Celtic ring

One love story ended with an explosion

Kirill Bodrashov and his common-law wife Elvira Muratova arrived at Domodedovo airport on January 24 from London, where they have lived for the past few years. The attack divided two destinies that seemed to be firmly connected. Masha Voronina, Kirill's niece,...

Kirill Bodrashov and his common-law wife Elvira Muratova arrived at Domodedovo airport on January 24 from London, where they have lived for the past few years. The attack divided two destinies that seemed to be firmly connected.

Masha Voronina, Kirill's niece, silently hands me her smartphone. On the screen is a photograph of a handsome man lying on a red leather sofa. A contented child curled up at his side. Son Sasha hardly remembered his father: he is now a little over a year old.

“They are the best couple I have known,” says Svetlana Velikanova, a friend and colleague of Elvira. — At their house in London, there were two shifted red sofas, on which they slept, holding hands. These people held hands for two years, you understand!”

Their path to each other was long. Kirill - the son of a Soviet diplomat - lived in Hungary from the age of 14, studied at the Budapest University of Economics, received Hungarian citizenship. Then he returned to Russia, and two years ago he changed jobs and moved to London.

Elvira was born in Novoaltaysk, near Barnaul, and graduated from Altai State University. “Her dream was to live in Moscow on the main street,” says Svetlana, “and it came true – she really lived for some time in the very center of Moscow until she moved to England. She is completely, as they say, self-made - she has been living alone since the age of 17, she herself achieves what she wants.

Both of them were headhunters, quite famous in the narrow circles of their profession. Both have long wanted and tried to create a family, but to no avail.

Elvira and Kirill met in London in the spring of 2008. Sveta introduced them. “I decided that such an acquaintance would be useful for Cyril if he wants to change jobs again. Elya is the best person in our world in order to profitably “sell” a professional. So… he went for lunch,” Sveta smiles.

... On January 24, Kirill and Elvira flew to Moscow for an economic seminar.

At the time of the explosion, Kirill was closest to the epicenter. Behind him is Elvira. The two friends who had flown in with them were already receiving luggage. Not a scratch on my friends. Kirill's entire chest is riddled with fragments penetrating into his heart.

The blast wave threw Elvira far away from her own. She ran around the smoky hall, looking for her husband, called her relatives and asked to find out which hospital Kirill was taken to. She herself had many shrapnel wounds, two penetrating wounds to the stomach. Friends hardly persuaded the shocked woman to get into the ambulance.

Elvira was taken to the Domodedovo Central Hospital. Kirill was taken there - already in a state of clinical death. Elvira's uncle, who lives nearby, got to her faster than other relatives. Walking along the corridor of the hospital, I saw a man lying on a gurney and recognized Kirill. He took off the rings from his hand and brought them to Elvira: look, is he really?

The marriage of Elvira and Cyril was not registered. But two months ago, during a trip to Edinburgh, they got engaged and exchanged rings with an inscription in the Celtic language: "Friend of my soul." It was from this ring that Elvira learned that evening that Cyril was very close. And I understood everything when I saw how the surgeons silently take off their masks, leaving the operating room.

Masha takes out a small plastic bag from her bag. It contains Cyril's things: a watch, several rings. He takes out a ring - wide, dark, with letters of an unfamiliar alphabet. It is not clear where this inscription begins and where it ends - there is no point.