I do not belong to any party and I believe in God, so I am committed to writing only the truth. Though I always thought of myself as cold-blooded, my hands start shaking whenever I think about those events. But those are only emotions, and now, the facts - what I witnessed on that bloody Saturday night.
Having heard firing, I rushed to the tower. It was a dark night, and the tank searchlights were blinding. The soldiers were shooting (so far only with blanks) at the people standing there, and beating them. I felt a blow in my chest from a blank cartridge. At that time the tanks were shooting. My eyes began to water and my ears were stuffed. But even in this atmosphere people remained calm, and their only weapons were their tongues. A girl standing nearby lost con-sciousness and fell down; she was immediately carried away from the tanks.
With all the shooting and cursing, I didn't even notice how I got hit in the stomach. I turned around and saw a strong gush of water coming from the tower. The people moved apart and formed a corridor which a group of assault paratroopers came through, and a second group began to widen this passage. A personnel carrier with paratroopers stopped in that place. The paratroopers surrounded the tower and began to shoot at the windows. Glass began to pour down. When they made their way inside, the first thing they did was tear down the flag of the sovereign state of Lithuania. As they climbed up they broke the huge oval windows. The lights were on and you could see everything. They were shooting tracer bullets not only over the heads of peaceful people, but in the direction of the city as well. In this way they tried to imitate resistance. When we were pressed against the fence I appealed to one paratrooper who appeared to be quite calm: „Don't you remember bloody Sunday of 1905, son? Aren't you the least bit ashamed?"
Instead of answering, he fired a series at my legs. Fortunately, he missed.
In between the tanks was one vehicle (the so-called „command vehicle") which was unarmed but had two antennas. From the behavior of the officers, I understood that they weren't hooked up to anyone by the tower, but to someone further away. (Tanks usually communicate by means of laryngophones. But here they were using short wave transmitters. In the Army, I served as a signalmen.) The fence was broken in one place. We stood in a group. In the front, guys were standing to protect cameramen who were filming these murderers. A guy standing nearby suddenly gave a lurch and rolled down the slope. It seemed like he had slipped. But you could hear screams from below: “Doctor!"
When I was going down the slope I saw one more wounded person by the concrete wall encircling the administrative block of the tower. I helped him. His abdomen had been badly injured. We carried the poor person to a car, and on the way back, I heard a cry: „Be careful!" - and was pushed from behind. A cylindrical object, some 300 mm length and 40 mm width, fell behind me. A guy ran over to it, and believe me when I say I've never seen such a throw in my life. It flew over the fence. I'm very grateful to that person. He knew that that object was dangerous, but took the risk all the same.
If God kept my blood from being shed, let him help those whose blood was lost. At about 7 a.m. I was at the Red Cross and gave as much blood as I could. I think that my blood - Russian blood - will not soil the blood of a Lithuanian who had shed his own blood for freedom.
Lithuania, 1991.01.13 : documents, testimonies, comments. - Vilnius : State Publishing Center, 1992, p. 136-137.