100 questions to Yuri Yudin

Hello, dear Yuri Efimovich!

We are addressing you from the Khibina-files forum and members of the group "Pass named after the Dyatlov group".

Firstly, we would like to congratulate you on your 75th birthday and wish you good spirits, health, joy and many years of interesting life!

Secondly, we ask you to answer a number of questions, if it is not too much trouble for you. The questions are being forwarded to you by the employees of the Dyatlov Group Memorial Fund, who kindly agreed to help us contact you. We apologize for the fact that you may have already answered some of the questions, but we do not know your answer or did not understand it, so we are asking the questions again.

Thank you for taking the time to read the questions and, if possible, answer them. Thank you!

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(Note. The photo is from 2012. Yuri Yudin died on 27 April 2013 at age 75 from rheumatic heart disease.)

1. Do you know why Dyatlov's group was called "Khibina"? Who suggested this name?
- Don't know.

2. In your interview with Navig, you said that Krivonischenko was from a wealthy family and could afford to wear felt boots on skis instead of boots, and it would have been good if the whole group had worn felt boots. Why could only Krivonischenko afford to wear felt boots on skis? Did Yuri Krivonischenko have any other spare footwear, or just felt boots? Were felt boots expensive? And were they comfortable for skiing? Kolya Thibo also had two pairs of felt boots with him, but he wore boots.
- The thing is that Krivonischenko... was very well equipped, and he had fur boots, soft ones, which he wore at night (why aren't they on him?), he was always insulated. It was uncomfortable for him to walk on skis in boots. He walked in felt boots, it was comfortable, warm, his feet did not freeze, it was convenient.
And the bindings were then soldier's, ski bindings, on which the Dyatlov group walked, you could walk in any footwear, even in boots, even in felt boots, in anything, these were semi-rigid bindings, army bindings, adapted for all occasions. They don't make them like that now.
Why Krivonischenko... because there were students there. They lived in dormitories, anywhere, they didn't have the opportunity to have felt boots, well, to have everything. And here he has... I was talking about wealth in this sense, that he has caring parents at home, a rich apartment, well in this sense.

3. When the group went on the hike, did you know and talk among yourselves about the oddities and dangers of those places on Otorten where you were going?
- There were no such conversations. All these conversations... maybe someone somewhere told Igor, but no one told us about it. And we didn't know about any dangers.

4. Yuri Efimovich, did you know that Igor Dyatlov met with pilot Patrushev in a hotel in one of the cities? Did you see any pilots in the hotel? If so, in which city was it? Did you ever personally see pilot Patrushev later? If Dyatlov met anyone along the group's route, did he tell the group about his meetings and conversations with people?
- When Dyatlov met with any outsiders, he could not talk about any camping problems, he was a self-sufficient person and even within the group he could never talk to anyone about anything like that. I don't know about pilot Patrushev. If there was a meeting with Patrushev, it could only have taken place in Ivdel. Because in Ivdel he went somewhere during the transfer stop. He could have gone somewhere to the administration, for a consultation, he could have gone anywhere. And I personally did not hear or know anything else about the pilot Patrushev. I found out only after Gamatina said this, I found out only from Gamatina's words (part 1, part 2, part 3). Well, if such a close meeting with hikers and a conversation, then it could only have happened in Vizhay. But what was Patrushev doing in Vizhay, there was no airfield there at the time.

5. Did anyone warn the group not to go there to Otorten in winter when they found out about your route?
- Nothing like that happened. It's all lies.

6. You, like the rest of the Dyatlov group, talked to residents of several local settlements. Were any of the locals interested in the specific route of the group? Was the group given any advice?
- Well, Igor was personally involved in these matters. And what they said to him along the way, who told him what, no one knows, and it was not discussed. Because he... Well, that's my opinion.

7. Do you remember what Dyatlov told the group after meeting the forester Rempel? As we know from the interrogation protocol of Ivan Rempel, Igor Dyatlov told him that how the group should go further would be clarified at the Second North, when the group arrived there (case files 46-47). Why do you think Dyatlov said that? Maybe there were some reasons for this?
- Well, usually the reaction of the leader of a hiking group... always in any region of our Motherland, local residents who do not go anywhere further than their settlement, except for berries and mushrooms. They have a mystical relationship with their expanses, and hikers never pay attention to this. Here Igor spoke in this regard, the route was worked out, how to walk in the snow, in the taiga, in the mountains, so he of course ignored all this idle talk of the local population. That's why he said in this regard that he would look in the Second North. what kind of snow cover, what rivers pass, whether there is ice. Based on local circumstances, he would decide there which way to go, either to go along the river or straight through the taiga. Well, he chose a mixed route. There was nothing mystical there.

8. Who of the Dyatlov group were you well acquainted with?
- Well, we were all in the same sports family, bro... I knew everyone. Well, let's say, with Krivonischenko, he graduated before us, I kind of met him on this hike together with Zolotaryov. Well, I had seen Krivonischenko before, when he was still studying, I was a junior, he was older. And I personally met Zolotaryov on the train. He immediately joined the group and there were no questions about his... no one perceived him as an outsider. He immediately joined the team. That was his character, combative, Komsomol. Well, although he was older.

9. With whom of the Dyatlov group, and on what hikes did you go before?
- We went on hikes with Yuri Doroshenko, we joined the hiking section together at the same time, and together we went on a hike in the Middle Urals, along the Chusovaya River, and we were, well, friends. So, I went with Igor Dyatlov to Altai together, and he personally invited me to this hike, I didn’t even think about going on this hike, but he invited me, and I agreed without even thinking. Well, there with Kolya Tibo, with Rustik Slobodin, we went together to Altai, and with Igor Dyatlov. And with Kolya Tibo... he is such a wonderful comrade and friend, he has such a fate, from a repressed family, but on hikes he was so attentive. When I went on my first weekend hike, I had never even carried a backpack in my life, he was already older than me, so he took care of people, he would take, adjust, adjust the straps, everything else, talk, well, he was an amazing friend. (Yudin's hiking experience up to and including 1959)

10. What kind of thermometer was in the group? And who had it?
- I don't remember that, well, in essence, the doctor had a thermometer, of course. There was a medical thermometer and that's it. And as for the external thermometer, who was our meteorologist there, I don't remember. There was only a medical thermometer. But since the temperature was measured there, judging by the diary, it means that someone had an alcohol thermometer, apparently. You see, I was with them on the route when we were walking from District 41 to the Second North, I was essentially with them once, I didn't see that thermometer there. (no thermometer was ever found among Dyatlov group's belongings)

11. What winter hikes have you personally taken part in? In what years? Tell us about the most memorable one, and why was it memorable?
- Well, you know, I've been on these hikes many times. And I remembered it after the Dyatlov expedition, I remember the expedition on Vaigach Island, well, there are many different episodes, but I remember... when we were walking, there was a blizzard, a drifting snow... well, we were walking, and suddenly my felt boots fell out from under my backpack, while I was picking them up, and the group had already left, I was left as if one on one in the blizzard, you can't see anything, you can't see one meter ahead... But in our time there was such... mutual attention... and suddenly in this blizzard, there is walking, you can't see each other and suddenly people stop and Gena Ptitsyn comes back for me. And on the same day... we are walking, there is a drifting snow. And you can't see the road, and suddenly Gena Ptitsyn falls into the abyss because there is a blizzard, there is a drifting snow, he thinks that he is walking on a ski track, but under him is an abyss. We had a forced stop, we went down, Gena's skis were broken, then there were certain adventures, etc... There is a lot to talk about the hikes.

12. Did hikers often spend the night in the cold without a stove on the winter hikes you took part in?
- Quite often. At that time, overnight stays were without a stove.

13. When a group of hikers stopped for a cold overnight stay in the winter, did it mean that the group would spend the night without a stove? Have you had any experience of such overnight stays without a stove in winter conditions?
- Well, of course, well, it depends on your luck. (laughs) It happens that by chance you find some fuel, and you can use it to make a fire, and that's pure happiness. Well, there were such instances, with special experiments, but they were always in a forest area, so there were no surprises, but of course it is cold to sleep without a stove, and sleeping bags were cotton then, very uncomfortable and they were usually ignored, they were never taken on hikes. At that time, collective sleeping bags were used, and from these individual trade union tourbase bags they sewed one large sleeping bag, and it was very, very comfortable to sleep in.

14. How did you keep warm and how did hikers keep warm, undress, change clothes? Did you sleep without shoes, without felt boots? Did you just cover yourself with blankets or in sleeping bags? It is interesting to know all the details about the clothes and shoes the hikers wore to sleep during the cold overnight stay.
- The Dyatlov group... Of course they didn't have a collective sleeping bag. They deliberately decided not to take it, because it was very heavy and if it got wet on the route, it was very inconvenient to dry it and we decided to go without this sleeping bag. You can not call it a mistake, because all overnights were in the forest. Usually everyone took something warm on their feet, when the feet are warm, the body is warm. They usually took fur socks, as a rule, some did, and some made felt boots. These are the kind of felt boots Zolotaryov had, they were quilted, lined with cotton wool, he put them on only before going to bed... well, everyone has their own... Krivonischenko had fur felt boots. Of course, they didn't sleep in shoes, or rather, they didn't sleep in boots, they usually took them off, well, of course, they slept in felt boots, those who had them, I mean during a cold overnight stay, they just covered themselves with blankets. You see, the Dyatlov group didn't have sleeping bags. If they had sleeping bags, then blankets were usually put on top of the sleeping bags, and it was very comfortable.

15. What clothes did hikers wear to bed in a tent when they slept with a stove? And in what, when without a stove, during a cold night?
- We always changed into dry clothes right away. Well, as a rule... We didn't change completely, but we warmed ourselves up... a sweater... we put on dry clothes from our personal gear, everything we could put on. Back then we had quilted jackets because of poverty, there was nothing else, quilted jackets were spread on the floor, there were no mats then, so that was a problem. The Dyatlov group put skis under the bottom of the tent, insulating their bodies with everything they could. But all this is good, all this is described in the analysis of the Dyatlov camp. When they slept with a stove, there was complete comfort, they undressed almost like at home, well, of course, it was a bit cold for those at the ends, they dressed more or less, and those who were closer to the stove... it was very hot, and no one usually wanted to sleep near the stove. They undressed heavily.
That's why whoever was on duty was in charge the stove, they lay down next to the stove, they undressed and when they were a bit cold, it meant they had to heat the stove.

16. Do you personally think that the Dyatlov group, having firewood and a stove with them, could have gone to a cold overnight stay there on the slope before the morning ascent to Otorten?
- I think that they had not yet lit this stove, the searchers describe that there was a log next to the stove, there was firewood inside the tent and it would have been enough for them for the whole night. They were caught in the situation at the very beginning during the changing of clothes, because they had not changed clothes, they had everything for a normal overnight stay, with a stove. This is apparent from all the evidence.

17. How were the places in the tent determined, who was supposed to sleep where, was the place "reserved" for a certain person once and for all, or was it always spontaneous?
- I think that the Dyatlov group could not have had permanent places. Some could voluntarily sleep at the ends of the tent, because this place was for the brave people who were not afraid of the cold and who, well, kind of sacrificed, and in the middle of the tent it was comfortable, so it was all spontaneous. This is my opinion. And how was it there... They had not yet settled down that night, how were they there, they also did not analyze the location of the belongings e.g. Zina's diary was found at the far end of the tent along with Igor Dyatlov's things. Well, she probably told him: "let your diary lie there"... it was by accident... it's not clear who was where.

18. How was the duty order determined on this last trip of the group, was there some kind of schedule, who made it? Those who wanted to did pairs themselves, or were they paired with someone against their will?
- Well, it's possible that it happens by choice, and the second option is possible, it was more preferable in our time. The quartermaster took a list and assigned you with this one, and you with that one. There were usually no preferences. It was without any claims. If you have a desire, you voice it, if it is all the same, then you go according to the list. How the quartermaster determined the duty then, I tried to figure out who was on duty with whom, but I never fully realized this idea, because it is difficult, and it is also difficult to determine from the diaries.

19. Who did you manage to be on duty with during the time spent on that hike?
- I don’t remember who... I was on duty along the way... I don’t remember... there already on the approaches... I definitely didn’t do duty on the Second Northern because I was sick.

20. On winter hikes, how did you and other hikers dry your boots, felt boots, insoles, socks and generally wet and damp clothes?
- Well, if there was an overnight stay with a fire, then no problem. But if there was an overnight stay in a tent, then we usually tried to dry our shoes... boots... boots were usually not dried, they were put under our heads or feet, whichever was more comfortable... and socks and insoles during the Dyatlov overnight stay, those who had time, they put them under their clothes. Many of these insoles were found under their clothes. Because during sleep, it would be comfortable and warm, i.e. these insoles... Well, socks of course... well, this option is also possible, but they didn't have the time to do it.

21. What was the job of the night guards, and how did they keep watch, how many people at night, or how was it customary for Dyatlov to keep watch at night?
- I already said this in some previous question.

22. Do you remember what kind of stove it was? Was that the same stove that was presented for identification? Or were you not shown the stove for identification?
- The stove for identification... it was not necessary to show it, because I did not even try to examine it, well, a stove is a stove. And in general, when I identified the things, there were no foreign things, they were all Dyatlov's. The only thing is that they wrote down in the protocol from my words that I could not identify these things, but not in the sense that they were not Dyatlov's, not group ones, but simply that I had not yet walked much and could not identify each thing, personal wardrobe items, to whom they belonged, and the stove... I also did not know whose stove this was, then I found out that it was Igor's. Because in preparation for the hike we met episodically, I had the duty of a doctor, and I was responsible for the first aid kit. Here's another thing about the belongings I had to identify, among them was a soldier's puttee, I said that this was the only foreign thing. I am very curious now, why he did not write down this winding. And the second winding was found by Ortyukov, already in May. This is a very important detail, who was in the windings. It was some stranger. And why was one winding among the things presented in March, and the other winding was found by Ortyukov near the location of the last four people. Losing a winding in deep snow up to the waist is easy. Were the two windings from one pair, or from different pairs? But this detail testifies to the presence of strangers in that situation. Weather they were military or civilians, I cannot say for sure. This is a big question for me...

23. Do you remember what kind of bindings the Dyatlov group had on their skis, and what kind of skis were the ones taken from the tent that you identified in early March? Where did they end up? Does anyone know anything about the Dyatlov group's skis that the tent was set up on, and the skis found near the labaz? Who took them? Were they left with the military or brought to Sverdlovsk?
- The Dyatlov group's skis were all semi-rigid, soldier's. They were good for any kind of footwear. For boots, for shoes, for felt boots, and Krivonischenko was walking in felt boots with these bindings, they were very versatile. You can't find them like that now.
About the Dyatlov group's skis, on which the tent was set up, and the skis found near the labaz... I couldn't see them. Because I wasn't on the search at the time. And all those skis were from the Polytechnic Institute's sports base, but they were not returned. The searchers used them there at their own discretion, gave them to those who didn't have skis, to searchers, for example, to soldiers who were searching. They also used those skis to mark the locations of the corpses. And then they just disappeared from circulation.

24. Yuri Efimovich! Please tell us about the relationships in the group. Who communicated with whom the most, what sympathies and antipathies emerged in the group during that hike? I would like to hear your personal opinion about the psychological portraits of the guys.
- This is a very encyclopedic question, and it must be answered... only a specific question.
The group was psychologically very friendly, and there could never be any fundamental conflicts there. Antipathies and sympathies are also a purely... but he... so... it would take a long time to talk about it... there were no such obvious antipathies at all. And mutual sympathy, that was it, but that was not for... not for this... not to talk about it now... (laughs)

25. With whom of the Dyatlov group did you communicate the most on that hike, did you have interesting conversations?
- There was no room for intimate individual conversations there... there was no room for such conversations, every minute was taken up, and everyone was in full view of each other. And therefore interesting conversations, they were conducted purely episodically by chance.

26. Did Semyon Zolotaryov make fun of the girls on that hike? About one of the participants of the expedition?
- God forbid. I met Zolotaryov already on the train and there was... there was no time for jokes and even less - a reason. And he was just getting his eye on the girls, during those days when I was with the group. There were no jokes there at all during my presence there.

27. Did you notice any conflict that occurred between Aleksander Zolotaryov and geologist Boroda (Ognev)?
- First of all, he was not a geologist, but one of the lumberjacks. He was a little older than the rest of those guys, they were there to earn money, at that time it was a great help to earn extra money as lumberjacks there for some time. When we arrived... they were intellectually... we found it interesting to talk to them, to the point that we even discussed Yesenin's poetry, which was still a novelty at the time. There were conversations there all night long, and it's unlikely that the group slept for an hour or two, it was a very interesting meeting in this lumberjacks' dormitory.

28. Did you get the impression that Zolotaryov and Ognev had known each other before?
- What are you talking about, what nonsense! What impression? We weren't watching each other. (gets angry) Well, that's a stupid question for me.

29. Zina and Rustem wrote down Ognev's address in their notebooks, were they planning to visit him?
- I also wrote down his address in my notebook, because he was interesting interlocutor.

30. To whom of the Dyatlov group did Semyon Zolotaryov stick closest? With whom did he become friends, get closer? Or did Zolotaryov keep to himself in the group and didn't get along with anyone in particular?
- Well, when I was in the group, he kept to himself with everyone. With whom he became friends, got along better it's impossible to say. Everyone got along with each other. And even more so, Zolotaryov was in great demand, it was a song encyclopedia, and he sang and played, and everyone there tried to copy his notebooks in turn, the songs that he brought us then. And he was an instructor at different hiking centers, he had a song notebook... from all over the country, from all hiking centers in the country, and in general he was at gatherings everywhere. So he was an irreplaceable person.

31. Is it true that Zina and Yura Doroshenko "had feelings again" during the hike, that they were alone together during that hike, i.e. they tried to be together and keep watch together?
- This is all nonsense! And Zina was on duty with Rustik Slobodin.

32. Have you noticed that Igor was not indifferent to Zina?
- All men were not indifferent to Zina, always in any company. And even she herself writes that wherever she appeared, everyone came to her with the question: "oh, it seems you are a fellow countrywoman, that I know you." She had such a sociable character. Wherever she appeared, she filled the entire space with a pleasant, soulful aroma.

33. Yuri Efimovich, when you went on winter hikes, how did hikers set up their labazes? Did they dig holes in the snow? Hang bags on a tree? Or some other way?
- Well, we didn't make permanent labazes, like local residents do. Labazes were very diverse. Let's say in the summer the labazes were among the rocks. And there was a cairn towering over it. That winter, they say that the labaz was in a hole. It could have been there too. The main thing is that the food is not plundered by the animals that live there, they don't... most of all, protect the contents of the labaz from plunder. Therefore, putting it, as some say, on supports and all the rest, did not make sense, it means attracting curious strangers to it, etc. therefore it could be like they found it.

34. Do you remember any sheets of cardboard that your group carried on that hike? What kind of sheets? Where do you think the Dyatlov group got the cardboard to set up the labaz? What kind of cardboard was it?
- Well, of course there couldn't have been any cardboard there, because there were such heavy items, and sheets of cardboard... that's something else entirely.

35. How did they carry the food in their backpacks? Where did they store the cereals, sugar, powdered milk, coffee, and tea? What did you personally carry from the public property, from the food?
- Whatever the quartermaster gave, the participant of the expedition carried without complaint, without discussion. I don't remember at all what I carried there. On other expeditions, I always carry pots, because that's the most hated public cargo. And I take it, because well, no one wants it, and I'm already used to it, and then with these cauldrons you are always teh last one ready, but in general I was organized and didn't hold up the group. But I don't remember carrying any cauldrons on this trek.

36. Do you think it is possible to store sugar, salt, cocoa powder in snow without plastic bags?
- There was no polyethylene at that time. No, polyethylene was in short supply, it was usually purchased in rolls in pharmacies, where it was supplied to medical institutions as a compression material. I personally was a quartermaster once, and I contacted the pharmacy department then to get a roll of polyethylene. They carried products in ordinary bags. But of course they protected them from moisture. Most of the moisture-sensitive products were then put in oilcloth bags. Well, that's how we kept it, and everything was fine, nothing got spoiled.

37. What did they leave in the labaz? Did they leave documents and money?
- I don't think they left documents or money. But they could leave anything there.

38. Please tell us about that incident at the train station in Serov. How seriously did the police detain Yura Krivonischenko? Who went to the police to help him out? What did they tell the police? Weren't you surprised by Yuri's behavior when he suddenly started singing loudly in a public place and asking for money?
- For Yuri Krivonischenko it was just a joke, for him it was... from the joy of communicating with the group, with friends whom he hadn't seen for a long time, he was elated, he came up with so many pranks... everything was absolutely natural to him, he went to beg for money not because we needed it, but to fool around. What can you say, well they took him... The girls went to negotiate, and he was quickly released, there were no serious consequences. He was arrested while collecting kopeek for candy.

39. Did you know the head of the Gipromedruda trust, Ignatiy Fokich Ryagin, who gave Igor and Sasha Kolevatov the map? And is there any information about whether Ignatiy Fokich Ryagin gave evidence to the investigation?
- The investigation was conducted independently of the students, I wouldn’t know that of course, but Gipromedruda... I personally didn’t know that either. If Igor took some maps there, that means he asked and they gave them to him. Because at that time the maps were completely classified, everything was. Only the chairman of the section Yuri Blinov then went to the high authorities and they gave him 10-km maps of the entire Urals, except for these 10-km maps, we didn’t have maps then, but our hikers learned to walk along these 10-km maps as if they were 100-m maps. They never made mistakes, because at that time these were very good maps, and so we even walked around the Arctic Circle, on Lake Vaigach and we only had a 10-km map, and we never made a mistake there, nowhere, because there was a general 10-km map. Because when a person gets his bearings, he feels it, feels the area as if he had lived there all his life.

40. What was the core storage facility? Whose was it? Was it guarded or abandoned? Approximately how far from the houses was the core storage facility?
- This is the Second Northern Settlement, strictly seasonal, summer. Geologists lived there in the summer. The core storage facility was a roof, just a roof, it was not guarded by anyone and no one needed it. And why did I get interested in the core storage facility? Because I also had a geological assignment, I was there also under the economics university program, I was studying to be an economist for mining and metallurgical enterprises of non-ferrous metallurgy, and we were taught the basis of geology and mineralogy, metal enrichment, etc. That's why I was given such an assignment, so purely out of duty, well, and out of personal interest, I went to this core storage facility and selected beautiful samples there. Usually, when I brought samples back from a hike, I usually gave them, the most interesting ones, to the geology department, and there one day I dragged a huge piece of white marble to the museum. And the deposit was not yet industrial, it was not processed yet, and the head of the department immediately wrote "Gift by student Yudin", which I was very flattered by, because I brought this sample, and it was immediately marked in the display case... but these were the times back then.

41. Did you get to the core storage facility on skis through deep snow?
- I don't remember. Of course we did, because if the houses were abandoned, there was only one house with a stove and beds, and that's where we spent the night.

42. Was the core in boxes or in a pile? Under the snow or under the roof? Under what roof (roof of a building or a canopy?
- Core, these samples were stored in an organized manner on shelves, in boxes, and all the signs were there, everything that was needed, everything was there, no one robbed anything, the core storage was in perfect order, it was under a roof. The core storage was like a canopy, there was access to it from different sides.

43. Who else was involved with the stones in the core storage?
- No one. There were no other fools like that. (laughs) And no one had time.

44. To whom did you give the rock core that you brought from the Second Northern?
- I probably gave it to the department.

45. Yuri Efimovich, many people are interested why did you go to the Second Northern with a sore leg? Why didn't you go home right away, from District 41?
- Well, I hoped that I might get better, it would pass, this has happened to me many times. When we went to Altai with Igor Dyatlov's group, the doctor there wrote me a referral, and I went to medical centers along the way where I could, and there they wrote me erythema, but that was in the summer, warming the leg and lower back in the sun. But here of course we were thoroughly chilled in the open truck, but of course I got to the Second Northern, and there I got worse... well, how can I explain it... well, I hoped it might pass...

46. Was the group confident that as a result of this trip they would be promoted to higher sports categories? Or was this issue never discussed at all, because it was not important to the members of the group?
- Sports categories were never discussed at that time, hikig for us was more for communication then, and not for winning categories. But the sports committee needed the categories, so the sports committee and the sports club started the hiking section so that hikers could apply for categories. It was a completely secondary matter - categories, well, for us that was the worldview back then.

47. Did you have any idea at that time what a soldier's puttee was? Summer and winter? Have you seen one anywhere? Maybe as a child during the war?
- Of course, I had no idea then what a soldier's puttee was. But my father, before being sent to the front in 1942, he was working as a camp guard, there is a photo - he is in puttees. And when I saw something like a puttee among the things, I remember that this was the only extraneous thing and told Ivanov about it, I drew his attention and put this puttee separately, this is an extraneous thing, I do not understand what it is. But he did not find it interesting enough... he did not share my curiosity, and did not write it down in the protocol.

48. Some researchers suggest that the windings found near the tent and at the den belong to Zolotaryov. Did you notice his windings during the hike?
- No, of course not, he was a modern man, why would he go... no, no, this winding did not belong to anyone, not a single member of the group. Otherwise, when I distributed things, I distributed things by owner, I would have put them, I would not have had this request.

49. A travel order in Igor Dyatlov's name was found in his things (a travel order in the name of Dyatlov, as indicated by the investigator). Do you know what kind of travel order it was? Did Igor mention it in the group?
- A travel order is a common occurrence. If we took money from the trade union... they gave it to us in order to account for this money, the trade union gives a travel order, it is given in the name of the manager, and he is obliged to mark this travel order at the final points along the way, where there are transfers and stops, and he certainly marked it. And the fact that the mission and route sheet have disappeared somewhere indicates that this is a vital document with notes, and they are in that file that is secret, I am convinced of this, and they are quietly lying somewhere.

50. Did Dyatlov have any testing device with him, his own design, or not his own, but given to him?
- Тhere was no time for testing, the backpacks were heavy, the snow was up to our necks when we walked, what kind of testing...

51. Please remember, did Semyon Zolotaryov's metal crowns stand out when he talked and laughed? If so, how many were there, approximately, did you notice?
- What an insane question. Why is this necessary? I don't remember anything about his teeth at all, I don't understand the point of the question. If they want to discredit him, it is in vain.

52. Have you noticed the tattoos on Semyon Zolotaryov's arms? For example, on the thumb?
- There were no tattoos, and besides, there was no time, and in general there was no goal to notice anything, well, what kind of insanity, huh? Insane questions.

53. Why are there no entries in the group diaries on behalf of Semyon Zolotaryov? Was he not asked to write?
- I think that it was simply not his turn, Zina gave it there... made a schedule...

54. Did Semyon draw in other people's notebooks? Or in the general diary of the group?
- I don't know.

55. Did he have a notebook with songs?
- Of course! Everyone was trying to get to his notebook with songs. There was a line there to copy them. It was a treasure trove. A huge find, Semyon with his songs.

56. Where did the girls copy the songs from, do you remember? And where did you copy them, into your diaries or into special notebooks?
- Of course, we copied the songs into our notebooks. Since everyone had them. And not just the girls, but all the members of the group.

57. Did you sing forbidden songs on the hike that could be labeled as anti-Soviet? Did you sing criminal songs?
- Of course, we didn't sing criminal songs, because we didn't know them. Nobody labeled anti-Soviet songs back then as anti-Soviet, they were kind of folk songs. I don't understand what you mean by anti-Soviet. People - the Dyatlov group, were all patriots of the Motherland. What anti-Soviet stuff? In general, these are absurd questions.

58. What songs did Zolotaryov introduce you to in the group?
- These were hiking songs, which he knew perfectly well, because he himself sang and played beautifully. And in his work... he was lucky enough to be at all sorts of all-Russian, union gatherings, rallies, at bases, and he worked at almost all tourbases in the country. Everything that was in the song genre at that time, he had in his notebook. Well, I don't remember... there is a notebook... or he... he had a lot of these notebooks, but there was a queue for them. At the Dyatlov group.

59. Did Semyon Zolotaryov keep any of his own records during the hike?
- Yes, everyone did. Of course he did.

60. Did Zolotaryov talk about his life during that hike? About front-line episodes?
- Not while I was with the group, there was no time for that. We were busy at each stopping point, as it always happens, finishing up the gear, sewing shoe covers, repairing whatever we hadn't done before leaving, before heading out on the hike. There was plenty of work. And there was no time for Semyon Zolotaryov's stories, the moment had simply not come yet. They are such... and there everyone was chatting in a joyful atmosphere from meeting their friends. Yurka Krivonischenko arrived, he was stunned with joy from seeing everyone, he missed the company. Rustik Slobodin, Kolya Tibo... everyone met and couldn't stop talking to each other from happiness. I'm speaking incoherently.

61. It seems that he was not with you on that hike. No one mentions him in the diaries. Why is that? Didn't he talk to anyone?
- Well, he... not much time has passed yet. That's why he is not in the diaries...

62. Did you personally write anything about him in your diary?
- What's this... writing in my diary! What stupidity! When the investigator interrogated me, he asked the same thing, the same... a provocative question and asked me, he didn't ask about anyone, but asked how I felt about Semyon, how he behaved, so the investigator asked me about this, and I said that he was a good man, that he behaved correctly... and now some provocateur is asking this same question more than 50 years later! Where do these questions come from? I'm simply outraged, you understand! Did I write about him in my diary? Why should I write about him! Because I saw him for the first time on the train, and what can I write about him!

63-66. Did Yuri Doroshenko keep a diary on the hike? They found two notebooks on him. But these notebooks are not shown in the Criminal Case.

And Yuri Krivonischenko? Did he write poetry on the hike, did he keep a diary?

Did Sasha Kolevatov keep a diary on that hike? If you remember, what color was his notebook or notepad?

What color was Zina's notebook? and Lyuda's?

- How can I remember what color notebook someone had... In my opinion, everyone wrote diaries. Because Zina gave everyone special greenish notebooks, everyone had these notebooks for the diary with instructions from Zina.

She wrote to me: "Blue-eyed Yu "squared" for the diary." I never kept a diary, but since they gave me a diary, I wrote down my first impressions. These notebooks that Zina gave, they were a light greenish-blue color.

67. Tell us, please, the name of the Dyatlov group newspaper - "combat leaflet" - didn't surprise you? Was it customary for student hikers in your time to publish combat leaflets about some event during a hike? Were such leaflets published during other hikes? Or was it only the peculiarity of the group led by Dyatlov to publish combat leaflets?
- Combat leaflets were published in our Soviet times... at that time... well, at every step. Well, if the combat organ of Komsomol satire criticized someone, then this leaflet was called a combat leaflet. If in the hostel where we spent the night, someone was caught in a scandalous drunken incident. Then a combat leaflet was also published. That is, at that time this concept was in common use, and any visual paper was called a combat sheet. And in this case, the Dyatlov group jokingly called this... I haven't seen it... well, a joke newspaper... "Evening Otorten". And why evening, because not long before the Dyatlov group came out, an evening newspaper began to be published for the first time in Sverdovsk, which, at that regulated time, allowed all sorts of information that today would be classified as yellow press. There was an evening newspaper that was free at that time, and it was popular at that time, and all the students, regardless of their political views or attitudes toward the party and the government, they read this newspaper and that's why... they associatively called this newspaper a combat leaflet or "Evening Otorten", but that doesn't mean that they wrote this leaflet in the evening in a tent on the first, as some researchers of this tragedy claim.
Most likely this combat leaflet was written in the morning of the 31st by the fire, in a warm environment, and it was written by... well, some humorists there... who the author was... well, it's bad of course that they didn't indicate, but they were all humorous guys, so they themselves were ironic in relation to each other. It was for sure...
Since the group, officially everywhere in the party documents, in official letters it is said that they died on the evening of February 1, and not like there from the 1st to the 2nd of February... it died officially on the evening of February 1, well, that means they wrote a combat leaflet... no, the group died officially, in the sources they write on February 1, well, and in some places in the official sources it is also written that on the night of the 1st. Well, I think that they died on the first. Actually, if they died on the 1st, then they wrote in the morning of the 1st. If they died on the night of the 31st to the 1st, then they published this newspaper and always in the morning by the fire. Well, I'm speaking incoherently.

68. Who was responsible for the combat leaflets on that expedition?
- Well, I think that the person responsible was... mmm... hmm... well, if Zina was responsible for the diaries, then perhaps she was responsible for the combat leaflet. Well, maybe Kolya Thibault was there too... anyone! They were all... talented guys.

69. Did you later see the group's general diary, the combat leaflet "Evening Otorten"? Did the investigator show it to you? If so, what format was this sheet of paper? Or was it a sheet from a notebook?
- I have not seen this leafelt.

70. Who do you think could have participated in the release of this Evening Otorten? Its content is a bit frivolous for a dedication to the CPSU Congress.
- This was the spirit at the time, the CPSU Congress was treated exactly as written in this combat leaflet. And the fact that some people say that the hike was dedicated to the party congress is not true, because hikes were never dedicated to party congresses. This is only on paper, so that the participants in the hike could be freed from work. At that time it was very difficult, they wrote in a letter on behalf of the hiking and sports club to the bosses where the hikers worked, they wrote "a request to release this person from work for a hike", only in this regard we dedicated hikes to the congress.

71. Investigator Korotaev said at the conference for the 50th anniversary of the Dyatlov Pass incident that you saw this combat leaflet. And that you were also criticized there for going off-route. How would you comment on his words? Thank you!
- Well, you should ask Korotaev about that. How can you criticize me for going off-route...? Well, that's a stupid question. So that they could criticize me for going off-route... how can you put teh blame on anyone if it was impossible for me to go. It was sad to part with everyone. There is nothing to say here.

72. About the cedar. Please remember when you first saw that notorious window in the cedar. Did you notice if the branches there were broken or cut off, several branches or one branch? Was there a break and a twig remained, or was the branch hanging, or was the twig old, without a fresh break? Which branch did you saw off (or chop off) in the early or mid-2000s?
- I saw that window in 2001, when we went there with an expedition to confirm whether there had been an avalanche. Igor Popov was with us, who was running around with this idea, and there was a professor from Perm University, chairman of the department of the geographical society - Nazarov, and we then went to confirm that there could have been an avalanche. But Professor Nazarov, to whom Buyanov refers, he could not say this. He said that there could have been some movement of loose snow, but there was no avalanche, as Buyanov describes. He published such a grand scientific book. The tent is still standing, the poles are still standing, the tents and guy rope, which were on ski poles, and the ski poles were stuck in the snow, in the tent, as it stood, stood in their places. This is some kind of nonsense, an avalanche. Well, I somehow got distracted. This is the notorious window in the cedar, it was at a height of about 5 meters. It was inconvenient to climb there in the winter, and no one had such a desire. We photographed this window. I asked one young participant to look there, I had the same question there, were these branches sawn off or broken, but it was impossible to determine anything, because over 50 years everything had been covered with time. But we took a photo, and only outsiders could have made this window, the Dyatlov group could not have done this, I am firmly convinced. And in general, why was this window needed, the Dyatlov group did not need it. Outsiders needed it in order to lay out the bodies in the order in which they were found and also there was visible... a tent was visible from the cedar there. I think the window was made by outsiders. Well, why did the Dyatlov group need this window... I don't know. There was a break... so... so... So... After 50 years, there were no fresh breaks there, of course. Well, since this is the key point - the cedar... there was a fight near the cedar, the guys' sleeves were torn off, the guys couldn't have fought each other, so they fought with strangers. The cedar is the key point of the Dyatlov tragedy. And then, we all thought that there was a chemical attack. I sawed off a branch for analysis, and now it is in all the photographs. No, not a branch, but part of a branch that was broken off by the Dyatlov group, I sawed off the end part of it, and this cut is confusing someone. I gave it for analysis, and I gave the soil for analysis to a specialized laboratory. This was in 2001.

73. You've probably already been tortured with this fallen tree, but let me ask you again: what is that freshly cut/fallen tree in the May photos? Where was it? Why was it cut, and why are there logs attached to it? Did you see this tree during the 1963 expedition?

The dam built in the stream by searchers in May 1959.

- You can see the tree in this photo. It was in the place where the last four were found, and this tree, in my opinion, has survived, it is overgrown, it was thrown over the stream by the fallen, it fell, and this tree has survived 50 years later, and it is overgrown with moss, and it can now be easily found. But the thing is that many researchers do not agree with me, they show something else, that I am old, they say, and when we were in 2001, this is exactly where this tree is, but all the Dyatlov experts think that I am wrong. No one felled the tree here, and the logs were put against it, just like Askinadzi is now, I am just reading this today.. who is depicted there in these... claims that they did it. They were afraid that the bodies... if the snow started to melt heavily and the stream swelled... they made a dam so that the bodies that had not yet been found would be held on this dam. And it is impossible not to believe him, because it was he who made this dam. Zhenya just showed me these materials. Here on the dam are Ortyukov, Askinadzi, all our search guys and Ivdellag soldiers, and their commanders, and other Ivdellag employees. So, the next question...

74. Do you keep any notes, personal notes about that tragedy, did you keep notes, a diary during the search for the Dyatlov group? Are you going to publish them?
- I didn’t directly participate in the search then. Firstly, my moral state was inappropriate, and then I was sick. But if I wanted, they would have taken me on the search. But I was brought in by the prosecutor for all sorts of identifications, and I identified the bodies when I first saw them. In general, I didn’t have any notes or personal notes, because I was a citizen, a student of the country, for the Motherland, I was loyal to the Motherland, and I believed, absolutely believed the investigation, and I had no desire or reason to doubt anything. Ivanov told me that there was a natural force, a blizzard, that they froze, that I would have been doomed there and would have died with them, would have been the tenth. That was the level of my understanding of the causes of the deaths of the guys. I only found out 40 years later, when the guys from the Dyatlov Foundation invited me to Sverdlovsk, that they all had injuries incomparable with life. We have a doctor of science, a traumatologist, a doctor of medicine, a doctor of science, he analyzed this case back in 1999, these injuries, and these forensic medical examination reports. And he said that absolutely all the participants were injured, even Kolevatov, who had injuries incomparable with life. And all this is disguised, and now they are trying to claim that with such injuries, barefoot, without gloves, they could do something, even dig a cave, climb 5 meters to make a window in a cedar... in general, all the circumstances of this tragedy, really a tragedy, became known to me only 40 years after the incident. Naturally, if I thought that violence was committed against the guys there, and now I have no doubt about it, I had 40 years, I was there, I went everywhere, I met with Mansi, but such a question did not even arise for me! But this is how God commanded... They kept us in ignorance, and now they lead us like cattle. The secret case is still inaccessible to us. And am I going to publish them, my notes? Well, Zhenya is standing here, prompting me... Well, go ahead, group your thoughts and give them to us. Well, I'll try to fulfill his request in the coming months.

75. It is very important to see Grigoriev's notebooks printed in full. They are kept by Rimma Pechurkina. Could you ask her why she does not want to publish all the notebooks? After all, all researchers are waiting for them, they are public property.
- This is, as it were, Rimma Aleksandrovna's personal business. She showed me those notebooks, I saw them all, held them in my hands, made copies for myself, but I have no right to put them into circulation without Grigoriev's consent. Now, if in the near future he... I will write to him, if he allows it, then it is possible. And he himself can publish them in full. (They are now available: Notebook 1, Notebook 2, Notebook 3)

76. Yuri Efimovich, the protocol of your interrogation has been published, and you say there that the group had no alcohol. The group did not celebrate Yuri Doroshenko's birthday with either diluted alcohol or wine?
- Well, firstly, at that time we did not have the custom of drinking alcoholic beverages in the hiking club, there was no such need. When we celebrated the New Year of 1959 on a hike, there were... there were about 50 people, two bottles of champagne, each of us got 50 grams, no more, and we had fun all night, we did not need a strong drink, and neither did all the members of our club. Well, that was the kind of unadvanced time we had back then. There was no wine.
But alcohol was absolutely necessary on the hike, and I was worried because I was a doctor in the group, and I was worried that the group went on the hike without alcohol. But no instructions provided for this then, but I am like a doctor in quotes, but alcohol is needed, well, I couldn’t get it then.
We danced, sang without alcoholic drinks.
But the alcohol, which the group did not take on the hike, but it was found in the tent, now, analyzing the situation, I assume that Yuri Krivonischenko brought it, because in their closed city of Chelyabinsk-40, one could buy alcohol freely. Well, this... Igor did not inform me about this... Well, maybe Igor asked him about it, or maybe Yuri himself took the initiative. And then, when I was distributing the things I had identified, I was distributing them to relatives, and Yuri Krivonischenko's relatives identified the flask, so the matter is closed. I assume that Yuri Krivonischenko brought the alcohol.

77. Maybe Semyon Zolotaryov had alcohol? If so, did he offer anyone a drink?
- Well, he should have tried then, in that atmosphere, at that time, to offer it to anyone! This question is from today's life, it doesn't fit in there... Well, this is a question from another time.

78-79. Did the geologists at District 41 offer the group to drink alcohol or wine with them?

Was it easy for students to get alcohol at that time? Or not?

- Well, first of all, at that time there was a big deficit of alcohol, it was impossible to buy for any money, and I think they didn't have any wine, the geologists there didn't have any alcohol, although we sang, danced and talked with them until the morning, we didn't need alcohol or wine... we watched films... It was impossible to get alcohol at that time, because there was a party-state decision, specifically in 1958, to stop selling alcohol anywhere.

80. When your leg hurt, did you think about rubbing it with alcohol or cologne? Did you ask the guys from your group about alcohol?
- First of all, my illness was chronic, and it was not amenable to a one-time alcohol effect, so this question does not apply to me.

81. The two flasks that you identified, you identified as the flasks of the guys. How many flasks were in the group in total, do you remember?
- Well, these two little flasks were in the group, well, I don’t know how many there were, maybe there were more, and I identified the two little flasks, and they were identified by relatives... of Sasha Kolevatov and Krivonischenko.

82. Did the group have chocolate? They say it disappeared without a trace? Is that true?
- There may have been chocolate, but I'm not the quartermaster, I don't know.

83. What is your personal opinion about the money found with the group at the time of death? Why did Slobodin have such a large sum of money with him?
- Well, because he was working... but money won't hurt, it didn't hurt anyone... I don't know why he had money.

84. How was the money stored? All together with Dubinina and Dyatlov, or did each have his own sum with him?
- Here is the group money that we collected for the expedition, it was kept by the quartermaster, I think by the quartermaster, and maybe by Dyatlov. Usually the practice was that the money was kept either by the quartermaster or by a treasurer specially chosen by the group. But since the treasurer was not appointed, it means that most likely they were with the quartermaster, because from the diaries it is clear that everyone criticized her (i.e. Lyuda) for being stingy.

85. How much personal money did you have with you?
- Well, I don’t know... I was a student, I lived on a scholarship, I didn’t have much personal money, I don’t remember.

86. When you returned home... What happened with the ticket? Did Dyatlov give you a return ticket? Or gave the money and you had to buy the ticket yourself?
- I can't remember for the life of me, but one thing is clear: it wasn't customary to buy a return ticket then, so... I don't know, I can't remember that moment, for the life of me.

87. How can you explain that the group had already purchased return train tickets for February 15?
- I don't think they were purchased, maybe someone made it up.

88. Is it true that all the guys from Blinov's group (Yuri Blinov, Vsevolod Eroshev, Stas Devyatov, Evgeniy Sinitsyn, Vyacheslav Krotov, Boris Sychev, Vladimir Strelnikov) have already died? Do you have the contact information for the girls from Blinov's group? (Ksenia Svechnikova, Kira Obodova, Valentina Tamilova)
- Well, since most of the guys there were Phystech students, they naturally worked in closed enterprises, and naturally, they could die prematurely. Borya Sychev is still alive. Slava Krotov died while participating in a mountaineering ascent. Yuri Blinov died prematurely, although he was a healthy guy, an athlete... it's all the effects of occupational hazards. That's what I think. Ksenia Svechnikova lives in Sverdlovsk... hmm... I don't have these addresses now. Because they don't show up for the annual meetings, so I don't have the addresses.

89. Did you contact Lyudmila Dubinina's family before and after the tragedy? Can you guess where Lyudmila's father could have gotten information about the possible cause of the tragedy, who Lyudmila's father (judging by his circle) could have consulted with?
- When the first five were buried, they were buried in open coffins, and many people noticed their skin color. The guys were advanced, they studied at the Physics and Technology Institute, and the conversations weren't about an avalanche, but about a missile test. Ivanov, the investigator, speaks about this directly. He made inquiries about this, about seeing rockets on February 1, says Maslennikov. Well, there is a lot of evidence about this, so Lyudmila's father, and he was a prominent bureaucrat, well, I'm saying it in quotes, at that time, i.e. he worked in the economic council as some kind of... he was an authoritative official. That's how I think, he had his own thoughts.

90. With whom of the Dyatlov group's relatives did you communicate after the tragedy? Are you still in touch with some of them now? With whom of your former classmates from the institute and from the hikes do you still communicate?
- With the relatives of the memebers of the Dyatlov group... I communicated with the family of Igor Dyatlov, I was invited, I went to their home, but it was a heavy feeling, they, the relatives, were all crying, and it was beyond my strength to bear such an atmosphere. They, the parents, said that "you are left alone, you are like a son to us"... Well, I am such a scoundrel, I have not been to them after that meeting. Therefore, it was very difficult to meet with the relatives.

91. Were you on the slope? Did you see some kind of chum there? Or were they sticks gathered at the top into a cone?
- I didn't see this tent, Maslennikov writes about it, and he was in this chum. It is written about in his diaries. I think it was the second option - that these were sticks gathered at the top into a cone, it was a Mansi camp. Well, they collect the sticks, then return to this place, so as not to prepare them again and not to take them there.

92. Of course, you discussed what happened with other guys from the hiking club. Has anyone voiced the idea that on a mountain like Kholat-Syakhl, people died just like that, from some natural overwhelming force? That there is something mystical, inexplicable in the death of the group?
- In my opinion, there is nothing mystical there. Everything there is man-made, but inexplicable. There is a case that was opened on February 6. We did not even know that something happened there, and the people who opened the case, they already knew everything, they were there. And then, these searches that began and were conducted there on February 20, it was a sham. The people who staged this show, the party organs, they knew about it, that there was an overwhelming force there. And the overwhelming force, it was overwhelming for society at that moment, a state secret, and it is still in effect, because this case, which is secret, it is still not declassified, they show us under the guise of a declassified case... they show us these materials of the surveillance proceedings... And the main proceedings, who conducted it, where it is stored, it has a specific number. But this case, which is in circulation, which the whole world knows, it has no number, and the real number appears in the correspondence of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Soviet Union and the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, in the correspondence between them, and in the Sverdlovsk regional prosecutor's office. We know this number №3/2518-59. (Case file v.2-43, Case file v.2-58)

We have appealed to all authorities, and we and our relatives are still considered cattle, still dust, and they do not give, do not allow to this case, where at least this route book is kept. Igor made notes there at all the checkpoints when we were traveling. There is no route book, but it must be in this case. And there are no protocols there, which should be according to the procedural rules of office work, there are no materials there, there are phony documents slipped in, all sorts of protocols without the signatures of witnesses, without the signatures of the participants, which are indicated in the title... here the protocol is drawn up, it was signed by both of them, but there are no signatures! But in this case there are copies, but this cannot even be explained in words, the indignation of relatives and the indignation of our hiking community. I do not see any mysticism, everything is man-made, and these injuries, incompatible with life, all of them had injuries, but they were all hidden. How could these injuries have happened on that path, where they walked in the snow? And even Ivanov says that the injuries described in the autopsy reports can not be from a fall of their own height, like stumbling and falling in the snow. These are  severe injuries, i.e. all this is man-made.

93. Were you in Krivonischenko's apartment after the tragedy? What did you talk about there? Perhaps someone remembered these meetings. What exactly? Do you know where the Krivonischenkos went and why they do not want to communicate with other relatives of the victims and do not visit their son's grave?
- This is a very intimate question. For them... they were real... well, big bosses in our time... they had a wonderful apartment in the city center, he was the main builder of the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant, an intelligent family. The parents did not agree to bury the dead separately, everyone wanted the boys to be buried not on the pass, not in the mountains, but to be buried in Sverdlovsk, they are not some kind of criminals! And so all the relatives were united in this wish, and Krivonischenko's parents, due to their deep patriotism and understanding of the moment and the situation, agreed that their son should be buried at the Ivanovskoe Cemetery... Well, Zolotaryov, they buried him there because... without even asking anyone... because his mother could not come, she was very poor, they did not ask her, they buried him at the Ivanovskoe Cemetery. Of course, we now have such a goal - to exhume, carry out the necessary investigative actions to solve the tragedy, and bury everyone in one place at the Mihaylovskoe Cemetery, where the memorial stands.

94. In one of the photographs there is bottle near the cedar. You mentioned it in an interview with Navig. Can you tell us more about this bottle?

A bottle near a cedar.

- I think that these are those strangers. Who are mixed up in everything there. The investigation materials say that there were no strangers there. And starting from the urine trace, well, excuse the naturalism, starting from that, everything that was done there, there are literally a hundred traces of strangers, these are all traces of strangers, not students.

Bottle enlarged.

Well, they took some wine with them and drank it. What can I say? The investigators should have analyzed this, and they knew everything in advance, they were not interested in the investigation at all, they did everything to create the appearance of an investigation. But they still interrogated the students who participated in the search, and these protocols have great power. But let's say the first person who found the tent, Misha Sharavin, he was the first to find the bodies of the first guys near the cedar, he was the first to capture the situation near the cedar, he has not been questioned to this day. Someone had to hide it, and the investigation is still afraid of what he will say. But he said that he immediately saw that the bodies were covered with a blanket. Where did the blanket come from? Then, when I was looking at the things, I saw that all the blankets were in the tent, someone had brought it along with them. (Note: Sharavin was hospitalized after a ski accident when the testimonies were taken, and the checkered shirts on the bodies were first confused for a blanket)

95. Do you know anything about the note from the Moscow State University students that Akselrod took from Otorten? Have you seen this note in the case?
- I saw this note in the case files that are not clasified.

96. Did you ever dream about the Dyatlov group and what kind of dreams were they?
- I still dream about them... we even sing songs together. Then after these dreams I walk around happy all day and week, because I dream good dreams. They are all alive there.

97. Did you talk to Yuri Blinov later? Did you talk to him about the labaz, did he tell you about the labaz? Did he tell you about a certain phenomena that his group observed during the hike and that could have occurred on the day of the Dyatlov group's death?
- That's the thing, Yuri died prematurely, he lived very far from me, in a closed city, and I had no communication with him. This is, of course, unfortunate. He is now in the afterlife.

98. What was the mood in the group when you left it? Not only in relation to you, but in general. Were there any premonitions, anxiety, or did you simply not remember it, did not notice it?
- Well, no premonitions or anxiety, it is impossible to even talk about it, and there never were any, anywhere in the group. Well, it was sad from the very moment of parting and that's all.

99-100. Yuri Efimovich, now there will be a series of questions about the postponement of the deadline, so don't be surprised that some questions will seem strange to you.

a) Did Igor Dyatlov offer you to inform about the postponement of the deadline by phone? Or were you supposed to come to the UPI sports club and hand it over in person?

b) To whom exactly did you inform about the group's delay for 2 days and how? Perhaps verbally, perhaps you left a note? If a note, then where did you leave it?

- At that time, I was far from this hiking bureaucracy, because we didn't really need it. And why did Igor decide to postpone the deadline?... When we were walking from District 41 to the Second Northern, there was... we were walking along the road, we were walking ahead of the horse, and the horse was a kilometer behind us, it was a very difficult road. The skis were sinking in, the ice was incredibly difficult, every 5 minutes the skis were already half a meter thick... on each ski there was half a meter of wet snow, and it had to be cleared. And so, feeling such a road, and the route was planned along the rivers, because it was even more difficult to walk through the taiga without a path, in chest-deep snow... Therefore, Igor understood the difficulty of this situation, and he told me to tell the institute, to warn the guys that we would be delayed for two or three days. So I came to the institute and immediately passed on this to the hiking club. I was not instructed to go to the sports committee in the city administration and talk about it there. I told my fellow hikers, everyone knew that Igor would be delayed for these days. That's how it was, this primitive. Everyone knew that the group would be delayed, and it was even recorded in the act of the Moscow commission. And at that time, such notification was the order of the day. At that time, free, non-bureaucratic time, this was normal.

c) When you returned to District 41, did you go home with the chief Ryazhnev that same day, or the next day? How did you get to Vizhay with Ryazhnev? What did you talk about on the way? Did you have a conversation with him about the group's delay? Do you think Ryazhnev was doing time there, did he talk about his life? Did Ryazhnev ask you when the group would return?

- Well, I don't remember that now, but I certainly told him that the group would be delayed, and what did he... it would be inappropriate if he suddenly started telling a stranger about his personal life. Well, these are some stupid questions. When I returned to District 41, I was sick, they knew that I was sick, they were not surprised when I returned. And then I came back with this one, on a horse, he was carrying my backpack, but he was riding very quietly, and I was trailing behind him. They didn't give a damn about the group returning with a delay.

I got there with Ryazhnev in their car. They had a lumberjack area, they had their own equipment, naturally, I got there the next day, well, I don't remember how, but it seems to me that I spent the night there, and the next day we left with him. He didn't go because of me, he had to go there, and I was lucky.

d) Why did Dyatlov decide to postpone the return date? Was the group behind schedule if it set out on a hike 2 days before the approved date?

- I've already explained that. He saw the conditions for passing the route on ice, in deep snow, and most of the route was supposed to go along river valleys, because it was better than going through the taiga and through these rocky areas. This was the only correct path. That's why he felt it and protected himself, asked me to pass it on.

d) Did Valyukevichus know that the group would be delayed and the return date would be postponed? Did he hear your conversations about changing the deadline?

- No, of course not, why would he get involved in such things. Igor told me about the postponement of the deadline when I had my backpack packed, and Valyukevichus was cursing that we were holding him up, he needed to... That's why he said it on the go.

(Yudin comes to life) When they brought me to identify the belongings, I saw Igor there under a white sheet, and they had just brought Rustik Slobodin. Rustik Slobodin was still unthawed at that time... (the recording ends)