Tour de Lars

"And there, you see, and will resolve"

I lived in one of the cities of the Samara region, worked as a history teacher. I do not want to name my name, because in Russia a wife with a child remains.

Thoughts about emigration first appeared in 2016, when the authorities of the region took away from my family a summer cottage for the construction of an elite cottage village, paying meant compensation. I suggested that my wife invest the money received from the state in moving abroad, but my wife chose a car. “But who needs us there? And who will we leave our parents to? And who will you work there? " - There were her arguments.

Life in Russia became more complicated, but no matter what surprises the state was thrown to us, the arguments of the wife were stronger. Pension reform, an increase in the tax burden, the zeroing of the Constitution, the ban on calling the war to war-all this was perceived as evil, which can and should be reconciled for the sake of something more important: children, parents, the usual way of life.

And Putin announced partial mobilization. All day I did not find a place for myself. It was especially difficult at work. Being a school teacher, I constantly tell the children about wars. The program of the last decade of September was the conquests of Justinian (sixth grade), Conquista (seventh) and Napoleonic wars (ninth). I told the children how it all ended, and I understood that this set was exactly prepared for my country - poverty, devastation, universal bitterness. And most importantly, they can kill me. Or make a cripple.

In the evening I went for a walk in the forest, where I suddenly met a friend of Arthur. He works as a fitness coach at a sports school. “Listen, I also think about it all the time,” he admitted to me, “went to Georgia together?” “It’s easy for you, you don’t have a family,” I objected to him. “Zhenya has a colleague of Arthur at work - also a family, but he is going to,” the friend insisted.

The last argument in favor of the flight from the country was a message from friends who moved to Tbilisi immediately after the start of the war: “Old man, come while there is such an opportunity. You will live with us, and there, you look, and it will resolve. ”

"Are you a soldier?" - "No, student"

On September 25, early in the morning at Arthur’s apartment, the three of us bought the train tickets to Vladikavkaz and left on the same day. The train was chosen because, firstly, cheap, and secondly, it can easily be transported on it. Judging by the reviews of the fugitives, the fastest way to cross the border is precisely two -wheeled. We rode with a transplant in Armavir, and until that moment almost nothing reminded of mobilization.

At the station in Armavir, there were unusual many men with bicycles. "Do you have an Olympics?" - the conductor joked. The bicycles were laid with stacks on the luggage regiments, they were scored by the vestibules. “In the Ministry of Wheasts, conscripts will be imprisoned with us,” the conductor promised, “so you are trying in vain: in Vladik you will be surrounded and they will be handed to everyone.” The fugitives answered in the spirit that they were scared at every step and that an attempt is better than a passive waiting for the agenda of the house.

There are really many young guys in the Ministry of Walls. I ask one of them: "Are you a soldier?" - "No, student." - “And then what are you running? They said about students that they were not mobilized. ” - "Petya and I study in the technical school, there were no instructions on our account, so most likely they will take it away." “Yes, they got everyone there,” Petya intervened in the conversation, “my uncle suffers from epilepsy, did not serve, and the agenda came.”

The train passengers carefully followed the news about the situation on the border, and these news were frightening. “At the entrances to the“ Upper Lars ”checkpoint, an armored personnel carrier was put up.” "Citizens of draft age are handed right on the border." "Only women and children are allowed across the border."

On bicycles - to the border

They arrived in Vladikavkaz at six in the evening. While they collected great ones, we met several more guys saved from mobilization. Among them were a thin young man with long hair, who served, as it turned out, in the Russian Guard and Buryat Dima. I ask Dima: “Why didn’t you go to Mongolia? You are closer there. " “And the agenda has already come to me, they will definitely stop me there.” “You have heard many people take away from you.” - “Yes, everyone in a row! There are already three zinc coffins in my family. And the Buryats can only: "Well, since Russia called, we must go to fight."

Before the border crossing, and this is about 35 kilometers, rode on great in pitch darkness. On the way, taxi drivers besieged the proposals to the border for five, three, two, one thousand rubles. The closer to the border, the smaller the price tag. And each such offer is a divorce. The fact is that the police break the car flow into sectors. Cars are not continuous, between their accumulations - sections of the free road. For five thousand you will be brought to one sector, and until the next fee is already separate. One woman who was traveling to Georgia with the cancer daughter told me that she laid out almost 30 thousand rubles over 30 kilometers.

Fores pass literally a few centimeters from people, but no one pays attention to this

Throughout the road, the locals organized points of sale of water, food and bicycles. Here is the opposite dependence: the closer to the border, the higher the price tag. I heard that someone was sold the usual great for 100 thousand rubles. If this is not a fake, then I know the place where the deal could take place - a kilometer from the Russian checkpoint, where the walking line is crowded and immovable, and the bicycle is surprisingly small and moves. They say that the locals are piercing the tires: he went into the bushes to relieve the need, returned - the shine of the blow, buy a bicycle.

Meanwhile, we drove up to the end of the pedestrian line. A sad sight. People stand for several hours in a row, they are cold, but there is no movement. “You are not here,” someone from the queue for our appearance reacted. People parted and let us into the extreme left lane of the road. There were very few cyclists - no more than two dozen. Plus, the shifts of the border guards ended. A little more, a little more-and we are on the border crossing.

"Maybe we will agree?"

At the border crossing of Arthur and his wife, they put stamps in the foreigners without question. This is despite the fact that they served, young and have demanded military specialties. And they told me to go to the administrative building. I ask: "What happened?" “The military enlistment office is looking for you.” - “Where did you get it?! Here, look, it is written in my military: I didn’t serve, the category of the second reserve, the suitability category B ”..." And the base issues that they are looking for you. " - "Show." - “I will not show you anything! Do you think I'm deceiving you? Go through. "

In the administrative building, in anticipation of their fate, three Azerbaijanis with Russian passports sat, one African - apparently, is also a citizen of the Russian Federation, two elderly men and a student. None of them, by formal signs (age, category of reserve and fitness), it seems to be mobilized. With me, the Azerbaijanis was awarded ... No, not a summons, which they wrote a lot on the Internet, but not a notification to the military registration and enlistment office.

Neutral strip. The first tunnel was the author of the author

The second tunnel is full of exhaust gases, so it passes in groups of 10 authorities of the author

And I was unexpectedly ordered to return to the border post for obtaining a cherished press. The delay took an hour and a half. During this time, no car was missed in line. Yes, of course, the road is very narrow and not adapted for such a flow of machines, but is it impossible to miss the cars more promptly? It is not surprising that, judging by the messages in chats, many families do not withstand multi -day standing in line and unfold.

While going at the end of the line on the Georgian section of the border, he met a long -haired Rosgvardez. It turns out that he was also detained, but under another pretext-supposedly the guy did not pay any taxes. He himself denied it. The problem was resolved by the phrase: “Maybe we will agree” - and a bribe of five thousand rubles. I do not presume to say for sure, but, in my opinion, my wire had a corruption nature.

Escape to nowhere

In chats they wrote that Georgians quickly miss Russians. I got another impression. Three kilometers of the neutral zone we passed 12 hours. But I must admit: this is the fault of Russians. People strive to get around each other, which only enhances chaos and slows down the movement of the queue. Honestly, I also behaved incorrectly. He took and in the car lane reached Arthur with Zhenya, although in a good way he was supposed to stand at the end of the line.

About these three kilometers will someday make a film in the genre of disaster. There are two tunnels in which it is impossible to breathe from exhaust gases. People self -organized and established the passage of the tunnel with groups of 10 people. We left the first tunnel at about three in the morning, and reached the second closer to 11 days. By this time, severe heat had been established, but there is no water sources nearby. Except for the source of the Terek with water in dark gray. The volunteers helped out here: they collected bottles and attributed to the Georgian side, where they were filled with water. They also brought wet towels and a teraflu - patients appeared in the queue.

Here I left my great one, which was small for me, but easily folded and fit on the luggage shelf, and chose the device more serious

But with food in the neutral zone, all norms. Someone loses it, only from fatigue, and someone finds it. The guys and I picked up a package with sausage and cheese slices. In the neutral zone, a lot of things are left in general. The successful Arthur found a new solar battery, a bicycle lock with a key and a trunk for the great. Kommersants also go and offer to buy great for one or three thousand rubles. In Russia, they will be resold to the fugitives at an exorbitant price.

Everyone wants to sleep, but you can’t forget for a long time. Once every half an hour, the turn moves several meters, and those who call, may not let them into the previous position. Some fugitives spat on everything and put a tent aside. And I continue to get acquainted with the participants in the "bicycle race". On a par with me stood the captain of the container truck, who, due to sanctions, could not receive salaries for six months, a master of manufacturing ethnic musical instruments, a former special forces, a school teacher of music, logist, systems ...

Most of the fugitives with whom I talked admit that they would never have decided on such a step, if not for mobilization.

Dreams come true?

At the Georgian checkpoint, I was almost wrapped again. There, in Russia, I could still take such a turn of events calmly. I spend in the tent, then with friends in Vladikavkaz - and home. But now, knowing what was happening in line, I was on the verge of hysteria. I don’t know what the Georgian border guard did not like: either the uncertainty of the declared stay (two to four weeks), or the number of cash, but he ordered to move aside. Immediately, with me, three Chechens were wrapped in a company of five people. The latter was ordered to return to Russia for insurance. Only as a rusty insurance.

There was one stamp left to Georgia. But not everyone put it

And yet I got a stamp. At the exit, I was literally besieged by Georgian journalists. Of course, not me alone, but for some reason a whole queue lined up to me. Here are the main theses of my speech: “The situation on the border is critical. Any weather anomaly, whether it is strong rains or, conversely, the heat, can turn into a tragedy. Only a small part of the fugitives considers Georgia as a permanent place of stay. Most go further or dreams of returning home. People run from the fact that in our country you can not call their name. "

“You are in the range,” the Georgian journalist reassured me in a broken language. “But I have a family in Russia and I dream of returning to it as soon as it all ends,” I replied. Rather.