Tatiana Tikhon raised her son alone. Anton was very keen to serve in the military. He was called up in June 1998. He had tried to get into the special purpose forces (spetsnaz), and ended up in Unit 6761 (the 15th spetsnaz detachment of the Russian Interior Ministry’s North Caucasian Regional Internal Troops, the so-called ‘Armavir spetsnaz’). In early September 1999 Anton and his unit were sent to Dagestan under the command of General-Colonel V. Kazantsev. Kazantsev’s deputy for internal troops was General-Major N. Cherkashenko. Cherkashenko spent 24 hours drafting a plan to seize the commanding height using ‘Armavir spetsnaz’ forces. The plan was approved by Kazantsev. On 10 September 1999 the generals sent the detachment into battle with inadequate communications equipment, and placed them under fire from their own storm aviation.

On 10 September, under the command of Major Yashin, the detachment occupied the heights and engaged the opponent’s superior forces in battle, suffering losses. Poor weather conditions meant that aviation was unable to render fire support. After some time, General Cherkashenko order Major Yashin, who had made contact and had reported that the detachment was encircled by fighters, to abandon the heights and retreat via previously decided routes. Insodoing, General Cherkashenko, in violation of the Land Troops’ Combat Code and the Operational Staff Service Manual, without full knowledge of the situation and with a false understanding of extreme necessity, made changes with bearing on the conduct of the entire operation, the report notes. During its descent, the detachment was broken up into two groups, the batteries in the spetsnaz communications equipment ‘went flat’, and communications with the detachment were lost. The spetsnaz troops were unable to communicate the fact that during the descent their detachment had come up against fierce fighter resistance and had been stranded on the slopes, waiting for a chance to escape from encirclement. Cherkashenko assumed that the detachment had already emerged at the bottom of the mountain. Nobody made any attempt to verify this. In accordance with the ‘plan’, Russian storm aviation launched missile-bombardment strikes on the slopes where the spetsnaz troops were stranded. Nine spetsnaz men were killed as a result, and 23 suffered shell-shock. Anton Tikhon was one of those killed.

Only half a year after her son’s death did Tatiana Tikhon learn that Anton had posthumously been decorated with the Order of Courage. No military official was able to explain to her what had become of the medal, and why it had not been presented to her.

Cherkashenko was found guilty of negligence under art. 293 of the RF Criminal Code, but was amnestied. The parents of several of the deceased spetsnaz troops then applied to the ‘Mother’s Right’ Foundation. In 2002 the Foundation won a case regarding compensation for emotional pain and suffering caused by the death of Stanislav Vlasov. In 2004 the Foundation sued for compensation for emotional pain and suffering on behalf of the mother of the late Aleksandr Slesarenko.