of the Bobruisk port and the Belarusian shipping company. According to him, the management of the Belarusian river fleet is carried out by the Republican Unitary Enterprise "Belarusian River Shipping Company" with its center in Mozyr. In addition to the port in Bobruisk, it includes seven more river ports: Gomel, Mozyr, Rechitsa, Brest, Pinsk, Mikashevichi and Mogilev. Grigory Artemchik noted that it is the shipping company that coordinates the activities of all ports, depending on what tasks the shipping company faces, uses “this or that watercraft, if it is free, and sends it to any point in Belarus where it can be delivered.”

Thus, the ships of the Bobruisk port, although they work mainly on the Berezina, but in 2008-2010 they worked in the port of Gomel and also reached Turov. Today, one of the Bobruisk dredgers (a vessel designed for dredging and extraction of non-metallic construction materials) operates in the river port of Mogilev.

The main activity of the port of Bobruisk today is the transportation of construction mineral cargo. Basically, this is sand, which is mined from the bottom of the Berezina to ensure navigation on it in the summer. “The dredger loads sand onto non-self-propelled barges, motor ships tow the barges to the port, and then we unload construction sand using portal cranes,” noted the port’s chief engineer.

“To go, for example, to Mikashevichi for crushed stone is very far. You have to go to the Dnieper, go through Ukraine to Pripyat to Mikashevichi - this is a very large circle over a distance of 830 km (while the distance from Mikashevich to Bobruisk by rail is only 300 km Therefore, there is no such transportation at the moment.Nevertheless, the chief engineer notes, river and railway transport complement each other.

“There are places where the railway does not reach, and we can transport crushed stone and any other cargo there. The shipping company was a little forgotten as a form of transport, but now it is slowly beginning to revive. The Belarusian river shipping company is starting to work closely with Ukraine: we transport granulated slag , we carry out timber transportation, transportation of petroleum products. “This is largely done by the river port of Mozyr and adjacent ports,” he says.

“Last year, our ship participated in the transportation of oversized cargo for the Novolukoml and Berezovskaya State District Power Plants. Apparently, this year there will be some deliveries as well. We plan to take part in these transportations along the Berezina River,” said Grigory Artemchik. In the last three years, Bobruisk ships also transported timber for the Svetlogorsk pulp and cardboard mill from the Berezino pier, where timber was harvested.

The port of Bobruisk currently employs 67 people. In operation there are three towing ships, two dredgers, five non-self-propelled barges with a lifting capacity of 1 thousand tons and two non-self-propelled barges with a lifting capacity of 350 tons, two floating reloaders, which are used when working where there are no portal cranes (in Svetlogorsk, Parichi). In total, in 2012 the Bobruisk port had 300 thousand tons of transportation, this year 350-400 thousand tons are expected.

“We work as soon as the ice melts and before freeze-up. Naturally, in the spring, when the waters are high, we can make maximum use of the carrying capacity of our barges. After working in May and June in Bobruisk and accumulating sand for construction organizations in Bobruisk, we will go to work in Svetlogorsk. In July-September, of course, the loading of ships decreases due to the lack of depth. But since we are constantly deepening the bottom, we try to maintain the volume of transportation. We use the winter period to repair the fleet, both in the port itself and at the Rechitsa and Gomel shipbuilding yards -ship repair yards, which were recently joined to the shipping company,” he noted.

In addition, according to Grigory Artemchik, the port is now closely involved in the delivery of construction sand for the needs of individuals. “People come, order, and we load right on the spot without involving third parties. And, thanks to this, we receive additional income,” said the chief engineer.

He also noted that Belarus fully provides itself with personnel for the Belarusian shipping company, as well as ships. Thus, the command staff of the fleet is trained by the Svetlogorsk State Industrial College. People emerge from it as second mates to the captain or commander of the dredger. Gomel State Vocational School of River Fleet No. 30 trains motor mechanics. In addition, senior command personnel are trained there. Engineering and technical personnel are trained by the Belarusian State University of Transport and the Department of Shipbuilding and Hydraulics at BNTU. “The training of all personnel in Belarus has been streamlined,” emphasized Grigory Artemchik

The production of passenger ships is currently carried out by the Pinsk Shipyard. Three passenger ships of his production have recently been operating in Mogilev and Vitebsk. “Previously, the production of thousand-ton barges was carried out by the Rechitsa shipbuilding plant. Tugboats were produced by the Pinsk and Gomel shipbuilding plants, 350-ton barges by the Petrikovsky shipbuilding plant. And there was a shipbuilding plant in Bobruisk, but in 1986 it was combined with the port under the Soviet Union,” - said the chief engineer.

Grigory Artemchik also noted that during the ten years of his work at the port there were no significant incidents. According to him, all problems are being resolved as usual.

At the same time, Alexander Livanovich, a second-generation river captain, on the ship under whose control Telegraph correspondents set sail, said that anything could happen. So, according to him, it had happened many times before that ships were stranded and had their bottoms broken on rocks. In such cases, barges often had to be unloaded, towed, and repaired.

“This used to be the case. Now they are trying to transport everything across high water. When the water starts to fall more, they will be transferred to Svetlogorsk. It won’t be profitable here: the fuel is burned, and there is little cargo to transport. There are such places that there are a lot of stones If you get a little overloaded, that’s the only way you’ll get through,” the captain noted.

The only woman in the Bobruisk port, the cook on the ship that sheltered us, Anna Maksimova, also had to stand aground, and she treated Telegraph journalists to her dishes. Although, according to her, the saying “it’s unfortunate for a woman on a ship” is not about her. “Once four barges with timber were pulled from Berezino. So we sat aground for six days. It seemed like the shore was close, but there was no way to get out. Having been aground, we had to bake bread ourselves and do everything. It was such that we had no water. They got water three kilometers away. Everything was done,” she said.

According to Nikolaevna, this is her eighth navigation, but her first on this ship. The ship she sailed on earlier has been undergoing repairs in Rechitsa since this year. Nevertheless, she says, the team here is “young and good.” “Everyone especially loves potatoes. Even if you spread them on bread, they will eat potatoes. I bake pies and buns. The river asks for food, so we don’t take the kettle off the stove,” says the cook.

On a tugboat, our route lay from the river port of Bobruisk to Lukova Gora on the very outskirts of the city, where a dredger with a barge filled with river sand was already waiting for us. Despite the fact that both the port and Onion Mountain are located in Bobruisk, it took about 2.5 hours to walk against the current along the numerous bends of the Berezina. At Onion Mountain, the ship's crew deftly replaced the empty barge with one filled with sand, and the ship set off on its return journey. The journey back was not so long and took only 1.5 hours - the current helped. Having delivered the barge to the port, the ship set off again, albeit without journalists.

Maxim Gatsak. Photo by Nadezhda Gatsak

A few years ago, people often sent me the cover of the book “The Maritime Glory of Belarus” with the message that, they say, what the “holy” myth-makers have come to is that they have already invented “sea Belarusians.” After the phrase of the State Department press secretary Jen Psaki about the “transfer of the US 6th Fleet to the shores of Belarus,” the topic of Belarusian naval glory became the subject of jokes. Absolutely not funny for the author of these lines.

In fact, Belarusian sailors are not a “holy” myth or a figment of the imagination of a narrow-minded American, but the real pride of Belarus. So that no one has any doubts about this, the book “Naval Commanders of White Rus'”, compiled by a Belarusian historian, was recently published in the series “Glorious Names of White Rus'” Nikolai Malishevsky. It contains biographies of 90 sailors, admirals and “naval” generals, whose destinies are closely connected with the Belarusian land.

It is symbolic that the presentation of this book took place on December 9 in Sevastopol, where in the center of the city there is a monument to the legendary captain of the brig "Mercury" Alexander Ivanovich Kazarsky, born in the town of Dubrovno, Orsha district, Belarusian province. I have already written about his feat for.

The Russian Empire gave the opportunity to prove themselves at sea to a large number of Belarusians, in particular to representatives of the Mogilev noble family of the Burachkovs, in which twelve people in four generations served in the Russian fleet. Yes, Rear Admiral Evgeniy Stepanovich Burachek became famous for becoming the first chief of the Vladivostok military post, and his younger brother, Pavel Stepanovich Burachek, was the head of the Kronstadt Diving School.

A famous hydrograph-geodesist came from Belarus Andrey Ippolitovich Vilkitsky. He led the first Arctic hydrographic expedition in Russia and conducted a number of studies on Novaya Zemlya. His son, Boris Andreevich, with the rank of midshipman on the ships of the Pacific squadron, he fought in the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905. He participated as a submarine commander in the defense of Port Arthur and was awarded many military awards. In 1914-1915 B.A. Vilkitsky sailed through the Northern Sea Route from Vladivostok to Arkhangelsk, discovering new islands. In the fall of 1915, the ships arrived in Arkhangelsk, for the first time in the history of Arctic navigation, passing the Northern Sea Route from the Bering Sea to the White Sea. In the welcome address given to Boris Andreevich, he was called “Russian Columbus.”

Among the Belarusians there was also a sailor who was awarded the highest naval rank of Russia, “full admiral” - Luka Fedorovich Bogdanovich. For his participation in the Battle of Navarino against the Turkish-Egyptian fleet, he was awarded four orders from different countries - Russia, Great Britain, France and Greece. During the battle, Luka Fedorovich commanded the famous battleship "Alexander Nevsky", which captured an enemy frigate.

The civil war also did not happen without Belarusian sailors. A Minsk resident fought for the White Cause Yuliy Yulievich Rybaltovsky. Among many officers of the Baltic Fleet, he ended up in the white troops of the Northern Front, where he was appointed commander of a naval armored train, which he personally named in honor of the Supreme Ruler of Russia - “Admiral Kolchak”.

He showed himself on the side of the Reds during the Civil War Romuald Adamovich Muklevich, a native of the town of Suprasl, Grodno province. He commanded detachments of Red Guards, revolutionary sailors and soldiers who besieged the cadets at the Vladimir School on the Petrograd Side. After the establishment of Soviet power, R.A. Muklevich became the head of the Red Army Naval Forces, participated in the development of plans for the development of the Navy, the publication of the first Battle Manual of the Red Army Navy and the Naval Regulations. In 1938, he ended his earthly journey at the Kommunarka execution range, being recognized as an “enemy of the people.” Subsequently rehabilitated.

Vice Admiral is rightfully considered a real legend of the Soviet fleet Valentin Petrovich Drozd, born in the city of Buda-Koshelevo, Mogilev province. During 15 years of officer service, he took part in three wars - the Spanish Civil, the Soviet-Finnish and the Great Patriotic War, rose from the commander of a ship's combat unit to a fleet commander, and finished his service with the rank of vice admiral. The destroyer Vice Admiral Drozd was named in honor of Valentin Petrovich.

During the existence of the USSR Navy, 20 Belarusian sailors were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The first Hero of the Soviet Union in naval aviation was a Belarusian - captain A.K. Antonenko. During 34 days of fighting, he shot down eleven enemy aircraft.

Despite the absence of sea coasts in the BSSR, a third of the Soviet Navy were Belarusians. It was not for nothing that there was a saying in the navy that, to varying degrees of decency, read:

Having left the homeland of the swamps,

Disregarding hereditary ties,

The crowd rushed into the fleet

Desperate Belarusians!

The author of these lines is very critical of the Soviet period of our history, but one cannot help but admit that the huge Soviet power from Brest to Vladivostok provided the opportunity for simple village boys from peasant and working families to make a brilliant military career.

Today, about 200 thousand people live in Belarus who served in units of the USSR Navy. To this day, Belarusian admirals serve in the Russian fleet - Alexander Viktorovich Vitko, Yuri Ivanovich Orekhovsky etc. It should be noted that Belarusians made a significant contribution to the all-Russian victory - the return of Crimea to Russia. So, a native of Rogachev, admiral Yuri Ivanovich Ilyin, who in February 2014 held the post of Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on March 11, 2014, in connection with the events in Crimea, with a special appeal called on Ukrainian military personnel and officers not to shoot at “our Russian brothers” and made a statement about the need to solve the problems of residents of Crimea, Donetsk, Kharkov, Lugansk, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, Nikolaev, Kherson at the negotiating table. In light of the then statements of the hotheads who took power in Kyiv that troops should be sent to Crimea, the admiral’s call under no circumstances to open lethal fire was extremely important.

Unfortunately, today in Belarus it is customary to hush up or blur the facts that tell us one obvious fact: with Russia, Belarusians are following the path of progress, becoming first-class military men, sailors, cosmonauts, engineers, doctors (by the way, the West views Belarusians exclusively as a labor resource for filling the shortage of unskilled labor). To see this, be sure to read the book “Naval Commanders of White Rus'”.

Kirill Averyanov-Minsky