Babai with a cart

The story of how an unremarkable resident of Belorechensk Alexander Mozhaev became the legendary Cossack Babay, one of the symbols of the war with Ukraine. Now he lives in his hometown again. The war was subsided, but not for him

The war in the east of Ukraine has its own rich epic. For the most part, it is born on the Internet and transmitted from mouth to mouth, from page to page. Fasting stories about torture, legends about the exploits, the horrors of battle scenes. Even in any epic there are its own legendary heroes, titanic personalities, around which all the main events unfold. And a special place in the pantheon of the Military Hembler of Donbass is occupied by the figure of the Cossack Babay. He has his own public in VKontakte for 13 thousand people and an outrageous amount of fan art. Babay fans draw him a pumped giant, a real hero . Songs are composed of Babai: “Who is the Pindos-Japanese King Kong and Godzilla? Ugh! Russian Babai is power, ” reads the rapper Drago from Kharkov. Thousands of memes with Babay brutal physiognomy are walking around the network, not to mention the legends associated with combat exploits (he himself knocked down a helicopter from a grenade launcher, is a GRU officer, etc.), but not much is known about a real person, the information is scarce and contradictory.

***

A man in a leather jacket is going on along the station square of Belorechensk. Under it, a striped shirt with a dashingly unbuttoned collar, a weighty cross is visible on her neck. Having seen enough of the heroic fan art, I expected to see a camouflage giant, a real Hagrid, but Babai turned out to be low by strong height, quite modest at first glance. Ordinary Alexander Mozhaev. We greet and go to the headquarters.

We go along the corridor of the office center, Babai is interested in whether I am a patriot or not. He opens a small office. Opposite the door there is a flag of the self -proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, under it the calendar of the public organization of veterans “Battle Brotherhood”. On the right with a large red and white banner, Jesus Christ looks. The room is furnished with icons, flags, all kinds of weapons lies on the shelves - starting from rare daggers and grenades from the Second World War and ending with modern optics, helmets and knives. On the table is a bunch of walkie -talkies - they produce an unpleasant rattle. Babai refuses to tell what kind of place it is, what they do here and where so many under -and -in -lawsist objects come from. He says this information can damage the common cause and is limited to the fact that the Cossack organization “Wolch Hundred” and “Battle Brotherhood” is based here, and the radio is needed for training.

Babai photo: Vlad Moiseev

A tall gray -haired man enters the room. His name is Alexei, he is also a Cossack, participated in the East Ukrainian conflict. Babai warns that Alexei will be present during our conversation, takes binoculars and peers a landscape outside the window for a long time, like a real Knight Gotham. But nothing happens on the street-the station square is empty, pensioners are lazy lazily on the benches, a woman feeds pigeons-a real provincial idyll. Whom Babay is looking for - a military secret.

- Did you check the documents? - From the threshold he asks the thoroughly Alexei. He is here to observe the interview and advise a friend what can be said and what is impossible.
- And what do you need?
- Passport, journalistic certificate ...
“And then maybe you came from Lviv,” says Babay in the tone of the ironic investigator.
- Tell me, are you wearing an earring? - Alexey asks.
-Once upon a time I wore it.
- And why is it timed?
- He played music, in the group.
- What kind of music?
- Rock.
The interview is delayed. They ask me about what I do, where I worked, what kind of site "such things". A little later, I am delicately interested in whether I am a Jew.

***

Alexander Mozhaev I was born in Belorechensk on September 21, 1977.

Cossack pedigree Babay photo: from personal archive

“My parents were simple workers,” he continues. - Mom was a cleaner, I helped her from 10 years old, wore a bucket with water. We had three brothers in the family. The elder was killed after the army, the kingdom of heaven. He was scored to death, there was a showdown here. The younger brother is with me, when I am not, it helps my family. We are now living in the family house that our grandfather built. Everyone has already died for me: mom, dad, grandmother, grandfather, kingdom to all heavenly. But the family continues, I have two sons, God grant their health. And the eldest daughter. The extreme son was recently completely born.

Babai with nostalgia recalls the Soviet past. At school, he loved literature, physical education, visual arts and music, participated in amateur performances, read poetry from the stage. After grade 9, he went to the school and received a specialty of an electrician. With an electrician, he began to serve in the air defense, but in two years he grown to the castle. Babai says that “grandfature stumbled about him” - he just had to beat one particularly annoying grandfather who forced to wash the toilets. After that, justice triumphed in the platoon.

The whole story of Babay about herself is imbued with the idea of ​​the righteous suppression of aggression, the establishment of justice and Cossack messianism, whether it is about the grandfature or the separation of Crimea from Ukraine. He says that this is the destiny of the Cossack - to protect Orthodoxy, the king and all the good from everything bad. But Babai is not one of those who sacredly believe in state institutions, “United Russia” and the justice of the system. In his rhetoric, he is sometimes more radical than the most desperate oppositionists. But unlike them, his worldview is built on the idea that crooks, thieves and agents of Western influence, like cancer, seized power and prevent the president from making the country happy and prosperous, but he almost alone resists them:

- The people love their country. For the fact that she is strong, powerful, rich. But does not love his government. Here is the president - a good person, he does what is needed. But next to him is the parliament. They should not go into the affairs of the sovereign. Here is the president - a good person, he does what is needed. But the parliament should not climb into the affairs of the sovereign Twist this quote because most businessmen, oligarchs are sitting in parliament, for whom the price of life is measured in money. Why is our country very rich, and inside see how people live? After all, it should be much better. We have many minerals, gas, oil, a lot of gold, a lot of things. Why all in private hands? This should not be. The statesmen should dispose of the subsoil. State.

Babai has been discussing for a long time that we must trade in oil and gas for rubles, and equalize one ruble with one gram of gold. Babay, it seems, has a whole political doctrine about how to make the country better. Aleksey sitting nearby tries to calm his friend, but nothing comes out. Babai wants Russia to “independently put gas, products and electricity prices, and employees of state -owned enterprises received 100 thousand a month.” And also stop inflation and increase in food prices. But he does not really believe in the realization of his ideas.

- I want to do good, I seem to see everything, I understand everything, but I can’t do it. Because it is not beneficial to people, those who sit at the top. Because all their plans, everything can collapse. And their plans at the moment, as I see, are not very good. They destroy our population peacefully ...

***

Cossacks - ancestors of Babai Photo: From the Personal Archive

After the army, Mozhaev Cossack. “Cossack - does not mean Bandyukuk,” he explains. Young Babai was engaged in forest protection along the register Cossacks, built a cordon to combat illegal cutting. He also worked as a taxi - he used to be asked to come and force negligent customers to pay for travel. And in 2005, he was sentenced to nine years in prison for drug sales. But he spent only 5 years, 1 month and 3 days behind bars.

“They set me up, in short,” says Babay. -One person had to get money to me. Well ... he should have for me ... In short, he asked me to buy hemp, so I bought. Coming, I say, bring. And he brought me six boxes and change. And the surrender was swept.
- Well, that is, you never sold hemp?
-No-no-no.
- But you used it?
“Well, you know,” sighs. - When I was imprisoned, my grandmother, the kingdom of heaven, asked on the phone, for which they planted. I say: "Grandma, for hemp." She: “Oh, not obscurity, he says. Well, in childhood, he was eating hemp seeds. We eat and laugh. What do you need? " And I: "Laws are such, grandmother." I think we need to remove this law.

***

Ataman of the Belorechensky district Cossack society of the Kuban Cossack army Viktor Melnikov sits in his office. He has a gaze and soft intonations. He takes his post for only one and a half years, but Babay has known for a long time.

-I have been familiar with Alexander from the late 90s. He is from the clan, Mozhaev. And along the line of the mother, and along the line of the father. He was already at a young age member of the Cossack society. First, in the youth hundred to the urgent service and after it returned to our ranks. Years until 2005, until he had troubles in fate, he was a combatant of the Cossack squad, was engaged in environmental protection.

Ataman Victor Melnikov photo: Vlad Moiseev

Ataman Melnikov says that in his youth, Babai was “hooligan, but controlled”, even when he drank, did not suit rades, but became on the contrary flexible. When asked how it turned out that the conscientious Cossack was attracted for the spread of drugs, the chieftain shrugs: "They did not look."

- I don’t know details, but he has 228 article. This is not a good article. Ataman of the district then even said: "It would be better if he killed someone." Such an article diverged fundamentally with our worldview.
Ataman says that he almost visited Babay from the entire district Cossack society - few people liked the news that a dragdile appeared in the ranks of the Cossacks.
- Before he sat down, there were rumors that he was doing such things?
“The rumors went, but no one watched him especially,” says Melnikov. - Of course, they told him: "Sash, you give it the most ..."
-That is, it turns out that he was still selling?
- It is getting that yes.

Despite the article, upon returning to the Cossacks of Babay, they accepted as their own. Ataman Melnikov is convinced that he realized and corrected.

***

Alexander Mozhaev served his term in Primorsko-Akhtarsk, IK-11. He says that the prison taught him a lot, changed it for the better.

- It was the Providence of God. I participated in the construction of a prison temple from the very beginning. When we filled the dome, a bucket of meters from seven meters fell on me. Hit the head ...

A long meow is heard. Babai rummages into pockets in search of a phone.
- This is from the war. Everyone had such calls there.
- Why?
- Well, a cat or a call - is there a difference? You never know where it will work.
Babai continues:
- The full bucket fell and put me on the knee. I feel the hand is taken away. They run up to me, take under my elbows, lead to a medical unit. They sewed up there, said that the skull was not injured. Only scalp was a little ripped off. Well, after that, everything changed in my head. I began to think about a simple life-being.

At the contest of prison temples, Primorsko-Akhtarsky took first place, Babay was the first to anointed and blessed Vladyka Isidor Yekaterinodarsky.

After serving four years, Alexander filed a petition for parole, but he was not satisfied. Mozhaev considered that it was unfair - he had no violations, but he wrote a bad characteristic.
- I returned evil and decided to write a letter to the president. Sent. Wrote that lawlessness is happening. That I have so and so everything that I corrected, wrote about the temple, about everything. He wrote: "Help me achieve justice." And what do you think? They called Rostov from the Presidential Department. And they say: quickly figure out this whole story.

Babai photo: Vlad Moiseev

Babay tried to persuade to abandon his appeal, but he did not. Then he was called to a psychologist to pass the dough. The result showed that the prisoner Mozhaev is not just normal, but prone to creation and generally a wonderful person. Babai liked the characteristic so much that the computer gave him, that he asked the psychologist with a pen with a leaf and rewrote the memory. This document is still stored at his house.

The next attempt to go out to the parole was successful.

***

After liberation, Alexander returned to Belorechensk, settled on a loading site. He got down again with his wife. But in 2013, due to repeated administrative offenses, he decided to transfer Mozhaev under administrative supervision, to prohibit being somewhere except the house and work, to leave the region.

In the same year, another trouble happened with Alexander - a new criminal case, this time about the attempted murder. He tells the circumstances of the lasting for a very long time-a real action movie is obtained. In short, he quarreled with his friends with representatives of the local Korean diaspora. One of them signaled at night under the windows, Alexander asked not to interfere with people to rest. The Korean left, but returned with reinforcement. All this ended with a brawl in which Mozhaev's friend lost his front teeth. Alexandra and comrade were taken to the base owned by the Koreans. They were offered two options. The first is to apologize, the second is to call the police. Koreans promised to write a statement that Babai had come for a bow at night and was about to kill them - he had a penknife with him.

“They chose the second option,” Babai says. - The car drove up, I hear: "Healthy, major." A policeman enters us: “What have you come here, are you swollen? Not in your area. " I told him: “Are you obscenities for us? Imagine. " He says: such a district police officer. And I ask: "Now tell me how much they pay you, that you fell on us like a rabid dog?" He says "30 thousand a month." It turned out that these Koreans are local kings. They paid everyone, everyone owes them. A criminal case was brought against me.

Alexander began to look for the truth. He decided that he would not shave off his beard until he proved his case. Babai says that he did not threaten anyone with murder, and the case was fabricated. Familiar with the circumstances of this story are in solidarity with Babai and say that the Koreans really turned out to be local cones. Mozhaev wrote statements to the offenders, applied to the Investigative Committee, went to the chieftain of the Kuban Cossack army, to the military judge. The judge turned to the Investigative Committee with the testimony of Alexander, it was necessary to wait. But he never waited for the result. Because Crimea began.

***

Ataman Victor Melnikov sits on a long bench. It is carried out by the sentences of the Cossack court of honor. Basically, the Cossacks receive punishment for drunken brawls. They whip them with a whip.

If you turn the bench, you can find a list of all who received a punishment with the date of bringing the sentence and the number of lashes. The first on the list is the senior officer A. I. Mozhaev. He received five lashes on September 25, 2012. On October 17 of the same year, five lashes received a friend of the senior officer of Mozhaev, centurion E. E. Ponomarev. On November 26, 2012, Dermenzhi Sh. V. received three ladies. It was these Cossacks a little later that they will form a “wolf hundred” and will go first to the Crimea, and then to the Donbass.

“Alexander went to Crimea, not as a Cossack of the Kuban Cossack army, but as a volunteer,” says the Ataman, “the bulk of it left on February 27, our Cossacks were in protection of public order in Sevastopol.” And he was under the subscription about the wonness. We took it into account, and he did not fall into the district order and went as a volunteer. Evgeny Ponomarev was with him - he was also not taken. He was a Cossack-Dynnik of a professional Cossack squad. The order was: the Cossacks-dwarfs remain in place, ensure the protection of public order. On March 6, Ponomarev quit the squad and, together with Mozhaev, left there. On the one hand, they violated the order of the troops, incorrectly entered. On the other hand, a sense of patriotism ... The winners are not judged. Is there a positive from their participation there? Our Crimea is already a lot.

Babai at the entrance to the city council building in Kramatorsk Photo: Anton Kruglov/RIA Novosti

- I came to the police to celebrate and say: I am leaving for the Crimea. And they say to me that they will not let me go anywhere. Me: “Who are you to me? I just came, informed that I was leaving there on the orders of the chieftain and that’s all. I don’t have to ask you permission, it is possible or not. I'll be back - we will continue to talk, ”says Babai.

On March 11, he had to go to a neighboring area to get acquainted with the criminal case and sign it. But no changes in it occurred, despite all Mozhaev’s attempts to prove his innocence.

On March 8, Babay was already in the Crimea. He could be delayed on the border, because he had an outstanding loan on a car, a non -to leave subscription, administrative supervision, but reached the place without problems. Some sources claim that he crossed the border according to the passport of his younger brother. At that time, many volunteers advanced to the Crimea, and after that of the Donbass: someone in a fit of patriotic feeling, someone fled from loans, alimony or judicial persecution, someone hoped to earn money or fame.

- It was impossible to wait three days to get acquainted with the case first? I ask.
“Then my case would go to court, and I would have been waiting for ships.” But I have not yet waited for the response of the Investigative Committee, where the military judge addressed. I did not need my case so quickly to be transferred to court.
- Did you understand that you are violating the conditions for the non -departure subscription?
- Of course, he understood. I understood that they could plant me. They, a man sitting, at parole. Just think, still sit.
— Из-за этого вы уехали в Крым?
- No. В Крым я уехал по другой причине. Потому что надо защищать… Появилась возможность присоединить братский народ к народу братскому. Казак сначала должен повоевать, а не сидеть в тюрьме на жопе ровно и смотреть, как гибнут его товарищи. Казак сначала должен повоевать, а не сидеть в тюрьме на жопе ровно и смотреть, как гибнут его товарищи Твитнуть эту цитату Даже если бы сидел на тот момент, я бы попросился оттуда поехать помогать воевать. Я, можно сказать, отсрочил это все на неопределенное время. Потому что если бы я не отсрочил, все бы банально закончилось тем, что я бы сел в тюрьму. У меня не родился бы второй сын, а когда родился бы первый, я бы еще сидел.
— Вы поэтому после Крыма отправились сразу на Восток Украины?
— Мы же знаем, что творится на самой Украине, в Киеве. Майдан, убивают мирных жителей, полицейских. И вот я сижу в Крыму. Меня спрашивают: «Что вы домой не едете? Я говорю: «Вот смотри: ты сейчас присоединился к России, у тебя все хорошо. А как остальные будут, наши русские люди, которые остались там? Наши православные, наши славяне. How? Они будут уподобляться и переучиваться жить так, как им будет говорить Запад? Надо возвращать и остальных, надо помочь им вернуться, раз у самих не получается». Тот человек на меня посмотрел и сказал: «Да, правильно».

***

В апреле 2014 года Бабай, его друг Евгений Пономарев (позывной Динго) и другие казаки сформировали боевой отряд «Волчья сотня» и направились в восточную Украину. Бабай говорит, что им хотелось продолжать присоединять русскоязычные территории к России. И они выдвинулись на Краматорск и Славянск. Именно там Бабай и обрел славу. Во-первых, сначала его приняли за русского офицера ГРУ, потому что на фотографии времен российско-грузинского конфликта кто-то разглядел бородача, сильно похожего на Бабая. This became a sensation - the Russian intelligence services are fighting in the Donbass, the Babay photo flew around the world media. Позже журналист Саймон Островский нашел «офицера ГРУ» и опроверг эту историю: в 2008 году Бабай сидел тюрьме в Приморско-Ахтарске. Во-вторых, раскрутке Бабая косвенно спо-собствовала нелюбовь Игоря Гиркина к СМИ. And Babai loved photographers for a colorful appearance. Он был красноречив и обладал достаточным статусом для того, чтобы давать комментарии.

Бабай на новом блокпосту бойцов народного ополчения Донбасса на трассе Ростов-Харьков, недалеко от Славянска. Photo: Mikhail Postuev/TASS

— Я вообще не представлял, что дальше будет, — Бабай рассказывает о том, что все последующие за Крымом события были непредсказуемы, и только в начале подчинялись какой-то логике, — Гиркин отдал приказ, что мы все идем до конца, мы оттуда можем не вернуться живыми. Кто не будет выполнять приказы — буду расстреливать.

О своих отношениях с Гиркиным Бабай практически ничего не рассказывает, ссылаясь на то, что были мало знакомы:
— Отношения с Гиркиным строились по принципу «здрасти-до свидания», — говорит Бабай. — Как я понимаю, Гиркин хотел, чтобы мы зашли вместе с ним в Донецк. It was impossible to do this. Мы держали два города — Краматорск и Славянск. Бои проходили там. Гиркин же должен был собрать все вооруженные силы ДНР, ЛНР, Новороссии, навести порядок вдоль границы, чтобы она была открытая, чтобы нам поступало вооружение, обмундирование, питание. А они этого всего не делали. Войска были в Донецке, а по границам находились наемники украинские. Они перекрывали нам поступление продовольствия. При нормальном штабе и управлении сейчас можно было быть уже во Львове.

Пропуск Евгения Пономарева для проезда по территории ДНР Фото: Влад Моисеев

— Тогда мне казалось дико, что столько крови пролито, а города бросили и отошли, — говорит Алексей об уходе из Краматорска и Славянска. — Сегодня я немножко по другому на это смотрю. Цели достигнуты, Украина не вошла в НАТО, не вошла в ЕС. Она зависла. Если бы мы двигались дальше, все это было бы в руинах. Украинцы будут грызться до тех пор, пока не вспомнят, чьи они дети. Донбасс — это гиря на ноге Украины, с которой она никуда не уйдет.
— А вам не кажется, что это какая-то циничная гиря? Ценой войны, большого количества жертв, убитых детей, о которых вы рассказываете.
— Нет, мне не кажется. Я все это понимаю, Достоевский, слеза ребенка. У меня три сына, я это понимаю. Бжезинский сказал, что России без Украины не может быть. Если Украина будет в НАТО, то под Белгородом будут стоять американские «Пэтриоты» и все прочее. Население в 40 миллионов превратится в реальную армию, их научат, вооружат и заплатят.
— И возродят там фашизм, — добавляет Бабай.
— И сколько потом будет этих слезинок? — риторически спрашивает Алексей.

***

«Казаки, конечно, очень разные. Только, как я уже писал, почему-то „казачьи подразделения“ все как на подбор на поле боя превращаются в „махновские банды“, в тылу громко вопящие о своем „казачьем воинском духе“, но упорно уклоняющиеся от реальных боев в сколько-нибудь сложной ситуации», — так Игорь Гиркин комментировал уход Бабая и других казаков после сдачи Краматорска и Славянска. Он попросту назвал их дезертирами. Бабай утверждает, что основной причиной ухода «Волчьей стаи» с огневых позиций стало несогласие с решениями Гиркина, желание действовать самостоятельно. В официальных видеообращениях Бабай заявлял, что никуда не дезертировал, а уехал набирать добровольцев после приказа Гиркина покинуть город. Источник, хорошо знакомый с ситуацией на Донбассе, предполагает, что главной причиной отхода Бабая в Крым служило не столько желание какой-то автономности или трусливое дезертирство, сколько «понятливость» — они уже тогда осознали, что решение вопросов о судьбе Востока Украины переходит из компетенции полевых командиров в область политического урегулирования, и противостоять этому опасно для жизни. Судьбы убитых уже в мирное время полевых командиров из ЛНР, которые не проявили достаточного уровня «понятливости» и сговорчивости, подтверждают эту гипотезу.

Бабай на концерте в Краматорске за пару месяцев до сдачи города войскам Украины

***

And here we are. В маленьком офисе, завешанном флагами ДНР и России. Скрипят рации, кто-то периодически поглядывает в бинокль, на полках пылятся каски. Более предприимчивые активисты «Русской весны» заняли важные посты, пришли к успеху. А Бабай через «Комсомольскую правду» собирает деньги, потому что детей не на что отправить в школу.
— Почему вы в итоге не заняли какой-нибудь руководящий пост в ДНР? I ask.
- Hm. В том логове можно и без головы остаться. — отвечает Бабай.
— У вас нет ощущения, что вас просто слили?
— Да есть, конечно, есть. Зачем им там нужны патриоты, когда у них деньги сыпятся. Им нужны деньги и власть. Слив начался с самого Краматорска.

Алексей и Бабай убеждены, что война не окончена, и они просто выжидают момент, чтобы вновь взяться за оружие. Делать в мирном Белореченске им, похоже, особо нечего. И мне кажется, они внутренне совсем не против, чтобы война вернулась.

Все время нашего разговора на диване тихо сидел Паша. Он из Донецка, воевал в ополчении, но разочаровался и переехал в Россию.

— Там внутренняя ситуация интересная довольно-таки, — включается в разговор Паша, — Товарищ Захарченко просто дал указание на уничтожение донецкого казачества, оно было разоружено. Потому что казачество не давало прокручивать махинации.

— Захарченко — ставленник Ахметова. Простое объяснение, — резко говорит Бабай.

— Даже не это главное. Вот они получили эту власть, территорию, помощь из России огромную. И сработал этот синдром — поживиться, пока есть возможность. Когда начались все эти схемы, минские договоренности, все кто реально хотел лучшего для Донбасса, кто воевал и был на передовой — процентов 90 уехали в Россию. Потому что они увидели, что то, за что они воевали, просто перекручивается и возвращается на свои места. Менты вернулись на прежние должности — те же самые взяточники, сотрудники прокуратуры возвращаются на прежние должности. Они в Мариуполе получили от укропов ценные указания и вернулись работать якобы на ДНР, но, сами понимаете, на кого они будут там работать. Явно не на пользу ДНР.

And here we are. Паша переехал, пытается оформить разрешение на работу, но пока с этим проблемы. Он говорит, что у него русские корни, и даже будучи гражданином Украины, он всегда считал себя русским.

— Короче, у всех фантомные боли, — заключает Алексей.

Участие в войне Бабаю зачли. Он попал под амнистию к 70-летию Победы, полностью расквитался со всеми проблемами и чист перед законом. Но бороду не сбрил. Потому что какой Бабай без бороды?

Могила Евгения Пономарева, друга Бабая Фото: Влад Моисеев

27 августа 2014 года на городском белореченском кладбище появилась новая могила. Через год на ней установили небольшой серый памятник. На нем крупными буквами было выведено «Динго» — это позывной со времен войны. Здесь похоронен Евгений Пономарев, друг Бабая, с которым они вместе ушли на войну.