Why August is considered a terrible month. Calendar of historical events of August

CHISINAU, August 18 - Sputnik. It has become a sad tradition to call the eighth month of the year "Black August". Every year, at the end of summer, accidents, terrorist attacks and war crimes claim dozens, hundreds and even thousands of lives.

In August of this year, the whole world mourns for those who died during the collapse of the bridge in Genoa. By a fatal accident, among those who died was a citizen of Moldova.

In the homeland of our compatriot, a truck driver who earned his living by his craft, many dangers awaited. Every day we read in the news reports how people in Moldova die as a result of traffic accidents or drown while swimming in the river. But to leave for another country, two thousand kilometers from home, in search of a better life - and die in Italy in a bridge collapse, which is an extremely rare incident - this is indeed a tragedy.

The deceased was born in the village of Taraclia, Kaushany region. His family learned of the tragic news on Wednesday morning. After the death of the father of the family, who ended up on this bridge at a fatal hour, the wife was left a widow, and the children will grow up without a father.

Fires in Greece

And it was in August that the strongest fires covered Greece. The fires in Greece, which raged for several days near Athens, caused damage to more than two thousand residential buildings. Of these, 500 buildings were completely destroyed.

Nearly 100 people have died in the fires.

For some inexplicable reason, many major accidents, plane crashes, natural disasters that claimed hundreds of lives, occurred in the last month of summer - Sputnik talks about world catastrophes that occurred in the "unlucky" month.

Flipping through the history of disasters

The thirty-first of August marks another anniversary of one of the worst maritime disasters in the Black Sea - on that day the cruise ship "Admiral Nakhimov" sank. There were 1234 people on board the ship, of which 423 died. Among those who did not return to their families, there were 17 residents of Moldova.

Ghost of the Crimean War

It is known that the cause of the accident, which led to the sinking of the ship, was the collision of the ship with the dry cargo ship "Pyotr Vasev" near Novorossiysk. The official version is confusion about which vessel should have given way. Unofficially - many versions, rumors and mysticism.

We managed to collect little information about the inhabitants of Soviet Moldova who died on the "Admiral Nakhimov" after the tragedy. Most of the members of these families have long since emigrated from the country. Not even relatives got in touch with the Sputnik correspondent, but friends, neighbors, work colleagues, also scattered around the world today.

Some of the journalist's interlocutors did not even always remember the names of their dead acquaintances. But the phrase "Admiral Nakhimov" evoked in their memory pictures of the past catastrophe.

Lyudmila Aleksandrova lived then in Bendery. She remembers that in this city, in a house on Kommunisticheskaya Street, there lived a young couple who did not return from the fateful cruise.

“The two-year-old son of the couple with the parents of the victims remained at home. It seems that the family later repatriated to Israel. I lived in the neighborhood, but I didn’t know each other, I went to the funeral with a friend of the deceased woman, who is also no longer in the world of the living,” Lyudmila said.

Olga Kochurova, a resident of Chisinau, told Sputnik that after looking through the list of the dead 30 years ago, she remembered one of these names - Vekhterman. She heard it from her work colleague. Contacting her, Olga found out that Iosif Vekhterman, the husband of Faina Vekhterman and the father of Arkady Vekhterman, who had not returned from that cruise, left for Israel with his daughter a long time ago.

“Joseph was also on the Nakhimov, but miraculously escaped. My daughter was small then and stayed with her grandmother in Chisinau,” Olga added.

OTHER DISASTERS

The US military carried out atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945. The total losses of Japan amounted to about 200 thousand people. After five years, more than 300 thousand inhabitants of the country died from the consequences of the explosions. The bombings were the first and only example of the combat use of nuclear weapons in history.

The largest terrorist act in post-war Italy was also committed in August, on August 2, 1980. On this day, a bomb exploded at the railway station in Bologna, killing 85 people, more than two hundred people were injured. The alleged perpetrators of the tragedy, neo-fascist terrorists, were sentenced to life imprisonment only 15 years later. They never admitted their guilt.

The Boeing-747SR of the Japanese airline Japan Air Lines crashed into a mountain 70 kilometers from Tokyo. In a plane crash that occurred on August 12, 1985, 505 passengers and 15 crew members died. This is the largest single-aircraft crash in the history of aviation in terms of the number of victims.

Friday, August 7, 1987 was marked by a major accident on the railway in the city of Kamenno-Shakhtinsky. A freight train collided with passenger cars at the station, killing 106 and injuring 114 people. The cause of the incident was the negligence of the railway workers.

One of the most destructive earthquakes in history occurred on August 17, 1999 in Turkey. As a result of the disaster, more than 17 thousand people died, more than 43 thousand were injured. The length of the crack caused by the earthquake was about 150 kilometers.

A tragic date in the history of the Russian Navy was August 12, 2000. The Russian submarine cruiser K-141 "Kursk" sank as a result of the accident, all 118 crew members died.

August will also be remembered as the month of fierce battles for Tskhinval. Eight years ago, on the night of August 8, 2008, Georgian troops attacked South Ossetia and destroyed part of its capital. The fighting continued for five days. According to the South Ossetian authorities, more than 1.5 thousand people died.

The accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP occurred on August 17, 2009. The cause of the disaster was violations of safety regulations and labor protection by the management of the power plant. The accident killed 75 people.

The military coup in Egypt resulted in mass clashes on August 14, 2013. Supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi have come under armed attack by the military government. The number of people killed was 525, the vast majority were civilians, more than three thousand people were injured.

The perpetrators and the number of victims of the use of chemical weapons in Syria on August 21, 2013 have not yet been established. During the night, several rockets filled with the nerve agent sarin were fired into populated areas of the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. According to various estimates, from two hundred to 1700 people were killed, more than three and a half thousand were injured. In the same year, Syria acceded to the convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons.

There is a tradition among Russian observers to remind that unusual events with far-reaching consequences occur more often in August than in any other month of the year.

While it's supposed to be a quiet holiday month, Russia rarely comes out of it without some kind of crisis. This year already seems to be pursuing a sad tradition as a group of senior US senators are determined to get a new and dangerous Russian sanctions bill through Congress.

On the eve of the Helsinki summit on July 16, many observers noted that Moscow was knowingly taking on a huge risk, because the more positive the summit seemed to the Washington audience, the greater the risk that US senators would hit back on new initiatives with sanctions to hit the Russian president. Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.

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In all likelihood, the Kremlin hopes, first, that anger will dissipate during the annual August vacation on Capitol Hill, and second, that Trump can take a more pragmatic stance and refuse to sign new legislation. It is now known that the Senate will not go on vacation, as there are obstacles "in the approval of presidential candidates (for positions in the state apparatus) on the part of Democratic senators." Some senators are using the August emergency session to introduce new legislation that would force the White House to impose tougher sanctions on the Russian state and individual oligarchs. It is still difficult to say whether Trump intends to give the go-ahead to the implementation of any new initiatives.

In recent years, sanctions have usually been imposed in August, and this may happen again this year. In August 2014, the United States, the European Union and a number of other countries imposed sectoral sanctions on Russia's banking and energy sectors in response to the deteriorating situation in eastern Ukraine. The Russian economy has largely adapted to these sanctions relatively painlessly. One could even argue that these sanctions really helped Russia make tough decisions that benefited the economy. The devaluation of the ruble and the change in the fiscal rule, which now provides for balancing the budget based on the price of Urals oil in 2021 at $44 per barrel, certainly belong to this category of measures.

However, the relatively innocuous backdrop of sanctions changed last August when President Trump signed the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). This event completely changed the situation, and the consequences of the law are still causing severe damage to the Russian economy. Senators pushing for another round of sanctions are promising to significantly increase their damaging effect this August.

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Or maybe some important positive event awaits Russia this year in August? For those inclined to be optimistic, Moscow's ever-growing rumor mill offers the possibility that some kind of announcement regarding Ukraine will come in the coming weeks. Usually, serious observers ignore most rumors in Moscow, except for particularly persistent and widespread ones like these. The suggestion is that the Kremlin, looking to capitalize on post-World Cup positive sentiment towards Russia, primarily in Europe, might offer some concessions on eastern Ukraine to break the deadlock and push the Normandy format talks forward.

Such a move would help Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko start to deal with the disastrously low level of support in the polls, and would no doubt be welcomed in most European capitals. It would be something like countering Russia's opponents through affirmative action. It could actually bring positive change at such a dangerous time of the year.

As already noted, historically, the main political events, both domestic and international, often took place in August. The Molotov-Ribentrop Pact was signed in August 1939, and the construction of the Berlin Wall began in August 1961. Soviet troops entered Prague in August 1968, and in August 1991 there was an attempted coup d'état against Mikhail Gorbachev, undertaken by those who sought to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union. In August 1999, Boris Yeltsin appointed a virtually unknown Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister. The war between Russia and Georgia took place in August 2008. History is clearly on the side of pessimists and conspiracy theorists.

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As this July draws to a close, the Russian economy is in relatively good shape, showing modest growth in virtually all sectors, and the national balance of payments is in very good shape, especially since the current oil price average is likely to provide 2018 budget surplus of $25 billion. However, the calm economic situation did not always take place in August. Perhaps the two biggest macroeconomic shocks in Russian history began in August 1998 and August 2014.

The first was the default on domestic debt and the collapse of the ruble, as well as the collapse of much of the banking system. In 2014, Moscow responded to sectoral sanctions with a food embargo, which included a ban on food imports from most Western countries. August 2014 also saw the start of the global oil market crash and price collapse that directly pushed the Russian economy into recession and, combined with sanctions, led to 25 percent food inflation and sporadic shortages the following winter. In fairness, it should also be mentioned that in August 2012, Russia completed nineteen years of negotiations and was finally admitted to the World Trade Organization.

Nature in August is also often merciless to Russia. In August 2002, large-scale fires broke out in the peat bogs near Moscow, which enveloped the city in toxic smoke. August 2003 brought devastating floods across most of the Russian Far East, resulting in massive damage and loss of life. The worst weather anomaly occurred in August 2010, when large swathes of the country were hit by high temperatures and forest fires. This combination contributed to the occurrence of drought in most of the agricultural belt and led to a sharp decrease in yield. In fact, it was this story that convinced Putin that the country's dependence on imported food (imports accounted for 55 percent of food consumption in 2010) and drugs was not only an economic problem, but also a matter of national security. It was in August 2010 that what is now called the import substitution policy was born.

August is traditionally considered an unlucky month in Russia (and not only). The end of summer is marked with frightening regularity by terrorist attacks, man-made or natural disasters. So, last Saturday, August 4, a Mi-8 helicopter of UTair airlines crashed in the Turukhansky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. On board were three crew members and 15 passengers - employees of RN-Vankor and contractors, all of them died. According to preliminary data, the passenger helicopter hit the suspension of the cargo one with its blades. This is the second largest air crash in Russia in 2018 after the fall of the An-148-100V of Saratov Airlines.

"Black August" is primarily associated with the August coup, default, the collapse of the MMM and the death of the Kursk. However, in recent years, many emergencies have occurred in Russia in August, confirming the curse of this month for the country.

Plane crashes. 350 dead

August 3, 2010 near Igarka (Krasnoyarsk Territory), an An-24 aircraft of the Katekavia airlines crashed. According to the prosecution, the aircraft commander, due to poor visibility, was unable to establish visual contact with ground landmarks, but instead of going around, he continued to descend the aircraft. An-24 deviated from the landing course and, before reaching the runway, collided with the ground and caught fire. The crash killed 12 people - 11 passengers and a flight attendant, three pilots were injured.

August 9, 2011 in the Magadan region, an An-12A plane crashed. All 11 people on board were killed.

August 15, 2011 in the Leningrad region, a single-engine four-seater plane crashed. Three people died.

August 16, 2009 During preparations for the MAKS-2009 air show, the Russian Knights aerobatic team collided and crashed Su-27 aircraft. One of the commanders died - Igor Tkachenko and a woman on the ground. Four more were injured.

August 19, 2002 In Chechnya, 127 people died as a result of the crash of a Mi-26 military transport helicopter. First, the helicopter was hit by a missile from the Igla portable anti-aircraft missile system. After that, a heavily overloaded helicopter fell into a minefield.

August 20, 2011 in the Leningrad region, a private plane Yak-18T crashed. 4 people died.

August 24, 2006 near Donetsk, a Tu-154 crashed on a flight from Anapa to St. Petersburg. While flying over Ukraine, the plane hit a thunderstorm front and crashed.

August 26, 2011 in the Moscow region, a Yak-52 sports plane crashed, killing 2 people.

August 28, 2011 An-2 crashed in the Krasnodar Territory. One person died, another was injured.

Railway accidents. 2 dead, 60 injured

August 11, 2011 in the Chelyabinsk region, as a result of which two people were killed - a driver and an assistant driver of one of the trains. The reason for the collision of trains was the poor-quality repair of the brake system of one of the trains.

August 13, 2007 As a result of the terrorist attack, the Nevsky Express branded train crashed, en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg. In the Novgorod region, an electric locomotive and 12 train cars with more than 250 people went off the rails. As a result of the incident, 60 people were injured. According to the FSB, the organizer of the attack is Pavel Kosolapov, a native of the Voronezh region, who converted to radical Islam, and was put on the international wanted list.

Attacks. 223 dead

August 1, 2003 An explosion occurred near the military hospital in Mozdok. An army truck KamAZ loaded with explosives rammed the gate and exploded near the hospital building. The attack killed 52 people.

August 5, 2004 An explosion occurred at a bus stop in Mozdok. Three people received moderate injuries.

August 7, 2009 An explosion occurred on the beach in the village of Loo in Sochi. 2 vacationers were killed, 15 people were injured.

August 17, 2009 In Ingush Nazran, a suicide bomber in a Gazel car stuffed with explosives rammed the gates of the Nazran GOVD building. Immediately after the attack, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia, Ruslan Meyriyev, and also threatened to dismiss other police chiefs who do not properly ensure the safety of their subordinates.

August 17, 2010 in the center of Pyatigorsk, a car parked near a cafe on one of the busiest streets exploded. More than 40 people were injured as a result.

August 19, 2001 An explosion at the Kirovsky market in Astrakhan claimed the lives of 8 people, another 58 were injured. The court sentenced three people involved in the explosion to 24 years and 6 months in prison in a strict regime colony.

August 21, 2004 before the presidential elections in Chechnya, a group of 400 militants staged a raid on Grozny. Among the civilian population, 13 people were killed, 19 were injured.

August 21, 2006 nationalists detonated a bomb on the Cherkizovsky market in Moscow, killing 14 people, 61 were injured.

August 24, 2004 in the Tula and Rostov regions crashed Tu-134 airline "Volga-Aviaexpress" (flight Moscow - Volgograd) and Tu-154 airline "Siberia" (flight Moscow - Sochi). The cause of the disasters that claimed the lives of 89 people were terrorist attacks.

August 25, 2003 In Krasnodar, there were three explosions at public transport stops. Three people died and 17 were injured.

August 31, 2004 As a result of a terrorist attack near the Moscow metro station "Rizhskaya", committed by a suicide bomber, 10 people died (including the performer and organizer) and 51 people were injured.

August 31, 2011 As a result of a double terrorist attack in Grozny, 7 people were killed and 18 others were injured.

Man-made disasters. 75 dead

August 17, 2009 an accident occurred at the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP, as a result of which 13 were injured. Two hydraulic units of the hydroelectric power station and partly the building of the engine room were destroyed. The HPP was fully restored by the end of 2014. The accident is currently the largest disaster in history at a hydropower facility in Russia.

Natural disasters. 97 people

August 1–15, 2010 abnormal heat in Russia. As a result of the fires, more than 1,000 houses burned down in 77 settlements in 10 subjects of Russia, 34 people died.

August 8, 2002 in Novorossiysk, due to heavy rains and a tornado, one of the worst floods in the history of the city occurred. According to official figures, 62 people died then. Most of the dead were vacationers.

August 27, 2008 a powerful earthquake of 6–7 points occurred on Lake Baikal. The epicenter of the earthquake was located 30 kilometers southeast of the city of Baikalsk, Slyudyansky district of the region. Perceptible fluctuations in the soil were then noted in Chita and Irkutsk. Despite the enormous power of the shocks, the earthquake practically did not cause significant damage, and there were no casualties.

August 2013 As a result of flooding in the Far East, the state of emergency at the federal level was introduced in six regions - Yakutia, the Amur and Magadan regions, the Jewish Autonomous Region, Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories. The only victim of the flood was a contract soldier.

Submarine disasters. 9 people

August 4, 2005 in Berezovaya Bay (Kamchatka), the AS-28 bathyscaphe of the Russian Navy failed to surface. Seven submariners were rescued by British and American specialists.

August 30, 2003 During towage to the disposal site in the waters of the Barents Sea, the nuclear submarine K-159 sank. Nine people died, one person survived.

Armed conflicts. 162 people

August 7-12, 2008 there was an armed conflict in South Ossetia. The Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation documented the death of 162 residents of the republic.

August is a traditional month of disasters for Russia. This month, in 1914, Russia entered World War I; in 1968, Soviet troops entered Prague; in 1991, there was a conspiracy to overthrow Gorbachev; in 2008, the Russian-Georgian war broke out.

What's in Russia to wait from this August, experts of the Free Press argue.

Politics

Nikolai Petrov, leading expert at the Carnegie Moscow Center:

- The main political event of August is the United Russia primaries and the scandals associated with them. We are already seeing a fraction of these scandals, when many State Duma deputies refuse to participate in the primaries, when statements are made about fraudulent voting results in the regions. Further, these phenomena will intensify: it is in August, when the primaries will end, that the main decisions on the formation of party lists will be made. This means that many offended and dissatisfied people will appear, and intoxication within United Russia will result in the emergence of a lot of negative information.

The coming splits of the elites will also be connected with the United Russia primaries. We already see this process in the regions - conflicts between the governor and the mayor, between different teams. In other words, shrinking the United Russia party list means serious clan conflicts. This is not only an opportunity for certain deputies to get into the State Duma, it is also a redistribution of teams at the very top.

Economy

Andrey Bunich, President of the Union of Entrepreneurs and Tenants of Russia:

- The most important topic of August is the state of the US economy as the main world economy. I think the main trend is clear: the risk of technical default remains, and the market takes it into account. Even if Obama announces success, this will not change the estimates. Maybe the market will jump a little in plus, but then it will still go into minus.

In any case, Obama's current compromise (August 1, Barack Obama announced that his administration was able to negotiate with congressional parties to raise the national debt ceiling - "SP") is only an interim solution. Raising the debt threshold is a dead end. Thanks to the internal political struggle in the United States, this is beginning to reach the global financial community. It is impossible to raise the bar without end. Sooner or later, the realization will come that the United States cannot print money all the time. There will come a time when the printing press will have to stop, and then there will be a serious drawdown.

The modern world economy is, figuratively speaking, a beauty contest among freaks. To win it, it is enough to be a little better than the rest. America has nothing to compare. Whatever the state of the US economy is, US government bonds will be quoted above the rest. Most likely, we will see how the rating agencies will gradually reduce the ratings of the world's leading economies. This will mean a reassessment of risks and money, as well as entering a worldwide depression and recession.

"SP": - What can Russia expect against this background?

- Russia is a third-rate player in the global economy, it does not participate in the debt squabbles of developed countries. This is not our game. Americans, Europeans, Chinese, the IMF write each other checks for trillions of dollars and euros, but in these matters we are nobody. The maximum that Russia can do is to symbolically sit at a common gambling table.

We are concerned with the derivatives of the original problems - for example, the problem of the growth of the same Chinese economy as a consumer of our oil, or the problem of the mythical growth of the markets of developing countries. Because of the current squabbles, the price of oil seems to be rising as a safety asset - and only this can interest Russia.

We go with the flow, and do nothing for insurance. On the contrary, the Russian authorities only increase the risk factor, increasingly tying their small boat to the ocean liner - the US and EU economies. But on the liner, the passengers are too strongly interconnected, they will agree in any case. But the rest - developing countries and even China - they don't give a damn.

Under these conditions, the Russian economy may quite unexpectedly begin to crumble. Out of the blue, as it would seem to us. The problem is that we do not have real statistics on the Russian economy, and Russian analysts are mostly bought by the government and are engaged in agitprop. If so, no one knows what is really happening with the Russian Federation. One thing is clear - our imports are growing, and the ruble is strengthening. At any time, this can lead to reverse promotion.

Even internal political stability in Russia is imaginary. There is a hidden split in power, so that the members of the tandem would not talk about mutual love. There is less and less money in Russia, and the number of senseless mouths at the top remains unchanged. In such a situation, the mouths will inevitably begin to squabble, someone will have to be pushed away from the feeder.

Therefore, I will not be surprised if the resignation of the government follows in August, and a serious internal political complication of the situation occurs. Many consider this scenario unlikely, they believe that everything will be decided behind the scenes. But everything happened in Russia. Suddenly - do not decide? ..

War

Heydar Dzhemal, Chairman of the Islamic Committee of Russia:

August is the traditional time for the start of hostilities. In August, the First World War began, August was the preparatory zone for the invasion of Nazi Germany into Poland - the war began on September 1, 1939. August 1945 - the time of the USSR attack on the Manchurian group, the declaration of war on Japan ... Finally, the Russian-Georgian war began in August.

This August, the war in Libya will continue, and hostilities in Syria may break out at the end of the month. In addition, the South Caucasus remains a rather tense region. Finally, an acute situation persists in the region between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. These are the most problematic points, and each of them can flare up: August is a very good time for war ...

Protest

Lyudmila Alekseeva, Chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group:

- I think in August we will see an increase in protest moods. I feel it not only from communication with people from different regions. This is also confirmed by Levada Center analysts. Will this activity turn into street actions? Our people do not have the habit of expressing their feelings when they go out into the street. Although in recent months, street actions have become more frequent, and the number of their participants has grown. However, this growth is not an avalanche.

In August, there will definitely be more such promotions. This happens every year, cyclically: June, July and the first half of August are calm, and starting from the second half of August, people gather in the cities, and the number of protesters increases.

The approaching elections will also affect the activity. Usually, our elections don't hurt people's feelings, because de facto we don't have elections. The people are not stupid, and they understand perfectly well that nothing depends on their will. But this time the feelings are hurt - United Russia's irritation is undoubtedly growing.

Weather

Alexander Belyaev, weather forecast TV presenter, deputy director of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences:

- August is the month that closes the summer epic with heat. It is quite cool at night, especially if the north breeze blows. But during the day the sun warms well. By the way, August 2 is Ilyin's day, after which, according to popular belief, you can't swim. In fact, it is possible. There will be still warm days, although the heat is not worth waiting for.

In general, according to statistics, in August in Moscow there can be only two days when the temperature rises to 30 degrees: average daily temperatures reach their peak at the end of July.

"SP": - Will there be more sun or rain?

- Naturally, the sun. Although this summer is much cooler than last year - the average temperature is 2-3 degrees lower, although the summer of 2011 ranks second in average temperature over a 100-year observation period (summer 2010 holds the first place). If last year there was a scattering of records of average daily temperatures, this year there are no records at all, although the temperature is kept, on average, 5 degrees above the norm.

In general, in my opinion, this August will be a warm, very calm month. Unlike politics, which intensifies in August, the weather, it seems to me, will be ideal.