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Translated by Chechen-truth

Hello, what is your name and age?

Hi my name is Dmitry Shevchenkov, I am 24 years old.

What is your current location?

Vlakaskov, Russia. Its a small village. 

What division did you fight under?

Omon

When did you serve in Chechnya? And how long?

I was recruited in 2000 and came back in the beginning of 2001, I was there for 7 months. 

Did you come voluntarily or were you a transcript? 

In 1999 after the apartment bombings in Russia, I signed my name in the book, so if they need me I would come, I decided that I needed to take revenge for all the mothers who lost their children and for the children who lost their mothers. I do not support transcripts, most of the Russians in Chechnya are volunteer troops anyway. 

Did you see a lot of action, do you have any stories?

Haha, when you come to Chechnya you would kind of expect action you know? I mean I knew what I was getting myself into, we get shootings every night, about twenty shootings per night by the rebels, of course they miss their target 98% of the times, but you still have to be careful you know? Do I have any stories? Haha, in fact I took my diary with me on the journey, there were new things every day and night. But I will tell you one particular story that will never escape my head no matter how much I try to get it out.   
Well, me and about twenty other troops were headed to the location in Grozny (capital of Chechnya) where a group of new paratroopers were to arrive, we had to go there to greet them along with other convoys.  We had 3 tanks and one military truck in which I was one of the passengers along with one of the top generals. Well all went well when all of the sudden we heard a load explosion, we then realized that one of the tanks in back of us had been exploded with a radio controlled mine. By the sound of the explosion we all thought that all on board of the tank were killed. We started positioning our tanks to where rebels could of been hiding, all of the sudden we heard mass gunfire come from the nearby bushes, and they loud scream "Allah Akbar" by the rebels. Two people from my truck came outside but I stayed in. I them see explosions in bushes and the tanks firing off nonstop, the noise was incredibly loud. I saw five dead rebels within minutes, then I saw my comrade drop on the flood bloodied, I came to give him assistance, I was holding his helpless body in my arms until he told me to tell his wife that he loved and not to feel sad, and he just died.  I was horrified, that is when got crazy and wanted to take mass vengeance. Without fear I rushed into the bushes where many rebels were hiding and shot three of them in close range, then one of them shot me in my stomach with a regular gun. It didn't hurt as much as I though gunshots would hurt, but I still felt pain and weakness, so I dropped to the ground pretending I was dead considering I was almost out of ammunition.  My biggest fear was of the tank, if it would of shot where I was, it would be over for me, I started holding my cross and praying to god to spare me. After several more minutes of gunfire I head another tank pull up but I couldn't look because if I lifted my head the rebels (a few feet from me) would know I was alive and kill me. Next I hear more tanks coming and I heard a rebel telling another rebel " lets get out of here" in Russian. And so the remaining rebels escaped. 
I soon found out that only one man died in the tank explosion and the others injured, some seriously. I was amazed, I seriously didn't know how people can survive what I saw. 
And one more died in my arms, his name was Andre Sokolsky, he was 34, I was with him since my arrival in Chechnya.
They estimate that there were over 15 rebels in all. Out of them, 9 were killed, 3 of them by me.
In total casualties, 2 Soldiers were killed and 8 wounded (including me), and 9 rebels were killed, injured unknown.

So that's my story, its scary when you have a person die in your arms.

That's shocking. Is that the only time you killed rebels?

No in fact I killed 6 others in my first week in Chechnya, they were held up in a building and I exploded it crushing them to death. I was proud of my actions.

Dmitry, you are a muscular guy, is that an advantage for you in Chechnya? 

Haha, yeah I wish it was. Strength has nothing to do with it. It doesn't matter how big you are, you can get blown up either way. There mostly are not battles in Chechnya, the rebels just hide and wait till a tank passes so they can push a button and it explodes. 

Are there any tips the commanders give you before battles?

Yes, no matter what happens do not ever let yourself surrender to the rebels, and that no matter what the rebels say they will kill you brutally, the best thing to do in that situation is to kill yourself, this is a better way of dying then the Chechen torturous methods.

Do you see many abuses by troops against the Chechen civilians as the media has been reporting?

Haha, the media is full of shit, especially the American media, how dare they report our "abuses" when they are killing thousands of Afghans daily with their bombs (not that I feel sorry for Afghans) Personally I have never seen any abuses, I do not deny the fact that they may exist throughout the region, I mean you cannot deal with these people calmly, and after seeing what the Russians see daily you become a little more violent and grizzly. I did see protesters blocking the rode yelling "killers killers" at us, we didn't care, we still moved our tanks because we knew that eventually they would move out of the way.

What was the last operation you endured while you were there?

Well we were training the Chechen militia, or the Chechen police. That reminds me I had to arrest a Chechen policeman because he was a rebel, go figure.

Has all of this changed your view on Islam and Muslims?

No, not at all. I always knew Muslims were like this, nothing will change that. They have war in their blood, and they are bloodthirsty vampires that suck the blood of the non-Muslim

Well Dmitry thank you very much for letting us interviewing you and hope you have good luck in the future

Thank you, same to you too.