"Show the love of my husband"

For an action with the Bloody Fountain, security officials pursued activists as dangerous criminals, but they managed to escape from the country. That's how it was

Three activists stained the water of the Moscow fountain "Music of Glory" in red - it was an anti -war action, held on August 24, 2022. In the evening of the same day, the police were already following one of the activists near her house, and the next day she detained her husband and another activist. Despite the criminal case and threats from the security forces, all three were able to leave Russia and avoid punishment. "Cold" tells how they succeeded.

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Children's slippers with the inscription "Lisa"

Around noon on August 24, activists of feminist anti-war resistance 19-year-old Alexander Nizamov, 30-year-old Anna Vyalkina and 24-year-old Tatyana Matveeva arrived in Square of Glory in Kuzminki to hold an anti-war action on the Music of Glory. They chose this particular fountain, because around it are the flags of military units of the Russian army. The date was also not chosen by chance - on August 24, Independence Day is celebrated in Ukraine. In addition, this year the holiday fell for six months since the beginning of the war.

“I did not go to pickets because I thought that such promotions no longer cause emotions in people. Pasted [people] calmly passed by the posters. We set a goal to attract the attention of Muscovites who walk nearby: “People, wake up a war.” The bloodshed must be stopped, ”says Anna Vyalkina.

Activists in advance distributed their roles in advance. One of them poured red paint symbolizing blood into the fountain, and others unfolded anti -war posters. “We launched the“ Hands in the Blood ”poster on the one hand and the poster“ How to stop the war ”from the other side, after which we immediately left,” says Tatyana Matveeva.

Also in memory of the four -year -old Lisa Dmitrieva, who died on July 14, who, together with her mother, fell under the Russian shelling in Vinnitsa, activists threw children's slippers into the fountain with the inscription “Lisa”.

Already in the evening of August 24, activists noticed the persecution.

11 people during interrogation

After the Nizamov campaign, for security purposes, he decided not to go home, but he also did not dare to leave the city either. He spent the night with a friend on the outskirts of Moscow and did not think that he would be so hard to look for him. Nevertheless, at about eight in the evening of the next day he was detained.

“[Police officers] ran to me on the street from three sides, with the fourth there was a wall of the house. They grabbed me, the policeman put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the phone - I could not contact anyone and write that they detained me. Therefore, the lawyer from the OVD-Info did not immediately find out where I was, and arrived only a day later. I did not think that so many employees would be attracted. During interrogation, I counted somewhere, ”Nizamov recalls. He says that he was brought to the Kuzminki police department.

The activist was accused of vandalism, committed by a group of persons based on hatred or enmity (part 2 of Article 214 of the Criminal Code). The maximum punishment under this article is three years of imprisonment. According to investigators, the authors of the action, “wanting to oppose themselves to society,” “disfigured and desecrated” the appearance of the fountain.

Nizamov recalls that the conversation with the police did not immediately ask. “They tried to put pressure, threaten during the detention and in the car. But somehow, apparently, they quickly realized that nothing came of it. After a couple of hours, everything came to naught. We even began to argue about history, politics and religion, ”says Nizamov.

After several hours of interrogation, the young man from the ATS was transported to the temporary detention center. There, the police, threatening a serious prison term and persuading to cooperate with the bodies, tried to find out his address. Nizamov assumes that they wanted to conduct a search there: “They set the following condition:“ Tell me where you live, and we will let you go. ” This did not give anything, and after half an hour the IVS employee went and says: “Stop chatting with him, we have to let him out.” And, in fact, they released me - without documents, things, even without laces. ”

There will be no interrogations, no pliers and nails

At the same time, they followed the second activist. Vyalkina says that the police followed her house: already at five in the evening on August 24, she noticed the security forces who tried to enter the staircase. Waiting for the night, Vyalkina gathered a backpack and was able to pass by the police unnoticed.

“I left the entrance at night, collecting things in the dark, so as not to show that I was at home. After taking out the SIM cards, I ran away and got a gap in time to think about what to do next. I spent the night with my relatives, but did not sleep. But I overslept the whole next day, and in the evening I was woke up by calls from my husband’s work, ”says Vyalkina.

At this point, her husband, who did not take part in the action, was already in the Kuzminki police department for several hours, where he was delivered after a search in their apartment. There he was forced to call his wife. The security forces wanted her to tell where she was. At the same time, they insisted that she herself could not come to the police department to her husband.

“Employees of the“ E ”center were able to convince him that it would be more correct for me to give up, that I could get rid of little blood. And this is a difficult moment for me. Because I understand that he was under pressure, in danger. He did not testify against me, taking advantage of the 51th article of the Constitution, but persuaded to surrender. He said that at that moment it sincerely seemed to him that it was an opportunity to escape, ”says Vyalkina.

There is an audio recording at the disposal of the “cold”, on which she speaks with her husband and one of the employee of the Center for Combating Extremism, who introduced himself to the spouses as Major Sergey Krysenkov. We publish excerpts from this conversation.

Husband: Tell me “yes,” I wrote to you in a telegram. If not, then everything will be bad. They will take my phone away from me now. If I put the phone right now, then that's it. <...> You will not be fundamentally allowed to come, you will simply be slammed on the checkpoint.

Vyalkina: Voluntary surrender is when a person comes with his own feet. When they come for me, this is not a voluntary change.

Husband: You understand, this will be just a fundamental question. Can you hear me?

Vyalkina: This is a bluff and not true.

Husband: So far, people agree, we must agree. Otherwise, there will be no good result, understand correctly.

Vyalkina: I do not believe in acts of goodwill.

Husband: Only now, there are no other options. Please hear me.

Vyalkina’s husband also said that in the case of voluntary surrender, “there will be no interrogations, nor pliers and nails”. Then he handed the phone to an employee of the EE center.

Krysenkov: Naturally, you are in all devices of ATS systems. You can’t go down in the subway, you can’t use transport. <...> Here you need to express your will and take a step towards. If there is no step, then the point is to talk to us? Let him sit here, he was removed from him. Well, they are removed ... You see, let's let us use. And he walks and smokes here. True, no food, he is starving here. <...> I already have patience. Willy-nilly, but they will still find you. A lawyer, not a lawyer - will not pass. It will not pass, no matter what a cool lawyer you have. Therefore, take a step forward, more terrible, we’ll come, talk. <...>

Vyalkina: How much attention to my person, it is necessary.

Krysenkov: Well, because the events were so. <...> Someone said “to express the desire to find you”, and then they connected us, respectively. Dima - well done: educated, cultural, quiet. But the spouse ... there are a lot of questions for you. Because if the spouse says that it will be safe, then he probably vouching? We gave his word to him. Will you give your word to your spouse? What kind of spouse are you? Maybe you still don’t know how to cook?

Vyalkina: Everything that Dima says - he speaks under your pressure. Therefore, in fact, this is not he says, but you.

Krysenkov: He is in a state of shock, because he knows that he may be. If you come even in the morning yourself, then there will be a heavier composition - discrediting and so on, not vandalism. We are now presenting an approximate fine that the judge will give. He is by the power of Dima, for a day [you can] pay. And in order to reach him, you need to earn, you need to atone for your guilt. <...>

Vyalkina: How is it that you know in advance for a judge how he will judge?

Krysenkov: Oh, how, he will judge. Wine will be proved in any case. <...> Already time 21:53. While we get to you, while we write all the stupid pieces, while everything ... show love for my husband. I would say compassion.

Vyalkina: You, with such humanistic views, would probably have found yourself in another profession.

Krysenkov: I was once told that a good engineer would come out of me. But a friend handed over a friend for me, so I would not have a priori as an engineer.

Vyalkina: Could become a psychotherapist, would help people.

Krysenkov: No, you know, I help people in my work enough. We receive messages of any nature. If you are interested, while we go, we’ll talk everything. We do not bite. I personally vouch for Dimka - sit behind, hug. And you will tell me the story of how you came to such a life.

Vyalkina: I see, thanks for the detailed presentation.

Krysenkov: Now I'm ready to listen to you. Where do we go? <...> Are you going to contact or really go to the opposition? <...> If another employee caught you, I will not be worried about your husband that he is not a goat. He tried as best he could, and you disobeyed.

Despite all the threats, it was not possible to intimidate Vyalkin. Her husband was kept in the Kuzminki police department all night. In the morning, the lawyer challenged the illegal actions of the security forces - the wife of the activists released.

Legend for evidence

After the interrogation of her husband, Vyalkin was hiding for several weeks from the security forces in Russia. She was able to go to only one of the CIS countries: the activist does not have a passport.

“For some time I had to hide around Russia to understand what my status is and how exactly I can take me out. Later it became clear that they would not just defend like that, and I decided to escape, ”says Vyalkina.

Alexander Nizamov was banned from leaving Moscow. About a month he expected that the case would be retrained into an easier article and excluded a part of the “group of people” from it.

“I told the legend that was suitable for all the photos and evidence that they have: that I am alone, an personally threw a fountain with this paint, and they only brought a poster. I retold the legend to the lawyer, and she said that there is a chance for retraining - and then everything will cost either a conditional time or a fine. I did not want to leave Russia. I was waiting for retraining, but the case dragged on. A month passed - and I decided to leave, ”said Nizamov.

Despite the presence of a non -departure subscription, Nizamov entered Belarus, and from there to Poland. Then he left for France.

Another participant in the action - Tatyana Matveeva - left Russia at the end of August. A month after her departure, the investigator and district police officer came to her parents to another region of Russia.

With a departure from Russia, feminist anti -war resistance helped activists.

There is nothing worse than being passive

“Was we scared? Yes, it was. Nobody wants to jail, especially in Russian. But we could not do this. None of us regrets that we held this action, even looking back at the consequences and what we had to transfer after it, ”says Anna Vyalkina. According to her, it was “impossible” to do nothing: “There is nothing worse for me than to be passive. This is a war not only against Ukraine, Ukrainians and their freedom. This is also a war against Russia and Russians. ”

Despite the fact that so many people used the search for activists, their action was very short. After the fountain stained in a blood-red color, the activists parted in different apartments, changing clothes so as not to get caught by the police. Their faces were open even during the action. At all, except Nizamov, there were hats.

“Naturally, we masked, tried to minimize the risks so that we were not caught. But we were still calculated in the cameras. As it later turned out, most likely, we were given shoes - the only element that we did not change, ”says Alexander Nizamov.