Sergey Vladimirovich Perets (; 28 September 1969 — 16 August 2002) was a Russian

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

who was killed during the

Second Chechen War Names The Second Chechen War is also known as the Second Chechen Campaign () or the Second Russian Invasion of Chechnya from the Chechens, Chechen insurgents' point of view.Федеральный закон № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 19 ...

in 2002 and was posthumously awarded the title of

Hero of the Russian Federation Hero of the Russian Federation ( rus, Герой Российской Федерации, p=ɡʲɪˈroj rɐˈsʲijskəj fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨɪ), also unofficially called Hero of Russia ( rus, Герой России, p=ɡʲɪˈroj rɐˈsʲiɪ), is ...

Early life

Perets was born in

Kostroma Kostroma (, ) is a historic city and the administrative center of Kostroma Oblast, Russia. A part of the Golden Ring of Russian cities, it is located at the confluence of the rivers Volga and Kostroma. In the 2021 census, the population is 267, ...

in 1969. In December 1991, Perets joined the

Russian Ground Forces The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

, followed by working in the transport arm of the

Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

(MVD) before being transferred to

Cherepovets Cherepovets ( rus, Череповец, p=tɕɪrʲɪpɐˈvʲets) is a city in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located in the west of the oblast on the banks of the Sheksna River (a tributary of the Volga River) and on the shores of the Rybinsk Reservoir. ...

As a police officer

He was assigned to the

militsiya ''Militsiya'' ( rus, милиция, 3=mʲɪˈlʲitsɨjə, 5=, ) were the police forces in the Soviet Union until 1991, in several Eastern Bloc countries (1945–1992), and in the Non-Aligned Movement, non-aligned Socialist Federal Republic ...

, the MVD's police arm due to his military experience. He worked as a traffic policeman (the GAI agency) for four years, until 1998 when he was assigned as the commander of a motorised platoon of militia near

Vologda Vologda (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the river Vologda (river), Vologda within the watershed of the Northern Dvina. Population: The city serves as ...

Chechnya

From 1998 until 2002, he conducted seven tours of duty in Chechnya as a militiaman in the

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and second wars there. His final tour of duty commenced on July 25, 2002 in the early stages of the Second Chechen War. He was noted as the most experienced captain in the motorised police units.

Fatal incident

On August 16, 2002, Perets' unit received intelligence that a unit of

riot police Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots. Riot police may be regular police officers who act in the role of riot police in particular situations, or they may be separate unit ...

from

Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...

were under attack in the village of Shalazhi. Perets's unit, composing of three

armoured personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...

s headed there, and upon arriving in the village they opened fire upon militants in the village. However, the degree of returning fire forced the convoy to stop and fight. During the battle, Perets' APC was cut off from the others and he and his men fought for three hours during which Perets received a wound from shrapnel from a

hand grenade A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...

but carried on regardless. He dragged one of his men who was injured into cover. Thanks to Perets' command, the rebels failed to inflict serious damage on the convoy. While running from cover to the APC, he was shot in the head by a

sniper A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic si ...

and killed instantly. Several minutes after Perets' death, the other APCs rejoined them and the militants scattered, with five killed and seven captured. Two MVD troops were injured in the battle, amongst them the soldier whom Perets dragged to safety. He was buried in

Awards

(8 November 2003,

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award, an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication, publishing of creative work after the author's death * Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1 ...

) - for "courage and heroism in the line of duty in the North Caucasus region." * Order of Courage * Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 2nd class with swords * Medal For Courage * Medal for Distinguished Service in Defending Public Order * Medal "For courage in service" (MIA)

References