24 July 2000
A real war has its own bitter and proud symbols. Like May 1945. Like the words of the songs that little grandsons know today. Like Grasshopper's eyes in Only the Old Men Go into Battle.60 This war has nothing. We don't even know if it's a real war or not. We already know that there will never be a victory. It's like some crazy, broken merry-go-round dangling little zinc coffins instead of horses.
In December 1999 I went with Galina Matafonova to Paveletsky Station in Moscow to meet her son Lyonya. All that remained of this young man over six feet tall were some ashes in a little box no bigger than the palm of my hand. We met an empty wooden crate, in other words. Perhaps I should have written about it then. But at the time I was writing about another boy who died in Mozdok: he had been shot by one of our lieutenants and then they lied to his mother that the Chechen fighters had killed him. Six months later a letter from Galina arrived at Novaya gazeta. We had both wept at the station, but I doubt if she remembered where I worked. Evidently, she had written to the newspaper because every mother needs to preserve such memories.
"My name is Galina Nikolayevna Matafonova, I'm the mother of three children.
"My eldest son Alexei was taken into the army on 15 May 1998. He went out of a sense of duty and served for a year and a half. Every fortnight he wrote home. Suddenly there was silence for two months and I began to fret. I was afraid he was in Daghestan, but I reassured myself with the words of [Prime Minister] Putin: our boys would not be sent off to fight, he said, without their voluntary agreement.
"After two months a letter nevertheless arrived. He wrote to me as they were on their way to Mozdok. He told us he had been shown how to drive a military reconnaissance vehicle (MRV) four hours before they set out. He wrote:
I don't know what will happen next. There was neither the time nor a good reason to get out of it. We only learnt where we were going when we'd been travelling for 24 hours. You know, Mum, I've only now realised that there's nothing worth doing in the army. It's just shameful. There's a young lad who's only served two months and he's travelling with me. He doesn't even know how to shoot, so how's he going to fight anyone? They're proud and fearless, though: "We'll show 'em," that kind of thing . . . the number of my death warrant is F-926411, MRV No 110, Convoy No 10115. Love to everyone.
The letter arrived in September. He had just over a week left to live.
"I went up to Moscow. There they told me that two women would soon fly to Daghestan to demand the return of their sons. I was to call them on 15 October. But the day before, I received a telegram that my son had died. The coffin and body did not come back for a long time. The boys from Alexei's unit told us how they were forced to sign a formal declaration of their agreement to fight. They were brought to the banks of the Terek River and told: 'If you don't agree, hand back your weapons. You're free to go. You can make your own way back. You're Russian soldiers, wearing uniform, and you won't get back alive . . . It's that or sign up.' The coffin turned up in Rostov-on-Don at Forensic Laboratory No 124. I then first learnt of this terrible place.
"In Rostov I met with the parents of Andrei Pyrlikov from the Altai Region. He and my son died together, when their MRV went up in flames. Our boys were tall six-footers, but all that remained of them could fit into a small plastic bag. They wrapped camouflage shirts around these little bags, and added trousers and shoes, then sealed the lot in a zinc coffin.
"I left without waiting for the representatives from Alexei's unit, who, according to army regulations, should have been at his funeral. On the baggage slip that accompanied Lenka's body (that's what we called him at home) to Moscow was written: NATURE OF CONSIGNMENT: COFFIN WITH BODY OF MINISTRY OF DEFENCE SOLDIER. WEIGHT: 300 KG. DECLARED VALUE: 0.00 ROUBLES.
"Galina Matafonova, Tver Region."
A Book of Memory
We continue to publish a list of the dead. Our Book of Memory already contains 1,396 names of those who have not returned from the second Chechen war.61
240. Sidorov Roman, lieutenant (Moscow Region), died 14.08.99.
241. Gafitulin Alexei, private, died 22.08.99.
242. Rakhmedov Ramil, private, died 19.08.99.
243. Alexandrov Roman, private, died 18.08.99.
244. Batrutdinov Ilsur, paratrooper.
245. Derevensky Sergei, private, died 16.08.99.
246. Zatselin Alexander, private, died 19.08.99.
247. Pyzhyanov Alexander (b.1981), died 18.08.99.
248. Stepushkin Alexander (b.1980), junior sergeant, died 22.08.99.
249. Chumak Yury, sergeant, died 19.08.99.
250. Marusev Dmitry.
251. Marienko Vitaly, senior lieutenant, died 22.08.99.
252. Shorokhov Andrei, private, died 25.08.99.
If you know people whose children have died in the Chechen war please give them our address: 101000 Novaya gazeta, Moscow, Tsentr, Potapovsky pereulok 3, or our e-mail address:
gazeta@novayagazeta.ru.
In the letter or telegram indicate name, age, unit number, home address, and the circumstances and date of death (if known).
MOSCOW