"You will not return from there." The son went to the war to look for his father and disappeared himself

20-year-old Alexander Kondratyev from the Karelian Belomorsk went to the war to look for a father who admitted to the front from prison and disappeared in Ukraine. And at the same time - make money for a mother who has several more kids. As a result, Alexander disappeared on the very first day, when he, along with other contractors, was immediately sent to a combat mission, now his mother is looking for him. And the father, on the contrary, was found - he is still fighting in Ukraine. The correspondent of the "window" publication tells the story of the Kondratiev family.

Text: "window"

In the family of Rosa Kondratyeva from the Karelian city of Belomorsk seven children from three men. This summer, the eldest son of Rosa, 20-year-old Alexander returned from a military service and found out that his father Paul, who was serving a 12-year term in the colony for the murder, entered into a contract from the Ministry of Defense, went to the war to Ukraine and disappeared. Alexander also decided to go to war - to find his father and make money. Rosa found out about this when the son was already at the front.

After returning from the service, Alexander got a job as a seller in the village of Sosnovets, but all the time complained that they were paying little in the store. He was offered to go to the contract during the urgent service, this topic surfaced in conversations and after returning home.

- He still called me from the army, he said that he wanted to conclude a contract. Just shortly before this, the war in Ukraine began, ”says Rosa. - I answered him: no, son. I took off even then: if you sign a contract, you will die for me. Because you will not return from there. I will not give you to the war, not for this I raised you. Well, he said: okay, well, I will not sign. But he was offended at me that she forbade.

Alexander’s own father was convicted of 12 years for murder, managed to stay for six years in a colony in the Leningrad region, from where he constantly called his sons. Last fall, they learned that the father had concluded a contract with the Ministry of Defense and went to war.

- His father did not get in touch on December 5, I think this Sasha prompted Sasha to the contract: he was looking for him, wrote everywhere, called. When Sasha and I spoke on the phone for the last time, he said to me: if something happens to me, please find his father and funeral, ”says Rosa.

In the summer, Rosa with younger children went on vacation, and Sasha remained "on the farm" - to follow the homemade cattle. After the family returned, he told his mother that he had quit the store and was leaving for a shift work.

- He called and first said that we would not wait for him home and close the door: they say, I would come tomorrow. And the next day he asked him to collect his things and said that he had gone on a watch in Yaroslavl. I say: "What have you forgotten there? Are you working in the store?" But he said that in Belomorsk we have little money, and we have a large family, the children are small, the youngest is not one and a half years old. He said that he would help me. Well, I answered him that you won’t earn all the money, ”recalls that conversation with his son Rosa.

On July 1, Alexander left for Yaroslavl, called his mother and said that he was going to get a job. Then he disappeared for several days. Rosa from acquaintances found out that her son signed a contract.

- I write to him: son, have you signed a contract? No, he says this is not true. Then my sister called me and also said about the contract. I did not believe, but it turned out that he was already in the training at that time. Well, then Sasha wrote to me himself: Mommy, forgive me, I love you very much, yes, indeed, I am on my (as the Russian authorities and the media call the war in Ukraine. - "window") , take care of yourself and kids. Of course, I burst into tears ... But we have enough money, for life, for food. This year they even got out on vacation. We also have another son, but he serves in Novorossiysk, they do not go to his own. He sent us money, and the kids and I went south. And Sasha really wanted to earn money, he wanted me to be proud of them. I tell him: I am proud of you, but this is a war, this is not the same as standing in the army in duty, ”says Rosa. “I don’t understand why he did it all quietly from me.” Everyone knew except the mother. Maybe he was tired of that it was necessary to monitor the household, they do not give freedom. We even had a fight.

After that conversation, Alexander often called her and reassured her, they say, everything is fine with him. On July 12, he said that they were sent to Lugansk. He asked not to call, because they could not turn on the phones. He promised to call on July 14, but Rosa never waited. She suggests that Alexander was immediately sent from the train to a combat mission.

A few days later, Rosa began to call the military registration and enlistment office, found out the unit number, phoned the assembly point in Yaroslavl, but in response she was answered each time the same thing: "Active, on a combat mission."

On August 12, she was replied that Alexander was listed as missing from July 17.

- As I understand it, they did not return from that first task, disappeared. In September, our military registration and enlistment office issued me a certificate that his son was missing, ”says Rosa. - We literally spoke with the military commissar today. He called me and said that he should give me an official letter about the missing person. I told him: you already gave me out. And he replied: oh, excuse me, you are just so much, I am already confused.

In the military enlistment office of Belomorsk, according to Rosa, the employees did not even know that her son went to war because he signed documents in Yaroslavl. They began to search with the help of employees of the military registration and enlistment office, who helped write applications for the search.

- When the war began, Sasha and I talked a lot about it. I really sorry for peaceful people, I already realized that there were a lot of losses. And now, honestly, I was in this state in this state, I just screamed at them: how can you allow them to conclude contracts, these are children? They are still children at the age of 20, you see, they have not yet seen life. Can't you dissuade them, knowing what is happening there? You know that they will not return! They looked at me there and say: we, of course, understand you, but what can we tell you ... Yes, you can’t tell me anything. You find me my child and return home. And in the military registration and enlistment office they say: well, we are looking for. And how can they find from here? There, this military unit is like a damned place, whoever get there, this Makeevka, from where no one is returning. Like a vicious circle, ”says Rosa.

In addition to the official notification of the mother, they gave a referral to the DNA test. In the morgue of Rostov-on-Don, where the bodies of the dead military are taken, however, they said that only the results of the DNA test would be in the base up to six months.

-I began to write posts everywhere, in social networks, in telegram chats. Recently, one boy wrote to me. Sasha saw a photograph and said that he knew him. He promised to write if he found out something, but so far he wrote anything. The commanders cannot be found at all. I already found the commander of another part, asked for help, but he replied that his assistant would contact me. But he never contacted. Another boy was with Sasha in the training, but he does not know where they were sent later. And one more wrote that those who went to Makeevka in those days, there were a lot of them left there. It was in those days when Sasha was sent there. And no one knows whether my son is there or not, and if they know, they don’t say, ”Rosa argues.

Paul - Father Sasha - managed to find. According to the rose, he is alive and is still fighting in Ukraine. She was informed about this in the military enlistment office when she once again turned there with a request to find her son.

- When Sasha was already gone and I came to the military registration and enlistment office, they asked me where the second parent. On his, I say, disappeared. And then in the military enlistment office they informed me that Pavel is alive and well, it serves, but now everything else is now reported by the mother-in-law, because we are divorced for more than 10 years, I have not maintained a connection with him for a long time. But he called his sons, two times a month. There is no connection with him now, that his son went to war and disappeared, Paul does not know.

Rose continues to look for his son through social networks and military registration and enlistment office.

- When they told me that Paul (the father of Alexander. - “Window”) was found, even the thought was: it would be better not to him, but they found his son. Today we talked with the military commissar, and he told me that if they did not find him, then six months later they recognize the dead. But we will have to go to court for this. And what, I ask, to do, if I do not want to recognize my son to the dead? Then, he says, he will continue to be considered missing. But if for three years we will not go to court, then then it is still recognized as dead. But I will still look for and will hope. Until the last, how much strength will be.

The number of Russian troops killed in the war in Ukraine at the end of September was 71,057 people. This was stated by the "Mediazon" and the Russian BBC service, which are conducting the calculation of losses. Researchers clarify that these are only those dead whose names were established by open sources, and the real number of losses can be much higher.

More than half of all those killed until February 2022 were not related to the army. About 20% of all those killed are volunteers. Since October last year, the growth of losses among volunteers began, and since September this year they began to die more than other categories of war participants, including mobilized and prisoners recruited in prisons and colonies.