To the kindergarten — with a suitcase full of explosives. The story of Belarus's first terrorist

Building of kindergarten No. 511 in Minsk, where an emergency situation occurred in 1996. Photo: yandex.eu/maps

1996 was a hot year in Belarus in every sense. The country was in a political crisis. Alyaksandr Lukashenka had been in power for less than two years, but had already managed to change state symbols and grant Russian the status of a state language through a referendum.

He conflicts with the Supreme Soviet and the Constitutional Court. They opposed Lukashenka's desire to seize absolute power and lead Belarus towards integration with Russia.

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First President of Russia Boris Yeltsin receives Alyaksandr Lukashenka in the Kremlin, August 3, 1994

In mid-March, protest actions began. They peaked the following month when Lukashenka and Yeltsin signed an agreement on the formation of the "Community of Russia and Belarus."

On April 2, about 30,000 people took to the streets of Minsk. On April 26, the traditional "Chernobyl Way" took place, with 60,000 participants.

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"Chernobyl Way - 1996". Photo: Heorhiy Likhtarovich, vytoki.net.

Clashes with security forces occurred, and police cars were overturned. This ended with the first mass arrests in the history of the independent country and the final departure of opposition leader Zianon Pazniak from the country. However, as a result, the draft union agreement was adjusted towards preserving Belarus's sovereignty.

Against the backdrop of the political fever gripping the country, a small man's personal struggle for justice went almost unnoticed.

Tuesday morning, June 11, 1996. Minsk was experiencing record heat, which caused nausea and dulled attention. Therefore, it was not surprising that no one paid attention to the strange man with a suitcase who came to kindergarten No. 511 on Charviakova Street.

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Kindergarten No. 511. 2017. Photo: yandex.eu/maps

Thus, 17 children and two adults became hostages of 43-year-old Alyaksandr Zyulkou. The man did not make extravagant demands such as a million dollars or a helicopter — he asked for his medical card, a lawyer, and a film crew from the popular Russian TV program "Vzglyad" to be brought to the kindergarten.

This was the culmination of Zyulkou's personal war, which had lasted a full 10 years.

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Alyaksandr Zyulkou in childhood. Video screenshot: dgitalvid8190 / YouTube

Alyaksandr Zyulkou grew up in a military family and dreamed of following in his father's footsteps. His father raised his children strictly and taught his son from childhood that the most important thing was to keep one's word and uphold one's honor.

The young man's life developed according to a standard Soviet scenario: school, army and special forces service, marriage, and the birth of his son Ruslan. A fatal incident crossed everything out.

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Alyaksandr Zyulkou during his military service. Video screenshot: dgitalvid8190 / YouTube

In November 1986, the police dragged Zyulkou straight out of bed. His relatives found him only a few days later — Alyaksandr was in a psychiatric hospital. In "Navinki" he spent three weeks and left with a diagnosis of "chronic alcoholism and complete personality disorder."

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Larysa Zyulkova. Video screenshot: dgitalvid8190 / YouTube

His relatives were shocked — Zyulkou only drank on holidays with his family. His sister Larysa believed that the trouble with her brother happened because of her. She had rejected one suitor several times, mocking him. He endured for a long time until love turned into hatred. He decided to take revenge by using the official position of his brother, who was a district police officer in Ratomka. That's where the Zyulkous lived. That police officer came to them, but the victim of the suitor's revenge was not Larysa, but her brother Alyaksandr.

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Alyaksandr Zyulkou. Video screenshot: dgitalvid8190 / YouTube

The terrible diagnosis put an end to the military career of the future terrorist. He was dismissed from the special forces, and his friends and comrades turned away. But the most tormenting thing for Alyaksandr Zyulkou was the feeling of injustice in the verdict.

Over time, the struggle for truth became the meaning of his existence. He wrote letters to officials and newspapers, but it yielded no results. The man distanced himself from his family, paid little attention to raising his son, and, according to his wife Zhanna, beat him. As a result, the Zyulkous divorced in 1990.

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Zyulkou's ex-wife Zhanna and son Ruslan. Video screenshot: dgitalvid8190 / YouTube

Alyaksandr could not find stable employment. He was either a driver or a railway conductor, but he was dismissed everywhere due to his diagnosis. As a result, the man joined the family business — three generations of his family made wedding decorations. This brought a small but stable income.

In parallel, Zyulkou tried to achieve justice through court. But all sessions were unsuccessful. Shortly before the tragedy, the man lost his last case, after which he completely shut himself off. His relatives understood that he was preparing for something.

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Court summons for Zyulkou's civil cases. Video screenshot: dgitalvid8190 / YouTube

The day before the kindergarten takeover, the former spouses met for the last time. Alyaksandr Zyulkou came to work to ask Zhanna to pick up his dog. To all questions, he answered briefly: it just had to be so.

The next day, the man with a large utility bag walked past his ex-wife at the railway station and didn't even greet her. She sensed that something terrible was about to happen. A few hours later, Zhanna Zyulkova would be sought by men in plain clothes, asking her to go with them to kindergarten No. 511.

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Alyaksandr Zyulkou in the kindergarten. Video screenshot: dgitalvid8190 / YouTube

After announcing the takeover, Alyaksandr Zyulkou sat with his suitcase on a table in the middle of a group on the second floor. He placed the briefcase in front of him, inserting his finger into a wire loop, the other end of which was attached to explosives. He made all the children sit on the floor and told the caregivers to stand behind them.

After 15 minutes, the kindergarten was already cordoned off by security forces. Negotiations with the terrorist began immediately. However, they led nowhere. Therefore, the security forces resorted to a trick. Zyulkou demanded that journalists from the "Vzglyad" program from Moscow come to him. He was promised that there would be a film crew, but a local one. And under the guise of "Vzglyad" reporters, police officers were sent to Zyulkou, lying that the Moscow journalists were on vacation.

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Kindergarten No. 511. Video screenshot: dgitalvid8190 / YouTube

The captor was greatly irritated by the children's crying, so he released several toddlers who were wailing particularly loudly. Seeing the man's discomfort, the caregivers quietly encouraged the children to cry.

The security forces with video cameras realized that they were dealing with an inexperienced terrorist, so they gradually approached Zyulkou. They even managed to check his suitcase with a gas analyzer — it turned out that the man was not bluffing. The suitcase was completely packed with TNT.

Having calmed down a little, the captor began to give an "interview." He complained that he had lost everything due to the bullying he endured.

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Zyulkou gives an interview. Video screenshot: dgitalvid8190 / YouTube

Caregiver Larysa Sakalova took advantage of Zyulkou's diverted attention. She began to lead the children to the toilet and pass them to special forces officers through the window. Many of the little ones never understood what danger they were in.

As a result, only two toddlers, a speech therapist, and athletic-looking men who looked less and less like journalists remained in front of the captor. They were no longer interested in Zyulkou's drama; they were asking about the explosives in the suitcase.

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Speech therapist Natallia Sakina demonstrates how Zyulkou held the detonator of the explosive. Video screenshot: dgitalvid8190 / YouTube

Suddenly, the terrorist realized everything and demanded that all the children be returned to him.

Then Zyulkou pulled a wire from the suitcase. There was a pop, smoke poured from the briefcase, but by some miracle, the explosives did not detonate. The last thing Alyaksandr Zyulkou managed to say was: "Alright, I'm staying here."

The security forces began to act. Two shots were fired, after which one of the riot police officers snatched the suitcase from the mortally wounded Zyulkou's hands and threw it out the window. It landed 40 meters from the cordon. The explosion never occurred — it turned out that the terrorist had overcomplicated the detonator.

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Mortally wounded Zyulkou. Video screenshot: dgitalvid8190 / YouTube

Five hours later, Alyaksandr Zyulkou would die in the hospital; his ex-wife's help would not be needed. By the time she was brought to the kindergarten, everything would already be over. As a result, only one of the first Belarusian terrorist's demands would be met — he would be featured in the "Vzglyad" program.

In the report, the captor would be portrayed as a victim of circumstances and a sentimental man, and host Alyaksandr Lyubimau would twice say that Belarusians and the Belarusian KGB were lucky.

The cynical phrase of the Russian journalist was connected to the Chechen war and the fact that on the same day as the kindergarten hostage-taking in Minsk, an explosion occurred in the Moscow metro. The device was several times weaker than the one in Zyulkou's suitcase, but it killed four people and injured 16.

But let's return to Minsk. After the successful special operation, its participants received awards. Psychologists worked with the children, and the little ones were also taken to the sea with their parents. The kindergarten underwent major renovations.

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Children of kindergarten No. 511. 1996. Video screenshot: dgitalvid8190 / YouTube

The house where Alyaksandr Zyulkou once lived was eventually sold. His ex-wife did not take a single item from there — so that nothing would remind her of her terrorist husband. And she destroyed all their shared photos, not even sparing the wedding ones.

It was believed that some curse hung over the men in the Zyulkou family. Three generations did not die a natural death. His grandfather was executed in 1939, his uncle was killed on a train, and his father disappeared under unexplained circumstances. And how Alyaksandr Zyulkou died — you have just read.

His only son Ruslan is alive to this day, but the man's fate can hardly be called happy. He worked as a bartender, then a laborer, then a loader, and had several criminal records.

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Kindergarten No. 511. 2022. Photo: yandex.eu/maps

For 27 years after the kindergarten takeover, it was only mentioned on anniversaries. But this incident did manage to acquire certain legends. In particular, a few years ago, the state press wrote that the entire special operation was allegedly personally controlled by Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Today, the children once held hostage by Alyaksandr Zyulkou are a little over 30 years old. Almost all this time, power in Belarus has not changed. Belarus itself has changed, as has the attitude towards certain things. For example, towards terrorism itself. In the 2020s, against the backdrop of legal chaos, Lukashenka's political opponents began to be labeled as terrorists.

But after 30 years, one thing has not changed. Still, a man in uniform can drag any undesirable Belarusian out of bed, ruin their life, and bear no responsibility for it. And attempts to achieve justice will bring nothing but perhaps even greater problems.

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