The Sword of Arkaim

6 hrs. 3 min.

Language Russian

Author Anatoly Gusev

Narrator Vyacheslav Gerasimov

Description

Two friends accidentally learned that Chechen militants plan to send two of their people to the Northern Ural—where, according to legend, lies an ancient sword that brings military luck for the next twelve years. The friends decide to intercept the sword before the bandits, take possession of the valuable artifact, and thereby save Russia from a prolonged war. But it turns out that the emissaries of the Chechen militants are interested in the sword least of all.

“Chechnya. Mid-October 1999. Our federal forces began an offensive from the north with the intention of crossing the Terek. Of course, the main goal was to destroy the gangs across all of Chechnya, up to the city of Grozny. The federal troops pushed hard. The bandit formations couldn’t withstand the assault and retreated. Two days later they reached the north bank of the Terek, where they tried to hold positions. But they failed to hold.

Federal units drove the militants out of the stanitsa, and then in the open field they herded them toward the green-yellow, long grove stretching along the riverbank—flattening it with helicopters. The militants reached it and dug in. From the ‘green place,’ they had to be smoked out by infantry. The helicopters fired their ammunition into the bushes, turned around, and flew north, into the rear.”