Translated material
"The son will forever remain disabled"
The Salchak family from the Tuvan village of Kara-Khaak is going to demand compensation from the Ministry of Defense for the injury of an 18-year-old son. In April, Dima-ool was blown up in a projectile in the vicinity of a military training ground located next to Kara-Haak. He lost one eye and, probably, will have hearing problems all his life.
"I know what it is to live blind"
The father of the affected guy Dalai-ool Salchak from Kara-Haak moves around the house on his own, but does not see the hand extended for greeting. Since childhood, he developed a cataract, making it a disabled person. In 1999, he lost one eye: a piece of wood flew into his face when Salchak chopped firewood. In 2010, he stopped seeing his second eye.
- Then, in 1999, I could cure my eyes, but, you yourself understand, there was no money at all. So it remains. Therefore, I know what it is to live blind. If the son lost one eye, then the second is not for long ... Look at how he was and how he was mutilated, ”says Dalai-ool, showing his son’s school photography.
On April 27, 18-year-old Dima-ool went to the vicinity of Kara-Haak to look for a cow, which on the second day did not return from the pasture.
- The cow was not ours, alien - our acquaintances. But the Karahaaks are: if they ask, we do. He did not want to go at all, I asked. He said-he will also help you someday.
Look at what happened to his clothes: his pants simply torn to shreds. Sneakers, too, is one all cut off with fragments
A few hours later, the family reported that Dim-ool stepped on the projectile when he was looking for a cow. The schoolboy was bleeding: his head beaten with fragments, interrupted his leg. One of the fellow travelers was scared and ran away from the scene. The remaining two dragged him towards the village, simultaneously calling the relative who met them by car. They took Dima Ool towards Kyzyl and on the way handed it to the ambulance team. Later, on the fact of the incident, a criminal case was opened.
- Look what happened to his clothes: his pants simply torn to shreds. Sneakers are also one all cut by fragments. The vest that was on it was a whole. And the trousers are completely torn, namely the leg on the leg to which he came. He lay here in the hospital for a week, they didn’t let me go there, my wife only went. They said that nothing threatens life ... Already in St. Petersburg they found a fragment in his hand - they could not get out here.
"None of them came to me"
He looked at me so terribly, I was scared. And he said something like: "Come on so that everything is quiet"
On May 4, Dimy-oola and his mother was sent to St. Petersburg to the hospital of the Military Medical Academy to St. Petersburg. The accompanying from the Ministry of Defense went with them, threatened her.
- He looked at me so terribly, I was scared. And he said something like: “Come on so that everything is quiet,” Ionna Salchak recalls.
After the incident, the Tuvan social activists announced on social networks the collection of funds to help Didim-ool. The head of Tuva Sholban Kara-ool said that the Tuva authorities specially waited with transportation for a week while the student’s condition was stabilizing.
-Honestly, we do not know-maybe if he had immediately taken him, it would be different. Did they offer me compensation? No one has yet offered anything! Contractors collected 20 thousand themselves, somewhere a week after the incident. My relatives also serve there. And the leadership is nothing, ”says the Dalai-ool.
"Then we began to take away the fields"
In 2015, the 55th separate motorized rifle brigade of the Ministry of Defense was stationed in Kyzyl. At the entrance to the city, a military town was built, and in the vicinity of Kara-Haak (19 km from Kyzyl)-a landfill for exercises and shooting. In order for military equipment to go to Kara-Haac, the Ministry of Defense erected a bridge across the Yenisei. Almost immediately, local farmers had a conflict with the military, which occupied the lands for pastures.
“Then we began to take away the fields,” says a resident of Kara-Haak Aydin Sai . - That year, we didn’t put anything in our field, because we were written off, they were given to the military. But we did not know that our sites are actually already owned by the Ministry of Defense. And after I turned to the prosecutor’s office, our lands still left us. But I note that after that these controversial, let’s say, the fields remained uncomforted, because people did not return to them anymore.
According to Aydin, the inhabitants of the territories adjacent to the landfill were to be relocated to another area of the village, but this did not happen. Individual parking remains on the territory of the landfill, where the locals are breeding cattle.
“The training ground and the shooting range were supposed to move away from the village, but, apparently, the local authorities spent the money somewhere in another place, because everything remained as it was,” says Sai.
After the incident with Dim-ool, the military put at the entrance to the landfill and dug a trench to protect the territory of the Ministry of Defense. Earlier, the local population went freely on the territory of the landfill.
- There is away every day of shooting. Of course, no one goes there. But the lands of the landfill, which are closer to the village, could be freely possible. They put the fence there now, ”says Dalai-ool Salchak.
I get 18 thousand as a disabled person. The wife does not work because she takes care of me. We live in a five thousand for 18 thousand
The tragedy with Dim-ool occurred a few kilometers from the place where the checkpoint is now standing. Therefore, the locals find it difficult to answer exactly where the explosion happened: on the territory of the landfill or not reaching it. In any case, the villagers do not understand how a military shell could be in the field.
"He wanted to become a military man"
Tuva is officially the poorest region of Russia: 41.5% of the population of the republic live behind the poverty line, while 35% of the population are children. In many families, three or more children, and the average salary is 35.6 thousand rubles. Locals say that in Kyzyl, indicators are better due to a large number of officials. In areas, people live much poorer.
- What are we living on? I get 18 thousand as a disabled person. The wife does not work because she takes care of me. We live 18 thousand as five, ”says the Dalai-ool.
There are three children in the Salchak family: a son of 14 years old, a 16-year-old daughter and the eldest-Dima-ool. In the St. Petersburg hospital, he celebrated the age of majority and, if not for the injury, passed the exam. Parents say that the doctors wanted to send the guy home, but the ENT intervened in time: I insisted that more operations were needed. One of the fragments was stuck in the nasopharynx, so suppuration began.
- Now the condition is stable. Operations are preparing for his ears. First on the right ear, then on the left. He has a hole in the eardrum. He was left his eye, but there is a part of the nervous system damaged, so there is no chance that the eye will begin to see again. This is impossible ... - says Ionna Salchak.
It is not clear where Dima-ool and his mother have to return: in June, the family should leave the rented house and look for new housing.
- I don’t have my own housing, so we will leave for relatives ... Maybe we’ll go to the parking lot to my brother. In line for housing, I stood until 2008, then changed the residence permit, and I was removed from the queue. The Kyzyla city hall lay documents, wanted to take it when he changed his residence permit. They looked-there are no documents, ”says Dalai-ool.
According to his estimates, 13 residents of Kara-Haak serve under a contract in the 55th motorized rifle brigade. This is the most promising way for a village where there is no work. Didim-ool also wanted to serve in the army, unlearn the driver in DOSAAF, and then work in the local military unit.
- Of course, we will fight for compensation, let's go to court. Because my eldest son will forever remain disabled. The ears do not hear, the eyes of one are not in fact, the nerves are torn off. He will not be able to graduate from school in time, he will not be able to study, as he dreamed. And this happened through their fault, and not by him ...