How a hijacked passenger plane was successfully stormed for the first time in Soviet history

Nov 02 2023

The Archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

After this incident, the famous Soviet/Russian ‘Alpha’ anti-terror group was born.

On November 2, 1973, a group of four young men between the ages of 16 and 21 hijacked Aeroflot Flight 19, a Yak-40 airplane, flying the Moscow-Bryansk route with 28 passengers on board. There was no thorough passenger inspection at that time and the young men easily brought shotguns and sawn-off rifles with them in their luggage.

The flight mechanic and one of the passengers tried to stop the hijackers, but were wounded in the process. Having broken the door to the cockpit, the criminals demanded to turn the plane around and return to the capital. From there, they planned to release hostages for a ransom of $1.5 million and, after refueling, to head to Sweden.

The plane landed at Moscow's Vnukovo airport, where KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov and Interior Minister Nikolai Shchelokov soon arrived. They had made the decision to storm the airplane.

There was no specially trained unit for such a case – the assault group was formed from volunteer policemen. They lurked under the bottom of the airplane and waited for the criminals to open the door to get the money.

During the ensuing assault, the hijacker Alexander Nikiforov was seriously wounded and later died in hospital, while his accomplice Viktor Romanov, realizing there was no way out, shot himself. None of the policemen or passengers were killed, although two hostages were wounded.

Juvenile Vladimir Zhalnin, meanwhile, was sentenced to ten years in a penal colony and died shortly after his release. Another hijacker named Pyotr Bondarev was sent to a psychiatric hospital after the efforts of his parents, where he stayed for just six months. He died in 2006.

After the incident with the Yak-40, passenger screenings at airports were significantly tightened. In addition, by order of Andropov on July 29, 1974, a special group with the code letter ‘A’ was created to fight terrorism. It later became the widely known ‘Alpha’ group.

If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.