‘Is that something to die for?’
Elena B. has not been able to get in touch with her husband Kirill since 26 September [name changed at the request of the interviewee — editor’s note]. Kirill is 45 years old, and he had no links to any law enforcement agency before the way. He served in the army 23 years ago and since then, according to Elena, he has never held a gun in his hands and worked in construction.
“This year has been difficult for our family: [we have] three children, and my husband lost his job. I can’t say we were particularly interested in politics. When the ‘special military operation’ started we didn’t understand what it was. Well, yes, there were Nazis somewhere, but what did we care? We never understood it at all. Then my husband lost his job, I have no money, I’m on maternity leave, I have to pay the rent somehow. In the ‘Buryatia Online’ group, I think, my husband found this announcement about recruitment for the Baikal battalion. We discussed it for a long time: the payments there were big, they also wrote that they would help our children with their studies, and our eldest daughter was about to enrol [in university] and there was no guarantee that she would get a scholarship, and so he decided to volunteer,” Elena recalls.