Boris Slobtsov 2015

BS: When we realized that we had not been dropped off at Otorten, we got our bearings the next day and followed the compass, as we assumed, in the direction of Otorten. And we saw this Otorten before the second overnight stay. We thought it was Otorten. And there was also this mountain 1079. Because Otorten was not visible. We went out onto a hill, from which we saw a tent through binoculars.

Question: Were Sharavin and Pashin with you? Was there anyone else with you?

BS: Brusnitsyn probably... No, Brusnitsyn did not go with me and Sharavin. He, in my opinion, only showed up the next day, but I don't remember what he was doing.

Question: Was Cheglakov with you?

BS: I don't remember this name.

Question: How did you climb up just like that, not knowing where? Or following tracks?

BS: There were no tracks there. There may have been a ski track, I can't remember. It seems to me that there were just the two of us with Sharavin. I could be wrong, maybe there were three. Because someone definitely stayed behind. We were also discussing this, that he got the willies.

Question: And was he waiting for you in this place or did he leave?

BS: He waited, until the evening.

Question: From where he was waiting, was the tent already visible?

BS: Yes. But the tent was just vaguely visible. We assumed it was a tent. We went in that direction, thinking that we were going to Otorten. Right away, when we went, we didn't see the tent. Maybe there was snow, I don't remember. Then Sharavin saw it, well, maybe his eyesight was sharper, I don't know… Sharavin wasn't convinced at first that it was a tent. Because there was some shapeless object in the snow.

Question: Did the guide see it too or not?

BS: He probably did. And he got the willies. Maybe there were corpses lying there. And in our youth, we weren't afraid of anything. That's why when we even found the tent, we were still under the impression that we were looking for living people. I clearly remember that when we returned from the tent back to this pass, those who stayed there prepared dinner. I took out a bottle, I don't remember if it was alcohol or vodka...

Question: The flask you took from the tent?

BS: Yes. Let's have a drink, I said. We poured it out, and I proposed a toast to health, in general, we didn't talk about death. And here this one, who was with us... probably a forester, judging by everything. When I suggested drinking to health, he said: "Guys, we need to drink to the rest of the soul." I said: "Do you want to get punched in the face?" I also remembered that phrase.

Question: You found the tent. Did you approach on skis or did you take off your skis? This photo with skis, aren't those your skis?

BS: No, no. Because we were walking there when the rescue operation was going on. There was some heavy snowfall and the situation changed, and the whole slope we were walking along to the tent was already very hard, well, from the wind, from everything, maybe from the sun it melted. We couldn't get there on skis...

Question: Was the weather good? Was there a strong wind?

BS: No, it was normal. The wind was strong the next day or the day after. Because there, I remember that when we were lifting them, we were blown away. I remember, I was blown away, and I flew, caught on the leg of one dead man.

Question: Let's go back to the tent. You approached the tent and what was the first thing you saw? What did you notice?

BS: We noticed that there was a bunch of stuff in the tent.

Question: Did you see it through the entrance or through the hole?

BS: Through the hole, the hole was closer. We cut it with a knife. We had knives with us.

Question: So you didn't find the knives there, but your own?

BS: Maybe we found them there too, I don't remember.

Question: So you didn't tear it, but cut it?

BS: Yes, we cut it.

Question: Why didn't you enter through the entrance?

BS: Because the entrance was covered, that's what it seemed to us. I can't say whether it was buttoned or unbuttoned, it was buried there... It was buried, so we didn't get in through the entrance.

Question: Where was the jacket sticking out - at the entrance or in a hole?

BS: At the entrance. Was in hanging outside or inside - I don't know. I don't remember everything. I can't say that it was entirely inside the tent. But it was attached to the pole... If you look at the tent from below [the south slope], the entrance was on the left, and the right part was collapsed. In the jacket they found a box from Montpensier fruit drops with money inside.

Question: Did you bring the jacket later or leave it?

BS: I think we had nothing with us, but sometimes we took it, because we dragged it and showed it. We also brought cameras with us, one or two - I don't remember. But one for sure. Even I carried it, I think. Not Sharavin, but me. I remember that food was visible, some kind of sausage or ...

Question: And did you find a flask of alcohol?

BS: Yes. If not full, then almost full. Or maybe even full. If it was hidden, then not very deep. We didn't rummage through everything very deeply. We were worried to make sure there were no corpses. At first, even before cutting or tearing the tent, we got the willies, we were still young.

Question: Did you find money only in one place? In the tin box? Did you find a bag?

BS: I don't remember. Maybe they found it the next day.

Question: Did you make big enough cuts and crawl inside or just open it?

BS: Opened it.

Question: Was the hole in the tent because the seams came apart?

BS: It was in the middle. Well, there were two sewn tents, it was double. Along the seam or next to it, I don’t know.

Question: Did you see any footprints or was everything around the tent already swept away?

BS: There were footrpints. There, in general, when we followed these footprints, on the right. If you look from top to bottom [N-E slope], other footprints joined them later, i.e. we followed the same tracks… We went down from the tent and we saw that the tracks merged. We didn’t immediately see that they were coming from a different direction. They were covered.

Question: Why didn't you follow the tracks further? Or did they end?

BS: No, no, they didn't end. We walked a little bit, and then we had to go right, to our overnight camp. It was already late. If they had been fresh, maybe we would have followed them. It was obvious that they were all covered. That the tracks weren't even from yesterday, but from 2-3 days before yesterday. We turned and went home.

Question: So you had already taken some things and were already walking with them? A jacket with money, one or two cameras, a flask?

BS: Yes, well, they took some of their things.

Question: And were some things scattered around the tent?

BS: I think there was something, but I can't remember what, but there was something.

Question: And with these things you met the first person? Ivan?

BS: Well, not ours, not the students.

Question: You brought the news that you had found the tent, and that there was no one there. And they didn't go. Didn't run there?

BS: Of course not, it's too late, where to run. We said with conviction that there was no one there, because at first we all poked with sticks with fear and apprehension... I'll say such stupidity so as not to hit someone in the eye. We would have understood if the bodies there had been frozen. But nevertheless, we punctured all of this and were convinced when we arrived...

Question: So you poked around with a stick, and you were outside?

BS: Yes, through this hole.

Question: What did you take your things in?

BS: Yes, we took very few things. Well, maybe even what kind of backpack we took, I don't remember anymore. Well, not many, we took things with the sole purpose of not being considered crazy. That's why we took very few of these things, maybe we stuffed them in our pockets... No, we didn't take out the backpack.

Question: And when you brought everything, didn't your superiors scold you for taking material evidence from there?

BS: No, they weren't professionals to scold us for that. Then, the next day, when the professionals...

Question: And who took that camera that you brought?

BS: We brought it to the tent... No, I don't remember that. But it didn't disappear, because they tried to pick it out, I remember... if I'm not mistaken... that when they developed the film, there were only a few frames, the rest was clean.

Question: And all the photographs that were taken, were those cameras found in the tent later? You didn't see them at first?

BS: No.

Question: And what about the next day?

BS: I was the leader. In the evening, when we went down, two locals came to us with a radio station, we did not have a radio with us. And in the evening, they had planned, appointed communication hours. They established the connection, and I said that we found a tent, but did not find people. In the morning there should have been communication again. But the guys got up earlier, and I sent them to the tent.

Question: How many people? One, two, three?

BS: No, definitely not one. Several, probably not even two, but more.

Question: And those two, the forester and the fireman, did they go too?

BS: In my opinion, some went and some stayed. That is, a group of 3-4 people went to this slope to look for people. They haven’t found the people yet. Because we turned off the tracks, they went on. Sharavin went with them. Someone stayed with me, I don't remember who. But I wasn't the only one, someone stayed.

Question: So the people went searching, and you stayed to transmit radiograms?

BS: For communication, not radiograms, we had conversational communication. So we waited for this appointed time, got in touch, and they said that other people were heading to us now. When the search had already begun, they dropped off groups along their route from north to south in several places, including ours. We were the luckiest of all that we found them. That's why they were gathering these groups the next day and transferring them to our location. We didn't go anywhere that day, I and someone else was with me, I don't remember who. We needed to prepare, choose a site for helicopters, for landing, and prepare it somehow.

Question: And where did the people go? Didn't go to the tent?

BS: First they followed our tracks, and then they went further there. We stopped here, but the footprints went on. We turned off, well, because it was already late. We needed to get to the tent, go down. We were there near the tent for some time. Days are short in winter, so we knew that here we needed to continue what we didn't have time to do yesterday evening. We didn't do it at the end of the day, we needed to return to this point and go on. It was far to go, it was close, I didn't know, we didn't know. As for those first corpses that they found, it wasn't that far. If we had gone there, we would have run into those corpses. We turned right before them and came to our tent. In the morning I stayed in the tent with someone else, and someone went to continue along this path, to go and run into each other. The first thing they came across were these two bodies.

Question: And they came running right away?

BS: No, they were still looking around to see if they could find someone else. Well, that is, there was enough time for us to get there…

Question: And who told you what they found? Sharavin or Koptelov? Who came?

BS: Well, someone from them. And I decided to go there. There was nothing to do here, look there for the rest of the day, around, maybe we'll find someone else. And everyone went to the cedar.

Question: The helicopters haven't arrived yet? Did you go there before them?

BS: No, they've already arrived.

Question: Who arrived first?

BS: I have no idea. The prosecutors arrived pretty quickly, but not right away. The dogs arrived a little later.

Question: Did Yarovoy fly in, the journalist, was he with you?

BS: Yes. I don't know, with me or maybe earlier.

Question: So everyone was gathered there by the cedar?

BS: I don't remember exactly, the Mansi were there, I think, a fireman with a forester... And I don't think they went to the tent yet. Either the next morning or in the evening someone went, I can't say. When we went to that tent, here on the way to that tent they found more bodies, I don't remember how many, one or two, they were under the snow, not very deep. They started identifying the names very late. I remember individual fragments, I remember that I couldn't recognize Doroshenko and thought it was Zolotaryov. Our task was, first of all, to find everyone. And secondly, to group them somehow, because it was ordered, I already talked to them with the helicopter, that the helicopter would arrive and what would happen?... It turned out that there were two near the tent, now, that means, we found them here, and... It seemed to me that Zinka was found the next day.

Question: Do you remember how the prosecutors arrived?

BS: No, I don't remember.

Question: Did you not know their last names at all then?

BS: No.

Question: And were you looking for the labaz? Are you with Brusnitsyn? Did you look for it for a long time?

BS: With Brusnitsyn, but there was someone else, I don't remember, with Vadik for sure. No, not for a long time. We were getting ready for a long time because we had lots to do, then one day there was a rough hint, previously agreed upon, well, it seems we found it. Someone had a diary with them... I don't remember whose.

Question: You are the last person who knows more than anyone else, no one knows as much as you do.

BS: I'm glad I helped in some way. If this had happened yesterday or today, I would have behaved differently. But then, at 20 years old... Yes, now I'm 100 percent sure that I will die before this is finished. You must see this through to the end.