“Altar of Victory” in Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve assembled … winners!

The heroes of the Great Patriotic War were remembered in the conference hall of the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve on the threshold of Victory Day. Valery Gostinshchikov, member of the Union of Russian Writers, honorary veteran of the intelligence service of the air-borne troops and the Ministry of the Interior, assembled special forces soldiers and men who served in the air-borne troops. He reminded once again of the Vyazma Airborne Operation and told how the future victory had been forged under the extreme conditions of winter in 1941-1942.

Young men who had just returned from Syria became guests of the event “Altar of Victory”. They didn’t sit in the hall listening to the performers. They told about the war on the stage! They did it with the help of songs!

Vyacheslav Korneev participated in both Chechen campaigns, in the military operations in Ossetia, Abkhazia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Donbas, the Syrian Arab Republic. He was seriously wounded to the head in the last military operation in winter 2017. “First I was operated on in Syria, at the Khmeimim airbase, and later at the Vishnevsky Hospital”, said the legendary veteran of the intelligence service. “My compulsory military service began in 1994. I served in the infantry forces and participated in the war at once… In the combat assault of Grozny. We accepted the first fight on January 7, 1995. On Friday, January 13, only nine soldiers out of 22 in my platoon were available for duty. It was decisive of my fate.

While I served in the army, my parents moved from a town in the Murmansk region to the country and I had to go there after demobilization. I understood that it was not my place when I saw revelry, debauchery and drug abuse there. The only right thing to do was to return to the army. I met with intelligence officers of the 45th regiment at the first war and remembering them I knew that I wanted to be there. The regiment commander greeted me with the following words, “You are certainly a good guy. You have a medal for valour, but we don’t take people from outside. Get all kinds of allowances in the 106th division and we will transfer you from it”.

Vyacheslav Korneev heard the same question in the separate reconnaissance company, “How we can accept you if we have a very tough unit. First serve in the regimental reconnaissance”. It took the future senior warrant officer only one year to be transferred to the 45th regiment upon the recommendation of the deputy chief for intelligence. Later on he served in it during 10 years!

He took part in a lot of very important operations of the special forces of the air-borne troops. When he got an injury that impeded his further service, he couldn’t stand aside and started to help soldiers with word! The special forces officer with the call sing “Leshy (Wood Spirit)” composes songs to his own verse. Answering the question how he began to write poetry, Vyacheslav said, “I just wanted to tell everybody what I had to go through in my life. Besides, I had a friend who was a singer-songwriter of war songs – his name was Vitaly Leonov. We communicated a lot and once I thought why not to try. And I did it”.

Vyacheslav Korneev was contused twice, received a shell fragment wound to the leg in 1995 and a penetrating eye injury (mine-blast trauma) this year. “I thank the helicopter pilots who turned out to be near me on February 10”, remembered Vyacheslav. “They picked me up. If I had to wait machines from the Khmeimim airbase, I would lose my eye”.

But not only medical assistance provided on time helped the soldier to regain his footing. Like during the Great Patriotic War, Katyusha helped him to win. A sweetheart is a gun that is stronger than any hardship. Ekaterina Stelmakh, ballet dancer performing in the Mariinsky Theatre, the Mikhailovsky Theatre and the Alexandrinsky Theatre, stayed with Vyacheslav at the hospital during more than a month. “It wasn’t easy”, said Ekaterina. “First he couldn’t even stand up, and then was in a wheelchair. He had to go through many difficulties. Nevertheless, the doctors said that I was a good influence on him. And soon he regained feet! We coped with everything!”

The slender 22-year-old girl wasn’t afraid of anything. She went from the hospital to Syria to perform for soldiers, to bolster morale and to thank them for her beloved man. “I dedicated the number “Flamenco” to Slava and wanted to present it right at the base. I was already included into the list of performers, but he was wounded. I didn’t cancel my trip to Syria. I performed there and met with the doctors who saved Vyacheslav. Some singers had a sore throat on the day of the concert and they had to go to a medical station where I managed to make acquaintance with the surgeon-in-chief. It was so pleasant when he assembled his team! They said that it was for the first time when a girl came to the position to pick up her beloved man. I gave them discs with Slava’s songs, looked at the bed where he was lying and thanked everybody who saved him once again”.

The young girl has a great deal of personality and not only because she is a ballet dancer and has got used to work on herself a lot (she graduated from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet), it is a part of her DNA. Ekaterina Stelmakh is a granddaughter of Vladimir Vasilievich Novikov, Doctor of Engineering Science, professor, academician, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Engineering, laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation. He participated in the development of the intercontinental ballistic missiles “Topol-M” and “Satana-300”. Ekaterina Stelmakh listed the achievements of her beloved relative, “He is the author of the first and unique textbook in microelectronics in Russia and 155 research papers, the chief designer of functional devices of the USSR Ministry of Radio Industry. He led development of methods of functional devices design, made a high variety of these articles for unmanned flying machines, the S-300 and the Tor M1 air defence missile systems, the aerial photography system “Open Sky”, air traffic control equipment, airborne radars. I am proud of my grandfather because he has great human qualities along with his intellectual abilities! Thanks to such persons like my grandfather, we can have a peaceful sleep because the air defence of our country is at the highest pitch!”

Vyacheslav Korneev and Ekaterina Stelmakh perform not only on the concert venues, but also on the military training areas. They will celebrate Victory Day in Syria this year. They will present a new concert program there.

Nikolay Tsvetkov, famous singer-songwriter from Cherepovets, introduced his creative activity on the stage of the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve on that day. He sang all familiar songs together with the audience. Not only artists, but also soldiers who served in the air-borne troops once came to the stage and sang “Victory Day”. Having heard the first notes of the composition, spectators stood up and started to sing all together applauding each other and feeling that very “joy in the eyes”.