Sheep family. Killer children led by heroine mother

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Ovechkin family - the large family from Irkutsk, which captured the Tu-154 aircraft (tail number 85413) on March 8, 1988 in order to escape from the USSR.

background

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

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

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

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

Plane hijacking

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

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

Court

Olga Ovechkina in court

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

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

Reflection in culture

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The case of an attempted hijacking by the Ovechkin family is the loudest and most resonant in the late 80s of the last century. It was widely covered in the press, discussed in every Soviet family. Ordinary citizens were outraged not so much by the audacity of the hijackers as by their very personalities. If Ovechkin were recidivists, hardened criminals, the case would not have received such publicity.

Jazz Ensemble "Seven Simeons"

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

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

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

The desire to break out of an impoverished country of total scarcity

During the tour, a very tempting offer was made to young musicians from a London record company. "Seven Simeons" even then could ask for asylum from Great Britain and stay abroad forever, but they did not want to leave their mother and sisters in the USSR. They would never have been released abroad; Yes, and they would have persecuted at home.

Returning home after the tour, the boys offered their mother to flee the USSR. There must have been stories about beautiful life Abroad. That's when the plan to hijack the plane matured. Ninel Sergeevna not only supported this idea, but also fully supervised the preparation. The plan was implemented on a holiday - March 8, 1988.

How did the capture

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

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

When the Ovechkins, led by their mother, were on board, they waited for the intermediate landing of the plane in Kurgan for refueling. Then they demanded that a course be set for London. At first, the pilots took the demand as a joke. The situation immediately changed when sawn-off shotguns appeared in the hands of the older Ovechkins. "Simeons" threatened to blow up the plane in case of disobedience.

Outcome of the case

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

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

Ludmila, eldest daughter Ninel Sergeevna, became the guardian of her younger sisters and brothers. She also adopted a newborn niece, whom Olga gave birth to in prison. Thus ended the case of the first hijacking in the USSR in order to escape abroad.

On March 8, 1988, the Ovechkin family hijacked and attempted to hijack a Tu-154B-2 passenger plane. Diletant.ru remembers how it was.

In 1988, the Ovechkin family consisted of a mother and 11 children (father, Dmitry Dmitrievich, died on May 3, 1984), including 7 sons, who were members of the Seven Simeons family jazz ensemble and were officially listed as musicians in the Dosug city park association.

The jazz group "Seven Simeons" was considered calling card Irkutsk. Vasily was the first to come to the Palace of Pioneers to practice drums. The younger ones followed: Dmitry on the trumpet, Oleg on the clarinet and saxophone. When Sasha and Igor joined them, Vasily asked the head of the variety department of the art school, Romanenko, to work with them. Convinced that the five brothers enjoyed constant success at concerts, Romanenko took up the ensemble. And when the grown younger Misha and Seryozha began to perform with them, Vasily came up with the name “Seven Simeons” for the ensemble, after an old Russian fairy tale and seven brothers. Victory at festivals and competitions gave the brothers faith in own forces. The star in the fate of the ensemble was 85 years. Successful performances in Moscow and Kemerovo, Tbilisi and Riga attract close attention to Simeons. Director Hertz Frank is making a film about them, which is called "Seven Simeons".

During the foreign tour of the Seven Simeons ensemble in 1987 in Tokyo, members of the Ovechkin family decided to leave the Soviet Union. After returning to the USSR, the Simeons began to prepare to flee abroad.

The Ovechkins decided to hijack a plane that would fly within the Union. Dmitry Ovechkin made sawn-off shotguns from guns, and also assembled three pipe bombs, one of which was detonated in order to evaluate the effect of the explosion. He also made a double bottom in the double bass and secured weapons, bombs and a hundred rounds of ammunition there. The Ovechkins also agreed - if the escape fails, the whole family will explode.

On March 8, 1988, the Ovechkin family - Ninel and her 10 children - arrived at the airport to board the Tu-154 aircraft, which was flying along the route Irkutsk - Kurgan - Leningrad. At the time of the capture, Ninel Sergeevna Ovechkina was 51 years old, Lyudmila - 32 years old, Olga - 28, Vasily - 26, Dmitry - 24, Oleg - 21, Alexander - 19, Igor - 17, Tatiana - 14, Mikhail - 13, Ulyana - 10 and Sergey - 9 years old. The eldest daughter Lyudmila, having married, lived separately from the rest of the family and did not take part in the hijacking of the plane.

Usually, the mother only saw off her sons on tour. And their sister Olga went on trips to help on the road, to look after the younger ones. But on that day, tickets for the whole family lay at the front desk: a mother and ten children. The musicians were recognized and practically overlooked. The largest item was the double bass, the employee asked to put it on the table and limited herself to a superficial examination. At that moment, a passenger standing nearby heard a strange conversation. One of the musicians said: “They clicked!” Another interrupted him: “Shut up!” Landing was announced and at 13:30 local time the Ovechkin family boarded TU154.

During boarding, passengers were asked to be seated in the first cabin. There were enough places. There went the mother with the younger ones and Olga. The older brothers went with the tools to the second salon. Sasha and Dmitry carefully carried the double bass. The flight attendant Aleksey Dvornitsky was still surprised: “How do they play it if it is so heavy ?!” Alex then remembered that a month ago, two guys were carrying exactly the same. In mid-February, Sasha and Dmitry really flew from Leningrad to Irkutsk. They wanted to check how baggage is checked at Pulkovo airport. The brothers noticed that the double bass placed in the interscope barely extends across the width; it was enough to slightly increase its dimensions in order to avoid translucence. A massive metal pickup could also solve the second problem. Explain the presence of metal when passing through the control frame. Returning to Irkutsk, Dmitry made a clamp from a meat grinder. Other more original way it was hard to think of bringing weapons on board the aircraft. And by the time the TU 154 took off, this weapon was already on board the aircraft.

2 Capture

At 14:53, when the plane was flying in the Vologda region, the two older Ovechkin brothers got up from their seats and forbade the rest of the passengers to leave their seats, threatening them with sawn-off shotguns. At 15:01, Vasily Ovechkin handed over a note to flight attendant Irina Vasilyeva demanding to change course and land in London or another city in the UK under the threat of an aircraft explosion. At 15:15, the board reported that there was fuel left for 1 hour and 35 minutes of flight.

In accordance with the Air Code of the USSR, under the circumstances, the aircraft crew had the right to make their own decisions. In order not to put passengers at risk, the crew initially decided to fly abroad. But the closer the liner approached Leningrad, the clearer it became: it was impossible to reach the nearest Finnish or Swedish airfield. In Kurgan, the plane was refueled, but just enough to fly to Leningrad, in extreme cases - to the alternate airfield in Tallinn. If, however, to follow to Finland, then at an unknown airfield, one would have to maneuver, study approaches, and here the fuel could run out.

The situation was complicated by the fact that the Tu-154 crew had no experience and was not prepared for international flights: they did not know the location of the air corridors and the foreign flight separation system; domestic aircraft did not have the necessary handbooks on radio communications, landing approaches, etc. to catastrophic consequences.

Another problem was the “language barrier” on the Tu-154 domestic flight. English language only the navigator knew.

At 15:30, flight engineer Innokenty Stupakov went into the cabin and, as a result of negotiations, managed to explain that there was not enough fuel to fly to the UK, after which he managed to convince the terrorists to allow the plane to refuel in Finland.

3 Landing at the Veshchevo airfield. Storm

At 16:05, the aircraft landed at the Veshchevo military airfield near the Finnish border. It was announced over the loudspeaker in the cabin that the airliner was landing for refueling at the airport in the Finnish city of Kotka.

Seeing through the windows Soviet soldiers The Ovechkins realized they had been duped. The Ovechkin brothers demanded to take off immediately, tried to break down the cockpit door, threatened to start killing passengers. Dmitry Ovechkin shot and killed flight attendant Tamara Zharkaya.

To defuse the situation, the commander started the engines and asked the headquarters for permission to start moving along the runway until both capture groups in the cockpit and the luggage compartment were ready for the assault. There was no communication between the groups, the walkie-talkies were denied. Because of the noise of the engine, they communicated with the help of notes. When the plane stopped at the end of the runway to turn around, two more riot police officers with a note clung to the cockpit. The signal for the assault for both groups was to be the beginning of the movement of the aircraft.

At 19:10 the assault began. It was carried out by employees special unit patrol police service of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Leningrad Executive Committee, commanded by police lieutenant colonel S. S. Khodakov. The assault on the aircraft was carried out by a group under the command of Art. police lieutenant A. M. Lagodich from 10 people, police officers from the Vyborg GOVD were in the cordon.

One group was supposed to break into the first salon from the cab, the other into the second salon, through the hatches in the floor. In the first salon, Oleg, firing back from a double-barreled sawn-off shotgun, did not even allow the capture group to leave the cab, injuring two riot policemen. In the second cabin, unable to get inside through the hatches in the floor, because of the carpet, the capture group fired blindly. Dmitry fired back from a single-barrel sawn-off shotgun. People in horror hid behind armchairs, crawled to the floor. The salon looked completely empty. Having shot at the clip, the riot police closed and began to evacuate the wounded comrades. Oleg Ovechkin was wounded, wounded himself junior Sergei. Igor Ovechkin was hit by a bullet near the kitchen.

The whole family got together. The name was Igor. But he did not respond, he did not want to die. Excerpts from the testimony of Mikhail Ovechkin: “The brothers realized that they were surrounded and decided to shoot themselves. Dima shot himself under the chin first. Then Vasily and Oleg approached Sasha, stood around the explosive device, and Sasha set fire to it. When the explosion was heard, none of the guys were hurt, only Sasha's trousers caught fire, as well as the upholstery of the chair, and the glass of the porthole was knocked out. The fire started. Then Sasha took a sawn-off shotgun from Oleg and shot himself… When Oleg fell, his mother asked Vasya to shoot her… He shot his mother in the temple. When my mother fell, he told us to run away and shot himself.”

The explosion started the plane on fire. Flight attendants managed to open two hatches and deploy inflatable ladders. Through the other two hatches, some of the passengers in a panic jumped right onto the concrete strip.

As a result of the fire, the aircraft was completely destroyed.

As a result of the terrorist attack, out of 8 crew members and 76 passengers (including 11 Ovechkins), 9 people died: five terrorists (Ninel Ovechkina and her four eldest sons), flight attendant T.I. Zharkaya and three passengers; 19 people were injured and injured (two Ovechkins, two police officers and 15 passengers).

The remains of the Ovechkins were numbered, packed in plastic bags and taken away for examination. They buried near Vyborg, in the village of Veshchevo under the numbers.

Olga Ovechkina in court

The trial lasted 7 months. 18 volumes of the case were written with different testimonies. And on September 23, the Leningrad Regional Court ruled: “Olga Ovechkina was sentenced to 6 years in prison for the armed seizure of an aircraft with the aim of hijacking outside the USSR, Igor Ovechkin to 8 years. Four — Sergey, Ulyana, Tatyana and Mikhail — were released from criminal liability by infancy."

On March 8, 1988, the large Ovechkin family seized a passenger Tu-154 flying from Irkutsk to Leningrad, demanding to fly to London.

The Ovechkin family led a modest and quiet life. The head of the family liked to drink, and therefore 11 children were brought up by their mother, Ninel Ovechkina. After Ninel was widowed in 1984, her influence in the household increased. She noticed that her sons had musical talent, and in 1983 they organized the Seven Simeons ensemble. The efforts of the mother and sons were crowned with unprecedented success - the Simeons became a famous jazz ensemble, a documentary was made about them, the state gave the mother of many children two apartments, and the Ovechkin brothers, bypassing the competition, were admitted to the Gnessin school. However, a year later, due to constant rehearsals and touring, they dropped out of school.

Ninel Ovechkina

1987 gave the family the chance to travel to Japan to perform in front of a large audience. It was their first concert abroad, and it is possible that it was this trip that prompted the brothers to commit a terrible crime. Touring around the world, the Simeonov seven got a taste of freedom, they broke free from the shackles of a world in which there were only queues, shortages and strict control. During their time abroad, one of the brothers testified, they were offered a lucrative deal from an English record company. They were ready to stay in England without any doubt, but refused, as they could forever lose touch with their mother and sisters, because they would never have been released from Soviet Union. It was then that the Family decided to leave the hated country at all costs, and began to prepare an escape plan.

For about half a year, the family was preparing for the hijacking, working out the details and nuances. It was planned to carry explosive devices and a couple of sawn-off shotguns on board the aircraft. In order to carry weapons on the plane without hindrance, they changed the shape of the double bass case, and it would not fit on the X-ray machine. At the airport, luck smiled at them again and, since everyone knew the Ovechkin family by sight, they were not searched at all. According to official figures, the family was supposed to fly on tour to Leningrad, but they had completely different plans.

The aircraft followed the route Irkutsk - Leningrad, everything went smoothly. After landing at Kurgan for refueling, the plane took off, and the Ovechkins quickly began to operate according to a carefully worked out scheme. Through the stewardess, one of the brothers gave the pilot a note demanding to fly to London, otherwise they would blow up the plane. The pilot thought it was a joke, but when the Ovechkins took out the sawn-off shotguns and the lives of the passengers were in danger, it became clear that this was not a joke at all.

Realizing the danger of the situation, the co-pilot offered to neutralize the terrorists on their own, since they had a personal weapon with them - a Makarov pistol. But they were afraid of the consequences, and began to wait for instructions. On the ground, the KGB officers tried to negotiate with the young musicians through the pilot, but everything was in vain, the terrorists confidently wanted to achieve their goal. Soon, the ship's flight engineer Innokenty Stupakov took over the negotiations, he had to convince the criminals that the fuel was running out and refueling was necessary. The Ovechkins believed Stupakov and said that the plane would land, but only outside the USSR, and instructed the pilot to head for Finland. After some time, flight attendant Tamara Zharkaya came out to the terrorists and announced that the plane would soon land in the Finnish city of Kotka. The family was nervous, but still believed in their plan, but in the meantime the plane was actually not far from Leningrad, and the commander was going to land the ship at the Veshchevo airfield, where capture groups were already waiting for them.

The plane landed in Veshchevo at 16:05, the military began to rapidly approach the ship from all sides, and the Ovechkins realized that they had been deceived. Frightened and embittered older brother Dmitry at the same moment shot Tamara Zharkaya. The terrorists tried to storm the cockpit, but failed. When the Ovechkins saw the tanker, they let the flight engineer out to open the fuel tanks, but again they made a mistake. The refueling actually was, but served as the scenery for the unfolding spectacle from the outside: while the plane was refueling, several armed soldiers had to get on board through the tail of the plane and the window in the cockpit. The plane began to move towards the runway, and the group began to capture and neutralize the terrorists.

There was no clear plan and capture mechanism, and at that time patrol officers acted as special forces. Fighters from the cockpit were the first to start the capture, but their attempts were in vain, and all they managed to do was injure four passengers. Ovechkins were more accurate and injured opponents. The hatch from the tail of the ship opened, and the second group of fighters began to shoot at the legs of the terrorists, the invaders rebuffed them. Everything went badly for both the fighters and the Ovechkins. Witnesses say that the terrorists ran around the cabin like frightened animals and did not know what to do, but after some time Ninel gathered four sons around her. No one understood what was happening, but at this time the mother and sons said goodbye to each other.

The Ovechkin family's backup plan was suicide. They set fire to an improvised explosive device, and a moment later there was an explosion in which only one of the brothers died. Ninel told her eldest son Vasily to shoot her, which he immediately did. Then Dmitry fell under the barrel of a sawn-off shotgun, then Oleg. One of the brothers did not want to lose his life, and hid in the toilet. He understood: if his brother finds him, he will be finished. But Vasily did not have time to look for his brother. After killing Oleg, he pointed the muzzle of the sawn-off shotgun at himself and fired. After that, the capture group was able to enter the salon and began to evacuate people.

On March 8, 1988, seven civilians and a flight attendant died in this tragedy, 15 people were injured. Five of the seven Ovechkins died.

After the trial, the younger children were placed in the care of their sister Lyudmila, who was not involved in the terrorist act and did not know anything about the escape plan.

17-year-old Igor, who was hiding from his brother, was sentenced to 8 years, and his sister Olga (28) was sentenced to 6 years, both served half the term.

The further fates of Olga and Igor did not work out: Igor was detained for drug use, and he died in a pre-trial detention center, Olga drank herself and was killed by her roommate.

Two of Ninel's children became disabled, and the fate of the others is unknown.

A few years after the Ovechkins attempted to leave the country, the Scoop broke up. Perhaps, knowing this, Ninel would not have decided on such a desperate act and saved the lives of her children.

On March 8, 1988, a bloody drama broke out at the Veshchevo military airfield, located near the Soviet-Finnish border. The family of musicians named Ovechkin, who hijacked the liner, demanded a flight abroad. What made the family, which enjoyed the favor and support of party officials, decide on such a crazy step? Life remembered the story that shook the Soviet Union exactly 30 years ago.

The Ovechkins, by the standards of the USSR of that time, were a very unusual family - 11 children in a cell of society was a huge rarity even then. Ninel Ovechkina, the head of the family, quite officially bore the title of mother-heroine and had the appropriate benefits.

The Ovechkins had 7 boys and 4 girls. Moreover, the difference between the older and younger children was 17 years. Ninel gave birth to her last child when she was over forty. The father of the family was distinguished by a bad temper and a penchant for drinking alcohol. In this state, he sometimes threatened with a close gun. Later, when the eldest sons grew up, they were beaten by them as part of self-defense. In 1984 he died.

Ninel Ovechkina cannot be called a darling of fate. Her father died at the front, her mother was shot dead by a watchman when she tried to dig up a few potatoes on a collective farm field during famine war times. At the age of 6, Ninel was orphaned and brought up in an orphanage. Shortly before adulthood, he took her to him cousin who was older than her. And soon she got married.

In the future, Ninel worked as a saleswoman in wine and vodka stores, sometimes she traded in the market. She also oriented all her daughters to trade, while her sons early age occupied with music.

In fact, Ninel was the head of the family even with her living husband, who often drank. The main concerns for the arrangement of children lay on her shoulders. All Ovechkin's neighbors later noted that she was a very demanding woman, but by no means cruel. She never raised her voice to the children, but at the same time her orders were carried out implicitly.

The Ovechkins kept themselves apart, did not invite anyone to visit, did not go to anyone themselves. But none of the children sat idle, free time they either worked in the garden or practiced playing on musical instruments. By the standards of the provincial urban outskirts of the 80s, they were, in general, a prosperous family. Bad companies and alcohol lay in wait for teenagers from such families at every turn. But at the Ovechkins, no one walked with bad companies, did not get into the police and did not drink.

"Seven Simeons"

Three older brothers have been studying at the music school since childhood. However, the idea of ​​creating a family musical ensemble arose after the most younger sons Ovechkina. It is believed that the eldest of the brothers, Vasily, was the first to propose creating an ensemble, who shared the idea with the teacher. The name was taken from one of the children's fairy tales, which was recently read by one of the younger Ovechkins. At the time of the group's creation, the eldest of the brothers was 21 years old, and the youngest two were 8 and 4 years old. At the same time, according to the teachers, Mikhail, one of the younger brothers, was really a real talent and showed great promise.

The peculiarity of the ensemble was that each of the brothers played his own instrument. 21-year-old Vasily on drums, 19-year-old Dmitry on trumpet, 16-year-old Oleg on saxophone, 14-year-old Alexander on double bass, 12-year-old Igor on piano (according to the characteristics of teachers, he was the only one of the brothers who had absolute ear for music and was considered the main talent of the group along with Mikhail), 8-year-old Mikhail on trombone and 4-year-old Sergey on banjo.

The youngest of the Ovechkin brothers plays the banjo. Photo: © RIA Novosti / Petr Malinovsky

Such family ensembles were very popular in their time. Western countries, but in the USSR they were still a curiosity. Of course, the smallest members of the group were the main stars of the team. Perhaps, from a musical point of view, "Seven Simeons" did not stand out against the background of many other ensembles, but their unusual composition attracted attention and distinguished them from other VIA and jazz bands.

As was often the case in the Soviet Union, regional leadership gave them protection. In those days, many secretaries of regional committees or district committees patronized local talents in order to brag to Moscow, and at the same time glorify the region throughout the country. And the seven musician brothers were perfect for that.

It is unlikely that without this support, "Simeons" could have been promoted within the framework of the Soviet Union. They were helped with venues, organized performances at major and popular festivals. Young musicians were even invited to shoot the most popular TV show "Wider Circle". They performed at the XII International Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow in 1985. The "Seven Simeons" gained some notoriety, now performing for foreign delegations at the famous Sovincenter, also known as the "Hammer Center". They helped two older brothers with admission to the prestigious Gnesinka.

Frequent guests of the Ovechkins were journalists who interviewed them and filmed about unusual family movies. The Irkutsk leadership, in gratitude for the glorification of the region, provided the family with two neighboring three-room apartments - in addition to the house she had.

In general, by Soviet standards, the Ovechkins lived quite well. Of course, they were not millionaires, and they cannot be called rich people, but they did not beg. In 1987, they even organized foreign tours in Japan. It was very difficult for musicians (if they were not world-famous classical musicians) to go on tour to a capitalist country at that time. And it is absolutely impossible without the active assistance of state bodies. But just then, perestroika began and the USSR began to lift the curtain. The Simeons were sent to Japan as a Soviet curiosity.

In Japan, they experienced a real culture shock. The assortment of stores in the capitalist countries has always amazed Soviet citizens, but here the youth and inexperience of the musicians became additional factors. In addition, the brothers managed to notice that labor in the capitalist countries is paid at completely different rates. After hearing about the sky-high fees of famous jazzmen, they began to dream of tens of thousands of dollars for a performance. In a word, the young Ovechkins began a real psychosis, caused by the desire to stay in a capitalist country at all costs.

In principle, the brothers could have stayed in Japan without any problems. Whoever wanted to run away while on tour abroad always found a way to do it. In addition, it was 1987 in the yard, they were not following the guest performers so strictly, and the Simeons were not first-rank stars in the USSR. Of course, their escape would be unpleasant, but nothing more.

However, the brothers did not take advantage of the opportunity, not wanting to leave the family. After all, all the sisters remained in the USSR, and in the Ovechkin family, family ties have always been placed above all else. At the family council, it was decided: if they run to a capitalist country, then all together.

capture

In any case, the option of escaping during foreign tours fell away, since the whole family did not go on them. The sisters were not included in the ensemble and could not travel with him. It was also impossible to simply emigrate, such an option simply did not exist in the USSR (only citizens of Jewish nationality could repatriate, but this was not always easy). The family did not even think about contacting the OVIR.

There was only one option left - to break through with a fight. That is, to seize the plane, take passengers hostage and demand to fly to capitalist country. Although there is a popular belief that Ninel Ovechkina was the mastermind and organizer of the escape, all the surviving children later claimed that this was not the case. The main initiator of the escape was the third oldest brother - Oleg. He was supported by the rest of the older brothers, followed by his mother. Of course, if she had not approved the idea, then there would have been no theft, the brothers would not have dared to act contrary to her word.

It is worth noting that the Ovechkins had a somewhat misconception about hijacking, as did most other Soviet air pirates. In fact, even if the hijackers were lucky not to die during the assault and not fall into the hands of law enforcement officers (which happened most often) and still get to the coveted abroad, they were greeted there by no means with bread and salt. All countries in the world considered air piracy a serious crime, and the hijackers were waiting for a prison term, regardless of their political beliefs and aspirations. So, even if the Ovechkins' plan had succeeded, they would have been in serious trouble. Adult family members would most likely end up behind bars, and the youngest would be given to guardians.

However, the escape of the Ovechkins would have failed in any case, since they chose the wrong plane for this (more on that later). Nevertheless, they prepared for the crime seriously. sold out most of their belongings, bought elegant suits, got several guns through acquaintances - under the pretext of a desire to hunt. The band's sound engineer helped them with ammunition and gunpowder. The brothers also made some weak explosive devices. Nevertheless, these were real bombs, not dummies - the Ovechkins were extremely serious.

It was decided to hide the weapon in a double bass case. During the tour, they noticed that the case does not fit into the frames of introscopes at airports and is allowed to be carried with little or no inspection. Especially since we are talking about children. The case was equipped with a second bottom, in which the brothers put sawn-off shotguns made from guns and homemade bombs.

At the family council, it was decided that all 11 family members would flee abroad. The twelfth - the eldest daughter Lyudmila - was already married by that time and had long lived her life separately from her family.

On March 8, 1988, the Ovechkins, together with their mother, boarded a Tu-154 aircraft flying along the route Irkutsk - Kurgan - Leningrad. As expected, there were no problems during the search, the security officers were satisfied that they asked to open the case, and the double bottom was not noticed.

On board, in addition to the Ovechkins, there were 65 more passengers. After refueling in Kurgan, when the plane gained altitude, one of the older brothers handed the flight attendant Vasilyeva a note addressed to the crew commander. It contained a demand to immediately change course and fly to London, otherwise they threatened to blow up the plane.

While the foreman of the flight attendants conveyed the message to the captain of the ship, the Ovechkins staged a small traffic jam at the toilet in the tail section of the aircraft, after which they took out weapons and announced to the passengers that they were now hostages.

The commander of the aircraft, in general, was not going to persist and agreed to fulfill the requirements of the criminals so as not to put the lives of passengers at risk. But their wish was unfulfilled for two reasons. Firstly, the aircraft's fuel was only enough for a flight to Leningrad. At best, one could reach Helsinki, but certainly not London. Secondly, the crew of the plane had no experience in international flights. The pilots simply did not know the routes and air corridors in other countries and, most importantly, did not speak English. From the outside, it would look like this: an unknown aircraft invaded Finnish airspace, behaves inappropriately, does not respond to requests.

The flight engineer went to the cabin to convince the crime family of the need to change the route. He was able to explain very clearly that the plane would certainly not make it to London, but it was possible to land it in Finland. On reflection, the Ovechkins agreed to a change in course.

The pilots turned to ground services for instructions. The authorities on the ground demanded, under the guise of Finland, to land the plane at the Veshchevo military airfield and began to prepare an assault.

The commander announced that the plane would now land in Finland, but the aircraft landed at a Soviet airport. However, the Ovechkins immediately realized that they had been tricked after seeing Russian inscriptions on a fuel tanker. They tried to break into the cockpit by breaking down its door and threatening to start killing the hostages.

With great difficulty, the flight attendants managed to convince the Ovechkins that refueling would now be carried out and the plane would fly further. In hysterics, Dmitry Ovechkin shot one of the flight attendants. But in the end, the criminals took control of themselves for a while and heard arguments about the need to refuel.

Nevertheless, the tension was the highest. Ground services deliberately played for time, waiting for the arrival of an assault group of Leningrad policemen. The first tanker arrived only an hour after landing. But the pilots asked for a second. While he was driving, while filling the tanks, another hour passed. The Ovechkins at that time were on edge and were about to break loose, every now and then one of the older brothers began to rush around the cabin, threatening to start shooting the hostages if the plane did not immediately take off.

Failed Assault

Finally, the plane was refueled, but still did not budge. The Ovechkins again began to get nervous and put forward an ultimatum: if the plane does not take off in five minutes, the passengers will not be in trouble. The ship's captain convinced them that a tractor was about to arrive to tow them to the runway. Five minutes pass, ten, fifteen, the tractor does not appear, but the Ovechkins have not yet carried out their threat.

In the meantime, under the cover of refueling the aircraft, two armed policemen made their way into the cockpit unnoticed. Finally, a tractor pulls up, the plane moves off. At the same moment, police officers burst into the salon.

Apparently, they thought that the Ovechkins, due to their youth, would not dare to use weapons and that they could be easily neutralized. But they miscalculated. An insane firing started. The policemen, having received an unexpected rebuff, began to shoot blindly at the tail section of the aircraft. At the same time, they did not make out who they were shooting at, and their bullets flew not at the Ovechkins, but at the passengers, four of whom received gunshot wounds. Only by incredible luck none of them died.

While the shootout was going on, help arrived to the policemen, who tried to break through the hatch in the tail section. The Ovechkins fired back, wounding two policemen (the wounds were not life-threatening), but they were running out of ammunition, which they had only in small quantities. Realizing that their escape plan had failed, they decided to commit suicide. One of the sisters was sent to get out of the plane with underage participants in the attack, because they were still beyond jurisdiction.

The older brothers, with the exception of 17-year-old Igor (who did not want to die and hid, taking advantage of the turmoil), gathered in the tail section to blow themselves up. However, homemade bombs were too weak and only set the cabin on fire. Then the elder brothers Vasily (26 years old), Dmitry (24 years old), Oleg (21 years old) and Alexander (19 years old) shot themselves. However, some sources state that the last one died as a result of the explosion. Previously, one of the brothers shot and killed the mother on her orders.

Because of the smoke, passengers rushed out of the plane, saving their lives. But as soon as they jumped out of the trap, policemen grabbed them on the ground and began to beat them severely. Later, they justified themselves by the fact that fugitive terrorists could be among the passengers, so it was decided to harshly arrest everyone.

As a result of the unsuccessful assault, three passengers died, suffocated by smoke. Another victim, stewardess Tamara Zharkaya, was killed by the Ovechkins. The remaining five dead are four older brothers and Ninel Ovechkina, who committed suicide. As a result of shooting, jumping from a height and a brutal detention on the ground, 15 passengers were injured and injured. Also, when trying to get out of the plane, 9-year-old Sergei Ovechkin was shot in the leg. There were two wounded on the side of the militiamen.

Such catastrophic losses as a result of the assault are explained by the fact that the capture group consisted of ordinary policemen who were completely unprepared for such operations. It was in pure form improvisation. In the USSR, there was a group "Alpha", prepared specifically for similar situations. And, when in 1983 a group of Georgian golden youth tried to hijack a plane abroad, as a result of the competent actions of Alpha, not a single passenger was injured during the assault. However, she was in Moscow, and while she was flying to Veshchevo, the assault had already begun by the police. When the fighters elite unit arrived at the place, the plane was already burning down.

The fact that the assault was carried out very unsuccessfully was recognized even at that time. However, it is not the policemen who are to blame for this, who in such situations could hardly have jumped above their heads, but those who gave the order to use them. Of course, "Alpha", most likely, would have coped with the invaders of the ship much more professionally and with fewer victims. The failed assault at that time caused even more resonance than the Ovechkins' crime itself.

Further fate

Of the six surviving Ovechkins, only two have reached the age of criminal responsibility. 17-year-old Igor and 28-year-old Olga, who at that time was expecting a child. They were found guilty and sentenced to 8 and 6 years in prison respectively.

The fate of almost all the surviving family members was very tragic. Igor continued to study music in the colony, created a prison orchestra. After more than four years in prison, he was released early. After that, he worked as a musician in various restaurants, drank a lot, and later became addicted to drugs. After the release of the film "Mom" in 1999, based on their story, he threatened to sue, but soon he himself ended up behind bars and died in a pre-trial detention center under unclear circumstances.

Olga was released from prison after four years. She worked as a saleswoman in the market, also had problems with alcohol. At the beginning of the 2000s, she got along with a certain tire shop worker named Vitaliy Mikhalenya, who killed her in a drunken stupor. This happened in 2004. The killer was sentenced to 9 years in prison.

Olga Ovechkina in court. Photo: © wikipedia.org

The youngest of the Ovechkins, Sergei, who was 9 years old at the time of the hijacking, tried three times to enter a music school in his hometown, but could not. According to him, he was refused because of his surname, but the teachers later assured journalists that it was all about lack of talent. For some time he worked as a musician in restaurants, at the very end of the 90s he "disappeared from the radar" and no longer made himself felt.

Ulyana, who was 10 years old at the time of the capture, also did not settle down in life. She had problems with alcohol, made attempts to settle scores with life. After one of these attempts, when she threw herself under a car, she became disabled.

Tatyana (aged 14 at the time of capture) married and lived ordinary life. Occasionally met with journalists.

The only one who managed to fulfill his family dream and go abroad was Mikhail, who was considered the most talented member of the ensemble (by the way, his classmate at the Irkutsk Art School was the world-famous Denis Matsuev, who also noted Mikhail's undoubted talent). He moved to St. Petersburg, graduated from the Institute of Culture, collaborated with many jazz bands. At the beginning of the 2000s, he moved to Spain, where he became a member of the fairly well-known jazz band Jinx Jazz Band, famous for its street performances in Barcelona. A few years ago, he suffered a stroke, after which he lost the opportunity to play and lives in a local nursing home.

The most elder sister, Lyudmila, who did not participate in the capture and did not even know about it, took over the upbringing of the remaining younger brothers and sisters, as well as Olga's child. Currently retired.

Just three years after the bloody events, the iron curtain collapsed and leaving the country became free. However, it is unlikely that Ovechkin would have been able to become stars and receive huge fees for performances in Western countries. If in the USSR they were provided state support as a provincial curiosity (and at the same time they were not pop stars anyway), then in Western countries such family ensembles could not surprise anyone. Rare club gigs and little interest in the fugitives in the first few months - that's the maximum that could be counted on. And this is provided that they managed to escape without committing crimes. But, since the Ovechkins hijacked a plane to break out to the West, upon arrival at their desired destination, the older family members would almost certainly have been waiting for a prison instead of concert halls.