Soviet citizens knew for sure that in the USSR there are no and cannot be gangsters, which means that there are no bank robberies. Even hardened criminals did not think about robbing the State Bank's cash vaults. And nevertheless, in 1977 the unthinkable happened - the attackers encroached on the holy of holies of the Soviet financial system …
This is how it was …
Criminal talent
Cousins Nikolai and Felix Kalachyan were very different. Nikolai ran away from home in the fourth grade, where his exhausted mother spent her last money on treating his father, who was dying of cancer. The boy joined a gypsy camp, where he traded in drug trafficking, then worked as a scavenger.
As a result, the entire education of Nikolai Kalachyan was limited to elementary school and the profession of a turner acquired later. But at the same time he possessed extraordinary intellectual abilities and knew how to subordinate people to his influence.
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Felix and Nikolay Kalachyan.
Gathering a group of peers, Kalachyan incited them to rob a savings bank. This was done in a rather original way - the criminals entered the room outside of working hours, making a hole in the wall. They managed to steal several thousand rubles, but the police failed to find the intruders.
Nikolai quickly let the money he received in restaurants and decided for himself that he would no longer work for a penny. New criminal plans began to appear in his head, but Nikolai's former accomplices did not suit him - he needed a person who was physically strong, capable of doing what others could not do.
Such a person turned out to be his cousin, Felix Kalachyan. Felix was not at all like a relative. A modest and hardworking guy, he never thought of a criminal path. He married early, had two children and lived with his family in Leninakan.
But the money for a normal existence, despite all the efforts of Felix, was not enough. From time to time he went to work in Yerevan, where once he was invited by Nikolai for a serious conversation.
He knew that nature generously endowed Felix with physical data - he was extremely strong and flexible. Some of the tricks that Felix Kalachyan performed with ease were beyond the power of even circus performers. Sometimes, on a bet, he could sag, holding on with one hand, for more than an hour.
Such qualities of a brother were very much needed by Nikolai Kalachyan. At first, Felix with horror rejected the offer to engage in theft, but Nikolai knew what to put pressure on: "Don't you want your family to get out of poverty?" Having heard such an argument, Felix Kalachyan agreed.
Theft of previously stolen
The first act of the family criminal duo was to rob a manufactured goods store. Nikolai was the brain of the operation, and Felix was the executor. Having dismantled the wall, he stole the scarce tape recorders from the store, taking the loot on a cart.
Despite the fact that the goods were sold at a cheap price, they managed to earn 15 thousand rubles - at that time, this money could have bought two Zhiguli cars at the state price.
But the most surprising thing was that no one was going to look for the thieves - the store was working as before, and no one said anything about a major theft. Nikolai Kalachyan realized that the stolen tape recorders were "leftist" and the store director was afraid that if the case was made public, not only the kidnappers, but himself would go to jail.
Felix Kalachyan was happy - what his brother promised him came true. He sent part of the money to his family in Leninakan, and he and his brother went to a revelry in Moscow.
The luxurious life “ate up” the money very quickly, and soon Nikolai began to reflect on a larger matter - he decided to rob the State Bank no less.
Morally unstable Komsomol member
Modern cash vaults of the State Bank are impregnable fortresses with dozens of levels of protection up to seismic sensors. In the USSR, there was nothing like this, since it was believed that this was not necessary.
Of course, there was a police guard in the building of the State Bank of the Armenian SSR in Yerevan, however, as it turned out, it could be bypassed.
Zaven Baghdasaryan, who worked in this institution, dedicated Nikolai Kalachyan to the details of how the security system is arranged and where the money is kept. The Komsomol activist, who was characterized positively from all sides, apparently had a clouded mind after visiting the bank vault, where he was admitted as a member of the banknote counting commission.
As Baghdasaryan said, the depository simultaneously contained bills worth up to 100 million Soviet rubles. To contemplate this inconceivable mountain of money with a salary of 85 rubles a month turned out to be beyond Baghdasaryan's mental strength, and he began to think about theft. On this basis, he came to terms with Nikolai Kalachyan.
The cash vault in the State Bank was located on the second floor, where bills were laid out on ordinary shelves in a room without windows - it was considered unnecessary to use safes for this.
But how do you get into this room? It turned out that there is a staff rest room directly above it. And to the wall of the State Bank building is adjacent to a residential building, which has a common wall with the bank at the level of one floor.
The super robbery plan was developed for five months
The plan of the robbery Nikolai Kalachyan developed for several months, thinking over everything to the smallest detail. Felix, who was traditionally assigned the role of the performer, was supposed to enter the building on Friday so that the attackers had as much time as possible before the theft was discovered.
It was assumed that Felix would first break through the common wall of buildings, get inside, then break through the floor in the break room, go down to the vault and carry away as much money from there.
Nikolay Kalachyan (left), Felix Kalachyan (right), Vladimir Kuznetsov (bottom).
Nikolai Kalachyan even added bottles of water to his brother's arsenal, believing that from the hardest work Felix will have a strong thirst that must be quenched. In addition, an umbrella was included in the thieves' arsenal. Having made a hole in the vault, Felix had to stick an umbrella there and open it so that the pieces of cement fell into it without making a noise or attracting the attention of the guards.
A week before the planned date of the robbery, Nikolai Kalachyan got into an accident by taxi and ended up in the hospital. However, he told his brother that the case must be brought to an end.
Incredible trick
On the evening of August 5, 1977, Felix Kalachyan went to work. Climbing to the attic of the building next to the State Bank, he set about breaking through the wall. But then it almost ended in failure.
It turned out that the wall was extremely thick and Felix did not have enough strength or time to break through it. He began to look for another way of penetration. Climbing to the roof, Felix saw that the windows in the same rest room were not closed, but covered with plastic wrap - they started repairs there.
Theoretically, one could jump from the roof into the window, but in practice such a trick was deadly. Nevertheless, Felix made up his mind and achieved success.
Once in the cherished room, he proceeded to break through the floor. Here everything turned out the way Nikolai had intended. Making a hole in the floor with a diameter of 34 centimeters and securing the rope, Felix Kalachyan went down to the vault, from where he got out with more than 30 kilograms of money.
Investigators later refused to believe this possibility. Nevertheless, during the investigative experiment, Felix showed how he climbed into the bank and got out back, although the second time he did it much worse than the first.
Felix Kalachyan.
Having got out of the bank with a backpack of money already in the morning, Felix went to the hospital to see his brother. From there, they drove together to a rented apartment, where they temporarily hid their prey in a cache.
All-Union state of emergency
Monday morning, when the theft was discovered, became truly black for the employees of the State Bank of the Armenian SSR. More than 1,500,000 rubles were lost - a cosmic sum by the standards of the Soviet Union. In dollar terms at the then exchange rate, it was about 2 million dollars.
The case of theft was placed under special control from the top leadership of the USSR; the progress of the investigation was personally reported to Leonid Brezhnev.
However, in the early days there was not much to report about - the members of the investigation team said that at first they did not even know where to start the search.
A hole in the floor with a diameter of 34 centimeters.
The total shake-up of the criminal world in Armenia did not bring any results - the criminals themselves went to the police, stating that none of their circle was capable of such insolence. This was also explained by the fact that theft of socialist property was considered in the USSR as a crime more serious than theft of private property.
For raids on savings banks and similar actions, where tens of thousands of rubles appeared as production, the death penalty was the "luminary", and in this case it was about a much larger amount.
AI series trace
And yet, the detectives had one clue - most of the stolen amount consisted of 100-ruble AI bills. The ruble notes of this series were just being put into circulation and had not yet spread across the country. To get on the trail of the kidnappers, by personal order of Brezhnev, the circulation of notes of this series was frozen throughout the USSR - they were left in banks for an indefinite period. Thus, the appearance of a hundred-ruble series of the AI anywhere would "spot" the criminals.
Nikolai Kalachyan, who demanded from his brother to take mainly hundred rubles, quickly realized his mistake. Therefore, at first, the attackers spent less denomination bills, and then Nikolai came up with a way to "legalize" the capital. For this, it was planned to use them to buy bonds of a 3% government loan, which could then be sold again to get “clean” rubles.
The two Kalachians could not cope with this task together, and besides, they were seriously afraid of exposure.
Helpful bride
On one of his trips to Moscow, Nikolai met Lyudmila Aksyonova. He turned the girl's head, promised to marry her and completely subordinated to his influence. Lyudmila knew that the groom had a lot of money, but she was not aware of the origin of the capital. Nikolai explained that he managed to win a very large amount of money, but since gambling in the USSR is not welcomed, they need to be legalized.
Lyudmila introduced Nikolai and Felix to her brother Vladimir Kuznetsov, who worked as a taxi driver. Nikolai told Vladimir that he wants to arrange a magnificent wedding with his sister, for which it is necessary to buy bonds of a 3 percent loan.
The criminals managed to exchange about 100,000 rubles and turn them into loan bonds in Tashkent. In the capital of Uzbekistan, the warnings about a hundred-ruble series of AI were reacted quite lightly, therefore, when the operatives arrived in the city, the attackers were already gone.
Weak nerves versus good memory
Vladimir Kuznetsov was buying up bonds in Moscow. At first he took one - two bonds, but then decided to "buy" 6,000 rubles at once with money from the seditious series.
But the employee of the savings bank had bonds for only 3,000 rubles. Having asked the client to wait, she went to the vault for the missing securities, where she lingered for a few minutes. And then Kuznetsov lost his nerves - leaving 3000 rubles in the savings bank, he fled.
This incident naturally caught the attention of the operatives. Unfortunately for the criminals, the girl from the savings bank had excellent visual memory and made an accurate composite of Kuznetsov.
Nikolay Kalachyan.
Meanwhile, Nikolai Kalachyan, anticipating unkindness, was going to move from Moscow to Sochi. For this purpose, a car was bought on the market in the South Port for 13 thousand rubles, in the spare wheel of which a cache was made for those stolen money that had not yet been legalized.
Kalachyan was going to run away only with his brother - the bride became a burden for him, and he was going to break up with her.
Shoot and pardon
These plans were not implemented. The detectives identified Vladimir Kuznetsov, his place of work and home address. Following this, they learned that Vladimir's sister had a wealthy lover from Armenia. On the night of June 6-7, 1978, the Kalachian brothers and Vladimir Kuznetsov were arrested.
At the trial, the brothers were treated differently. The cynical Nikolai, despite a difficult childhood, did not evoke sympathy - he too openly used people, many of whom broke their lives. A completely different matter is Felix, a modest family man who embarked on a criminal path under the influence of his brother out of a desire to help loved ones.
Felix Kalachyan.
While in the pre-trial detention center and realizing what awaited him, Felix wrote a letter to his wife asking her to forgive him. He asked for one thing - to bring up children worthy people.
The court's verdict was expected - Nikolai and Felix Kalachian were sentenced to death.
The chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR Babken Sarkisov tried to save the brothers. He wrote an appeal to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR asking for clemency. Sarkisov insisted on the youth of the criminals (both were under 30), on the fact that they had not killed or maimed anyone, and on the fact that Felix Kalachyan had young children.
The Supreme Soviet of the USSR granted the petition for pardon, but the relevant documents from Moscow arrived a day later than they should have - the sentence was carried out.
Andrey Sidorchik