The last fight of our Alexei Kuznetsov
Commentators knew him as Aleks TV, readers and colleagues as Alexei Kuznetsov, and in life his name was Andrey Batalov. Why? Well, this choice was made by him a long time ago and the person followed it. And today it’s easier for me to talk about him precisely as Alexei Kuznetsov, our reviewer author, expert and colleague. And Andrei Batalov - well, this is someone else, a person completely unknown to me.
It is very difficult to speak/write about a person whom I have known for years and who just burned out like that. Like a booster. Not otherwise, Alexei did a lot for our publication. And on the evening of February 14, he was gone. 51 years old In general, not age, which is very disappointing.
Not fair. Sometimes stunning mediocrity smokes the sky for decades, and people like Alexey leave in the prime of life. Not fair.
On the other hand, you can envy. A man gave his whole life to what he sincerely loved: his tiny family world, which he appreciated both the shore and tanks. "My Turtles" was the filling of his world outside the home. Tanks in all forms. One could talk, write, think about tanks. What, in fact, Alexei did, moreover, he generously shared his knowledge with others.
Usually in such cases it is customary to tell a biography in detail. Born, studied, served... Yes, I was born in a military family, graduated from a tank school, served. He did not hide and was not silent, and therefore the lieutenant colonel. To be honest, Andrei Batalov's combat path is not known to me enough to talk about it. We discussed many moments of various conflicts in which he took part, but impersonal. He did not like to talk about himself very much, and there was no point in insisting. In general, we understood each other quite well in this regard, everyone has something to keep quiet about.
He was sent to a well-deserved rest after Syria, but he was eager to go to Ukraine, and not so much to fight as to pass on his vast experience. “They will go, young, not knowing, they will be burned. We must tell, we must explain, we must teach.” This is one of our disputes with him, of which there were quite a few.
Alexey did a great job for the tank troops. Expert. Very often he complained that their opinions were split on budgets, that instead of normal decisions, frank nonsense was made that would not make things better, but only aggravate the situation. But who is in the subject - he read his articles about the same "peaks". Aleksey often used our pages as a platform, and in the case of the "visors", unfortunately, he turned out to be right.
And in the end, in Ukraine, he still got it. Very high quality, and the body simply could not withstand the extreme loads that he had to endure. And Alexei was sent home. They treated me a little and recommended to engage in scientific activities, to write a dissertation. They promised to give a training ground and equipment for testing.
And the healing/recovery began. Alexei joked that he needed time to come to an agreement with the body and they began to act in a coordinated and joint manner. He believed that all the problems were the consequences of his shell shock, which he had more than enough.
I will not say anything about our Ministry of Defense and military doctors, everything, in fact, turned out, as always. While a person was needed, something was depicted with him. As it became no longer needed - everything, with a kick over the gate.
In December, Alexei was accidentally diagnosed with liver cancer. Yes, and with entry into the lung, which he complained about for a long time. I don’t know what kind of “doctors” looked after him, how they treated him and for what, but it was discovered quite by accident, by a specialist in a regular clinic. Just an ultrasound specialist did his job a little beyond the norm. And saw.
The Ministry of Defense, of course, merged. As Aleksey calmly explained to me, “they told me - let’s go in the order of the general queue, we don’t have time with the wounded here, you understand ...”.
And the small army of the Batalovs accepted this battle.
Everything possible was done: tests, doctors, we took Alexei to the Research Institute of Radiology in Obninsk. There, the doctors took up the treatment (it is probably worth saying that before the MRRC named after A.F. Tsyb there were several refusals), because Alexei turned out to be inoperable by that time. It took time to put the body in order and make the operation possible. They calculated chemotherapy, purchased prescribed drugs in Moscow (there were none in Voronezh), and started taking them.
We, friends and colleagues in the Military Review, tried to do everything to help in this war.
Alas. On February 1, we went to Obninsk, and on February 14, Alexei's body stopped resisting. We, all those who wished Alexei life and health, simply did not have enough time.
At such moments, it is usually said that it is worth remembering. Alexey dreamed and spent a lot of effort to ensure that the Military Review had its own technical department. So that there are experts who impartially and professionally evaluate articles before publication, and help the authors in writing. Alexei spent just a huge amount of time explaining, explaining, convincing everyone who turned to him for an opinion about tanks and armored vehicles in general. His theoretical and practical knowledge of armored vehicles from different countries was accessible, and most importantly, useful to both authors and readers.
Thanks to the imperceptible work of Alexei, Military Review has really taken a step forward. And we will always remember that.
How will everyone who personally knew Alexei remember his extraordinary warmth and responsiveness, his readiness to help at any moment, both with advice and simply with his hands.
And we will be left with his articles in which he wrote about his favorite tanks, wishing only one thing: that our tank troops really be the best in the world.
There is such a common expression: "A person is alive while the memory of him is alive." More than one person from our past is fighting for authorship, but in fact, this is an expression from the ancient Tibetan Book of the Dead "Bardo-Thedol": "A person does not completely leave this world as long as there are those who remember him."
Alexey Kuznetsov will not leave this world, because in addition to completed combat missions and trained fighters, more peaceful things will remain: articles on the Military Review, knowledge transferred to colleagues.
We will not forget Alexei. And we will remember as friends who have gone forever are remembered, because Alexey was a true friend to many of us.
Probably worth mentioning about the photo. Yes, he is very old, but here's what is - that is, he had such a jump: it was impossible to drive into the camera lens. Because this photo, selected by us from several provided by his wife, is like this.
Everlasting memory!
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