Aleksander Valentinovich
Perov
1975-2004
Aleksander Valentinovich Perov was the head of the operational group of the 1st department of Management “A” (“Alpha”), major, the Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously). He was born in Viljandi (Estonia) in the family of a serviceman. He successfully finished School No. 937 in Moscow. Since childhood, he was fond of sports, and even in the 5th grade he fulfilled the standard of the 1st adult category in skiing. He was in the Armed Forces of Russia since 1992. In 1996 he graduated from Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School, and in the same year he was enrolled in Group “A” (“Alpha”) of the Special Purpose Center of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. Since 1999 Aleksander Perov had always travelled on official business trips, participated in complex operational and combat operations to suppress acts of terrorism. Possessing an important quality for a special forces soldier – observation – he competently and clearly noticed the subtleties, nuances of the situation. Therefore, during the special operation in Komsomolsk against Gelaev’s gang, the young officer was an observer in a group of snipers, as only he was able to determine by secondary, indirect signs where, on which of the objects the enemy was located. In the future, Perov mastered mine-blasting, and went to Chechnya already as a bomber. Aleksander Perov took part in the release of hostages and the elimination of terrorists during the terrorist act in the “Nord-Ost”, during which 40 Chechen militants led by Movsar Barayev took hostage more than 800 spectators of the musical “Nord-Ost” in the building of the Theatre Center in Dubrovka. For the operation in the “Nord-Ost” Major Perov was awarded the “Order of Courage” and the commemorative badge “For the Nord-Ost”. September 1, 2004 went down in history as the day on which an unprecedented terrorist act was committed in its inhumanity: a detachment of militants took 1,128 hostages at School No. 1 in Beslan, North Ossetia. Aleksander Perov was at that time with his unit in Khankala, where he flew on August 16 to participate in the search and liquidation of militants who carried out an attack on the city of Nazran in June of the same year. After receiving the news of the seizure of the school, the Alpha task force flew by helicopter to Beslan immediately. Perov, as one of the commanders, was assigned the task of identifying places around the school for machine gunners and snipers and equipping firing points for them. During the cleaning of the assembly hall, Aleksander’s colleague, Oleg Loskov was killed by an automatic burst. Perov dragged Oleg to the beginning of the corridor to the stairs, where he tried to help Loskov with Major Vyacheslav Malyarov and the Vympel fighters, Andrei Velko and Mikhail Kuznetsov. At that moment, a terrorist who ran out of the dust and darkness with heavy fire from gun seriously wounded both Vympel fighters and killed Major Malyarov on the spot. Perov tried to defend himself, but the gun ran out of bullets, and Aleksander received two bullets in the groin below the bulletproof vest. Another Alpha fighter wounded the militant, but he threw a grenade into the dining room and disappeared into the corridor. With the last throw, Major Perov managed to jump into the dining room and covered a group of children, who had not yet been evacuated, with his body from the grenade fragments. The emergency workers who came up dragged Aleksander to the window to transfer him to an ambulance, but Perov was already dead. By the Decree of the President of Russia dated September 6, 2004 FSB Major Aleksander Perov was awarded the title of the Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously) for his courage and bravery shown during the release of hostages.
Address: Moscow, Marshal Zakharova str., 25, bldg. 2
