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Post Soviet Journal | Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan | Oct 2022

The Conscript: Russians of Bishkek

All names have been changed.

 

Since the war in Ukraine, the Russian government issued a mobilisation for all men aged 18-30, meaning they could be called up at any time and sent to the frontline. In response to this many men fled Russia, going to former republics of the Soviet Union that allowed Russians to enter without a visa. These included countries such as Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan. The following accounts are from Russian men who had fled and settled in hostels around Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan.

The Soviet Circus building in Bishkek.

Max, 26

 

Sitting in the kitchen area of a hostel in the southern residential area of Bishkek, Max , a former teaching assistant, sits there writing away on a chapter in his book. It’s a romance book, one he has been writing for about a year and was on his twenty second chapter. Max is from Brystol, a suburb to the west of Moscow, he had lived there his whole life being born merely a few miles away, living in the same small Khruschevka apartment building with his mother. Our conversation started with an offering of beer and a conversation about TV shows. By chance an episode from the show ‘This is England 86’ was playing on the hostel television dubbed in Russian.

 

After a bit of chat and a few beers we had gone back to the dorm and to sleep. The next day I joined Max as we walked around Bishkek. The city was starting to get cold, meaning the air grew more polluted each day due to people burning coal to stay warm, Max joked about how he missed Moscow’s ‘clean’ air. It was in front of the old Soviet Circus building that we came onto the subject of the war.

 

“What are your thoughts of the war in Ukraine?”

 

“I hate it, I have been to Ukraine, I hate Putin, nobody who likes Russia should like Putin” Was his immediate response. Max was persistent on the idea that Russia is a European nation (culturally), and that invading Ukraine is an attack on a brother nation. He had been to Europe/EU many times when he was a teenager and in his early twenties, including a semester in Bratislava when he was studying at university. He goes onto explain how most Russians along with the Russian soldiers there now do not want to fight, and that many that Max knew himself, did not know anything about it before being sent to either the Ukrainian or Belarussian borders.

 

“Why did Putin invade Ukraine?”

 

“He’s a Dictator, A tyrant, he wants to expand Russia, he wants the USSR back, the time of dictators, he does not want [a] modern Europe”. There was no hesitation when Max answered. “He wants a name in history, we hear about him stopping Nazi, and the Ukraine Regime” as he gestures a TV remote with a fed-up expression midway through rolling a cigarette. When asked about Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk before the war he dismissed them off as ‘Stupid Rebels’.

 

“Why did you come to Bishkek?”

 

“I came to Bishkek because of this [the war]”. He exclaims as he breaths out deeply. “I did service 5 years ago, I do not want to fight, it is [a] crime”. Max had booked a flight from Moscow to Bishkek the same week the conscript was announced, he couldn’t afford the flight himself, his mother gave some of her savings to get him here. It had cost them around 76,000 roubles (about $900) to get a flight to Bishkek, the flight was apparently full of young Russian Men all fleeing the conscript. Max came to Bishkek as it’s a city he has visited a few times and is affordable enough for him to live in the hostel for a few months before he figures out something more permanent. “I want to go home; I want to see my mother, but Bishkek is home now. Maybe she can come to me”. Max’s current goal is to finish his book and hopefully get it published, second to that is to find a job in Bishkek to support himself in the meantime.

 

“Crazy crazy world” he smirks as he finishes his cigarette.

Soviet apartments in Bishkek.

Alexi, 30

 

It was at the same Hostel that Alexi was staying. He had come from Kazakhstan, after crossing the Russian land border, he had gotten a flight from Astana to Bishkek. Alexi was from Chudovo, a town near St Petersburg, but had only recently moved to St Petersburg with his partner when the war had started. Alexi had been working in finance for a company importing various parts for production machinery, mostly from Germany and Poland along with some other EU countries. Once sanctions were enforced by the EU, Alexi described his work as “Dying overnight”. It was after the conscript he decided to leave, with his partner staying behind in the apartment they were renting.

 

“What are your thoughts of the war in Ukraine?”

“I don’t like Zelensky (President of Ukraine), But I don’t like Putin, He has started this war”. He talks about the problems in Ukraine with the Donbas region, saying that it is a problem that needs to be solved, but that an invasion is ‘horrible’ and the reason he is now stuck in Bishkek unable to live with his partner. “Maybe Donbas can be Russia, But Kyiv is Ukraine, they should just help the Russians” Referring to the Russian speaking population of the region.

 

“Why did Putin invade Ukraine?”

 

“He wants to go against NATO, He wants to be strong and take more for Russia”. Alexi tells of his concern for the Russian speaking people in Russia and how they should be with ‘us’ but thinks that Putin is using this as an excuse to land grab the rest of Ukraine. “Before I like Putin, but I think that he has forgotten about Russian peoples. He wants to be against west. Now he wants to send us to war for this”.

 

“Why did you come to Bishkek?”

 

“I got to Astana and there were thousands of us [Russian men], I can only find one or two nights to stay, and the price was too much, again in Almaty, too Pricey”. Alexi had gotten a sleeper train from Astana to Almaty in the south of Kazakhstan hoping to find somewhere cheaper and less crowded but was met with the same, In the end he flew to Bishkek where he prepaid the next two months in the hostel. “It is quiet here, and the people are good” referring to the Kyrgyz people. Alexi seemed optimistic however, explaining that he speaks to his girlfriend everyday and that he is “Better here than there” referring to the frontline in Ukraine.

Backroad in North Bishkek.

Ivan, 23

 

In a hostel nestled away in a windy residential area in the north of the city, Ivan, and a friend he left Russia with joke around loudly in a dorm whilst drinking. It is around lunchtime. Only Ivan speaks English and tells me how boring life has become now they are living in the hostel. He laughs about how the only activity to do is drink, and that the city of Bishkek is ‘boring’ and ‘dirty’. Both Ivan and his friend are from Moscow, having gone to school with each other and being on the same football team. He had worked as an electrical technician as well as a football coach, still living at home with his parents and younger sisters at the time of leaving. He had not done his national service yet.

 

“What are your thoughts of the war in Ukraine?”

“It is good, Ukraine is hiding Nazis. We need to protect us [Russia]”. Ivan reciprocated the propaganda most in support of the Kremlin adhere to. He goes onto say “This is us against NATO, because soon NATO will attack us, but we have everything we need to defend. He painted the war to be that of a defensive conflict rather than an invasion. His friend kept smiling and talking to him in Russian from his bunk to which he would laugh.

“Why did Putin invade Ukraine?”

Ivan brings up the same points he said before, adding that “Putin had no choice, we are not at fault for this war”. At this point his friend is sat up on the bed trying to listen in. When the Donbas and Crimea came up, he simply said “They are Russian” as if to state the obvious. When questioned more he explained they have always been Russian, and that Ukraine had been occupying them until 2014 when they tried to ‘liberate’ themselves from the ‘Ukrainian Regime’.

 

“Why did you come to Bishkek?”

 

“Our families sent us”, Ivan's voice was softer in his reply. “Our parents (his and his friend’s parents) sent us to Bishkek to be safe” Ivan’s friend’s mother supposedly knew someone in Bishkek who could look out for them and help them if needed. When asked about finding work in the city, Ivan revealed that their parents were both sending money to them to cover food and accommodation, which was subsequently also being used to buy vodka and beer.

 

Intrigued by Ivans view on the war and its ‘defensive’ nature, I asked the question of why he had fled Russia and why he had not volunteered for the front line? The conversation was cut short as he turned to his friend and started speaking Russian louder, both looking unamused by the question. The conversation ended without an answer.

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