VALUE OF HISTORY (excerpt)

BEFORE CHANGING CARAUL

After the collapse of the USSR in 1991 and the formation of new independent states in the post-Soviet space, the external borders of the CIS in a number of strategically important areas continued to be guarded by Soviet and then Russian border guards.

One of such important directions was the border of Tajikistan with Afghanistan and with China. Moreover, each of these areas had their own significant features that had to be taken into account when organizing the protection and defense of the border in the changed political conditions.

20 years ago there was a war here. Here, Islamic extremists tried to take power in the still fragile republic, to seize a bridgehead for subsequent expansion in the territory of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Russia. And it is impossible to predict how the military-political situation in the Central Asian region would develop in the future, if our border guards would not have been here then, including those who arrived on a long business trip from the Far Eastern border district.

Today we are starting to publish the memoirs of an eyewitness and a direct participant in the events of that period - retired colonel Viktor Nikolaevich Abramov, who from 1992 to early 1996 was the deputy head of the Red Banner Order of Lenin of the Panj border detachment of the Group of Border Troops Russian Federation in the Republic of Tajikistan, and from 1996 to 1998 inclusive - the representative of the Border Troops of the Russian Federation in the Murghab section of the state border (Tajikistan's borders with Afghanistan and China).

Blood Brothers

In the east of the Republic of Tajikistan, far in the Pamir mountains, at an altitude of 3.700 m and above sea level, there is a harsh, but amazing land - Murghab valley... For many, many years, Kyrgyz cattle breeders have lived here, grazing flocks of sheep and long-haired yaks that are used to the local cold. In the distant thirties of the last century, Soviet power came here, under the influence of which the only Bai in the entire district, who owned thousands of heads of cattle and small ruminants, camels, left for Afghanistan. He left with his whole big family, in which the adopted son was a very young Abdurashid, who had lost his father and mother at birth, left with most of the herders who worked for him.

With the help of the British and Americans, the fugitive eventually ended up in Turkey, where he established the Kyrgyz diaspora. But the reception Abdurashid turned out to be rebellious and refused to leave his homeland in the Pamirs. With a hundred farm laborers who were deceived by the bai, intimidated by the unknown atrocities of the "red", and despicably abandoned to their fate in a foreign land with a small supply of food, he decided to stay in the upper reaches of the high mountain valley. To go down a little lower, to the former habitats, I was still afraid and entrenched in Afghan territory.

Almost half a century later, during the Afghan events, they came here to secure this section of the state border from the south.
Soviet border guards. Along the mountain channel and a chain of mirror-like lakes with crystal ice water, units of the motor-maneuverable group are located. They did not interfere with the tribe of Abdurashid Khan. On the contrary, the Afghan ethnic Kyrgyz began to supply the outposts with sheep and yak meat. In return, they received flour, vegetable oil, spices, medical care and medicines. According to the memoirs of the Kyrgyz leader, these were the most better times for his people.

After the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan, Abdurashid Khan's economy began to decline: there was no market for the sale and exchange of goods, there was nowhere to get qualified medical care. By the mid-90s died in the tribe
the only mullah who served as both a doctor and a midwife, and performed all the rituals prescribed for Muslims. Messengers to Pakistan were equipped for goods. But this did not happen often, because most of the year the only mountain pass in those places was covered with insurmountable snow. They waited for a short summer, when the pass became passable for horses and camels with their luggage.

Abdurashid Khan did not hide the problems of his small people literally at our first joint border representative meeting, which took place in mid-May 1996 at the section of the right-flank outpost of the Murghab border detachment. According to available information, in the next
The Taliban emissaries, who had seized the Afghan zone of Gorno-Badakhshan a year earlier, intended to arrive in this direction for weeks to reconnoitre and assess the situation on the spot. It could not be ruled out that the Taliban would want to deploy their combat unit here, near the junction of the borders with the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Tajikistan. A little to the east, behind the mountain range, is the Karakorum Highway, which connects China with Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The control of this area could be of particular interest to the Taliban in the future.

For Russian border guards, the deployment of even a small Taliban combat group at their side on a permanent basis was
undesirable and unacceptable. Such a dangerous and unpredictable neighbor would require additional measures to ensure the protection and protection of the most remote section of the state border, a transition to an enhanced mode of service, it is likely that additional forces and means are to be surveyed and transferred here. And this at a time when the available reserves with a change on the spot were used to strengthen the Khorog border detachment.

Abdurashid Khan also showed no signs of joy over the upcoming visit of uninvited guests. Our positions coincided, and we recommended that the leader of the ethnic Kyrgyz not agree to the permanent stationing of Taliban militants in the area where his tribe lives. He promised to do everything from him
dependent. And he kept his word.

At the next scheduled meeting, Abdurashid Khan informed our side in detail about the presence of Taliban representatives, difficult negotiations with them and the results of their visit. The main result for us was that in the near future there will be no Taliban in the Afghan border area in the Murghab sector. The new military authorities entrusted Abdurashid Khan with official relations with the Russian border guards. He was also tasked with forming an ethnic Kyrgyz combat unit and maintaining its combat capability. The mountain tribe was temporarily exempted from paying the tax in kind, but was obliged to independently arm and carry out the military
conscription in their area of ​​responsibility.

The khan's entourage had about a dozen Kalashnikov assault rifles. They themselves considered it unnecessary to have more. Yes, and we could not supply weapons to the Afghan ethnic Kyrgyz. But it was very important to support their "vitality", to consolidate them as allies on the adjacent side and thereby secure the remote and inaccessible section of the state border, without attracting additional forces and means for this purpose.

Our semi-official meetings with Abdurashid Khan have become regular. To classify them as official when carried out in the field, on the Tajik or Afghan coast of the mountain
streams in the headwaters of the Murghab, with very conditional compliance with the relevant protocol, is hardly possible. But the main thing is not the form, but the content. Khan believed in the sincerity of our relationship, that we do not have a "pychak (knife) behind our backs", that no danger for his people comes from us, and confidentially reported all changes in the situation on the other side of the border, personally kept everything under control.

In the summer of 1997, with the permission of the command of the Group of Border Troops of Russia in Tajikistan and thanks to the support of the head of the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomy, Niyozmamadov Almamad, with the active participation of the rais of the Murghab district of Atabaev Odilbek on the Tajik-Afghan section of the border, it was possible to organize
the first barter fair for the exchange of goods. Murghab residents brought sets of insulated yurts, flour, cottonseed oil, tea, salt, dishes for various purposes, household items and household utensils, trenching tools, equipment for horses and much more on a dozen trucks. The Afghans drove in livestock: several hundred sheep, three dozen yaks, a dozen camels.

The fair, which began with a joint prayer to Allah and a mass meeting of friendship, has turned into a real holiday of a united nation divided by history with music, songs, brisk and noisy trade. Just before sunset the barter that satisfied both parties ended. In the direction of Murghab from the border, dust began to swirl from leaving light vehicles and herds of livestock rescued from the exchange. Caravans of yaks, camels and horses, laden with goods, stretched towards the Afghan mountains. In the post-Soviet period, perhaps, one of the most weighty stones was laid in the foundation of peace and friendship on this section of the border ...

True, with the onset of winter, further strengthening of this foundation together with Abdurashid Khan unexpectedly came under threat: the leader of the ethnic Kyrgyz fell seriously ill. The lack of qualified medical care and the necessary conditions for treatment could lead to death. Support had to be sought from the commander of the Group of Border Troops of Russia in Tajikistan, Lieutenant General P.P. Tarasenko, as well as the head of GBAO Niyozmamadov A.N. and the rais of the Murghab region Atabaev O.B .. They allowed without diplomatic registration to urgently deliver the khan to Murghab and place him in a hospital district hospital... Emergency intervention and a good course of treatment made it possible to eliminate the threat to the life of the sick Abdurashid Khan. After three weeks he recovered completely and returned to Afghanistan.

In the spring of 1998, for the first time in the last decade, a joint check of border marks was carried out with the Afghan side. Moreover, the recovered Abdurashid Khan not only himself took part in the verification process, but also singled out
horses for Russian border guards - without horses it is simply impossible to imagine the time and effort spent on solving this problem. Within two days, the bilateral commission organized a full-fledged audit of the presence and condition of border signs, issued a corresponding act and presented it to the command of the Murghab detachment and to the headquarters of the Border Troops Group in Dushanbe.

In the same spring, taking into account the accumulated experience, barter fairs were held on the left flank of the Ishkashim border guard detachment and a month later - again in the upper reaches of the Murghab valley. The basic needs of the Afghan ethnic Kyrgyz for items and essential goods were met. They stopped
send their merchants to Pakistan. Taliban envoys, who were completely occupied with military operations against the formations of Ahmad Shah, did not appear in the highlands any more. The situation in this inaccessible, but very important direction has stabilized.

In order to preserve the stability achieved in the future, strengthened contacts across the state border with Abdurashid Khan had to be developed and strengthened. The general attitude of the ramified tribe of Afghan ethnic Kyrgyz was largely determined by the authority of their leader. Undertaken by us together with local authorities measures allowed
support this authority. But all the inhabitants of the Afghan borderlands still had the most important question in question - their future. Living in isolation from their fellows in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, they understood that they were doomed to extinction. The harsh conditions of existence only accelerated this process.

After brief deliberation and consultations with the command of the RF PV Group in the Republic of Tajikistan, the competent authorities in Dushanbe, Khorog and Osh, with the active support of the authorities of the Murgab district of GBAO, Tajikistan, the administration and the public of the Osh region of Kyrgyzstan, a working visit of Abdurashid was scheduled for the second half of the summer of 1998 -khan to the governor of the Osh region.

In the course of preparing this visit, a number of very significant and, most importantly, specific, unusual problems had to be solved. First, the ethnic Kyrgyz, having lived in Afghanistan for more than a dozen years, did not have the citizenship of this country. They did not have passports or other identity documents. The Afghan leadership, occupied after the April revolution with an endless, permanent war for power in the capital and in the relatively populated central provinces, did not have enough strength to pay attention to the remote outskirts of the country. Perhaps not every government in Kabul knew about the relatively small Kyrgyz diaspora living in the Pamir highlands.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan did not know about it either, where the initiators of the upcoming visit turned for advice on the procedure for passing Abdurashid Khan's delegation through the territory of the republic. It was necessary to take on the command of the Group of Border Troops of Russia in Dushanbe to resolve this organizational issue.

Secondly, the tribesmen of Abdurashid Khan did not have any reserves of currency. They knew about the existence of Afghani, rupees, yuan, dollars, rubles, but did not use money at all. Even during their annual trips to Pakistan, when purchasing the goods they needed, ethnic Kyrgyz exchanged livestock, hides, wool, fat and other products for them.
animal husbandry.

Part of the expenses for the stay of the Afghan delegation in Kyrgyzstan were covered by public organizations republic and Osh region. And yet, in general, the visit would have been impossible without financial support. The leader of the ethnic Kyrgyz allocated about a hundred heads of small cattle for this purpose. It was necessary to organize his veterinary check, delivery by road through customs posts on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border to Osh, implementation at wholesale market prices so that the khan could receive a sufficient amount in local currency - soms to pay for the trip, decently dress the members of his delegation and buy gifts for families.

By the end of August 1998, all issues were resolved, and the planned visit took place. Upon arrival in Osh, constructive bilateral meetings were held for three days in the administration of the governor of Osh region, with the leaders of a number of districts, with representatives of the public and funds mass media... They considered the prospects for the further stay of ethnic Kyrgyz in the territory of Afghanistan, it was planned to organize in the near future Abdurashid Khan's trip to Bishkek, a meeting with the President of the Kyrgyz Republic Askar Akayev, members of the country's government.

News about preparations for Abdurashid Khan's visit to Kyrgyzstan
to his half-relatives, who settled in the thirties in the east of Turkey. A large group of ethnic Kyrgyz led by the younger wife of another fugitive bai who had already left for the world also arrived in Osh. The meeting of representatives of the Kyrgyz diasporas, separated by fate, time and distance, had to be added to the plan of the Afghan delegation's visit. There were fears that the khanum would demand that his former adopted son reimburse the cost of livestock once left to him in Afghanistan. But this delicate and highly controversial topic was excluded from the agreed program. There were no reproaches and presentation of old bills. The meeting passed without incident, very nostalgic, warm and friendly.

Soon Abdurashid Khan and the persons accompanying him, loaded with memorable gifts and souvenirs, returned home safely. They returned satisfied with the attention given, with the understanding by the brothers by blood of the demographic situation in the Afghan diaspora of ethnic Kyrgyz, with their readiness to provide real assistance in solving it. They returned with hope for the future.

In memory of his visit, Abdurashid Khan received from us at one of the regular scheduled meetings at the border about a hundred photographs depicting individual episodes and unforgettable moments of numerous meetings on Osh land. Since then, as a token of special gratitude to the Russian-Tajik side, Khan
began to call me nothing but "the father of his people." This was, perhaps, the highest assessment on his part of our efforts, which, of course, did not always fit into the framework of border mission work.

I was often reproached from the Department of International Contract Activities in the Directorate of the Border Troops Group (Dushanbe) that I was allegedly doing something other than my own business. But the commander treated our initiatives with understanding and, as a rule, supported them. Everything that was undertaken by the office of the representative of the Russian Border Troops in the Murghab sector, not only did not interfere, but, on the contrary, actively and quite successfully contributed to maintaining a calm, stable situation
in this most important area, ensuring reliable protection and protection of the external border of the Commonwealth at the junction of three states. Our active, constructive work with representatives of Afghan ethnic Kyrgyz was not in vain.

The foundation of peace and friendship on one of the highest mountainous sections of the Tajik-Afghan border was almost completed, and the joint construction of the building itself began. And the most significant contribution to this construction was undoubtedly made and made by the Russian border guards.

The border of cooperation and good neighborliness

In the entire history of the existence of the state border between the Russian Empire and China, there were no border marks on the Turkestan direction. The situation subsequently remained unchanged in the era of existence Soviet Union, also survived after its disintegration. The line of the interstate border, plotted on the map, was indicated on the ground by koptsy - heaps of stones. On the Chinese side of the kopets, small stones were usually laid out with two hieroglyphs-symbols of People's China, on the Soviet side - the inscription "USSR" (later - "Russia").

There were no border signs on the Tajik-Chinese sector either. In this direction, as well as in a number of others - from Of the Far East before Central Asia, remained unsolvable for many decades
disagreements with the Chinese authorities over the so-called "disputed territories". At the end of the 19th century, during the delimitation of the border by the joint Russian-Chinese commission in crocs, its passage on the ground was not detailed in detail. In the old records, such definitions are often found: "from a given point further south." The Chinese side considered "further south" - strictly parallel to the geographical meridian. The Russian side - the direction to the south, for example, along the Sarykol ridge, i.e. according to the natural section of the terrain. Thus, disagreements arose at the cost of several hundred and even thousands of square kilometers of territory. Before armed conflicts here, in the high-mountainous areas, it did not reach. However, the tension, not melting ice in bilateral relations was constantly felt. Chinese
the party did not violate the existing "de facto" border, but did not recognize it "de jure" either. There have never been official bilateral meetings on the Tajik-Chinese section of the state border. Even the violators were handed over to each other in the Kyrgyz-Chinese sector.

In 1995, when, on the initiative of the Director of the Federal Border Service, General of the Army Nikolayev A.I. By a decree of the Government of Russia, it was decided to create an institute of full-time border representatives in the Federal Border Guard Service, new structures international activities and border mission work simultaneously appeared in the groups of the Russian Border Troops in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
I was appointed a representative of the Border Troops of the Russian Federation for the Murghab section of the state border with a place of permanent deployment in the high-mountainous regional center of the same name.

According to the tradition that has developed since Soviet times, meetings with border representatives of the neighboring side were organized at the section of the Naryn border detachment in Kyrgyzstan, where there were appropriately equipped premises and the necessary conditions for their holding.

The first familiarization meeting with the representative of the PLA border guard Senior Colonel Li Yunshen and his staff
apparatus took place in June 1996. This meeting was also attended by a delegation led by Colonel A.K. Orozov, Deputy Representative of the RF PV in the Kyrgyz Republic. Alik Karybaevich, as a host, presented both Kyrgyz and Tajik representatives.

Senior Colonel Li Yunsheng, my age, had served as a border representative for many years and was quite experienced in "border diplomacy." As a member of the CPC with solid party experience, he was an ideologically mature, well-trained high-ranking officer, a staunch patriot of his great country. Looking ahead, it is appropriate to say here, for example, with what joy he shone when on one of
regular meetings, we congratulated him and the members of the Chinese delegation who were present on the return of the territory of Hong Kong to the PRC. “We've been waiting for this for a long time historical event and for the Chinese people this is a real holiday! Our next target is Taiwan! Sooner or later, Taiwan will also be ours! " Li Yunshen exclaimed confidently and even with some fanatical enthusiasm. And at the same time, he was a realist, did not break away from reality, knowing well the economic and military capabilities of his country of that period. Here is just one of his confessions: “The best goods in the world are Chinese! But the worst products are also Chinese! "

At first it was not easy to work with such a counterpart. When discussing the issues put on the agenda, Senior Colonel Li Yunshen outwardly behaved freely, at ease, but strictly adhered to the framework of the protocol and did not go even to the slightest frankness. His attitude towards our delegation has changed significantly and became more trusting, the rigidity of his position in negotiations has noticeably decreased when he used a not quite "diplomatic" trick: he showed him his old card as a member of the CPSU.

At that time, there was no longer either the USSR or the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the Russian officer corps did not belong to any parties at all. But I still have a burgundy little book with a bas-relief of the leader of the world revolution on the cover, a stylized portrait of V. I. Lenin on the first page. It had a literal magical effect on the border representative of the People's Republic of China. In private informal conversations through an interpreter, Li Yunshen began to talk in sufficient detail about himself, about his family, about the problems of relations with the interacting border representatives of the security agencies who were in charge of the checkpoints at the border, and much more.

Subsequent meetings were already held with noticeable and unchanging benevolence, not ostentatious courtesy, one might say, in a friendly atmosphere: we did not have any misunderstanding on any of the issues discussed. As if it was not the officials of the border states that were meeting, but the heads of the two border detachments were coordinating a plan of interaction in the butt direction.

It was possible to try to use the atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding that had arisen in order to organize a bilateral meeting at the Murghab section. In February 1997, during a regular scheduled working meeting with Chinese representatives in the Naryn highlands, our delegation suggested that the Chinese side hold a joint meeting in Tajikistan in June-July. And Senior Colonel Li Yunsheng answered the same day, to our surprise, with agreement.

Having stated in the next report to the commander of the RF PV Group in Tajikistan, Lieutenant General P.P. on the results of the work done at the meeting, in conclusion he reported on his initiative, the positive response to it from the Chinese side and asked for permission to begin preparations for the upcoming meeting at one of the border outposts of the Murghab border detachment - another place in a very short time and in those conditions was simply impossible find. After a short thought, the commander gave the go-ahead.

On June 12, 1997, for the first time in the history of relations between Russia and China, a meeting of border representatives of the two countries took place on the previously contested territory of Tajikistan. Of course, it discussed issues of cross-border cooperation, strengthening bilateral relations, preventing violations of the state border regime, future plans joint work to ensure it. As we expected, on all positions, both sides confirmed a unified approach and enshrined this in the corresponding minutes of the meeting. And yet, the main thing at that moment was something else: the very fact of the meeting meant an undoubted breakthrough, indicating a clear shift in the emphasis of the Chinese authorities with respect to the disputed territories of the newly independent Republic of Tajikistan towards softening requirements and achieving mutual agreement.

Subsequent events have confirmed this conclusion. So, in the same summer, the head of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of the Republic of Tajikistan, A.N. China and Tajikistan were equally interested in the development and implementation of this previously unrealizable interstate project. The mighty eastern neighbor needed another outlet to the Central Asian sales markets, which were noticeably freed up after the collapse of the USSR, the rupture of previous intra-union economic ties, and a decline in the flow of goods from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. For Tajikistan, this would be a breakthrough of the relative economic isolation that developed in the early 90s, the possibility of developing the shortest route to the Indian Ocean, trade with China, India, Pakistan, the countries of the Persian Gulf and Southeast Asia.

In the spring of 1998, the Chinese side invited the border representatives of Russia from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to a trilateral meeting on the territory of China. By this time, in the area of ​​the checkpoint on the highway connecting the Republic of Kyrgyzstan and the PRC in the Naryn direction, the Chinese had built an ultra-modern complex for holding border representative meetings. WITH grand opening this complex and our meeting began.

Of course, the Chinese side wanted to demonstrate the growing economic opportunities of their country. Even districts thousands of kilometers away from Beijing, from industrialized regions, such as the westernmost Xinjianuigur, relatively sparsely populated, very restless due to the active separatist speeches of the Uyghur opposition, did not go unnoticed by the CCP and the Chinese government. Here, everywhere - from the center of the autonomy - the multimillion city of Urumqi, "to the very outskirts" - there was a reconstruction of buildings and structures of historical value, or new construction was carried out. Among other things, the state border, checkpoints across it, and places of joint border meetings of delegations of neighboring states were rebuilt.

The Chinese border officials have achieved their goal. The scale and decoration of the erected complex were really impressive. More than $ 300 million was spent on the purchase of building materials, special equipment, custom-made furniture and other things. It was impossible to underestimate the quality of finishing, thoughtful, rational layout of the premises and their interior decoration. Depending on the functional purpose of the premises, they either strictly disposed to work or called to rest, creating appropriate conditions and conveniences.

In order to demonstrate as much as possible all the possibilities of the new complex, after the completion of official negotiations and a solid, almost ritual dinner, the Chinese side invited our delegations to stay overnight. However, this was not part of our plans and we departed to our territory, traditionally saying goodbye to the border representative of the PRC at the arch on the line of the state border.

Upon returning from the meeting to the place of permanent deployment, he received operational information that the Chinese had detained a local shepherd with a weapon at one of the border outposts of the Murghab border detachment. A preliminary administrative investigation and subsequent clarification of the incident established that the shepherd had retired up to hundreds of meters from the state border in order to collect the scattered cattle. But since he did not know the exact passage of the border on the ground, he sat down to eat at one of the stone boulders, warmed himself in the sun and fell asleep. He had a well-worn small-bore rifle and a pack of cartridges for it to scare away predators. So, asleep, the Chinese border guards took him, put him in an SUV and sent him to the company pre-trial detention center.

The cattle breeder, who for many years carefully and conscientiously grazed the herd of yaks together with the flock of sheep abroad, did not bear the main engineering structures; did not possess confidential information that could be of interest to the Chinese side; there was no malice in his actions. But the event itself was extremely unpleasant, because we established a “de facto” interstate border and we did not properly enforce its regime. Despite the relative insignificance of the incident, it did not fit into the general trend of warming relations, including at the border representative level.

Thanks to the efforts made within several days, the unlucky violator of the state border, together with the rewound tape, the "little guy" was returned. During the transfer, the Chinese side did not reproach us - they had enough endurance and tact "not to inflate an elephant out of a fly." But such “generosity” was no better for us than an official statement.

The fact of an unintentional violation of the border became the reason for taking a number of measures to strengthen its regime: the organization of additional checks submitted by the heads of agricultural cooperatives of the lists of persons for work abroad of the main engineering structures, the conduct of orientation outposts by officers of the shepherds in the areas of grazing livestock with a display of the state border line, their periodic briefing on the border regime, strengthening of control by border detachments of cattle grazing areas from observation towers, patrols, night checks, etc.

Conclusions were made by organizational work gave a positive result: over the next several years, up to the transfer of the Murghab section of the state border under the protection of the national border troops, not a single case of violation of the border regime was recorded.

Moreover, the Chinese side very strictly monitored the situation and ensured the maintenance of order in the border zone from its side. Residents of the borderlands, mainly Uighurs and ethnic Kyrgyz, were obliged to constantly monitor the state of affairs in places of residence, agricultural, procurement and other work and report to officials of border companies or posts about all noticed changes, identification of unauthorized persons, etc. An untimely received message, and even more so its complete absence, was severely punished by local authorities - from the imposition of large in kind or monetary fines to the resettlement of those guilty to the lifeless foothills of Tibet.

Such a "popular" approach to the protection of the state border, taken at one time from the experience of Soviet border guards, additionally reinforced by the specific harshness of the Han people - the titular ruling nation - allowed the PLA border guard to constantly possess complete and reliable information about what is happening in the border zone and strip. promptly respond to changes in the situation. The Tajik side, which was preparing to independently protect its external borders after the withdrawal of the formations, units and subdivisions of the Group of Border Troops of Russia, had yet to establish a similar or at least partially similar information system in terms of efficiency.

Meanwhile, in the center of the Murghab section, where for the first time in the twentieth century a border representative meeting of the Russian and Chinese delegations took place on Tajik territory, an active construction and arrangement of a dirt road from the Karakorum highway in China through a mountain pass in Tajikistan along the previously disputed territory began. By the end of 1997, two field camps of road builders were set up here, a few kilometers from the state border, still not de jure recognized by the Chinese side, they created reserves of fuel and fuels and lubricants, concentrated dozens of units of earthmoving and special equipment : bulldozers, scrapers, graders, rollers. Despite the onset of severe winter cold, several excavators, a dozen dump trucks, a dozen bulldozers and motor graders were simultaneously involved. In the spring sprinklers were added to them.

In just nine months of intensive, almost round-the-clock work, the first stage of the construction of the trade route was completed. Its official opening took place in autumn 1998. The celebrations on this significant event were attended by the President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmonov, the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Tajikistan, the leadership of the Gorno-Badakhshchan Autonomous Region headed by Almamad Niyozmamadov, the Deputy Commander of the RF PV Group in Tajikistan - Head of the Operations Division (Khorog), General -mayor Voronkov V.I. and other officials.

Simultaneously with the laying of the interstate trade route, negotiations began at the level of the governments of the two countries to clarify the line of the state border. As a result of the work carried out, soon all controversial issues between China and Tajikistan were resolved on a compromise basis.

By the beginning of the 21st century, the general situation on the border between the two countries had become extremely favorable for maintaining peace, friendship, good neighborliness, the development of economic cooperation and mutually beneficial trade. Russian border guards have made an indisputable contribution to ensuring the inviolability of the external borders of the Commonwealth of Independent States in this direction.

Murghab is a small village (6 thousand inhabitants) at an altitude of 3600 meters above sea level, two hundred kilometers (or 7 hours of travel) from the Pamir highway to Osh. However, I came here by another, more complicated and beautiful road from the Wakhan Valley. In Murghab, the feeling that you have ended up somewhere in the Far North during the winter season does not leave. Only here is not the Far North, but the Far Upper, and it is still unknown where life is harsher.

There are several inexpensive guest houses in Murghab with Spartan conditions, but a "collective taxi" from Lyangar brought me to the central hotel. However, small and cozy - shoes are left in the lobby, and the Kyrgyz administrator at the counter communicates as with an old acquaintance. At the local buffet I was greeted with the question "Oh, have you already reached the Pamirs?" - a pretty Russian girl in the company of a big driver turned out to be a guide from Dushanbe and had already seen me where she was taking a group of Austrians. The most colorful guest, however, was a tall Israeli in a waist-length dress, short shorts and a grandiose black beard. Entering, he turned to the Kyrgyz barmaid: "Senyoritta! Klep! Klep!" In response, the Kyrgyz woman called the price of bread (flatbread), which seemed inadequate even to me, and the guest thoughtfully uttered "Oooou, to exspensive!" and left the buffet. There were several bunk beds in the room, but I settled there alone, and although the guide from Dushanbe told me that the group would go to Osh at 6 a.m. and they had free space, I understood that I would not get up by 6 a.m. - and it was even not that I wanted to see Murghab, but that my head ached more and more - mountain sickness began.

The yurts near the hotel are already closed, and in the summer they are filled with kumis and shirchoy (boiled tea with milk, butter, salt and spices). In mid-September, summer was already over here. With a sore head and a feeling of brokenness, in the early morning I went out onto the porch of the hotel, trying to figure out where I got to:

Cold, piercing wind embraced by eternal snows, dazzling sun, like in films about the world after the atomic war; the almost complete absence of vegetation, rough clay houses, smoking dung haze over their roofs - it all looked piercing and gloomy:

Yes, the empty Pamir Highway, on which there are much more pedestrians than cars:

They say that precisely because of its severity, which is not compatible with the life of a white man, the Pamirs never became a British colony: the British penetrated here half a century earlier than the Russians, but did not set up posts and garrisons in the highlands. With the fall of Kokand in 1876, the Pamir mountain principalities, all these familiar from the previous parts, or, lost, albeit a purely nominal, but still a patron, and the neighbors became interested in them. About all the troubles of the then running around on the Roof of the World, well, I will retell them quite briefly. In fact, not without the help of the British, for almost 20 years the Pamirs were divided among themselves by the Afghans, who climbed the river valleys to Alichur itself, to the Yashilkul lake mentioned in the previous part, and the Chinese, who quietly passed on the deserted plateau, set up their posts there, obediently stumbling at the sight Russian detachments, and just as quietly returning, as soon as their dust settled. In 1891, the British delegation opened a consulate in Kashgar, but it was clear to Russian intelligence that the British were preparing the ground for the official division of the Pamirs between Afghanistan and China. In the summer of 1892, Colonel Mikhail Ionov, having risen from Fergana, defeated the Afghans at Yashilkul, and returning back to Fergana, left a small detachment for the winter in a mountain tract with the Chinese name Shajan. The wintering was successful, and a year later, the Cossacks and soldiers, under the leadership of the military engineer Andriyan Serebryakov, began the construction of the Pamir post - this is how the Russians settled on the Roof of the World, and according to the recollections of the Swedish traveler Sven Gedin, the Pamir post resembled a lonely ship surrounded by an alien element. The names Pamir post and Shadjan appeared in parallel, and only recently the expedition found that this is not the same thing: the Pamir post was located on the site of the Koni-Kurgan village, 8 kilometers from Murghab, later the center of the Pamir border detachment moved to the de jure Bukhara Khorog , well, the name Shajan was last mentioned in documents for 1911, giving way to the Persian Murghab. The tsarist frontier detachment was replaced by the Soviet, the Soviet - by the international (in fact, Russian), and only in 2004 - by the Tajik, but let's face it - further along the trail of the Russian presence in the Pamirs, much more remained than in Murghab, which grew in the 1930s-40s as a base Pamir tract and geological parties.

The Kyrgyz and the Pamiris live here approximately equally. The former simply settled in a settlement from nomads in the surrounding steppes, the latter came to Soviet time as officials and appointees. On the road east of the hotel there is a monument to Tajik-Kyrgyz friendship:

To the west, a red star shines over Murghab, possibly on the grave of the fallen in civil war Red Army soldiers, and the cemetery itself, it may well have appeared during the border guard detachment:

Near the tract there is a memorial of the Great Patriotic War, although looking at the bas-reliefs, I would rather think of Manas:

The memorial stands between the border guard, that is military unit on the site of the same Shadzhan wintering, and the administration building. The Murghab region with an area of ​​38 thousand square kilometers occupies the entire Eastern Pamir, more than half of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, and significantly exceeds any of the western regions of Tajikistan. At the same time, 14 thousand people live here (and they are mainly in Murghab and the surrounding area), that is, the desertion of the Eastern Pamir is quite polar.
Below the administration (to call it "akimiyat", by the way, or is it still "hukumat"?) - as it should be, Ilyich. In the squares, I saw them in Tajikistan only three times - here, in the hydropower and atomic, and one more somewhere in the backyards of Khorog. But Murghab Ilyich is the most tidy, freshly whitewashed:

Ilyich looks at the pedestrian boulevard parallel to the Pamir Highway, and in some places there are even trees on this boulevard, already completely yellow in mid-September. I saw them the same way somewhere near Vorkuta, but winters here are no better than those in Vorkuta: -40 - in the order of things, -53 - as a record, and all this with winds and almost no snow. They say that responsible people know every tree here by sight and literally take care of it like a child.

On the boulevard - squat public buildings the construction of the Pamir Highway and another military obelisk:

A "ladder" of several huge steps is located not only monuments, but the city itself. The panoramas of Murghab are gloomy:

However, Murghab evokes no less associations than with the Far North with other dreary ones. The Far Top is worse than the Far North in that it is only cold in the North, but at least fill up with water and at least overeat berries, mushrooms, fish and game. Here is a waterless salty desert, and the Murghab wells are striking in their capital - it seems as if they go to incredible depth, to the very roots of the Pamirs:

Alleyways between blank walls and fences:

Old cars in fair condition:

In general, Murghab is big, from end to end, and with a general feeling of altitude sickness, I would not walk it. The status of the city is still conditional, and Murghab gives the impression of a small town rather than a large village. Below is the floodplain of the Murgab River (not to be confused with the namesake in Turkmenistan!) With a lonely mosque in the middle of the pastures:

Mosques in Murghab are quite visible, especially after the Pamirs, where the Ismailis did not build mosques. There is probably an Ismaili jamaatkhana here, but there is no Russian church for sure, and there are only a few Russians themselves at best.

Here I was most surprised by the flag - where did the blue stripe come from? Does this mean something, or has it just faded to blue under the "nuclear" sun?

Of course, you cannot avoid the bazaar itself with many shops arranged right in containers:

And a couple of old pavilions in the form of yurts:

I found them empty, but clearly not abandoned:

There are also a couple of canteens in the bazaar, unpresentable, but quite decent in terms of food quality. You can buy samsa and manti with yak meat in them. In summer it is sold "in real time" in those very yurts near the hotel, but in winter (that is, in mid-September) it is cooked only to order. Let's face it, the Alichur pilaf with fried yak meat turned out to be much tastier, but here, in manti and in samsa, yak meat was unbearably fatty.

And in the store, vodka is sold in glasses, and there is a demand for it ... In general, walking around Murghab in the evening is not very comfortable, especially closer to the highway:

According to my impressions, the arod here is much more severe and gloomy compared to the valleys. The inhabitants of the highlands smile little, they have weathered faces like soldiers. Many people greet passers-by foreigners here, but they are not very willing to make further contact:

Strange junkie. I saw the same one in Dushanbe and was sure that it was homemade.

I don't know how it happened, but the men in my photos are mostly Pamiri, and the women, children and old people are mostly Kyrgyz:

The most characteristic attribute of the Kyrgyz is the felt cap:

In the morning in the east, over the border Sarykol ridge, I saw thick white clouds:

And only by noon he realized that these clouds did not change outlines:

And when I realized that these were not clouds, but mountains, a frost went through my skin from the sensation of their height. This is the Kashgar ridge, or Kongurmuztag, separated by deep valleys from the Pamir and Kunlun. As a result, it is sometimes referred to the first, then to the second, sometimes it is altogether isolated into a separate highland, small - but terribly high: in a row there are three seven-thousandth peaks Kongur (7649m or even 7719m), Muztag-Ata (7546) and Kongurtube ( 7530m). It seems that it is in this order, from left to right, that they are visible here, and it is Muztag-Ata, in translation the Father of the Ice Mountains, which dominates over Murghab, which is a gentle snow-covered dome.

And if this is the Pamir, then from Murghab its highest point is visible - all three seven-thousanders of the Kongurmuztag are higher than any of the three seven-thousanders of the Tajik Pamir. If this is Kunlun, then it turns out that it is possible to see it from the post-Soviet countries. The Kunlun is just above the Pamir, but just below the Hindu Kush, and the Pamir, which was considered a hundred years ago the highest mountains of the planet, is actually somewhere in the middle of the first ten: above it (with or without Kongur) the Himalayas, Karakorum, Hindu Kush, Kunlun and Sichuan Mountains. Well, if the Kashgar ridge is neither one nor the other, then in any case, behind it is Kashagriya, the terrible Takla-Makan desert, the name of which means "if you leave, you won't return", and the Tarim River, which forms a delta right in the middle of the desert, and all those mysterious Gerais and Tanguts, Tsaidam and Turfan, familiar from Przewalski's travel notes ...
From Murghab to the north along the Pamir Highway, it is not Afghanistan that breathes into the right side, but China.

After wandering around Murghab for two hours, I decided to leave for Osh. But when I came to the nickle at the bazaar, I learned that all the cars had already left, the next ones would go tomorrow. Murghab-Osh is the most remote section of the entire mountain road from Dushanbe to Bishkek, and in fact, a couple of cars pass through it in the morning to Osh and a couple of cars in the evening from Osh. Departing in the morning, the passengers of the car are recruited on the previous day, that is, I could only leave the next day.

I didn't want to sit in Murghab for an extra day, so I wandered off to the exit from the village:

Trucks often passed me, but they all turned to the right: the real Pamir Highway since 2004 is no longer Dushanbe-Osh, but Dushanbe-Kashgar through the Kulma Pass (4362m), and trucks with hieroglyphs and chubby Chinese driving are a familiar part of the Murghab landscape ...

But the cars all went to the Murghab settlements, and after standing for two hours and freezing in the wind, I waved my hand. They say that you can still stand a passing car here ... but my friend, for example, waited like this for 7 hours. Returning to the "penny", among the jeeps, I saw white people and heard Russian speech, and immediately got into the conversation. Four tourists, like me, were looking for a car to Osh - a couple of Germans from Dresden and a couple of Ukrainians from Lvov, who nevertheless spoke Russian very clearly, although as I learned later, the Russian language was useful to them here for the first time in their lives. Drivers to Osh charge 1000 somoni (7500 rubles) for a car, and of course the fifth travel companion for tourists was not superfluous. The Germans were called Simeon and Sabrina, the Ukrainians were Arsen and Natasha, and I spent the next three days with them. They were going to go to Osh with a stop for the night at the high-mountainous Karakul Lake, and I liked this idea. The car left in the morning, and we went to spend the night in a small guesthouse, where the shower was heated by the sun, and when I was offered to pay 20 somoni for washing five things, I realized that they would wash it by hand - both water and electricity are expensive in Murghab .. .. The owner of the guesthouse was a colorful, beardless old man who did not look like either a Pamiri or a Kirghiz - maybe a half-breed? He enthusiastically told me about China, which is changing Tajikistan literally before our eyes, and about the fact that “the Soviet government did nothing for Tajiks”: “There are mines here in the mountains. the Chinese just came and started mining! "

I spoke with the Germans in broken English, with the Ukrainians - in Russian, and the five of us - this and that. Simeon and Sabrina made (and apparently even made since then) a trip around the world, Arsen and Natasha went through the Caucasus and Iran to Kyrgyzstan, from where they were going to fly by plane to India. The Germans asked me about my travels, I showed them photographs from the Far North on my laptop, so in the end Sabrina said with delight to Simeon: "Next time we are going to Russia!" With no less interest, they listened to me about Donbass and Crimea, and agreed that we must respect someone else's point of view. The conversations with the Ukrainians did not go well, but I don’t know whether it was a matter of nationality or not. Most of all, I was impressed by the reaction of the Galicians to my coaming-out about visiting ORDilO (as it is called there): complete indifference, no aggression, no interest, as if we were not talking about their country at all. And yet the restrained tension was felt:
-And I'm already dreaming of going down to the plain and going along a normal road, and on the sides I will not have an abyss on the right and a wall on the left, but roadsides, fields ...
-Hmm ... It seems to me, living in Russia, it is difficult to scold the roads in other countries.
- Honestly, - I could not restrain myself, - I have not seen roads worse than in your Carpathian region.
-Make roads there since then!
In general, Lviv residents were extremely pleased with the changes in their native Galicia: roads are being made, tourists are pounding, festivals every week, in general, life has become better, life has become more fun ...

In the morning a jeep arrived, and having packed up samsa with yak meat, we headed for the Eastern Pamir Highway. First - after refueling, to the delight of the Germans - like this:

Kyrgyz cemetery at the exit of Murghab:

Yes, an old, still Soviet pointer against the background of customs and beckoning China over the mountain:

In the next part, we will continue our journey through the High Pamir - through the Akbaital pass to the Karakul Lake, at a 4-kilometer height.

45.
TAJIKISTAN-2016

Murghab is a village lost among the mountains in the Eastern Pamirs and our final overnight stay on the route along the Pamir Highway before descending to Kyrgyzstan. This is one of the most remote corners of Tajikistan - almost 1000 kilometers from Dushanbe, 225 - from the capital of Gorno-Badakhshan Khorog. Murghab is located in the valley of the river of the same name between the mountains at an altitude of 3612 meters above sea level - it is the highest regional center in the post-Soviet space. The climate here is harsh - in winter up to minus fifty, and in summer - up to plus forty. In early May, when we were here, the weather contrasts are also very significant - in the daytime it is warm in summer, and at night severe frosts come to the high-mountain valley, penetrating to the bones even in warm clothes. And the smoke of dozens of wood-burning stoves swirls under the huge Pamir stars, filling the air with a pleasant aroma.

1. First, let's look at the village from above ... The population of Murghab today is about six thousand people.

2. The development of a remote district center is low-rise - mainly the private sector, with small intersperses of two-three-story houses ...

3. Murghab is located surrounded by mountains in a flat valley at the confluence of the Murgab and Ak-Baital rivers (flowing down from the highest pass of the Pamir tract, which we will overcome tomorrow).

4. It is impossible to get here by public transport - you can go to Khorog and Dushanbe by passing jeeps along the Pamir highway, which depart from Murghab several times a week. SUVs run periodically to Kyrgyzstan. In winter, transport is even more difficult - in a red-hot thirty-degree frost, waiting for a passing car, you can get stuck here for several days, or even weeks. There is an airport in the valley in the vicinity of the village, but today it only accepts rare military helicopters.

5. A squat mosque among low adobe buildings.

6. The Murghab river and the bridge over which the road passes. There are two routes in Murghab - the main Pamir highway from Khorog to Kyrgyz Osh and its important branch to the Kulma pass and further to China. However, today the branch to China is of much greater importance than the historically main highway to Osh - it is the only highway that directly connects Tajikistan and the Celestial Empire; dozens of Tajik trucks go along it to China, providing the country with Chinese goods (we saw them in large quantities on the route ). While very few cars go to Kyrgyzstan from here on.

7. In Murghab, the Soviet military unit... Until the early 2000s, the Russian military was stationed here. Today they are gone, a small Tajik military contingent is in their place, and most of the barracks are abandoned.

10. It is not far from Murghab to the border with Kyrgyzstan. The population of the village is approximately equal in number between Tajiks and Kyrgyz. As I already wrote, Tajiks and Kyrgyz speak Russian among themselves. In the village, despite its remoteness, there are a lot of children.

12. In Murghab, the road to China leaves the highway, and the Main Pamir Highway, along which we follow, leads further to Kyrgyzstan. Sarytash is the first Kyrgyz settlement after the border. And from here to Osh - 417 kilometers. We will overcome this entire segment (including crossing the state border) tomorrow.

13. And again the cheerful carefree children of the Pamirs. :))

17. Monument to those who fell in the Great Patriotic War.

20. Once upon a time the Eternal Flame burned here. Now it is not burning - but in general, the monuments of the Second World War both in Tajikistan and in Kyrgyzstan are quite well-groomed.

22. The village of Murghab has not changed much since Soviet times - all the same houses, chaotic clay buildings, fences, wooden lampposts ... Maybe only a little dilapidated in some places ...

24. And here, as elsewhere in the Central Asian outback, there is just a wonderful retro park of Soviet cars. :))

28. The central street of Murghab still bears the name of Lenin.

29. Lenin Street - a local "boulevard".

30. On which the facades of whitish houses go out in an even system.

31. Rare "Muscovites" and "Zhigulyonki" ride along the boulevard, and the boys are dashing about on bicycles.

33. One of the state institutions on Lenin Street.

34. And here Ilyich himself is still in place, as it was many years ago.

35. At the end of Lenin Street there is another monument of the Second World War, with the image of the Stalingrad Motherland-mother.

37. And this is a Tajik family.

38. Many people on the street have their faces covered with headscarves. The wind carries a lot of dust and sand ...

39. A couple more photos of the streets of the village.