Today, representatives of the relatives of tourists from Igor Dyatlov's group, whose members were found dead in 1959 near the Ural mountain Kholatchakhl, called a press conference, at which they spoke in detail about the appeal to the ICR, the Prosecutor General's Office and the President of the Russian Federation with a demand to initiate a new criminal case into the murder of tourists … The appeal was also signed by Igor's sister Tatyana Perminova. “60 years have passed. Can you imagine what position we are in, because it is clear that the relatives feel the tragedy stronger and deeper than everyone who was associated with the guys. Uncertainty gives rise to a lot of ridiculous and offensive versions for our relatives. We believe that the ICR should initiate a case and put an end to this whole situation,”she explained the need for an appeal.
After the press conference, Perminova told the Znak.com reporter what she thinks about all the more or less official versions of the incident, which version she adheres to herself and why, in her opinion, the power structures paid attention to the tragedy of the tour group only now - after 60 years of silence.
Tatyana Alekseevna, how do you feel about the initial version of the investigation, which indicated that the travelers became victims of "force majeure circumstances"?
- What is “force majeure”? This is something fantastic. It's amazing how they came up with a phrase so magical, [that there was] some kind of "irresistible force." [There were] specific conditions, specific mountains, specific, very professional people, strong, educated, knowledgeable, experienced. And suddenly - some kind of "irresistible force", like a UFO flew in. This is just stupid!
But, apparently, they had no way out, they had to write something, because it seems that from some materials it is clear that the autopsy was carried out - there was a terrible, detailed description of the injuries. It seems that the investigators were working - and suddenly such a conclusion! Why? Because it was necessary, obviously, to quickly crumple this [case], and even more so from the testimony of those people who were in search, it is clear that there was a command [from above]. Of course, it was felt that there was a strong team from above.
Our parents tried to achieve [the truth] in every possible way, [walked] to all offices, from the Regional Party Committee to the investigation, the prosecutor's office. Moreover, Igor's parents, my parents, because the burden on them was even greater, because he was the leader, he was responsible for this group, for the entire trip. And imagine - behold, they were told: everyone, goodbye, shut up.
This year, the prosecutor's office again began checking, and after that they seemed to have denied many versions, leaving only the natural causes of death (the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation announced the resumption of the investigation on February 1 this year, 60 years after the tragedy. The priority of the versions of the investigation: avalanche, snow slab (small avalanche) and hurricane - ed.). What do you think about it?
- To everyone, probably, who is on this topic, who conducted research, I am not talking about fantastic stupid versions, [obviously] this is impossible. Who was in these mountains - I, of course, was not - judging by the photographs, by the frames … What kind of avalanches are there? Snow board - there must also be conditions [for it]. Hurricane? And what, what a hurricane. The same [doctor of sciences, ex-head of the Foundation for the memory of the victims Peter] Bartholomew said that when they were in 1958 in the subpolar Urals, it was much worse there. They could not, you know, for no reason at all get such injuries … Their death was terrible, heavy.
Promotional video:
During the press conference, you mentioned that in your family they “tried not to talk about the reasons for the death of the tour group,” but at the same time among the household members there was an understanding that “it was connected with the military”. Do you personally also adhere to this version?
- I believe that it was not without it. Moreover, the time was like this: new weapons, and space, and so on. This is quite real, there is nothing like that. Disasters happen. But then it was immediately said by the parents, there was 100% certainty that the military was involved.
Igor Dyatlov.
The parents wanted to receive pensions, because everyone was already old, on the occasion of the fact that they had lost their children. It's okay with us, we had a big family. And for some it was really the only breadwinner. They approached the military for pensions. Of course, [in response] silence.
You also stated that in the times of the USSR the authorities told your relatives “you will never know anything”. Do you remember where you answered exactly that?
- I can't say, dad didn't say that. But they were in all the offices. I was once told by my cousin, with whom he (father - ed.) Shared. In one of the offices he was asked: "Are you a member of the party?" Apparently, they wanted to say something more. He said no, since he was not a party member. He was told that they could not say anything then. Obviously it was a level, a state secret, not a state secret.
Many years have passed since the death, and all this time you, your relatives, have been trying to achieve the truth. And only now, this year, the prosecutor's office is dusting off the case and starting some kind of verification. What do you think is connected with what?
- Too much publicity. Look, so many people are interested in this topic, even abroad. Although, it would seem, what is the ordinary death of tourists, they die regularly, there are a lot of such cases. And suddenly there was such interest in this topic. So it’s not without reason. I think it's still because of interest. And some studies seem to me very interesting and detailed, meticulous. Maybe they think that someone will get to the bottom of the truth in the end? There must be some reason. It is foolish to think that they just ran barefoot somewhere, lay down and froze.
Dyatlov's group during the last campaign.
But there was a resonance for many years, almost from zero. Why did the security forces get down to business now?
- I think the time has come another. Now you can say a lot, you can learn a lot. Little is hidden. We understand that there has always been a state secret related to the country's defense. All this is absolutely clear, no one even argues. But even so, tell me what happened there. An accident - and an accident. And then the unknown gives rise to crazy versions and rumors - it's awful so.
Can you remember 1959? How old were you then and how did you know what happened? - Tatiana Perminova was already asked by other fellow journalists
- I was 12 years old. Our family had four children, an older brother in 1930, then Igor in 1936, then a sister in 1938 and I in 1947. And so, we lived in our own house. My sister also studied at UPI, also at the radio faculty. She was two years younger than Igor. And the elder brother had already graduated from the institute and also lived with us in this house.
How did I know? I literally remember that it was soon to be March 8th. I was at home, I remember preparing a present for my mother - I was embroidering a waffle towel with a cross. The phone rang. I picked up the phone because I was closer to the phone. A male voice said, “Girl, are there any adults at home? Transfer the phone. My brother answered the phone. And he was told that Gosya had died. We, all relatives, called him Gosya, because his grandmother, mother's mother, she could not pronounce the name Igor.
From that moment on, the whole confusion had already begun. For a long time I did not see my parents at home, because there were trips - to Ivdel, and there, and here. I was not at the funeral, I was not attracted, it was simply not up to me.
Our city was small, and naturally, my father and mother were famous people at their factory. Everything quickly spread throughout the city. For several days I could not go to school, because there was horror all around, questions about what happened there. And the first rumors were that some mysterious Mansi had killed. I knew who the Mansi were - there were photographs. They went hiking and [met] these people. But it was creepy.
Our family was not very worried about Igor, because shortly before the tragedy he sent a postcard home from Ivdel. I wrote that he will be in Sverdlovsk on the 15th and immediately after leaving for Penza for pre-graduation practice. This card also asked his sister to bring him linen and so on. That is, he promised not to come home, so somehow we weren't worried. We were confident. There have been delays from the campaigns, this is a completely normal situation. And, of course, no one could have imagined such a [ending]. It was not the most difficult trip, these are not the most difficult circumstances. It's stupid that such healthy, strong guys - and suddenly ran, for no reason, they lay down and froze.
How has the life of your family changed after the incident?
- People understood that it was impossible to stir up the topic. It was so hard that we didn't even talk about it. We talked about how good he was, my mother always even said that if he were alive, he would definitely be connected with space. Because the head was bright and the hands were golden. There were great hopes.
In 1992, [the first] materials [about the death of the group] began to be published. Even when I saw it in the newspapers, I didn’t want to show it to her, because it was too hard. And yet someone gave her a newspaper, and she read everything, experienced this horror again from beginning to end. She was a very strong person, she never cried or showed her tears to people. But for the rest of her life, she reproached herself for giving permission for this last campaign. I remember it well, he asked, he was not alone, with the guys. I asked for permission, because this is the last trip, we are graduating from the institute, everything is already working. The latter is so the latter.
***
The last campaign of Igor Dyatlov's group was dedicated to the XXI Congress of the CPSU. It was planned that in 15 days the participants of the hike would ski 300 kilometers along the mountain-taiga part of the north of the Sverdlovsk region and climb two peaks: mountains Otorten and Oyka-Chakur.
Initially, there were ten participants in the campaign: the leader of the campaign, a fifth-year student of the radio faculty of the UPI Igor Dyatlov, his classmate Zinaida Kolmogorova, a graduate of the UPI and at that time an employee of the closed SverdNIIkhimmash Rustem Slobodin, a fourth-year student of the radio faculty of the UPI Yuri Doroshenko, engineer of the Mayak plant Georgy Krivonischenko, a graduate of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the UPI Nikolai Thibault-Brignolle, a fourth-year student of the same faculty Lyudmila Dubinina, a war veteran, an instructor at the Kourovka camp site Semyon Zolotarev, a fourth-year student of the UPI Physics and Technology Department Alexander Kolevatov, a fourth-year student of the Faculty of Engineering and Economics of the UPI Yuri Yudin. But in the end, the latter felt unwell and left the route after the group reached the abandoned village of 2nd Severny.