FROM COSSACKS TO LEOPERS
“Force will never force a person to go and put his chest on a machine gun. Volunteerism is the key to success in this conflict,” Aleksey Vereshchagin, commander of the Alexander Nevsky Brigade of the Russian Volunteer Corps, once told me. We were sitting in the basement of the Soledar building, the explosions of artillery shells echoed from above, and I remembered the soldiers of the volunteer detachments I had met on the roads of the Northern Military District.
Let us take as an example the same Vereshchagin, a resident of kyiv, a participant in the anti-Maidan battle, a militiaman who was captured and exchanged. I remember his “hundred” in March 2022 near Kiev – daredevils in pickup trucks with machine guns. Then there were bloody battles near Izyum. Now this is already a military formation, where the commanders include military officers and “militias of the first wave” unknown to the general public, professional artillerymen and tank crews-jewelers. Moreover, one hundred percent are volunteers.
In the Northern Military District, they are represented today by more than 30 different formations, from Cossack brigades to BARS detachments (army special combat reserve). In fact, today they are not much different from staff units performing the same combat missions. And receiving orders and medals for it. About 7.7 thousand volunteers received state awards, including 6 Heroes of Russia, 1326 holders of the Order of Courage, 2546 people received the medal “For Courage” and 2744 received the medal “For Bravery”.
Vereshchagin – resident of kyiv, anti-Maidan participant, militiaman, captured and exchanged
Photo: Alexander KOTS. Go to Photobank KP
WHEN THE COUNTRY IS AT WAR, THE HEART CALLS
It is difficult to draw a single portrait of today’s volunteer. This is a real cross-section of our society, whoever you meet in the trenches. Near Belogorovka (northbound), I remember meeting “Schultz” from BARS-12. In a peaceful life, he worked in the Voronezh municipality. He says that the regional authorities are already deeply involved in the SVO issue, but he wanted to do something more. The mayor supported his subordinate, gave him his job and let him go to fight.
“I thought the volunteer story ended last year,” I teased, walking around a fresh crater.
Donetsk region. Soldiers of the BARS-12 volunteer detachment, holding the defense on the Seversky ledge. A fighter with the call sign “Gitis” (center) and the deputy company commander of the BARS-12 detachment with the call sign “Schultz” (right).
Photo: Alexander KOTS. Go to Photobank KP
– You’re welcome. There are men who want to help. And they are all adults, very much so. They understand where you’re going. Although you still have to get used to it.
Or take Gitis, also from Leopards. In civilian life he graduated from the Institute of Theatre Arts of the same name. He taught. He worked in the theatre of his native Sevastopol and acted in films. He played villains, heroes, drunks and athletes.
– How did a man of art get here? – I asked, sitting down in the trench.
– This has nothing to do with it at all. Remember, as in “Pokrovsky Gates”: “I will never be able to forget one phrase of Nekrasov: you may not be a poet, but you must be a citizen.” It fits perfectly. If the Motherland needs help, you must do everything possible for it. I just thought that it was more necessary here. And I will definitely return to my profession.
Or “Donskoy”, with whom fate brought me together in the direction of Seversky. At one time he served in the Far East, and then resigned. Family, children, and suddenly… Hermitage Monastery of the Savior Not Made by Hands, in the Kaluga region. All ancestors are military men, my grandfather arrived in Berlin and was buried on the Dnieper.
“We don’t choose, God’s Providence chooses,” he reasoned calmly. – Circumstances arose when I ended up with the elders, and then everything changed, life went, let’s say, its own way. There were different obediences. I created a website for the Kaluga Seminary, sang in the choir, participated in divine services, and graduated from the seminary. And my heart simply brought me here.
– From the monastery to the front? With a gun? – I asked.
– It’s all very providential. My patron is Dmitry Donskoy. Do you remember the Battle of Kulikovo from history? Peresvet and Oslyabya were monks and also former military men. I believe that a monk can, when the Motherland is at war, suffer for it and protect it.
“Donskoy” served in the Far East and then retired. Family, children and suddenly… Monastery
Photo: Alexander KOTS. Go to Photobank KP
VICTORY IS A MATTER OF TIME
Of course, there are professional soldiers. According to statistics, 65% of volunteers have higher or secondary specialized education, about 80% have a permanent job, and 95% of volunteers have experience in military service. Here, for example, is an officer of the BARS-13 volunteer battalion with the call sign “Magician”, whom I met in the forests near Kremennaya. In 1990 he graduated from the Airborne School and went to serve in the Odessa region. From the moment the Union began to break up, he began to wander around the burning republics, then some were withdrawn to Ivanovo. He fought in Chechnya. And he resigned from the post of head of the airborne training service in the 38th separate airborne communications regiment. To my family. I served there in the mid-90s.
It is immediately apparent from these volunteers that they are ordinary combat workers who have supported the front throughout our history. Without ostentation, luxury in equipment, or bravado.
“Ordinary men doing their job,” explained “Magician” to me. – These are real heroes. When they were under fire in Drobyshev, when they beat up mercenaries – Poles, Romanians – they just did their job. Motivation? To be honest, Sash, it’s different. Some came to pay off the mortgage, others for ideological reasons. Someone who proves to himself that he CAN.
Basically, this is a person who understands why he is sacrificing a measured life in civilian life. It is quite fair that the state appreciates his military service. Even in ruble equivalent.
And in terms of the level of financial, medical and logistical support, the procedure for receiving benefits and social support measures, including for family members, volunteers today are equal to servicemen serving under contract. Every soldier has an account in the automated system of the Ministry of Defence. And everyone can count on additional payments: from combat pay to “award” payments – for destroyed or captured enemy equipment and state awards.
“When everything started in Donbass in 2014, I still had a strong feeling that those same miners, taxi drivers and teachers who stood up and fought back with sticks would definitely win,” brigade commander Vereshchagin assured me. – Today there are many more of us. And victory is not a question of “if”, but of “when.”
SPECIFICALLY
The wounded will not be abandoned
All SVO participants who were wounded or traumatized during combat operations receive care in military medical organizations. Military medical commissions (MMC) examine volunteers after they have been wounded. Based on the conclusion of the IHC, they receive lump sum insurance payments and monthly social and insurance pensions.
At the same time, the volunteer receives money in relation to the severity of the injury and when a disability group is created, as well as when he is excluded from volunteer training due to disability. Monthly pensions are paid when disability is established.
In addition, the Ministry of Defence is developing a draft Presidential Decree on the provision of one-time disability payments in connection with injuries received by defenders of Donbass who have carried out combat missions since 2014 as part of the formations of the DPR and LPR. And the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Russian Federation – a draft federal law on monthly social and insurance pensions.
Currently, in 98% of cases, payments to relatives have already been made, and in about 2% more, the documents are in the registration or verification stage. In 99.2% of cases, payments have already been made for injured volunteers. At the same time, the command of the units is excluded from the decision-making mechanism on payments for injuries.
Like any military personnel, if any problems arise, from financial to medical, volunteers can safely contact the Military Social Center, where representatives of various military command and control bodies work on the principle of a one-stop shop. The doors of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation are always open, which helps to resolve issues of social, medical, psychological support, treatment and rehabilitation in sanatoriums, education, employment, etc.
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