The Hot Summer Of Mariupol. Prologue + Chapter 1.

There are different types of books. Most entertain, some teach, make you think. Some lull you to sleep, others keep you on your toes, some even make you laugh, or, conversely, are able to squeeze out a tear. The one you're holding in your hands right now isn't about laughter or toning down. The book of a professional intelligence officer tells about death. About the murder of the Motherland. It happens that you can take the life of an entire country. And it will die hard and painfully, which, however, does not prevent some citizens from taking the agony for movement, and the death rattles – for the victorious "gasps".

When Ukraine was being killed, the counterintelligence officer Prozorov suddenly turned out to be a defender of the Motherland in the ranks of murderers. And he made a conscious choice – he went over to the side of the Truth. Despite the years that have passed, what he wrote in the midst of the events of that terrible summer of 2014 has not lost its relevance. Ukraine continues to agonize, and its murderers are still reaping a bloody harvest.

The shocking truth of the whole underside of the "work" of the Ukrainian special services, their place and role in the coup d'etat and the subsequent civil war - this is the main and unconditional value of the book "The Hot Summer of Mariupol". Presented in a prosaic format, real events allow the reader to fully immerse themselves in the atmosphere and realities of those days. Read it, remember it, and don't say later that "we didn't know"... 

Chairman of the Board of the Writers ' Union

Luhansk People's Republic

Gleb Bobrov

Dedicated to all my family and friends who have supported me in difficult times.

All characters are fictional, all coincidences are random. Remember that this is a work of art.

For those who recognize themselves in the characters with the yellow and blue stripe on the uniform, I want to say – be afraid. For retribution will come.

Good luck and patience to everyone else!

PROLOGUE

The Volkswagen Amarok premium pickup truck of the commander of sector "M" of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO)[1] , General Rudnitsky, stopped near an infantry fighting vehicle (BMP), which was standing with a missing track on the left side. On the armor, a fighter was smoking melancholically. His uniform was so dirty that it was impossible to see the camouflage spots on it. The headset was tilted to the back of his head, revealing a strip of white forehead. Or rather, it was not white – just cleaner than a black face covered in soot and dirt...

- Fighter, where are the bosses? - Andrey, who was sitting next to the commander, shouted to him through the open window.

- Go straight along the forest strip. When you reach the captain, turn left. After 200 meters and you will see them, - the fighter calmly replied, not getting up and not even taking the cigarette out of his mouth.

- Which captain? - Andrey began to get annoyed.

- You'll see. Don't worry, you won't miss him, - the fighter spat out his cigarette butt and climbed inside the BMP.

- Do you understand anything? - Rudnitsky asked in his usual deep voice.

- No, - Andrey shook his head. - Let's go straight ahead for now.

He noted that Rudnitsky, who was intolerant of violations of the charter, did not even attempt to rebuke the soldier for inappropriate behavior. "This is not good," thought Andrey, and looked around. The escort Cougar[2] was driving a little behind them in the dust. At that moment, their Amarok braked sharply, and Andrey bumped his helmet into the headrest of the front seat.

- Look, Comrade General, - the driver muttered in a hoarse voice...

Ahead, at the junction of two lines of trees, a part of a man's body hung from a power line. The body had no legs. Apparently, the explosion tore the man in two parts and threw the upper one on the wires.

- Let's move forward slowly, - Rudnitsky ordered the driver in a whisper for some reason.

Slowly the car crawled along the dirt road.

- Holy shit! So much for the captain, - Andrey blurted out. There were remnants of a burnt uniform on the body. Moreover, the right side with the shoulder was perfectly preserved, and the shoulder strap with four stars was clearly visible on the shoulder...

- Shit! Some signpost that is, - Rudnitsky swore. – Why did you stop? Go to the left, like that sucker said!

The cars of their small caravan turned left and moved along the next forest strip in the direction of the location of the group of Ukrainian troops that came out of the Izvarinsky pocket.

The power line wires sagged under the weight of the body and brushed the tops of trees, where the bright green was already replaced by faded foliage – in the Azov Sea region, the sun kills vegetation quickly. But it was killed even faster by people who left traces of their activities in the form of craters, trees torn up by explosions, trunks split by fragments and fields plowed by tracks of tanks and BMPs.

It was August 2014...

Chapter 1

After returning from the Donbass, the entire group was given a week off. Well, not immediately, of course. At first, they wrote reports and memos, and high-ranking bosses even assured that their experience would not be wasted, that new operational groups would be trained on the basis of their experience. And so on.

Andrey, among other things, wrote a report on the problem of looting among the National Guard servicemen. The report was carefully read and it was promised to raise the issue at the top.

Andrey wasn't deluded. Vadim Trofimov, who had spent his entire service in the counterintelligence department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and had very wide connections, hinted that the report went to the safe of one of the leaders. Probably forever. At the end of the year, when they make a reconciliation of the "secrets"[3], they will destroy it according to the act and the matter will be over. And in general, “Andrey Ivanovich, don't worry, we are advancing there, liberating cities, and the population, by the way, is happy to welcome us”. And if they’re not happy, then they’re just "separatists" and Russian agents. So in a month or two we'll clean up everything there, and “dobrobats”[4] won't be needed anymore. They'll be herded back to the barracks, and then the drill and discipline will do the trick. No problems.

Andrey didn't worry. So he went to Nikolaev. To his hometown. Fortunately, on the instructions of Turchynov, when the latter was still acting President of Ukraine, a double salary was paid for each day in the ATO. Of course, the money was not paid to them immediately upon their return. Financiers are the same everywhere: “Please, collect certificates confirming that you went there, and provide copies of travel documents, and then this, and then that” ... But they promised to pay everything in a couple of weeks. So, it was possible to take a vacation without thinking about the financial side of things.

The center also, by the way, strongly recommended him to have a rest. Sergei, the Russian intelligence officer who directly kept in touch with Andrey, also had advised to take a break. It was based on personal experience, which, admittedly, Russian intelligence officers had accumulated quite a lot...

In Nikolaev, he called Svetlana, his ex-wife. He asked for a meeting with his daughter, with whom he was going to go to the sea for a few days.

- Shevchenko, you were just an ignoramus in everyday matters, and you still are, - Svetlana, a certified specialist in Russian language and literature, expressed herself culturally and beautifully. – Do you have any idea what it means to take a 7-year-old girl to the sea, even for a few days? Toys alone will be a separate suitcase! I'm not talking about medicines and clothes. And how are you going to feed her, wash her, and dress her? Thought about it?

- Well ... yes. - Andrey scratched his head. - But there's a way out. Let's go together. And you'll have a rest, and Lena and I will.

- Shevchenko, you haven't forgotten that we're divorced? What makes you want to go back to your old ways?"

- You won't believe it but I missed you. I missed Lena, and well... you too, - admitted Andrey. - And it's been such a...- he groped for the right word, - not an easy month. Saturated! I feel like it's been six months since I left.

- Saturated... - a shadow crossed Svetlana's face. When they met, she took Andrey's hand:

- Andrey, tell me, what happened to you? How could you go and participate in the anti-terrorist operation, and even as a volunteer? You've always hated these Westerners, hated the Americans! Remember how you told me that the Anglo-Saxons are our greatest enemies! And now you're on their side… What's the matter? Don't tell me you were just beckoned with a title and a position.

Andrey paused. Then he took a deep breath and looked into her eyes.

- Svetlana... I can't tell you everything. Sorry. Believe me, I haven't changed. But there is an obligation, a duty that I have taken on myself. It must be completed.

- Well, well... - the ex-wife said skeptically.

They were silent for a while. They just sat together on the bench, their shoulders pressed together. Just like before.

- And you know, – Svetlana broke the silence – there is also a positive moment in the fact that you went to war. I was recently met by my former Ukrainian teacher from high school. We started talking, and then she reprimands me: what is it, they say, Svetlana, you have such unpatriotic comments in social media, you post St. George's ribbons? Don't you like Ukraine? I said to her in response: "You have two sons, don't you, Natalya Alexandrovna? One of them was in my class. Did they go to war? Were thay mobilized?". Her eyes darted, and she threw up her hands: "Oh, where would he go? He’s got kids!”. That's when I told her: "My daughter also has only one father. And he is now in the ATO, defending Ukraine. So, it's not up to you to tell me about patriotism."

Andrey chuckled, but then became serious.

- Listen, Svetlana. You stop pushing pro-Russian topics in social media. I know what I'm saying. Soon they will start putting people in jail for likes in social networks.

- Oh, come on, - she said incredulously.

- Yes? And what about burning people alive in Odessa? Believe me, everything will soon be much tougher, and dissent will be burned out with a red-hot iron.

She leaned closer and whispered in his ear.

- If Putin doesn't come sooner!

- If he does, it'll be fine, - he agreed, inhaling the scent of her hair.

She pulled back a little.

- No, I still don't understand you, Shevchenko, how did you manage to get into this mess again? After all, when the Russians come, you will all be shot.

- Well, I'll think of something, - Andrey smiled.

And they went to the sea. The three of them together.

In Kiev, Andrey was waiting for some news. Firstly, an order came to award him the rank of lieutenant colonel. Secondly, Sergey Taran kept his word and pushed the request for the awarding of the group members through to the headquarters of the Anti-Terrorist Center (ATC). And Andrey was awarded the cross of the SBU "For Valor". At the presentation of the award, Andrey laughed inwardly – for all his past achievements, for real arrests of spies, he received only paper certificates and commendations. Even at that time, his wife constantly repeated that "the house is already full of this waste paper and there is no use from it, only to glue it on the walls in the toilet"... And here he immediately got a Cross. However, as he found out a little later, Taran did not deprive himself either – he received a reward pistol from the hands of the SBU chairman.

Trofimov, who had also received the Cross, laughed.

- Well, Sergei, well-done! If anything happens, we can sell our blings to get some booze but he can go out on the big road and rob someone!

A week later, Andrei was summoned by the head of the Counterintelligence Department (DKR) Valery Kondratyuk. The conversation was short: the SBU operational group was part of the M sector, which was responsible for the Azov direction in the ATO and was stationed in Mariupol. Its head was a representative of the DKR, not of the ATC. At that time, employees of the ATC (the "Bears" group) supervised the SBU groups directly at the ATO headquarters, in Dovgenky, and later in Kramatorsk.

- Well, Lieutenant Colonel. On June 13, our forces cleared Mariupol. The National Guard dispersed these freaks there, and now the city is completely ours. The group that worked there will now rotate. It's around the beginning of July. But the officer who was supposed to go in charge, suddenly fell ill, the cowardly schmuck! - Kondratyuk slammed his hand down on the table in his exuberance. – You are a new person in the department, you are not yet loaded with cases. You know, it's not a luxury to take any manager off the job site right now. Each of them has a dozen objects under development. I know that you have only recently returned from the anti-terrorist operation, and we have a lot of those who have not yet gone there, but, nevertheless, I ask – are you ready to go to the senior group in Mariupol?

- Of course, Comrade General. I've never run away from work.

Kondratyuk's face showed that he had solved the problem that was bothering him.

- The details will be provided to you later. The main task, well, you already know, is to identify Russian agents and their accomplices. Especially from among the senior management team.

So, not having had time to really settle down at the new place of service, Andrey Ivanovich Shevchenko began to prepare for a new business trip. This time to Mariupol, as the senior officer of the task force of the SBU in sector " M " of the ATO.

[1] The term “Anti-Terrorist Operation” (ATO) was introduced by decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on April 13, 2014 to designate and justify the military operations of the armed forces of Ukraine and other irregular and semi-regular volunteer paramilitary forces against the militias of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR) and LPR) in eastern Ukraine.

[2] Cougar - Ukrainian armored vehicle with a 4 × 4 wheel arrangement, developed by the Canadian company Streit Group on the chassis of a Toyota Land Cruiser.

[3] A “secret” is an abbreviated name for secret office work involved in the compilation of records, reproduction, storage, forwarding and destruction of secret documents.

[4] “Dobrobats” is an abbreviated name for volunteer battalions - paramilitary formations recruited on a voluntary basis, which were created in the spring-summer of 2014 in the system of the armed forces of Ukraine (territorial defense battalions), in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (at regional departments of internal affairs and as part of the national guard). Volunteers often adhere to right-wing radical and neo-Nazi views and are prone to looting and cruelty.