This is the story of Sergei Kalinin, a 58-year-old welder from the Russian Far East who volunteered to fight in Ukraine for three months, was beaten by his commander, and is now unable to leave the service for almost two months, being threatened by the command.
Important: the editors of ASTRA consider voluntary participation in any military invasion of any sovereign state, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to be a crime. This fact was announced to the hero of this publication.
58-year-old Sergei Kalinin says that recruiters came to his work on September 15, 2022, with an “invitation” to Ukraine.
“I worked as a gas metal arc welder for a private enterprise in the town of Kholmsk. I used to make normal money, ₽2000–3000 [$23–34] a day, sometimes 5000 [$57]. Well, they offered a three-month contract. I stated in advance that I would not be there for longer than three months,” says 58-year-old Sergei Kalinin.
The man signed a contract for three months of voluntary service in military unit 35390. According to Sergei, he purchased equipment worth approximately ₽100,000 [$1148] at his own expense.
“When we arrived there (to the Donetsk region – editor’s note), we were accommodated in tents in a forest belt. They were buried in the ground, and there were rains and mud. We threw boards on the ground and slept on the boards and some bags,” says Sergei Kalinin. He emphasizes that throughout the service, the soldiers bought food and water at their own expense, because they were short of dry rations.
Sergei told that on November 25, during the service, he asked a man, whose position and rank he did not know, how long they would stay in that place.
“He says, what’s your business? He sounded drunk. He called my platoon commander and squad leader. They were standing there talking. The squad leader took me to the headquarters, which were also in tents. I just walked in and blows immediately rained down on me. I couldn’t understand what happened. The boys dragged me to our tent later on and I began to come to my senses.
There was a large hematoma on the right side of my face and my ribs hurt a lot,” says Kalinin.
According to the man, he was beaten up by a senior lieutenant named Hadjiyev. He knows no other details of the offender. 58-year-old Sergei claims that, after the beating, his commanders took his phone and destroyed it. He was unable to document the injuries. After the beating, Kalinin was taken to a hospital in the Donetsk region.
“A political officer approached the doctors and they talked about something. They wrote that I just had a bruise at first, and then they diagnosed me with “pneumonia.” Immediately after this, I was taken from the hospital to the village of Berezivka. It had been bombed, there was nothing there in this village. The next day a commission arrived there, they took explanations from everyone. But they hid me, so no explanation was taken from me. The commission left. It turned out that the commission was also looking for me but I was hidden. They kept me there for two weeks. They gave me painkiller pills and injections. Two weeks later, they returned me to our positions in the forest belt. The company commander came up to me and asked to not write anything to anywhere. But I already called my wife and daughter and told them everything, they reported to the military prosecutor’s office,” tells Kalinin.
ASTRA spoke to three more of Kalinin’s colleagues, who confirmed the fact that the man was beaten, and declared their readiness to testify about that where necessary. The soldiers also wrote a collective appeal to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Sakhalin region, Anatoly Krutchenko, in which they mentioned the beating of Kalinin.
“At the time when we were signing our contracts, we were not informed of the RF President’s Executive Order 647 on mobilization and the fact that the contracts were to be extended. They had no right to conclude short-term contracts with us at the time. Thus, we were misled deliberately,” the soldiers stated in their collective appeal.
Sergei Kalinin planned to return home after three months of service, on December 28, 2022, as provided in the contract.
“I was told that I wasn’t going anywhere. From here, they say, I can only leave feet first,” says Sergei.
“My colleagues later warned me that they had heard there had been an order to take me out. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it turns out they actually wanted to kill me. On January 30, I changed into civilian clothes, left my gun, wrote a resignation report, and took a taxi to Rostov. I crossed the border quietly, using my passport and military ID. At that time, it was a month already since my contract had expired.
I essentially saved my life with this. Many of those who stayed there after their contracts had expired—they are no longer alive,” says the man.
“The other day a certain Major Dubinin called me. He said, ‘If you don’t come tomorrow, we’ll send the military police for you, take you away in handcuffs, and immediately send you to the front line,’” says 58-year-old Sergei Kalinin.
The man says that he is not going to return to Ukraine under any circumstance. He demands that he be dismissed from service due to the end of his contract and the age limit for service. At the moment, however, he is still listed as a volunteer fighter. Sergei also says that he wants to make sure that those responsible for his beating are brought to justice.
When asked why he went to Ukraine, Sergei answers, “My friend called me, they came to work twice. So, I had to go. My wife and children scold me for having done that. I myself would never sign this contract now.”
Author: Anastasia Chumakova
