Slobtsov witness testimony

Russian

Sheet 298

Protocol
witness testimony

On 15 April 1959, in compliance with Article 162-168 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR, the prosecutor criminologist of Sverdlovsk region Romanov interrogated in the District Prosecutor's Office as a witness

1. Surname, name and middle name: Slobtsov Boris Efimovich
2. Year of birth 1939
3. Place of birth: city of Sverdlovsk
4. Nationality: Russian
5. Political affiliation: member of the Komsomol.
6. Education (what school graduated from and when): student 3rd year in group 381 of the Power Engineering Faculty of UPI
7. Occupation a) currently: the same
   b) at the moment of the events: the same
8. Criminal record: no
9. Permanent residence: Sverdlovsk, Lenin St. 13a, apt. 23
10. Passport: no
11. Relation to the accused: -

Warned on the responsibility for the first part of Article 92 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR for refusing to testify and under Art. The Criminal Code for giving knowingly false testimony.
B. Slobtsov (signature)

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Witness testified: I started to study tourism in 1956, i.e. from the time of admission to study at UPI, I am a member of the hiking section of the Institute. I have been in only 5 expeditions. I know personally some of the participants of this camping trip, but not all. The group included Zolotaryov, whom I did not know. The rest of the participants knew and can say that these people were fully prepared to participate in the winter hike III category of difficulty. As I know, this group was prepared satisfactorily for the expedition. One of the drawbacks is that a copy of the route book was not left in the city committee for physical culture and sports by the group leader comrade Dyatlov, but the dates for leaving and returning of the group were known to the committee from the protocol of the route commission.
The institute became aware of the fact that Dyatlov group did not return from the expedition in the check-in period in the middle of February, I do not remember the exact date. The search group first took off on February 20, 1959. The second group, including myself, flew to Ivdel on an airplane on February 22, 1959.
I flew by helicopter on the scene on February 23, 1959. I led the search team. The tent of Dyatlov group was discovered by our group on the afternoon of February 26, 1959.
When we approached the tent, they found out: the entrance of the tent came from under the snow, and the rest of the tent was under snow. Around the tent in the snow stood ski poles and spare skis - 1 pair. The snow on the tent was 15-20 cm thick, it was clear that the snow was fluffy on top of the tent, it was hard. (the snow was accumulated by the wind on top of the tent, and then hardened by the cold into a crust - ed. note).
Near the entrance of the tent on the snow

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an ice ax was stuck, on the canvas of the tent, in the snow lay a pocket flashlight, Chinese make, which, as it was subsequently established, belonged to Dyatlov. It was strange that while there was a layer of snow let say 5-10 cm thick under the flashlight, there was no snow on top of it, and it was snowed slightly on either side. I took the flashlight first and found that it was not turned on. When I turned it on it lit. I did not notice that day, but then I heard from other people involved in the search that there was a trace of urine in the snow near the tent.
In the immediate vicinity of the tent there were no footprints. Approximately 15-20 m from the tent in the direction where the bodies were subsequently discovered, footprints of the people's feet coming from the tent were visible on the snow, and it was evident that the tracks were left by the feet of a person without shoes in felt boots (valenki). The tracks protruded above the surrounding surface of the snow, for near the tracks the snow was blown out by the wind.
From the tent in the direction of the wind, i.e. in the direction where there were traces of people's feet, at a distance of about 0.5-1 m, we found several slippers from different pairs, and ski caps and other small objects were scattered. I do not remember and did not pay attention to how many people were the footprints from, but it should be noted that the tracks were initially together, next to each other, and the distant tracks diverged, but now I don't remember how they parted.
On February 26, 1959, we removed the snow from over the tent and made sure that there were no people inside, and we didn't touch the items that were in the tent. I was with student Sharavin. The items were taken out of the tent on February 27 and 28, 1959, when student Brusnitsyn and other searchers were present.

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When on 26.2.59 I looked in the tent I saw the following: the tent itself was torn, there was food in a bucket near the entrance, there was a liquid in a flask - alcohol or vodka, there were food supplies in bags at the feet, the blankets were unfolded, under the blankets spread out were quilted jackets, storm jackets, and under them backpacks were laid on the floor. At the entrance hung Slobodin's jacket, in whose breast pocket were found about 800 rubles. In the tent, apparently, a sheet was hung, which was torn and part of it protruded outward.

Question: What can you add to your testimony?

Answer: How and where the bodies were found is known from the testimony of others, but I can note that the cedar, where the bodies of Doroshenko and Krivonischenko were found, I saw how Mansi Bahtyarov found 8 rubles in the snow, bills of 5 and 3 rubles in a folded form, and without me being present they found a 5 cents coin in the same place, a whole checkered shirt, several simple cotton socks, a piece of sweater, a handkerchief. I was present when we found under same cedar a cloth belt of dark color with ribbons [tassels] at the ends. I don't know who this item belongs to. The length of this item is about 80 cm, the width is about 10 cm, looks like a belt or strap, with which the Mansi pull loads, except the object would be not strong enough for this purpose.

Question: Who and under what circumstances found the storage (labaz) of Dyatlov group, what was there?

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Answer: Now I do not remember the exact date, but February 28 or March 1, I, Brusnitsyn and Lebedev found the cache of Dyatlov group in the upper sources of Auspiya river. With us there were 2 more Mansi people. Labaz was organized in the penultimate camp site, where were left: a pair of spare skis, gaiters, in a pit in the snow there were products, about 60 kg, Dyatlov's boots and spare ski boots, in the boots were frosted cotton socks, apparently they were left wet. There was also Krivonischenko's mandolin.

Slobtsov (signature)

Interrogated: Romanov (signature)

Russian