Translated material
Bus with the letter Z goes to the cemetery
On March 16, the twenty -year -old contractor Matvey Vakhitov was buried in a closed coffin.
Matvey died on March 7 during a “special operation” in Ukraine. This was officially stated in the press service of the Government of the Leningrad Region. A wreath with a wide red ribbon was sent to the funeral from the government to the village of Razdolier.
Mother
“He went to the army in December 2019,” says Maria Mukhina, Matvey’s mother, “after six months of training, he decided to sign a contract.” I was against, worried. But he insisted, I wanted not to walk with friends after the army, but to receive money. I have two more younger ones, there is no work in the village, I stand on the labor exchange. And Matvey loved to help, it has always been so: for his mother. We called up all the time. At the end of February, communication problems began. Once he called not from his SIM card, from the Ukrainian one. He sent the last voice message on March 1. He convinced that everything was fine. And seven days later they came to me from the military registration and enlistment office and said that Matvey was dead. They themselves worried - how to bring to mothers to bring such?
In the local culture house, where farewells pass, two women with black bandages on the sleeves are being wandered under the arms. In front of the coffin, covered by the Russian flag, she sits calmly, but one of the women stands behind. Just in case.
Maria listens to the short speeches of representatives of the military registration and enlistment office and local bureaucracy. He watches abstractly as the fellow villagers - several hundred came in parting - they flood the coffin with flowers. For many, bouquets are tied with St. George ribbons. At the coffin - an honorary guard. The soldiers are closely watching the crowd, their eyes are a little watery.
Eleven -year -old Arseny presses against Mary, tries not to cry. And he almost succeeds. The younger brother, three -year -old Artem, is too small, and that Matvey is no longer there is no longer understanding. He was not taken into the cemetery.
Friends
- Matvey and I served together. At about the same time, they signed a contract. He is a wonderful person, very positive, will always help. “We are talking with Karo Tamiryan on the phone.” He speaks of a friend only in the present tense. -We saw the number of the 23rd <February>, and that’s it. They said that we would support each other at any second, no matter what happened. And Tik-Toki watched. And then they told me that he was no longer there - there was artillery fire. When I found out, cried. I myself 20!
Karo did not come to the funeral. He remains in the hospital. Matvey’s body was not exported from the same hospital for several days. In the expanse they transferred: weather conditions do not allow. 9 days have passed from the moment of death to the funeral.
- I went under the contract a little earlier. He came to our company, ”recalls another colleague of Matvey (his name is in the editorial office). - Good, in a good way simple -minded, worked when necessary. I liked the time to spend the most time with him. I was doing business in the regiment when they told me <about his death>. At first I did not want to believe, and then found out that a friend went to identification. We saw each other for the last time on the 27th. The cigarettes were looking for, pinching. That day we were together, but after the next shelling they were divided - I was far from the car. I would know that such *** will be, *** we would be divided. As I found out, cried. And I thought a lot.
He did not dare to call Matvey's mother. He promised to come to the grave when he went to a citizen. And he wants to go out as soon as possible: the views have changed.
- I will receive education. I don’t know who to study for.
Tanya
Tanya Kuznetsova has a black bandage on his head and reddened eyes. Tanya is also 20. He and Matvey were friends since childhood - one kindergarten, one class. In the summer, Matvey said that when he arrives in the expanse next time, they will be married.
Tatyana Kuznetsova. Photo: Arina Vasilchuk / "New"
- I was proud of him when he went to serve. The only class! She told him that he was a real man. We corresponded in social networks, and then <with the beginning of the "Special Epection"> he stopped appearing online. She recognized everything through his mother - he called her every time he could. He loved her very much. Due to the lack of communication, I was worried, of course. Constantly wrote to Aunt Masha. But I did not think that everything would be like that. Every day I prayed when he was there - I did not like anyone so much. Even if I get married in the future, Matvey is the first and last person to whom my soul stretched. The priest said that the summer oath connected us and that we will definitely see each other. But, to be honest, I no longer really believe in paradise and hell.
At the entrance to the House of Culture, Tanya takes his girlfriend by the hand and repeats that everything is in order. But next to the coffin he begins to sob, falls to his knees and leads his hand along the white strip of tricolor:
“I hate them all because of Matvey.” I hate! You can’t touch young guys. There were to send adult men, not children.
There is a whisper in the crowd: "Oh, Tanka ..."
In the cemetery. Photo: Arina Vasilchuk / "New"
With God
A whole motorcade is nominated in the cemetery from the House of Culture. Ahead is a white van with a coffin and endless colors. At the end - a couple of custom -made buses. Between them is the dark “nissan” with the letters Z. They are glued from painting tape. One is on the hood, the second is on the back glass.
At the grave, Father Boris from the local temple of the royal chapter speaks quickly and insinuatingly:
- Sometimes we choose erroneous goals. And these mistakes lead us to suffering, experiences, sorrows. Russia is the only country that rebelled against fascism. If you and I, Russian people, did not have the same misconduct, contracts with conscience ... If all this were less, then the situation would be completely different.
Towards the end of the panachids, women in the forefront begin to sob again. The colonel interrupts tears for a moment: he approaches Father Boris as soon as the choir stops singing, and announces:
Matvey was posthumously presented to the state award. To which is unknown. How the order will be released, she will be transferred to her mother.
“If there is such an opportunity according to the protocol,” Boris picks up, “let's all come to the coffin and ask Matthew’s forgiveness.” And thank. Who knows, maybe thanks to Matthew, we are not sitting in the basements now. And what would be with us in a few years is also unknown. Judging by ... events.
... When the fresh grave begins to fall asleep with a new batch of flowers, Maria ceases to restrain tears. Having cried, leaves along the icy path and takes out a cigarette.
- Now all the boys are scared. I will not let the younger ones go into the army.
Under the text
In total, since the beginning of March, the authorities officially recognized death during a special operation in Ukraine of three military personnel from the Leningrad region and one from St. Petersburg.
On March 13, in Pushkin (suburb of St. Petersburg), the corporal of the 247th Guards Airborne Assault Regiment of the 25-year-old Sergei Abramchik was buried. He was called up from the Stavropol Territory. There, the deceased remained a wife and a little daughter. However, Sergey was born and raised in the village of Shushary of the Pushkin district of St. Petersburg, where his parents live in him. They decided on the place of burial, the parents were also awarded the Order of the courage, which was awarded posthumously.
On March 17, in the city of Sertolovo, Vsevolozhsk district of the Leningrad region, they said goodbye to the 39-year-old warrant officer Yuri Savenkov. He also had a wife and a child.
In the Kirovsky district of the Leningrad region on the same day, 42-year-old Captain Andrei Portus was escorted on the last journey.
“The son dreamed of the army from the kindergarten,” said Andrei, Yuri Portus, “new”. - He graduated from the Mikhailovsky Military Artillery Academy. The last time he visited at home on February 5-6.
Portus was divorced, helped to educate a minor child, but constantly lived with his parents. According to his father, the son avoided talking about his business trips, so father and mother usually did not go to him with questions. Since February 24, they lived in constant fear. They knew that Andrei could face serious danger.
“We were not informed about the circumstances of the death of his son,” Yuri Portus laments. - In the medical certificate, it is only written that he died in the village of Veselny, Kharkov region. The officer who traveled to pick up Andrei’s body said that there was a shootout in that area, and his son was killed by a shell fragment. But, by and large, what difference does it make to me: where, how and what?! - the elderly man loses his composure. - This is all interesting for military intelligence. And I need my son alive, and that’s it!
Arina Vasilchuk, Nina Petlyanova