Spitak earthquake 1988 bomb test. On the artificiality of the Spitak earthquake. Monument to the victims of the earthquake in Gyumri

On December 7, 1988, at 11:41 local time, a catastrophic earthquake occurred in Armenia.

A series of tremors practically destroyed the city of Spitak in 30 seconds and inflicted severe destruction on the cities of Leninakan (now Gyumri), Kirovakan (now Vanadzor) and Stepanavan. In total, 21 cities and 350 villages were affected by the disaster (of which 58 were completely destroyed).

In the epicenter of the earthquake - the city of Spitak - its strength reached 10 points (on a 12-point scale), in Leninakan - nine points, Kirovakan - eight points.
The elements hit the north of Armenia, affecting about 40% of its territory, and tremors were felt even in the Armenian capital Yerevan and in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

According to experts, during an earthquake in the zone of rupture of the earth's crust, energy was released that was equivalent to the explosion of ten atomic bombs, each of which was similar to that dropped in 1945 on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The wave caused by the earthquake went around the Earth and was recorded by scientific laboratories in Europe, Asia, America and Australia.

After the earthquake, in just one month, more than a hundred strong aftershocks were registered in the region of the epicenter by the seismological service of the Caucasus. Four minutes after the main shock, a strong aftershock occurred, the vibrations from which were superimposed on the seismic waves from the first and increased the damaging effect of the earthquake.
As a result of the natural disaster, according to official figures, 25,000 people died, 140,000 became disabled, and 514,000 people lost their homes.

The elements destroyed more than 80% of the housing stock in Leninakan, the second largest city in Armenia, and half of the buildings in Kirovakan.

The earthquake disabled about 40% of the republic's industrial potential. Secondary schools for 210,000 students, kindergartens for 42,000 students, 416 healthcare facilities, two theatres, 14 museums, 391 libraries, 42 cinemas, 349 clubs and cultural centers were destroyed or fell into disrepair. 600 kilometers of roads, 10 kilometers of railways were put out of action, 230 industrial enterprises were completely or partially destroyed. Almost the entire industrial and social infrastructure ceased to function on one third of the territory of the republic. Direct material damage is estimated at 10 billion rubles (for 1988), and taking into account the cost of restoration, this amount should be doubled.

According to experts, the catastrophic consequences of the earthquake in Armenia were due to the underestimation of the seismic hazard of the region, the imperfection of regulatory documents on earthquake-resistant construction, the poor quality of construction, as well as the insufficient preparedness of rescue services.

The earthquake in Armenia became a national tragedy. The entire Soviet Union came to the rescue. Nikolai Ryzhkov, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, headed the commission to eliminate the consequences of the tragedy.

In the disaster zone, the first to come to the aid of local residents and began rescue operations were military units stationed in the affected cities. The first plane of the USSR Ministry of Defense with military field surgeons and medicines almost immediately, as it became known about the earthquake, took off from Moscow. Military doctors arrived in Leninakan late in the evening on December 7th. The day after the tragedy, a team of 98 highly qualified doctors and field surgeons headed by USSR Minister of Health Yevgeny Chazov arrived in Armenia from Moscow. On the first day alone, military doctors provided qualified assistance to 1,200 victims.

On December 10, 1988, interrupting his official visit to the United States, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev flew to Leninakan. He got acquainted with the progress of the ongoing rescue and restoration work on the spot. At a meeting with the heads of allied ministries and departments, the priority tasks for providing the necessary assistance to Armenia were considered.

Soldiers of civil defense arrived in the disaster zone from all over the country. The servicemen cleared the ruins, put things in order and provided food for citizens with field kitchens. In a few days, 50 thousand tents and 200 field kitchens were deployed in the republic. The main efforts at the first stage were aimed at rescuing survivors from the rubble. To search for people under the rubble, cynological crews of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs were involved.

In total, in addition to volunteers, more than 20 thousand soldiers and officers took part in the rescue work, more than three thousand units of military equipment were used to clear the rubble. Humanitarian aid was actively collected all over the country.
Every day, up to 1,500 wagons came to Armenia, hundreds of military transport and civil aircraft carried building materials, equipment, products. More than 100,000 wounded, left homeless, were evacuated by the reverse flow.

The tragedy of Armenia shocked the whole world. Doctors and rescuers from France, Switzerland, Great Britain, Germany, the USA and other countries arrived in the affected republic. Planes from around the world landed at the airports of Yerevan and Leninakan with medicines, donated blood, construction equipment, equipment and essentials. Humanitarian assistance to Armenia was provided by 111 states from all continents.

Almost all the material and labor resources of the Soviet Union were mobilized for restoration work. 45,000 builders from all the union republics participated in the program to restore the destroyed Armenian regions.
During rescue and restoration work in the affected cities of Spitak, Leninakan and Kirovakan, 4,328 people were pulled out from under the rubble, 1,440 of them were alive, about six thousand cubic meters of rubble were dismantled, 1.1 thousand square meters of roads and driveways were cleared.

After the collapse of the USSR, the program of restoration work was suspended, and the volume of international humanitarian aid sharply decreased. Therefore, the recovery process was delayed.

The main lesson of the earthquake in Armenia was the creation of rescue services in Armenia and other republics of the former USSR. Now in Armenia, special attention is paid to the seismic resistance of newly constructed buildings.

In memory of the earthquake in Armenia on December 7, 1989, a three-ruble commemorative coin was put into circulation in the USSR, dedicated to the nationwide assistance to Armenia in connection with the earthquake.

The monument dedicated to the tragic events of 1988 was unveiled on December 7, 2008 in the center of Gyumri. Installed at public expense, it is called "Innocent Victims, Merciful Hearts."

In 2015, a monument to Soviet soldiers who took part in the aftermath of the earthquake was opened in Spitak. It was created on the initiative of the Russian Military Historical Society on public donations.

On the basis of the law "On Holidays and Memorable Days of the Republic of Armenia", adopted on July 24, 2001, December 7 is celebrated in the country as the Day of Remembrance of the victims of the earthquake. On this day, mourning events are held in Armenia, flowers are laid at the graves of the dead.

October 24, 2019

October 23, 2019

October 22, 2019

October 21, 2019

https://regnum.ru/

Oleg Airapetov

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Each of the post-Soviet republics has its favorite nationalist from among the opponents of the Bolsheviks, who managed to serve Hitler during the Great Patriotic War. Armenia, which for some reason did not need the experience of the top military leaders of the Red Army, aviation and navy, directly connected with the republic, chose Garegin Nzhde as its favorite. Formally - for the deeds committed by this person in 1920-1921. It was a difficult and even tragic time for the Armenian people. Its leaders turned out to be incapable of either large-scale organizational efforts or a correct assessment of foreign policy realities. However, this could be said about each of the governments of the three Transcaucasian republics.

After the Sovietization of Azerbaijan, the Dashnaks who ruled in Armenia tried to retain the disputed territories bordering on this republic. For its part, establishing control over the new Soviet republic, the party and Soviet leadership of the RSFSR immediately paid special attention to the problem of interethnic conflicts. Already on May 5, 1920, S. M. Kirov, speaking at the Baku Party Conference, stated: “What is being done in Karabakh and other places in Azerbaijan, what is called tribal enmity, must be finally put to an end once and for all, under the banner of the Soviets . “By the middle of 1920, the Red Army occupied the border regions disputed between Azerbaijan and Armenia - Nakhichevan, Karabakh, and partially Zangezur. In July, in the Nakhichevan region, contact was established with the troops of Turkish nationalists. Ethnic conflicts were stopped, refugees began to return. By order given to the troops of the Soviet 11th Army, they were to occupy these territories until the question of their ownership was determined, while putting up garrisons "strong enough to maintain order and prevent national massacres."

The attempts of the Armenian nationalists, including Nzhdeh, to organize the resistance of the Red Army in Karabakh failed, also due to the mass support of the Soviet authorities by the inhabitants of the Armenian villages. They, as the Dashnak General Dro reported to Erivan, “...refused to recognize our government and openly recognized themselves as Bolsheviks. It was found out that they had close ties with the Bolsheviks, and the agitators were working hard.” The arrival of Soviet power was very timely. The local population was clearly tired of interethnic conflicts and saw in the 11th Red Army a force that would return peace and order to the region. As for the Armenian Republic itself, the Politburo of the RCP (b) on June 30, 1920 decided to suspend the movement of Soviet troops to Armenia.

On August 10, 1920, the Plenipotentiary of the RSFSR in Armenia B. V. Legrand signed an agreement with the representative of the Dashnak government Arshak Jamalyan. Hostilities ceased, the parties agreed that the occupation of the disputed territories "does not prejudge the issue of rights to these territories" and it should be resolved in the future by an agreement between Armenia, the RSFSR and Soviet Azerbaijan. Ironically, on the same day, August 10, 1920, the Treaty of Sevres was signed near Paris - the only one of the system generated by Versailles that could not be implemented. Perhaps one of the reasons for this was that even as a draft, the Treaty of Sevres did not suit anyone - neither the French, nor the Italians, nor the Americans, nor the Greeks, who believed that the British were getting the most, nor the British themselves. And of course, he did not suit the Turks.

Turkey was obliged to cede significant territories to its neighbors - Greece, Armenia, new borders were drawn in Syria and Mesopotamia (Part II, Art. 27). Constantinople remained the capital of the Ottoman Empire, but was under international control. In case of non-compliance with the terms of the agreement, the powers reserved the right to change the status of the city (Part III. Political provisions. Section I. Constantinople. Art. 36). Fortifications on the Straits were destroyed, control over them actually passed to the allies (section III. Articles 37-61). Smyrna formally remained an autonomy within Turkey, but received broad self-government, and after 5 years a decision of the League of Nations was to be made on the transfer of this territory to Greece (Department IV. Smyrna. Art. 65−83). In fact, only the Anatolian Highlands remained behind Turkey. The territory of the country was reduced by 4/5. The fleet was reduced to 6 destroyers and 7 sloops, the army was reduced to 50 thousand people, the gendarmerie - to 35 thousand people, the troops were limited in armament, they were deprived of the right to have heavy artillery, etc. (Part V, Art. 151 −181). The regime of capitulations was restored, reparation payments were established, external management of the country's finances (Part VIII. Financial situation. Art. 231−243). It was a program for the final destruction of the Turkish state. Not surprisingly, the Turkish Grand National Assembly refused to ratify and accept this document.

The Ankara government did not want to risk the remnants of its fleet, and the government of the RSFSR provided shelter to several Turkish ships. On September 17, 1920, the Turkish gunboat Aydin-Reis came to Novorossiysk, on October 17 - the gunboat Prevez of the same type. The government of Mustafa Kemal put these ships at the disposal of the Soviet command to fight the gene. P. N. Wrangel, their crews were taken out on November 12 by the Shan transport. The beginning of the Sovietization of Transcaucasia made it possible for the Soviet government to support Ankara. Meanwhile, the new government established contacts with the French occupation authorities in Cilicia and concluded a truce with them for 20 days. The French were clearly unhappy with the growing influence of England, which supported the Greeks. In February 1920, the French left part of Cilicia, where the nationalist troops entered and finished off the Armenian population remaining there during a series of pogroms. On July 11, 1920, the Greek army was led by King Constantine, and it again moved forward in its zone of control. Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos was a big proponent of the offensive. Soon the success ended. Militarily, the Greek army, as predicted by the chief of its General Staff, Ioannis Metaxas, was not prepared for a long and large-scale war. While semi-partisan formations resisted, the Greeks were successful, but then they had to fight both the Turkish army and the partisans. The Greeks were forced to stop to organize their rear.

The disunity of the actions of Ankara's opponents allowed her to concentrate forces in one of the directions. In July-August 1920, at negotiations in Moscow, the forms and amounts of assistance to the Kemalists were agreed. Moscow provided Ankara with 10 million gold rubles and weapons. But realizing these promises was difficult. There was no common border between the states, transportation by sea was difficult. Nevertheless, in the summer of 1920, 6 thousand rifles, over 5 million cartridges, 17.6 thousand shells and about 200 kg of gold bullion were handed over to the Turks. On September 1, 1920, the Congress of Representatives of the Peoples of the East was opened in Baku. It was held during the defeat of the Western Front in Poland and Belarus, demonstrating Moscow's readiness to welcome the revolution in the East.

1891 delegates from peoples from the Middle East to the Far East were officially represented at it (the list of names is somewhat higher - 2050 people). Approximately half of the delegates were represented by people of a communist orientation - 1071 communists, 31 Komsomol members, 334 sympathizers. 336 delegates were Azerbaijanis, 273 Turks, 218 Lezgins, 204 Persians, 160 Armenians, 110 Georgians, 109 Russians, etc. The former Minister of War of the Ottoman Empire, Enver Pasha, attended the congress. In the spring of 1920, K. B. Radek and G. E. Zinoviev staked on him. Enver's presence in Baku aroused Mustafa Kemal's anxiety. They didn't like each other. Soon even in Moscow they will regret their bet on this intriguer and executioner. The congress adopted a manifesto that called for a holy war under the red flag "against the centuries-old oppressor of all the peoples of the East, against imperialist England."

During this period, the leadership of Armenia clearly overestimated its capabilities and underestimated the readiness of the enemy for military operations. Already in the battles of 1918, all the shortcomings of the Armenian army appeared. She was never able to overcome the growing pains of the formative period, which again manifested itself in battles. The period was clearly unfavorable for army construction. Famine and epidemics reigned in the republic, it was overflowing with refugees from Western Armenia. There were over a quarter of a million of them. A significant part of the conscripts simply fled the army even in peacetime. At the end of December 1919, 17,665 deserters were arrested in 11 counties controlled by the Erivan government. The palm was held by the Alexandropol counties - 4516 people; Erivan - 3747 people, Nor-Bayazet - 2840 people, Karsky - 1729 people. On September 24, 1920, the Armenian troops went on the offensive, which was stopped after a few days. The enemy counteroffensive began. On September 29, the Turks were already in Sarykamysh, on October 30 - in Kars. He was not defended. The capture of this fortress, where there were still large reserves of the Russian imperial army, was a very important success for the Kemalists. According to Ataturk, there was almost no resistance.

Meanwhile, the Dashnak government was reassuring its citizens. On the eve of the fall of Kars, on October 25, the "Government Bulletin" said: "There is a great hope that in the near future everything will be liquidated and the Turks will be driven back from our borders." And the Kemalist troops continued their offensive. On October 30, Erivan turned to the Entente for help, and on November 5, to the United States. On November 6, the Turks took Alexandropol. None of the great powers had any desire to intervene in the conflict, Armenia was left to the mercy of fate. The Turkish offensive was accompanied by a massacre, in fact, ethnic cleansing in the controlled territory. The new government of Simon Vratsyan was forced to acknowledge the hopeless situation for Armenia. Captain S. G. Musaelyan, one of the executed leaders of the May uprising in Alexandropol, at the beginning of the Bolshevik speech predicted: “I believe that under the Dashnaktsakan government our neighbors will indeed undertake a campaign against Armenia, and then we cannot expect any help from anyone. The only people who can save us is the Russian revolutionary proletariat.” Soon these words were confirmed.

On November 8, Erivan turned to the commander of the Turkish army, General Kazym Musa Karabekir Pasha, with a request for negotiations. The next day, he outlined the conditions: in 24 hours to hand over in perfect order 20 thousand rifles, 20 heavy and 40 light machine guns, 3 batteries, transfer a significant amount of shells and cartridges, and begin the withdrawal of troops. By this time, the Armenian state was in agony. “At present, there is almost no power in Armenia,” they reported to the bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) from the spot. “The entire railway from Kuchuk to Ayrum is in the hands of Kemal.” On November 12, the Turks entered the Ararat valley, there was a threat of taking Erivan. On November 15, the Armenian government offered the Kemalists a truce to conclude peace. On November 26, 1920, Armenian-Turkish negotiations began. They were accompanied by a new massacre of the Armenian population by Turkish troops.

The course of negotiations was not interrupted even by the uprising in Armenia, prepared by the Bolsheviks. It began on November 29, when Soviet Armenia was proclaimed. The mountains were taken the next day. Dilijan, from where the Provisional Revolutionary Committee formed, turned to the government of the RSFSR with a request for help. By this time, the power of the Dashnaks was dying, there was almost no resistance. Part of the left Dashnaks and General Dro declared their willingness to cooperate. Before the Revolutionary Committee arrived in the capital, power was transferred to the military command headed by Dro. “So, another Soviet Republic,” triumphed Ordzhonikidze. The 11th Red Army entered Armenia. The disputed territories - Zangezur, Karabakh and Nakhichevan - were immediately recognized by the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Azerbaijan SSR, Narimanov, as having passed under the authority of the Armenian SSR. “This terrible question is no more,” he declared to thunderous applause. This decision was supported by Sergo Ordzhonikidze: “Comrades! Soviet Azerbaijan, speaking today in the person of Comrade Narimanov, proved to the whole world, and above all to the workers and peasants of Armenia, that only the Soviet government is able to resolve all the damned issues related to interethnic hostility that were here and of which there are a lot of them all over the world.” Following the statement on December 2, the corresponding declaration of the Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan followed: Zangezur and Nakhichevan were recognized as an integral part of Armenia, Karabakh was granted the right of self-determination. On December 4, this decision was welcomed by Stalin, People's Commissar for Nationalities of the RSFSR. "Only the idea of Soviet power brought peace to Armenia and the possibility of national renewal."

On the same day, the Dashnaks, who formally still controlled the capital, signed peace in Alexandropol. It was the first international treaty signed by the Ankara government and it was a complete victory. In fact, Armenia capitulated. “She,” Atatürk recalled, “transferred to us, i.e., the national government, the territory that the “Ottoman” government lost in 1876-1877.” The losses of the Armenian Republic were huge. She refused the conditions of Sevres and recalled her delegations from the Entente countries (Art. 9). The Dashnaks renounced claims to the territories disputed with Azerbaijan, ceded the Kars region, etc. Armenia was reduced to the territory around Erivan and partially Sevan, recognized the special administration in Nakhichevan and the right of Turkey to keep it under protection, and pledged not to interfere in this issue (Art. 2). Military service was abolished. The republic retained small gendarmerie forces and an "army" of 1.5 thousand people. with 20 machine guns and 8 guns, mountain or field. Have artillery with a caliber over 150 mm. was forbidden (Article 4). The Turkish envoy received the right to military inspection, Ankara promised to provide military assistance if necessary (Article 5). Erivan transferred control over its railways to Ankara, provided preferential duty-free transportation, etc. (Article 11). The Turkish government received the right to take "military measures" if necessary (Article 12). For this, Turkey promised to help the Dashnak government "in developing and strengthening its authority" (Article 8).

It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that the treaty actually turned the Armenian Republic into a Turkish protectorate. This suited the Dashnaks as well, because they hoped to get help from the Turks to fight the Bolsheviks. However, it no longer mattered. On December 2, an agreement was signed between the RSFSR and the Armenian SSR on the recognition of the independence of Armenia. Article 7 read: "The Russian Soviet government is taking measures to immediately concentrate the forces necessary for the defense of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Armenia" On December 4, the Red Army captured Erivan. The Treaty of Alexandropol was not ratified, the new, Soviet, Armenia did not recognize it, and Turkey, according to its first president, made concessions in order to maintain contacts with Moscow. There was no complete control over Armenia, the Dashnak detachments were either not disarmed, or the disarmament was carried out partially and formally. Part of the Dashnaks led by Prime Minister Vratsyan and Colonel Garegin Nzhdeh left for the mountainous regions of Zangezur.

Following Azerbaijan and Armenia, it was Georgia's turn. The Bolsheviks organized an uprising in the Lori region. It was a disputed area between Erivan and Tiflis, which was already the scene of the Armenian-Georgian war in 1918. By order of the British representatives, it was declared a neutral zone, but during the Armenian-Turkish war, the Georgian authorities brought troops here, deployed a network of garrisons here and began terror, which in the end only helped the Bolsheviks. The performance was prepared from outside, the order to start it was given on February 8th. The uprising began on the night of February 12. The rebels managed to achieve success, partially disarm and push back the Georgian units from the Lori region. On February 16, 1921, the Revolutionary Committee of Georgia was formed in the village of Shulavery, which turned to the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR for help.

The appeal of the Revolutionary Committee spoke of the danger of suppressing the uprising by the forces of the Georgian and international counter-revolution. “We hope, we are sure,” it said, “that the country not only of the Great Proletarian Revolution, but also of great material opportunities will not leave us in an unequal struggle and will come to the aid of the newborn Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia.” The 11th Red Army immediately launched an offensive in three directions - from Azerbaijan and Ossetia towards Tiflis and along the Black Sea coast to Abkhazia. In Kakheti, the troops initially encountered serious and stubborn resistance. Complete confusion reigned in the Georgian government, but the commander of the troops, Gen. Giorgi Kvinitadze managed to organize the defense. A strategically important bridge on the border was blown up, and it took three days to repair it near the rear of the 11th Army. Prime Minister Zhordania did not trust the commander, but he turned out to be the only capable person among the leadership of the Georgian republic.

The delay in the offensive of the 11th Army was also caused by the uprising, which began on February 13 in the rear of a group of Soviet troops. This group of troops was relatively small - in Armenia, the Red Army consisted of 6 thousand bayonets, 900 sabers, 45 guns and 400 machine guns. On the eve of the uprising, the number of red forces in the republic dropped to 4 thousand people. and 2 armored trains. The uprising was prepared and led by the Dashnaks. Their forces were commanded by Nzhdeh. At first, the movement was clearly not given due attention. Part of the Dashnak detachments were not disarmed, some of them went over to Nzhdeh. He managed to defeat several detachments of the Red Army. On February 17, it became clear that the situation in the republic was really difficult and reinforcements were needed. On February 18, the Dashnaks again captured Erivan. A state of siege was introduced in the city, reprisals against the Bolsheviks began.

The Red Army and the Soviet government controlled up to half of the territory of the Armenian Republic. In Erivan, the Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland was organized, headed by Vratsyan (in his government, Garegin Nzhdeh was the Minister of War and Minister of the Interior). He turned to Turkey for help. In the letter, Vratsyan convinced Mustafa Kemal that Turkey needed an independent Armenia, and asked for assistance with ammunition, as well as the release of Armenian prisoners. At the same time, the former prime minister referred to Turkey's obligations under the Alexandropol Treaty to send troops and defend the Armenian Republic. By February 25, the forces of the Dashnaks had grown to 6 thousand bayonets, 1 thousand sabers and 28 guns. It is obvious that Nzhdeh was right in describing the political culture of his like-minded people as follows: "Begging and tearfulness is the psychology of a whole period, our only political weapon." Of course, Ankara was not going to fight for the sake of the failed protectorate with the only ally, especially during the Greek offensive against Ankara, but the uprising put an end to the plans to transfer the disputed territories to Erivan. Even the Soviet one.

Using the respite provided by the circumstances, Kvinitadze's troops even launched a partial counteroffensive with the support of armored trains, the 58th rifle brigade of the Red Army suffered serious losses. But soon the bridge was repaired, on February 23, Soviet armored trains went by rail, which broke into the defense of the Georgians. A large role in the successful offensive was played by several tanks, which were also transported to Tiflis along the repaired bridge. The commander of the 11th army, A. I. Gekker, planned to encircle the main forces of the defenders with outflanking strikes and succeeded in this. Attempts by the defenders to seize the initiative and counterattack were swept away by the Red Army. By February 24, Tiflis was in a sack, there was only one free exit from the city - in the direction of Mtskheta. On February 25, Kvinitadze began to retreat. In the evening of the same day, the 11th Army entered the capital of Georgia. On February 25, Ordzhonikidze reported by telegram: “The Red Banner of Soviet Power flies over Tiflis! Long live Soviet Georgia!” The troops of the Red Army were given a strict order to maintain discipline and order: "Let the laboring masses of Tiflis and all of Georgia experience the consciousness and discipline of the Red Army."

The uprising also began in Abkhazia, where Soviet troops also entered. “A dark night has fallen over our Abkhazia! - said the appeal of the Abrevkom. But this night won't last long. The dawn is already approaching, the day of liberation is already coming! The Menshevik government fled to Adzharia. Kvinitadze hoped to organize a defense in Batum, but found complete chaos in the city. Back in 1887, the Mikhailovskaya fortress was founded here, which was constantly strengthened, of course, these works continued during the First World War. After the collapse of the Caucasian front, the city and the fortress successively passed into the hands of Georgians, Turks, British and again Georgians. Back in February 1920, Dzhugeli assured: “Batum is our lungs, our eyes, our beautiful legend, our dream and hope! Batum is ourselves. And we will not yield to any power. Especially Turkey! This barbarian, criminal, adventuress…”

“There is no Menshevik army,” Ordzhonikidze declared on March 9. “She has gone home, and her small remnants cannot withstand the slightest contact with the progressive movement of the Red Army.” The people's guard of Dzhugeli also fled, chaos was happening on the railways, the military ministry had no idea where and what units were located, in the government, according to Kvinitadze, "confusion reigned." At this time, Turkish patrols had already begun to restore order on the streets of Batum. Zhordania was busy organizing a meeting of the Constituent Assembly and, just in case, lived in a carriage. On March 14, a truce was announced, and on March 16, the former government of Georgia capitulated, recognizing the Revolutionary Committee and signing an agreement on the transfer of power with its representatives. There was one more problem in Adzharia. Even before the start of the operation in Georgia, the Soviet leadership decided that the capture of Batum by the Turks was inadmissible.

The 18th cavalry division under the command of D.P. Zhloba was sent to Adzharia. He received an order to prevent the capture of Batum by Turkish troops, while preventing armed clashes with them. It was a difficult task. There was no more resistance from the Georgian army. The main problem was the weather. The Zhloba division had to pass through the impassable Goderz pass, where high snow lay. On March 17, the Turkish command gave the order to transfer Batum under the jurisdiction of Turkey. A curfew was introduced in the city, and a governor general was appointed. On the approach to Batum, the Turks tried several times to delay the movement of the red cavalry, but without success. Zhloba's horsemen entered the city, and soon a rifle division came to their aid. The Turkish General Karabekir chose not to take risks and retreated.

In Moscow, meanwhile, a Soviet-Turkish conference was underway, which determined the nature and amount of assistance that the RSFSR was to provide to the Kemalists. Without a doubt, these circumstances also played a role in deciding the fate of Batum. The Turkish army left the city. It was occupied by the Red Army. “Our units occupied the city of Batum on March 18,” the command of the 11th Army reported. - The government of Menshevik Georgia was evacuated on an Italian steamer to Constantinople under the cover of French destroyers. The government took all the valuables and large property with them.” The victory in Georgia made it possible to release part of the forces to solve the problem with the rear of the 11th army in Armenia. On March 27, a counterattack on Erivan began, and on April 2, the city was taken, the Soviet government regained control over the capital of Armenia.

The command of the Red Army offered the Dashnaks negotiations with the aim of peacefully clearing the mountainous regions of Zangezur. There was a refusal. This was followed by hostilities. They were lightning fast. The detachments of Nzhdeh were defeated. Their remnants fled to Iran in July 1921. There were, of course, no agreements. At the request of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR, the Persian government undertook to disarm Nzhdeh's detachments. Actually, Nzhdeh's actions are exhausted on this. True, they had consequences, and not at all what the nationalists would like to see them in today's Yerevan. The political map of the Soviet Transcaucasus was revised, and the current Karabakh problem is also a direct legacy of the art of Vratsyan and Nzhdeh in 1921. The Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR understood the need to reckon with realities. Good neighborly relations were the basis of control over the border and the region.

On March 16, 1921, the Soviet-Turkish Treaty "On Friendship and Brotherhood" was signed in Moscow. Both sides agreed not to recognize agreements that would be imposed on them by force (Article 1), Turkey renounced claims to Batum in favor of Georgia, which undertook to grant its neighbor the right to duty-free use of the port (Article 2). The territory disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan - Nakhichevan - was transferred to Azerbaijan on the basis of autonomy, provided that Baku did not cede this territory to a third party (Article 3). Both sides recognized the "contact" of the liberation struggle of the peoples of the East with the social revolution of the working people of Russia (Article 4). In the future, the regime of the Straits was to be established at an international conference, but on the condition that the security of Turkey and Constantinople would be observed (Article 5). Soviet Russia renounced the right to surrender (Article 7). Both sides pledged not to allow in their territories the existence of "organizations or groups claiming to be the government of another country or part of its territory, as well as the presence of groups aimed at fighting against another country" (Article 7).

Soviet troops and Kemalists established contact on the border through which the railway passed. This led to the possibility of a sharp increase in military supplies to Turkey as part of the promised assistance. In 1921, 6.5 million rubles were transferred to the Turks. gold, 33,275 rifles, 57.986 million rounds of ammunition, 327 machine guns, 54 guns, 129,479 shells, 1,500 sabers and 2 destroyers of the Black Sea Fleet - Zhivoi and Zhutkiy. The provisions laid down in relations between the two countries by the Moscow Treaty were developed in the Treaty of Kars of October 13, 1921. The governments of the three new Soviet republics of Transcaucasia, with the participation of the RSFSR, signed a treaty of friendship with Turkey. Previous agreements on territories in the region were declared null and void, with the exception of the Moscow Treaty of 1921 (Article 1), all governments of the Soviet republics undertook not to recognize treaties imposed by force on Turkey if they were not recognized by the GRST (Article 2), confirmed the abolition of the capitulation regime (Art. 3), new borders - Ardagan and Kars with the regions remained with Turkey (Art. 4), the autonomy of the Nakhichevan region "under the protection of Azerbaijan" was confirmed (Art. 5), the transfer of the Batum region to Georgia, provided that it was granted "broad autonomy" , and Turkey - free and duty-free transit (Article 6). It was envisaged the establishment in the future of a regime of free merchant navigation in the Straits (Article 9), the exchange of prisoners of war (Article 16), etc.

* * *

Kirov S. M. The banner of the III International is the banner of the brotherhood of all working people. Report on the current situation at the I All-Baku Conference // Kirov S. M. Selected articles and speeches. 1912−1934. M., 1939. S. 144.

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Natural disasters occurred at all stages of the development of human civilization. The earthquake in Armenia on December 7, 1988 is one of the most destructive of them. Since the catastrophe coincided with the beginning of the Karabakh war, and then the collapse of the USSR followed, and to this day, many settlements located in the disaster zone have not yet healed the wounds inflicted by the raging nature.

December earthquake in Armenia

According to scientists, this small Transcaucasian country is located in an extremely seismic zone. What happened on December 7 (an earthquake in Armenia) happened earlier. This is evidenced by the ruins of ancient cities and is mentioned in manuscripts in which eyewitness monks in different centuries left records of what happened when “the Lord was angry with people, and the earthly firmament left under their feet.”

In 1988, those who remembered the earthquake in Armenia that occurred on October 22, 1926 were still alive. It affected the same region as Spitak, but was less destructive. In addition, in the first decades of the 20th century, the population of the northern regions of the Armenian USSR was quite small, so there were many fewer victims than during the 1988 disaster.

Seismic characteristics of the Spitak earthquake

The disaster occurred on December 7, 1988 at 10:41 Moscow time. The epicenter was the village of Nalband (today Shirakamut), located near the city of Spitak, where the magnitude of the tremors was 10 points on the MSK-64 scale. The tremors were also felt in the settlements:

Leninakan (Gyumri) - 9 points.
Kirovakan (Vanadzor) - 8-9 points.
Stepanavan - 9 points.
Yerevan - 6 points.

The main shock lasted 35-45 seconds, followed by less intense aftershocks. According to eyewitnesses, a few days before the earthquake, weak tremors were observed. In addition, in artificial reservoirs where fish were grown, it floated up and remained on the surface, and domestic animals also behaved extremely restlessly.

The situation in the USSR in 1988

The second half of the 80s was a difficult time for the entire Soviet Union. The democratization announced by M. Gorbachev led to the growth of national consciousness in most of the republics. At the same time, the economic problems inherited by the new leadership of the country from the era of stagnation caused a significant part of the citizens living in national entities to look for the root of all troubles in the absence of independence. A particularly tense situation has developed where the fire of interethnic conflicts has been smoldering for centuries, and the borders have been drawn without taking into account the opinion of the population.

The situation in the republic at the time when the earthquake occurred in Armenia (1988)

In 1987, in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, where more than 76% of the population were Armenians, a movement arose to join the Armenian USSR. A collection of signatures was announced, in which 80,000 residents of Karabakh took part. On February 20, 1988, taking into account the opinion of the majority of the population, the people's deputies of the NKAR decided to appeal to the leadership of the USSR with a request to withdraw from the AzSSR. In response, at the end of February 1988, brutal pogroms began in Sumgayit and Baku, during which Armenians who had nothing to do with the events in Karabakh were killed and expelled from their homes. Since Moscow did not take adequate measures to punish those responsible for the murder of citizens on a national basis, mass protests began in Yerevan. To prevent their escalation, troops were brought into the republic, which were obliged to perform punitive functions. This measure caused even more indignation among the population. At the same time, the presence of a large number of military personnel helped to quickly organize the rescue of victims in the first hours after the 1988 earthquake in Armenia.

December 7

This day is still remembered in great detail by all residents of Armenia without exception, including those who were five or six years old in 1988. Even in Yerevan, which is 98 km away from the epicenter, the aftershocks caused panic and brought people to the streets. As for the disaster zone itself, within 35-40 seconds, entire neighborhoods and villages turned into ruins and buried tens of thousands of people under them. In the first hours after the earthquake in Armenia in 1988, in some settlements there was simply no one to carry out rescue work. Fortunately, help from Yerevan and the southern regions of the country soon began to arrive. In addition to organized groups, thousands of citizens who were worried about their relatives went to the disaster zone in their own vehicles.

Victims

The earthquake in Armenia on December 7, 1988 killed at least 25,000 people and left 19,000 disabled. In the first two days, the situation was complicated by the fact that almost all the hospitals in the disaster area were destroyed, and most of the medical staff died or were under the rubble. Thus, the provision of qualified medical care was carried out for the most part by mobile medical teams arriving from neighboring regions of Armenia. In addition, many people who found themselves under the rubble died, since the seventh or eighth number of rescuers was sorely lacking, and the work to extract the victims was mostly carried out by volunteers who literally raked the rubble with their bare hands.

Help

The earthquake in Armenia did not leave people indifferent in the most remote corners of the planet. Even after 27 years, rescuers and builders from dozens of regions of the RSFSR, the Ukrainian, Byelorussian SSR and other parts of the Soviet Union are remembered with warmth and gratitude in the republic. Many residents of Spitak, left homeless, survived thanks to Kazakh yurts. Help soon began to arrive from abroad. In particular, groups of highly qualified rescuers from European countries were sent to the republic. The Armenian diasporas also provided great assistance. In particular, the world-famous chansonnier Charles Aznavour personally came to his historical homeland to draw the attention of the world community to the situation in the earthquake zone. The role played by the then Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR N. Ryzhkov, who in 2008 the Republic of Armenia included among its National Heroes (a total of fifteen people on the list), is also invaluable.

Reasons for so many casualties

According to experts, the earthquake in Armenia (1988) can be considered unique. The fact is that there should not have been such a large number of victims during tremors of such force. The clue to this phenomenon was established by a commission that conducted investigations at the crash site. In particular, the experts found that the lion's share of the collapsed structures were located in the then new residential districts of Spitak, Kirovakan and Leninakan, which were built with gross violations of all building codes and without taking into account the level of seismic hazard in the region. Thus, many victims of the earthquake in Armenia died as a result of the negligence of builders, including designers and foremen, who sold cement and other building materials, replacing them with ordinary sand.

The situation "in the disaster zone" today

Although the earthquake in Armenia occurred more than 27 years ago, the territory that was hit by the elements continues to be called and to some extent is a "disaster zone" today. There are many reasons for this. This is the protracted Karabakh war, which, despite the truce, takes 1-2 lives of young soldiers every week, and the blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan, and the country's lack of a raw material base, which makes its economy extremely vulnerable and unstable. At the same time, it cannot be said that nothing has been done by the Armenian government over the past years to restore the destroyed cities and villages. In particular, new micro-districts appeared there, where people were relocated from temporary houses built immediately after the earthquake. And if problems with housing are more or less solved, then the situation with the restoration of industrial enterprises is quite different. The fact is that before the earthquake in Armenia on December 7, 1988, up to 40% of the production capacity of the republic was located in the northern regions of this country. Most of them were destroyed, and for various reasons they were never restored, so today there is an extremely high level of unemployment in the area where the earthquake took place.

Now you know how and when the earthquake occurred in Armenia, and what was the reason for so many victims.

Memories of the past

The specificity of military service is the ability to quickly respond to emergencies in order to arrive at the scene of the incident as soon as possible, while eliminating any reasons that impede the fulfillment of the tasks set by the command. For a military man, such an approach, combined with personal responsibility, should be a vital need.

In confirmation of these words, my sad memories.

On December 7, 1988, I received an order from the head of the TsURTG of the USSR Ministry of Defense, Major General Vladimir Alekseevich Blokhin, to fly urgently as part of a group of officers of the Logistics of the USSR Armed Forces headed by him from the Vnukovo airport by the plane of the Chairman of the Government of the USSR Ryzhkov N.I. to the city of Yerevan to provide assistance to the victims of the earthquake. In addition to us, the group included officers of the military medical, food, clothing and other departments.

At about three in the morning on December 8, 1988, the plane landed at the airport in Yerevan. The building of the Yerevan Conservatory was determined as the place of the general meeting. We were awaiting further instructions. Even in Moscow, they knew that a strong earthquake had wiped out a significant part of the territory of the Republic of Armenia, and in the city of Spitak, the epicenter of the earthquake, a huge fracture of the earth's crust had formed. Taking into account that the author of these words in 1986 from the very first days found himself in the zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, during the flight from Moscow to Yerevan he managed to think over several options for the situation in Armenia and, in accordance with them, developed a plan for the upcoming work on the Fuel Service.

The way from the airport to the collection point was covered quickly. The Great Hall of the Conservatory turned into the headquarters of an emergency meeting, which was attended by the leaders of the Republic, headed by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia, Suren Harutyunyan.

Specialized groups were created, and by 5.00 in the morning the columns of cars moved in the direction of Spitak. Exploration and reconnaissance of the area in the area of the city was carried out under the leadership of Major General V.A. Blokhin. - a person of the highest qualification, the strictest exactingness, able to specifically distribute the work, ensure its implementation with the necessary forces and means, and strictly control all activities.

Muradyan Norik Grigorievich
Chief of Staff of the Spitak region in 1988, People's Deputy of the USSR, Doctor of Economics, First Secretary of the Spitak District Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia in 1988-1991*

Upon arrival at the site, the bottlenecks of the upcoming work were identified. So, for example, for the Fuel Service, it turned out that the water supply and sewer infrastructure were completely out of order, and the supply of drinking water had stopped. Hotbeds of the epidemic appeared, the development of which within a few hours could lead to unpredictable consequences. This aggravated the already difficult situation in the disaster zone. People experienced terrible pain, cold and thirst. The screams and groans of the wounded and rescued people under the rubble were heard.

The leaders and employees of the “Armvodokanal” and the district could not even provide us with a diagram of the district's water supply network, since it simply was not available. Lack of documentation slowed down rescue and recovery efforts. The situation was catastrophic.

The created Headquarters accepts the proposal of Major General V.A. Blokhin. - temporarily expand the PMTP-100 field main pipeline for water supply, usually used to transport fuel over long distances. Our service, working practically by touch, blindly, during the day was able to lay a pipeline along the most difficult mountain route with a total length of about 23 km from the water supply source to the city of Spitak, install pumping units PSG-160 (every 6-8 km), which prevented sanitary epidemiological catastrophe in the city. A communication network was also laid to supply technical water to the destroyed sugar factory.

The urgency and importance of the prompt solution of such problems is explained by the fact that, as a rule, after the destruction caused by natural disasters, epidemiological consequences immediately follow, which aggravates and greatly increases the scale of the tragedy. After the completion of the installation of the pipeline, responsible for the supply of drinking and industrial water were appointed. The population, having found any containers that came to hand, lined up in long lines for water. It was our responsibility not only to ensure the supply of water "immediately", but also to organize the uninterrupted operation of the entire water supply and sewerage system of the affected cities and settlements. In addition, it was important to draw up an accurate map of the entire infrastructure with a detailed indication of the location of the existing nodes and connections, which, unfortunately, did not exist before - either on the ground or in the Ministry of Water Resources of Armenia.

As it turned out, plans to provide vital sectors of the economy of the Republic were in a very neglected state. Drawing attention to the inadmissibility of such a state of the water and sewer system, the Minister of Water Resources of the USSR at an operational meeting with indignation and his inherent frankness said that a “real earthquake” in this area took place long before December 7, 1988. Although the leadership of the “Armvodokanal” arrived in prestigious black “Volga”, but the result of his work, in my opinion, looked deplorable.

It should be especially emphasized that in all the restoration work, soldiers of the rear of the Transcaucasian Military District worked quickly, functionally and efficiently. Thanks to their high discipline and responsibility, the task set before us was successfully completed. Skillful leadership and well-coordinated actions in all links of the Logistics of the Armed Forces helped to eliminate the omissions and miscalculations of the Armenian leadership.

To everything else, in some places, such a shameful phenomenon as looting was added. I will not dwell on this in detail, since my heart bleeds from the realization of how a person can sink to such baseness in order to seek his own profit on someone else's grief. But it turns out that both kindness and meanness have no boundaries and nationality. Such is human nature. Only the vigilance of our officers and soldiers, their promptness and rigidity prevented any attempts at looting.

On the morning of December 10, 1988, Major General Blokhin V.A. reported to the Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR for Logistics that the tasks assigned to the group of officers seconded by him had been successfully completed.

In parallel, similar work was carried out in the cities of Leninakan, Akhuryan and other settlements of Armenia. We worked in an emergency situation, using every minute. In the current situation of the disaster zone, the Civil Defense Services of the USSR and the Republic of Armenia showed complete unpreparedness in clearing the rubble, delivering equipment and staff specialists. There were no heavy-duty cranes and small equipment capable of lifting reinforced concrete structures, collapsed slabs and panels of buildings while clearing the rubble under which people found themselves.

We witnessed a terrible picture, when the hooks could not stand it, and the panels fell again and crushed people who had only a split second to experience the joyful hope of salvation. The confusion of the leadership of the Republic and the often delayed instructions from the Center for the provision of heavy equipment at the epicenter of the disaster zone were surprising. All this did not allow minimizing the loss of human lives.

In these difficult conditions, military doctors deserve special gratitude, who, in difficult, one might say, inhuman conditions, saved hundreds of injured people, enviably demonstrating real heroism with their professionalism and the highest responsibility. It's a shame that at that time very little was said about this in the media and on television.

In my opinion, on the third day Gorbachev M.S. arrived in the city of Spitak. with his wife. In his speech, he assured the whole world and the people of Armenia that all the affected regions of the Republic would be restored within a short time. Being nearby, I heard something like the following words: "I declare officially that in two years we will build a new city of Spitak, which will become a monument to all the victims of the earthquake and a symbol of international friendship."

After 25 years, we have to state with bitterness that thousands of affected people still do not have normal housing; many cities and villages are deprived of transport infrastructure and are practically in the same deplorable state as in the year of the tragedy. Remembering the loud assurances of the first person of the state, it becomes humanly ashamed and insulting that, as it turned out, demagogues and amateurs were at the helm of a great country.

At the same time, many of the victims were concerned about the funeral of their loved ones. And here, next to them, were the soldiers of the Soviet Army who came to the rescue. It was a soldier's feat of arms. The tragedy brought people together. Then they were not yet able to realize the full depth of the tragedy of what was happening - in the midst of rubble, dust, screams, tears and pain. I would not like to single out any of the local leaders, but for the sake of justice, it should be noted that in these nightmarish days in Spitak they knew that on all vital issues they could turn to the First Secretary of the District Committee Muradyan Norik Grigorievich, who was around the clock at a temporarily equipped workplace. Being in the center of tragic events, he confidently, as a conductor, led a still uncoordinated orchestra.

Apparently, he did not remember my impartial conversation with him about those outrages and bacchanalia that prevailed during the distribution of food and clothing items allocated from the resources of the USSR Ministry of Defense. It seems to me that if there were more such leaders in the leadership of the Republic of Armenia, then many tragic consequences of the earthquake could have been avoided in the future.

Later, driving through Leninakan and other settlements, we were amazed at the scale of destruction of multi-storey buildings, which fell apart like houses of cards, because they were built without taking into account the requirements of seismic resistance. Moreover, according to eyewitnesses, tons of cement and metal were simply stolen during construction.

As an eyewitness, I affirm that the buildings of the royal construction and two ancient fortresses on the outskirts of the city, despite the ten-point tremors, survived in their original form. It is well known that the Armenians are good builders, their citadels, cities, temples have stood for more than one millennium, and many of them are masterpieces of world architecture (the city of Ani, the church on the island of Akhtamar, the Cathedral in the city of Etchmiadzin). But when I saw the OTK factory stamp - “marriage” on the reinforced concrete panel structure, I was completely at a loss. But these houses accepted commissions, which included party and government workers. This begs the question: where did the public, the Armenian elite, look when they essentially drove their people into “coffins”? Where is the value of such a policy?

It was just as painful to look at the barbaric attitude towards material humanitarian assistance provided to the affected people by the whole world. Starting from the halls of the Yerevan Conservatory, where food, warm clothes and other necessary things were concentrated, good-quality goods turned into a dump, while the victims were in great need of them. It was unbearable to watch how barbarously destroyed bread, canned food and other essential goods in the places of their storage, while some of the goods were brazenly stolen. This indicates the irresponsibility of local leaders, their consumerist attitude, as well as the lack of proper control by the authorities at all levels to severely suppress such crimes.

Seeing all this, I thought that there is nothing worse than bureaucratic indifference, not yet knowing that a larger tragedy awaits us when the great Soviet Union is destroyed.

The above, of course, does not fully reflect the entire situation in which Armenia found itself during the earthquake and during the period of rescue work. The echo of the Spitak tragedy will sound like an alarm in the ears and hearts of hundreds of thousands of Armenians (and not only Armenians) around the world for decades to come. That is why it is so important to give a correct and reasonable assessment of what happened, to draw the necessary lessons. Attention should be paid to the construction of residential and non-residential stock, communications in accordance with the requirements of seismic resistance, ecology, and civil defense.

I really hope that the leadership of the new Russia and Armenia will draw at least some lessons from the tragic events of the past.

Reflecting on the past, I would like to recall some touches of history:

In the 20th century, the Armenian people experienced two tragedies: in 1915, the genocide by Turkey against 1.5 million Armenians, which has not yet been officially recognized by the Turkish state; at the end of the century, the Spitak earthquake, when 1.5 million Armenians left their homeland in search of warmth and light.

History not only punishes, but also teaches. Armenians are recognized all over the world as a creative people, able to build beautifully and create architectural masterpieces. This begs the question: “How did it happen that 25 years after the earthquake, in the 21st century, about 5,000 families continue to huddle in temporary houses without elementary human conditions?” At the same time, in the center of Yerevan, the Northern Avenue was built with residential areas of the European level. The houses have long been put into operation, but in most of the apartments the lights are not turned on in the evenings, apparently, their owners do not live there yet. Of course, the construction in Yerevan is the business of the leadership of the Republic of Armenia, but I believe that by giving a European look to the ancient but young Yerevan, by implementing national construction projects, the moral side cannot be discounted. Until the last earthquake victim is provided with housing that meets human standards, in my opinion, there should be no other priorities in the construction policy! The state and power cannot dissociate themselves from the fate of their own people! It is immoral!

The world is given to people, peoples and states in order to create, to create the necessary margin of safety in the economy, politics and international relations, in order to prevent or at least minimize human casualties and losses during unpredictable natural disasters. And we, living now, have to do everything necessary to justify the high destiny given to man on Earth.

Certificate of the Honorary Citizen of the city of Spitak R.I. Medinsky

And on December 7, 2013, 25 years after this terrible tragedy on Armenian soil, overcoming borders and distances, as an Honorary Citizen of Spitak, I once again want to express my gratitude to the peoples of Great Russia, the first to come to the aid of long-suffering Armenia. And no matter what our “well-wishers” say, I think: it was, it is, and it will be so…

R.I. Medinsky

* Photos provided by N.G. Muradyan.

Recently, articles about the artificial nature of the Spitak earthquake have been periodically thrown out in Armenia.
I will try to describe in detail the possibilities of this. But first, I will give the characteristics of the earthquake, which was studied by many experts in different countries. I am not a geophysicist, and therefore I will use general information without much analysis of special information.
It can be found, in particular, in this article.

Here are the characteristics of the earthquake from this article.
"The Spitak earthquake was recorded by seismic stations around the world. The standard earthquake parameters according to the reports of the National Seismic Information Center (NEIC) of the US Geological Survey and the Institute of Physics of the Earth (IPZ) of the USSR Academy of Sciences are as follows:
Time of occurrence: December 7, 1988 07:41 24.96 p. UTC, 11:41 a.m. 24.96 p. by local time. Epicenter coordinates: latitude (degrees) 40.996N±2.9km (40.92) longitude (degrees) 44.197E±1.8 km (44.20).
Depth of outbreak: 11 km (corrected) - I pay special attention to the depth!!!
Magnitudes: mv=6.3 - average over 87 observations,
Ms=6.8 - average of 17 observations,
Ms=7.0 in vertical component (Berkeley),
Ms=7.0 (IFZ)."
I must say right away that seismologists are able to recognize the artificial nature of earthquakes (an explosion and an earthquake caused by an explosion). True, no one referred to any evidence of the existence of such an explosion. Look above. Already now, the Americans would not fail to point out the existence of such an explosion. They are silent. Spare our nerves?
So what could cause an earthquake? In those years, as now, the theoretical (!!!) possibility of creating tectonic weapons was discussed. Two options were considered: the initiation of a natural earthquake: an explosion or the possibility of letting the tectonic plates “slip”, as a result of which an earthquake would be caused.
I'll start with the second option (everything is short here): water or mercury. Those. allow water or mercury to penetrate the plates, which will reduce friction between the plates and cause them to move. As for these two substances, can you imagine the volumes of one or the other? Well, we definitely wouldn’t have a conditional “Sevan” - we would have to “wet” the tectonic plates! "Things" weighing millions of tons! At great depths, with many caverns. It is unlikely that Sevan would have been enough. Yes, and with mercury, not everything is so simple, and most importantly: where to get it in such quantities? Deliver in trains? Naturally, if this is done, then closer to the epicenter. To the village of Nalband? Which is 10 km. from Spitak. And how many factories should “prepare” it?
Has anyone seen the railroad there? Or plumbing to supply huge volumes of water? And where are the echelons?
Water with mercury is all “horizontally”. What about vertically? It was necessary to dig holes to a depth of 10 km. deeper. But more on that later.
Now about the first option: a nuclear or thermonuclear charge, which had to be placed at a depth of several kilometers. Well, imagine what the charge should be in order to “push” multi-million dollar plates. Megatons?
Here I remember my late father, who led the last oil exploration expedition in Armenia (closed in 1990, if I'm not mistaken). Some information from his experience.
They drilled in the Oktemberyan region in the border regions, in the Dvin region in the valley, one drilling rig was located somewhere in the Jrvezh region. Where, by the way, several hundred liters of Armenian oil were “squeezed out”. Your obedient servant sniffed her: French perfume is a pitiful craft compared to her fragrance. No kidding. The smell is amazing, very subtle, unobtrusive. Unfortunately, I didn't save it! I've been sorry for years.
So, they drilled with the help of machines 90 meters high. This is a 25-30-storey building! It is impossible not to notice such a thing. Considering that large areas are being arranged for them to accommodate change houses for workers, a large supply of pipes, cement, diesel. fuel, it is all the more impossible not to notice. Another key detail: it was planned to drill to 5,000 meters, but it was possible to drill up to 2,500 meters. Approximately at these depths, they stumbled upon basalt rocks, on which diamond drills were ground off in an instant. It was possible to pass several meters at most on one storm. Pipes broke: my father did not get out of the drilling rigs, because had to deal with accidents. Imagine: at such depths, blindly understanding where and what broke, getting it out, trying to drill again. From each drilling rig, a pit was dug for large volumes of water (now, as I know, all of them are used to grow fish): alkaline solutions were prepared and, under a pressure of 150-200 atmospheres, they were driven into the well to wash out the drilled rock. The borehole walls are cemented with cement 1000. In general, a “hole” is obtained with a diameter of 30-40 centimeters at the surface, with a narrowing in depth. But let me remind you that it was not possible to break through for 2500 meters. In my opinion, only once somewhere in the Hoktemberyan region.
It was drilled for several years, about a year from 83-84.
Now, in order to imagine what kind of facilities are needed for such drilling, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the information on the Kola super-deep well, which has reached 12 kilometers in 13 (!) years. There you can also see a photo of the well and its dimensions (on one of the photos in the center - the so-called “stub”). And at the same time, what the modern “heirs” have turned the unique project into.

Now tasks:
1) it is necessary to determine the “weak” places of the Sevan fault. Neither then, nor now, practically, no one in the world can do this;
2) it is necessary to deliver the charge to a depth close to 10 km: with a complex rock that dampens the blast wave (Aragats, as experts said, saved Yerevan by extinguishing the shock wave);
3) it is necessary to lower the charge into the “hole” of exactly the indicated sizes, having calculated its power.
It is obvious that it is impossible to calculate exactly the power of the charge to initiate the movements of tectonic plates. Well, let's say 500 kilotons of nuclear (the limit for nuclear). This is 25 charges dropped on Hiroshima. Do you think it will be enough for a guaranteed result? If you fantasize? After all, it is necessary to “push” many, many millions of tons. Can you imagine the size of such a charge? Hardly less than 1.5-2 meters in diameter with a protective shell (no way without it, there is an aggressive environment below).
And a charge of greater power is already a fusion. And no smaller sizes. Look at the photos. They are on the Internet. Therefore, it is necessary to “dig wider” and place it in an artificial cavity! Most often, as I know, during testing this is done by the mine method.
But in any case, the hole in the ground should be “major”, it should be drilled for at least 10 years, and not with shovels, but by a serious enterprise (see photo of Kolskaya).
And now the questions, by answering which we will answer the question whether the Spitak earthquake could have been artificially caused.
If by the “liquid” method, then how such a liquid was supplied to drilled wells with a depth of 8-10 km. A lot of wells are needed, because there are no guarantees for the “flow” of liquids and liquid metal to the plates! If mercury, how was it delivered in thousands of tons? Overloaded in large cities at railway stations? With special precautions and technique? And no one noticed?! Delivered to the place by trucks with special. cisterns? Hundreds of trucks?
Water? Is Sevan in place? Did the rivers dry up? Where are the traces of water supply?
If there is an explosion, then look at the traces of nuclear and thermonuclear explosions left at the test sites. The release of radiation would be sure-obvious!
Are there traces (failure) from a nuclear explosion? Was there radiation (given that strontium is emitted as usual, and its half-life, if memory serves, is over 400 years)? You can see what happens during an underground nuclear explosion and traces of it.

And all this our local compatriots have not seen, do not know and have not told? And they didn’t grab doses of radioactivity? They talk about the "arrivals-districts" of all sorts of colonels, generals and marshals. With the issuance of all the "secrets". Those. the marshals were noticed, the military learned the “secrets”, but a large industrial project was not noticed? Even barbed wire to installations? And the evil Soviets started a “project” as much as 10 years before the execution. And the money was allocated? Much money! I remember exactly that 1 hour of downtime of the drilling rig cost 1000 rubles. This is simple. An hour of work is obviously much more expensive: diamond drills, pipes, fuel are spent.
Now about the number of victims. Was in Spitak on the 3rd day with co-workers and friends. And the father sent his workers (volunteers, of course, from Russia). In Spitak there were several hundred, maybe thousands of volunteers who dismantled and tore apart houses and what was left of them (I remember a strange thing: 4-5 "Khrushchev" houses located approximately in one place were preserved).
They got everyone, there were both living and dead. We got to the cellars. I repeat, they raked everything out so as not to miss a single body. I am sure that the same thing happened in Leninakan and in the villages.
And I am sure that if not all the dead, then the vast majority were pulled out. They buried and reburied (the latter, according to some reports, within six months: relatives appeared) of the dead in cemeteries. The account was kept. It was possible to restore the number of dead according to the lists of ZhEKs, according to registration in passport offices (registration), and the like. All this matched!
We counted about 25,000! And what, none of those who own the information raised a cry about falsifications?! Show, finally, the cemeteries where 350,000 people are buried!
The CIA's Voice of America and Liberty broadcast versions, of course. But now, why repeat the vile stuffing 30 years ago? In order to slander the Union and today's Russia as a "heir"?
Vile and vile!