PROFILE OF SOVIET SOLDIERS IN AFGHANISTAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96R01136R002605130002-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: April 8, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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PROFILE OF SOVIET SOLDIERS IN AFGHANISTAN
Kiev RABOCHAYA GAZETA in Russian 7,8 Apr 84~
[V. Sukhodol'skiy, KRASNAYA ZVEZDA correspondent written especially for
RABOCHAYA GAZETA,: "Afghanistan Profiles"]
[7 Apr 84 p 3]
[Text] They are now far from home, artillerymen and motor
riflemen, drivers and helicopter pilots, engineers, medics.
and communicators serving in the complicated and at times
difficult situation in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
Soviet soldiers true to their international duty are daily
showing tenacity, courage, valor and heroism.
Where do they. get these qualities? From faith in a just
cause and in our ideals, from a firm conviction in the
fact that our mission in Afghanistan, to help the Afghan
people in their difficult struggle, is lofty, noble and
great. From time to time courage and heroism are shown
here while resolving the most diverse missions: delivering
rice to a distant kishlak, providing fuel to tractors in
Afghan cooperatives, rebuilding destroyed bridges over
raging torrents in the mountains and saving the life of
a peasant wounded in a bushman attack.
The formation became still. Decorations were being presented to the best of
the best, to military drivers, A ZIL-130 which had served faithfully and
honestly for four years was being put on a pedestal in their honor. The
vehicle had been riddled by bullets and had carried many thousands of tons of
freight. Here at the monument the Order for "Service To The Motherland While
In The Armed Forces" 3rd Class was being presented to transportation officer
Ivan Kononenko. He has dozens of difficult trips under his belt and has seen
mines in the road and bushman bullets... His subordinates, military drivers
sergeants Yuriy Ryabenko and Nikolay Makaseyev and privates Sergey Panteleyev
and Vladimir Mazorchuk have acted decisively and with initiative in the most
complicated situation.
One of the foremost soldiers in the subunit is Private Vladimir Slushnyy, a
reliable, industrious driver. His home is in the village of Besedka in Kiev
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11. Belli V. A. et al. "Blokada i kontrblokada" [Blockade and Counterblockade],
Moscow, Nauka, 1967, p 558.
12. Calculated according to data from: Morison S. E. "Bitva za Atlantiku
vyigrana" [The Atlantic Battle Won], abridged translation from the
English, Voyenizdat, 1959, pp 327-333.
COPYRIGHT: "Voyenno-istoricheskiy zhurnal", 1484.
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Oblast's Stavishchenskiy Rayon. His parents Petr Nikolayevich and Mariya
Matveyevna live and work there on the kolkhoz imeni Lenin. Before he left to
join the Army Vladimir completed the Skvir's DOSAAF Automotive School and
worked for a while as a driver for Selkhoztekhnik a [Agricultural Equipment
Association]. His parents can be proud of their son as he has not let the
Ukrainian corn growers down. The soldier is fulfilling his military and
international duty in Afghanistan with honor.
From trip to trip--this is the life of military drivers. They return to
their own subunit, put their equipment in order and they're back on the road.
Oh, the roads of Afghanistan...
In Afghanistan there are many soldiers and officers wearing oxders and medals
for valor displayed while fulfilling their interaational duty. Among them
are the helicipter pilots of the squadron commanded by Lieutenant Colonel
Yevgeniy Trubin.
The sun is just coming up over the other side of the mountain ridge,
lighting up the eastern sky, but their work is already in full swing. At
daybreak the helicopter pairs are raising in flight, and above the earth they
meet the sunlight.
Some crews will return from missions, from the distant kishlaks of Badakhshan,
from Khayraton, from ancient Herat. Work... Everything they have is interwoven
into an undissolvable, tight knot, both their military training with daring
raids on the "enemy" and their trips with cargo for their Afghan friends,
at times into unfamiliar regions and often under bushman fire. The squadron
has many junior officers. Each day makes them stronger, -for they fly a lot
here and complete extremely diverse missions.
"I am satisfied with the lieutenants. Many are inspired by their command,"
says squadron commander Yevgeniy Trubin.
Above the land fly Heroes of the Soviet Union officers Vyacheslav Gaynutdinov
and Vasiliy Shcherbakov, famous helicopter pilots and the pride and glory of
the subunit. They set an example for the lieutenants to imitate.
Soviet aviators are sharing their knowledge, their "secrets.", with Afghan
pilots. They often fly together in narrow ravines and the spaciousness of
river valleys, over yellow deserts and above snow-capped mountains. Soviet
officers Vladimir Kuralenya, Igor' Markov and Sergey Kachalov are always
dear guests in Afghan helicopter subunits.
And that day, after completing a training mission, the helicopter pilots
landed as guests at an Afghan field airport.
Regimental commander Colonel Muhammad Vali met us. We sat with him in a small
pavilion with low adobe walls and a roof built from the branches of evergreen
Afghan cedar. The yellow airport was burnt by the merciless sun and from
time to time clouds of yellow dust lifted over the take-off strip and the
helicopter park. These were airplanes and rotodynes leaving on missions. The
dust remained in the air for a long time, as if fog had settled over the airport.
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Afghan helicopters have gone on missions in a combat operations area. Among
them is the crew commanded by Lieutenant Gulyan Dzhan. Avery short while ago
he came here to this regiment for practical experience while a cadet at the
WS [Air Force] and PVO [Air Defense] Academy. After finishing school he was
again assigned here. He flies confidently and time and time again he acts
skillfully in the most complicated situations, coming in under bushman fire
and returning from missions with bullet holes from large caliber machine guns.
Regimental commander Colonel Muhammad Vali describes him as a "daring,
courageous officer".
"Not long ago he received an award, the Order of the 'Star' 3rd Class. Also
decorated for successful military operations against the enemies of the
people of Afghanistan were Lieutenant Muhammad Salem and Senior Lieutenant
Rishad Akhmad."
Colonel Vali talks with pride about his charges. Academy cadets, future
officer of the Afghan WS are getting their flying experience in the regiment.
Their combat development is taking place in a complicated environment. Even
now it is hot in the Afghan sky. The undeclared war against popular power
continues and the aviators of the Afghan Armed Forces are courageously and
selflessly fighting the enemies of the republic. Many of them have been
decorated with military orders and medals.
Among those honored with an award from the people of Afghanistan is a Soviet
officer who commands an artillery battery, Captain Vladimir Skiba.
Pictured courageously fulfilling their international duty
in Afghanistan from left to right are military drivers
sergeants Yuriy Ryabenko and Nikolay Makaseyev and
privates Vladimir Slushnyy, Vladimir Mazorchuk and Sergey
Panteleyev. Also shown are peaceful trips by helicopter
pilots.
[8 Apr 83 p 3]
(Text] We have seen him twice. The first time was in a former royal palace
where the DRA Ministry of Defense was located. Democratic Republic of
Afghanistan's Minister of Defense Colonel General Abdul Kadyr was presenting
the young artillery officer Vladimir Skiba a high award, the Order of the
"Star" 3rd Class. I was unable to talk to him then, but several days later I
found myself in the same area where his battery was deployed in the mountains.
And I again met the commander -- in an overcoat and helmet among artillery
privates Ivan Korshak, Aleksandr Bardabysh, Yuriy Azarov and Mikhail
Shcherbachenko and Junior Sergeant Andrey Razdetov. He was 3ust as he had
been in the royal palace. He was conducting himself calmly and modestly, but
with a feeling of self respect, courtesy and respect for others and high
demands on himself and his actions.
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There are garrisons in Afghanistan where several subunits. stand together side
by side. In his two years here Vladimir Skiba has moved three times and each
time his battery is the garrison. And he, a junior officer, has been the
primary "shuravi" for the Afghan inhabitants for many dozens of kilometers
around. He has been the one they turn to for help and advice. He has helped
them with transportation and shared provisions and fuel. On Sundays soldiers
from the battery have gone to work in peasant fields. They helped build a dam
and repaired a school and they did this selflessly, with a pure heart. And
the people sense this. They may be illiterate and still not know that this is
an "international duty" but they can distinguish friend from foe by their
actions. And by a smile, expression in the eye, voice tone and also by warmth
of heart. Skiba will leave, but here in these kishlaks, at the foot of two
neighboring mountains, as they turn yellow in the rays of the passing sun,
"Captain Volodya" who for some reason always understood them, will be
remembered... He will receive subsequent promotions but here he will be
remembered only as a young, slender man with four small stars on his
shoulderboards.
He was born and raised on the Dneiper in Zaporozhye. His father worked at
Zaporozhstal' as a steel roller all his life. He had always stood out and
was known for his deeds, memorial medals and prizes. Vladimir Fedotovich
Skiba was recently pensioned, solemnly and in a simple workman's manner.
People said some good things, gave some gifts and sincerely regreted his
parting. Captain Skiba's mother Darya Semenovna still works at the factory.
His younger brother Oleg is in the Army stationed in Ciscarpatmia. Captain
Skiba's wife Larisa Vladimirovna who was in his same class in school and is
raising their four-year old son, also lives in Zaporozhye and waits for his
letters and his return.
Vladimir Skiba and I walked through the firing battery position. The battery
had gone into the mountains on an exercise and he told me about his comrades.
Scout-range finder operator Private Kirill Zheman had already left for the
Motherland and soon to leave were gun commander Junior Sergeant Artur Frolenko
and senior radio-telephone operator Private Mikhail Shcherbachenko. They were
good, kind friends and people with whom you could share everything.
Life's highest reward is the love and respect people give. The love of the
people. The Afghan people's attitude to the Soviet soldiers who have come to
Afghanistan in this difficult hour is a special, loving attitude. Therefore
People's Afghanistan recognizes the best of the best with military decorations.
"Russia will always remain the first friend of the Exalted Afghanistan State.
These are the words of Vladimir Il'ich and the Soviet people support Lenin's
words with their actions. They are giving their Afghan friends. all their
strength and skills. Vladimir Kolpakov, head of a group of our specialists,
and Comrade Sharifi, factory president, are working hand in hand in the
nitrogen fertilizer plant in Mazar-i-Sharif. Soviet engineer Aleksandr
Rovnyy is generously sharing his experience with Afghan vehicle repairmen
at the automated Dzhangalak plant in Kabul.
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Chief of the Department of Construction Muhammad Sharif met us at the paving
asphalt factory in the steppes near Naibabad. This factory was built two
years ago with Soviet assistance. Sharif told us that factory production was
guaranteeing the construction of a road from Naibabad to the port of Khayraton.
"A road means life," said Muhammad Sharif. "And-this is doubly true in
Afghanistan. We need roads to defeat the enemy and become a powerful country..
We will have them and they will be good ones."
All of his life has been associated with roads. Muhammad Sharif is proud of
the fact that for a quarter of a century already he has worked with Soviet
engineers. Together with them he built Salang, was chief mechanical engineer
for construction there and received the Soviet order "Badge of Honor" from the
hands of Aleksey Nikolayevich Kosygin. Then he built the Kunduz-Kashim-Kabul-
Dzhelalabed road and now they are putting in a new roadway here in the north.
He has many fiends in the Soviet Union. Among them are Evgeniy Ivanovich
Bronitskiy form Siberia with whom he worked in Salang. He worked in Puli-
Khumri with Alya Gasparov from Tyumen and with Vyacheslav Filimonov from
Moscow. His son Nadzhib, a future construction engineer, is studying in
Moscow and his other son Bashir is a student at Baku's Institute of Oil and
Gas.
People at the factory love and respect Soviet engineer Ivan Petrovich Mikhaylov.
Their "Vanechka" would not leave the factory until they reached their desired
goal of 400 tons of paving asphalt per day.
Roads are Afghanistan's future and Soviet and Afghan workers and. engineers are.
building this future with their hands.
A memorial column of white rock is being erected at the entrance to Kabul's
Central Military Hospital area. On it one can read that this hospital complex
was constructed with economic and technical assistance of a friendly
neighboring country, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Soviet and
Afghan doctors work hand in hand in it. Together they equipped the medical
and operating rooms with modern technology and they now work there together.
The war with counterrevolutionariesis continuing and Afghan soldiers are not
sparing their lives, fighting bandit formations directed from abroad. And not
sparing their efforts, here in the hospital the people in white smocks are
fighting for the lives of wounded Afghan soldiers and officers.
Among them is_Afghanistan's first female surgeon, Sukhayla Seddyk. And she is
not just a surgeon, but a talented surgeon able to do the most intricate
operation.
Sukhayla was born and raised in Kabul but she became a doctor in Moscow. She
studied in the 1st Moscow Medical Institute imeni I.M. Sechenov and completed
graduate work and defended her disserattion there Sukhayla left for Moscow
a gird., but returned to Kabula as Candidate of Medical Science Surgeon
Sukhayla Seddyk.
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Sukhayla lovingly talks about her instructors. Among them were Professor
Viktor Ivanovich Struchkov and Emmanuil Vikent'yevich Lutsevich. She recalls
classmates Irina Voyevodskaya and Tat'yana Shmidt.
Wounded were brought in and the operation begun. The next operation is done
by Central Military Hospital's chief of surgery Major of Medical Services
Sukhayla Seddyk, assisted by Soviet surgical nurse Lyudmila Valil'yevna
Babikova, her faithful assistant and good friend.
Soviet doctor Nikolay Ivanovich Shaposhnikov, a reknown specialist in
organizing medical work, now works here in the hospital. He is a very
experienced man and he generously gives his knowledge, habits and skills to
his Afghan friends. He with pride and respect praises his colleagues. "I am
proud of Candidate of Medical Sciences Khan Aka Saida, chief of blood
transfusion station Dzhuma Kayumi and the hospital's leading surgeon Ramaki
and am happy for their successes," said Nikolay Ivanovich. "They are excellent
doctors and real revolutionary soldiers."
Yes, and here in the hospital the front line passed today. It is an
invisible front with popular Afghanistan on one side and its enemy the
counterrevolution on the other.
It is difficult to live in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Bands of
counterrevolutionaries directed from abroad are terrorizing the local population,
destroying schools and hospitals and are spreading diversion in factories and
plants. Washington has apportioned 105 million dollars for the Afghan
counterrevolution for the next fiscal year.
But the republic has a true, tested friend, its northern neighbor the Soviet
Union. In this difficult hour for the Afghan people, the Soviet Union has
come to help.
Popular Afghanistan is flourishing and spreading its wings, driving the
uninvited guests from its land. And this time is not far distant! The best
sons and daughters of the Afghan people are dreaming about this and are
bringing it closer with their very lives. And next to them in their difficult
struggle are the Soviet people.
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TASHKENT CITES PLUNDERING OF REFUGEE FUNDS IN PAKISTAN
GF121807 Tashkent International Service in Uzbek 1700 GMT 1 Jun 84
[Unattributed commentary: "The Leaders of the Enemies and the Question of
Afghan Refugees"]
[Excerpts) Dear listeners, with the help of patriotic youths, peasants, and
[word indistinct), the DRA armed forces have broken up many of the large enemy
groups. However, the enemies of the April Revolution are continuing to send
new Basmachi groups in to the DRA from foreign countries and train harmful
counterrevolutionaries and secessionists. However, the enemies of the April
Revolution have not succeeded in diverting the path chosen by the Afghan people.
It is due to this that at night time they are terrorizing the people of
villages, seeking vengeance from the local actives of the populist sovereignty,
forcibly acquiring foodstuffs and livestock products from the farmers, and
causing damage.
What is causing the continuation of this state of affairs? Western imperialist
forces and their agents are supplying funds and arms to the criminals. How-
ever, the leaders of Basmachi groups are not always succeeding in fulfilling
the expectations of their (?patrons). It has been some time now that they
have been making a greater effort to attract ordinary farmers to their ranks--
farmers who live in refugee lairs on Afghanistan's borders. In fact, they
are resorting to force in that regard. The enemies are threatening the families
of farmers who refuse to join the ranks of Basmachi groups.
The general volume of the aid extended to the Afghan refugees by a number of
international organizations, agencies, and countries totals aver $1 billion.
However, as it has been admitted by foreign press organs, the Afghans who have
been placed in refugee lairs in [words indistinct) are experiencing difficult
times in the lairs. Very little of the aid given by foreign countries is finding
its way to them. The main portion of the large funds made available in the
form of aid is (?disappearing). The funds are being channelled to refugees
through various refugee centers. But who are benefitting from the foreign.
aid in such institutions? The plunder begins in Islamabad, continues in prov-
inces bordering Afghanistan, and ends in the hands of the officials in refugee
lairs.
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The aid extended by foreign countries is first channelled to Islamabad.
Through various intrigues, the government officials there and the leaders of
Basmachi groups plunder the. major portion of the funds. The scandal related
to the ill-fated aid extended by imperialist countries supporting the Afghan
counterrevolution is a daily case. among the leaders of Basmachi groups. They
are even slandering one another with a view to plundering funds made available
for the upkeep of refugees.
All this discloses the identity of the renegades Washington and its allies
are relying on in the struggle made against the DRA. Therefore, under the
circumstances, there is no salvation for Afghan refugees in Pakistan. How-
ever, if they decide to leave [words indistinct] and return back to the home-
land, it is not always possible to realize this decision. Pakistani officials,
Basmachi centers, and their (?coliaboratora) are creating many difficulties
for such people. Special prisons are being set up in refugee lairs. Those
who refuse to participate in Basmachi .activities are being thrown into them.
Difficult tasks are assigned to those put into such prisons and those who
refuse to carry them out are killed.
Irrespective of all this, however, the return of refugees to their beloved
homeland has recently increased. The general amnesty declared by the central
government in Kabul is helping this trend.
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DRA'S RESTORATION OF PANJSHER VALLEY NOTED
LD191342 Moscow Domestic Service in Russian 0930 GMT 19 Jun 84
[Text) Boris (Zavodyan), our correspondent in the Democratic Republic of
Afghanistan, reports:
[Zavodyan) In almost every issue of the Afghan papers one can read reports
on how the situation is being normalized in the Panjaher Valley. The inhabi-
tants of these parts, isolated from-the outside world by tall mountains, have
always been downtrodden and shackled by traditional or religious prejudice.
With the victory of the April 1978 Revolution the counterrevolution has made
attempts more than once to use the geographic actuation of the Panjaher and
the traditional suspicion of the Panjaher inhabitants toward central authority
for its own self-interested goals. -Until recently a large band of counter-
revolutionaries was active there; it has been responsible for blowing up dozens
of bridges and electric-power transmission lines. But the greatest crime was
committed against the peaceful inhabitants, who were driven out to the
mountains. There they lived in caves, they froze, they starved, they suffered
sickness.
To free the population from the Basmachi's oppression, the leadership of the
Armed Forces of Afghanistan worked out an operation which was successfully
completed at the beginning of May.
As for the current situation in the Panjaher Valley, I asked (Adaf Ahim), deputy
head of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the People's
Democratic Party of Afghanistan, to ;tell ua about it.
[Begin recording, fading into translation) I have recently returned from a
trip to the Panjaher Valley, says (Adaf Ahim). The situation is being gradually
normalized there. As is known, a large detachment of volunteers formed by
the Kabul City party committee recently visited the Panjaher. Its fighters
selflessly toiled, eradicating .the damage caused by the bandits. In the
villages of the Pan}sher, schools and hospitals have been refurbished and the
dams and irrigation system cleaned by the efforts of the volunteers.
The inhabitants of the Panjaher, continues (Adaf Ahim), never knew what elec-
tricity was before. Now there is a diesel generator installed there which
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lights hundreds of Afghan homes. To aid the inhabitants of the valley, tons
of flour have been brought to the Panjsher, as well as tons of vegetable oil,
sugar, hundreds of kilograms of tea, blankets, matches, and other essential
goods. The party and the revolutionary government will also give aid in the
future to the inhabitants of the Panjsher, (Adaf Ahim) said in conclusion.
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