They come from the poorest provinces of the country. They have no other source of livelihood beyond conscription and war. The families of the fallen avoid talking about the conflict. Criminals and hooligans are sent to the front to fight.
Moscow () – Several sources document that the vast majority of the soldiers of the Russian occupation army in Ukraine are not of Russian ethnicity, but mainly Caucasian or Asian, although there are no statistics or official information on the matter. A report of Sibir.Realii documents the situation of the families of these soldiers “by force”, who have no other source of livelihood beyond recruitment and war.
A few days ago, an “Avenue of Heroes” was inaugurated in the cemetery of the city of Borzia, in the Siberian region of Zabajkal. Located in the center of the cemetery, wreaths with plastic flowers were placed there to honor the many fallen soldiers in the “special military operation” in Ukraine. The almost 30,000 inhabitants of Borzia depend almost entirely on the local military district (No. 06795). All the soldiers and officers in this sector were sent to the Ukraine, with many returning on the infamous “Load 200” (Cargo 200) which in old Soviet code meant the transport of casualties. Meanwhile, the wives and mothers of the fallen are engaged in another war: the “kommunalnaja”, the struggle to obtain housing and social services, especially when the death of their spouse in military action is not officially recognized.
In Borzia, almost all the local families depend on the Armed Forces, because it is difficult to find another job there. In January, Borzian soldiers were used in the “exercises in Belarus”, later to be poured into the Ukrainian invasion as the first cannon fodder. Now, on the Avenue of Heroes it is planned to erect a monument “for the end of the special operation”, as explained by Nadežda Afanaseva, the editor-in-chief of the local newspaper Daurskaya Nov. Meanwhile, as a preventive measure, dozens of graves are being dug.
The “official” heroes are marked with their names, and so far there are only six, who stand out as “more Russian”: Denis Frolov, Anatolij Kustov, Roman Ermilov, Vasilij Lopatin, Sergej Bronnikov and Sergej Tsarkov. The locals, however, count many dozens of dead that have been transferred as “Cargo 200”. The fact is that when the truck arrives with the bodies of the fallen soldiers, it is often not even possible to get close to the coffins. The whole town gathers for the funeral, because “someone had to go fight the Nazis”, as a local inhabitant puts it. Some are buried without names, others in marginal sectors, often without the consolation of relatives.
The citizens of Borzia do not like to talk about the war, especially with strangers and journalists who come from afar. According to local deputy Aleksandr Alekseenko, “it is better not to talk about it even in the family”, he himself has been fined for “discrediting the Armed Forces” in the odd reckless word that came up in private conversations. “Anyone here among us is willing to take down their boss or a rival for a position, so if you talk over coffee, then they go and report the person in charge. Let’s just say you’re fine if you just get fined or removed from office, and they don’t send you to forced labor”.
In a conversation with his colleagues, Aleksandr said that he had heard that Ukrainians consider Russian soldiers to be occupiers – not because he had read it on the Internet, but because of a letter that was sent to him by a Ukrainian relative. His friend and colleague Sergej, who has a son at the front, began accusing him of calling Russian soldiers ‘occupiers’. It seemed that everything had ended there, until he received a summons from the prosecution: they took him to trial. Fortunately, the verdict was light, he was only sentenced to pay a fine of 45,000 rubles (about 800 euros) – which is still more than a month’s salary.
In Borzia, life has become nervous and dangerous, other inhabitants report. The acts of vandalism do not stop: they break the lights and the benches in the streets, and there are no longer soldiers to appease the most rebellious young people, because almost all of them are in the Ukraine.
In addition, says Kirill, “it’s not that things were much better with the soldiers: here the army recruits criminals and rioters and it is they themselves who carry out street violence and abuse of various kinds.” Kirill is a musician in a local rock band, but today it is difficult for him to find partners to play music and young people to go to concerts, except for a few drunks who start destroying everything as soon as the music starts. The war is destroying Ukraine, but it also continues to ruin life in Siberia.
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