On October 3, 1993, during the Russian constitutional crisis, Vityaz personnel in BTR armored vehicles were accused of indiscriminately gunning down a crowd of both anti-Yeltsin protesters (most of them unarmed) and onlookers at the Ostankino TV center in Moscow. The media reported at least 46 fatalities, including Rory Peck and three other journalists. The firing had commenced in response to a member of the crowd firing an RPG-7, which was later preposterously claimed to have been an accidental discharge. As the former Vityaz member Gennadi Ternovskii recounted in his memoir 'The Crimson Beret' it is virtually impossible to fire an RPG-7 accidentally, and the members of the Vityaz unit had opened fire in accordance with the laws in force at that time regarding the use of deadly force. The unit's commander, Colonel Sergei Lysyuk, was awarded Hero of the Russian Federation for his actions at Ostankino, which were credited as "saving Yeltsin's rule from the opposition".