Roads to Home: Who and Why Goes to Territorial Defense in Kursk Region
Each of them recently dreamed of something different. Someone wanted to rest after serving in hot spots, someone was going to raise children and never hear explosions again, and someone just planned to build a house and admire a garden planted with his own hands. But all this is now left somewhere out there, in peaceful life. As well as the former, "civilian" names - they were replaced by call signs: Siberia, Vesna, Taishet. The "BARS-Kursk" troop defense unit performs daily service in Kursk region - its battalions guard bridges, warehouses, power plants and overpasses, patrol the streets of settlements, stand at checkpoints and work with UAVs. More than half of the fighters are local, the rest are volunteers from all over Russia. Izvestia's special correspondent visited one of the units based in Korenevsky district and learned who and why goes to serve in BARS.
Photo by daughter
Automatic rifles, body armor, a clear schedule, barracks situation - in the BARS most of the norms are army. Many fighters are yesterday's servicemen. The deputy battalion commander, whom I visited, is a military man with 23 years of experience. Name - Gennady, call sign - Siberia. He was born in Tomsk, but almost immediately his family moved to the Kursk region, to this very Korenevsky district, which he is defending today.
- Seven years in intelligence, participated in both Chechen campaigns, - says Sibir. - Then 16 years in the border guard forces in the Caucasus and here, at the outpost on the border with Ukraine.
Roads of Korenevsky district
Behind his shoulders - continuous raids, small arms battles, mountain crossings, two wounds.
- It's scary at the front only the first week and the last week," he recalls his previous combat experience.
In 2017, Gennady returned home.
- I made a vow to my wife - never go back! - he shares. - She waited for me for a long time.
After the start of the SWO, I realized that it was too early to draw the line. And in October 2022 he put his wife before the fact: "I'm leaving". I enlisted in a volunteer unit. For six months he commanded a company near Kremenna. During one of the battles he was wounded - in the chest. After treatment and the end of his contract he returned home. He thought he'd be home for good.
- But the enemy came right here," says the commander. - On August 6, I was working on a KamAZ - harvesting crops along the border with Ukraine. At the same time, the AFU had already entered the Sujan district....
Deputy battalion commander, call sign "Siberia".
Gennady sent his relatives to Kursk. For several days he helped his fellow villagers to evacuate. During the last raid he had a chance to see Ukrainian soldiers - he and his compatriots were on the right bank of the Seim River, and on the left the militants were shooting boats. On September 1, he enlisted in the BARS. He was offered the position of a combatant, but he refused.
- I want to work not in the city, not in the headquarters, but on the ground," he said. - On my land.
Among the protected sites in Siberia are the abandoned schools of the district. In one of them in an empty corridor hangs on the honor board a photo of his daughter-ten-grader.
Next to her parents
Another local resident is Oleg, call sign - 46th (according to the number of the Kursk region). He comes from the village of Olgovka, 12 kilometers from Korenevo - first it was captured by the AFU, then it was recaptured.
- Today there are only ruins there," says the fighter, his face darkening.
Oleg, call sign "46th."
Oleg is a forester by profession. For the last few years he worked as an operator at the low-voltage equipment plant in Korenevo. On August 6, he was on shift. At the same time the management of the enterprise announced that all employees were advised to evacuate urgently. He moved with his family to Kursk, where, according to him, he felt out of place. When he learned about the creation of BARS, he went to sign up. At the door of the military enlistment office, he unexpectedly came face to face with his father. It turned out that each of them, without saying anything to the other, went to sign a contract in the volunteer unit. Today they serve together.
- I just got here - it got easier," says the 46th.
Over the past three months, he has shot down three enemy drones (his skills as a hunter are making a difference). He sees the protection of property from looters as a particularly important task.
- Unfortunately, there is enough of that," he says.
The shooter Olesya Vesna is from the town of Gorskoe in Luhansk region. In 2014, her father and mother joined the "Ghost" battalion. And she moved with her husband and three-year-old daughter to the Kursk region. All these years she dreamed of returning to the city of her childhood and staying there.
- And she came back, in 2022, after its liberation from the AFU, - says Olesya. - Only the meeting turned out to be not joyful, but sad ...
The apartment, despite the heavy fighting in Gorskoe, survived. And inside everything remained as it was eight years ago: children's things, dolls in their places. She stood and cried looking around, Vesna recalls. But she realized that she couldn't stay, the city was in a deplorable state, and there was no future for the child here. As soon as she went outside, a Ukrainian missile struck nearby.
Olesya, call sign Vesna
After the AFU attacked the Kursk region, Olesya enrolled in BARS. The example of her militia parents was always in front of her eyes, she explains. Her mother and veteran father came to her for the oath in November.
Home and garden
Sergei Taishet from the village of Snagost, which is 8 kilometers from the border. Friend of the commander, grew up together. His biography is just as rich. He served in the 106th Tula Airborne Division. As part of the peacekeeping contingent guarded an airfield in Yugoslavia. He fought in the Caucasus. Worked in the police - in the Irkutsk region. After retirement with his Siberian wife Irina returned to his native Kursk region. His dream was to get a house, to plant a garden. He built it. I planted apple trees, cherries, pears.
- When the AFU attacked, we did not immediately realize that we had to leave," says Sergey. - Then we rushed, but it was too late, we couldn't get out.
As a result, we witnessed Ukrainian fighters occupying the village," Taishet said. At first, Kazak armored vehicles came in, followed by a column of foot soldiers. They shot at houses, at locked gates. They set up checkpoints at intersections, took up defenses.
- We hid in the cellar. They came up, ten men: "Come out, whoever you are! Or throw a grenade," the fighter recalls. - Crawled out. "Who else is there? Are there any military?" - they asked. "No." Threw a stun grenade inside, searched the place. They checked our documents. I showed my passport, there was a record of participation in combat operations. They looked at the date: "Fought. But not ours." When they saw my wife's place of birth, they shouted: "What are you doing here?"
Sergei, call sign Taishet
During the day, they allowed to go out for a short time, Sergei shares. At night - a ban. They said: "We will soon take you to Sumy, as an exchange fund". At the same time, the spouses witnessed the following picture: while talking on the radio, one of the militants reported that they had found 12 Russian servicemen. The commander replied: "Eliminate..." The occupants visited regularly, often drunk. They swore, threatened, twice they put them against the wall - simulated shooting. Sergei and Irina lived underground for more than a month, eating pickles and breadcrumbs (stored for pets).
- Everything changed on September 13," says Taishet. - The day before, the Ukrainians, sitting in our house, were making noise, shouting, deciding something all night, thrashing about. And in the morning, having thrown their equipment and weapons, they fled. And after just a couple of hours, the fighters with red armbands came in. "Show me your papers, Father!" - one of them said to me. I thought it was a Ukrainian check. I said, "Show me." He: "We are our own. We drove them away. Don't worry." Then he saw my arm tattoo "For Airborne Troops" and asked: "Where did you serve?" I answered. He then took me outside to the car, and on it was inscribed "51st Guards Parachute Airborne Regiment". Then he hugged me: "You served, father. Now I'm serving!" - And he had tears, and I had tears... He put us in the truck: "We can't leave this place. But you, my dear, we will take you out..."
In the evening, Sergei and his wife were on safe territory. They spent three days recovering. On the fourth, Taishet went to enroll in the thero-defense.
- It was a bit early to retire, as it turned out," he said.
Nothing is left of his house, the garden has been cut up by shells. The dream remains - when it's all over, to build a new house and plant a new garden.
