DARASUN/MAKKAVEYEVO, Russia — When Roman Melnikov left Darasun, a tiny hamlet in Siberia’s Zabaikalye area, in 2015, few had been unhappy to see him go. He had been sentenced to 9 years in jail for manslaughter after being convicted of beating a restaurant patron to dying throughout a theft.
However when Melnikov’s stays returned to the village final month in a navy coffin from the warfare in Ukraine, dismayed residents watched as he was given a funeral with navy honors, together with an honor guard, paid for partially by the village administration.
“What is going on?” native resident Nina, who requested that her final identify be withheld for worry of repercussions, advised RFE/RL’s Siberia.Realities. “A prisoner who went to warfare simply so he may get out of jail is all of a sudden a hero? My mates and I are shocked. The world actually has turned the wrong way up.”
Melnikov was one in every of tens of 1000’s of Russian convicts believed to have been recruited to struggle in Ukraine within the ostensibly personal Wagner mercenary military of Kremlin-connected businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who himself served 9 years in a Soviet jail on a theft conviction.
Darasun is a postage-stamp-sized village close to Russia’s lengthy border with China. Formally, it has a inhabitants of some 6,500, though residents say far fewer reside there now that the state-owned farm and an area manufacturing facility have been shuttered.
“Those that have not left simply drink and do medication like [Melnikov],” an area retiree stated. “Do you assume he was sober when he bought into that struggle?”
Moscow has solely acknowledged about 6,000 killed because it invaded Ukraine in February 2022, however the truth that navy funerals are being held in locations like Darasun signifies the determine is way increased. Western analysts put Russia’s complete navy casualties at almost 200,000 killed and wounded.
“These of us right here bear in mind his ‘heroics’ very effectively,” stated one other native, who requested to not be named. “Robberies, theft, and he even attacked the woman he was residing with, almost suffocated her. He was solely lastly despatched to jail as a result of he was such a repeat offender. After which they let him out? So he may end suffocating her? That is our justice for you.”
Melnikov’s funeral was held on the request of his sister, Olga Melnikova, who says she considers her brother “a hero” and who advised RFE/RL he was killed in Ukraine on February 3.
“We did not talk a lot,” she advised RFE/RL. “I did not know that he’d agreed to go struggle in an effort to achieve his launch. He did not have a lot time left. However I feel he did factor to go.”
“I do not know why the others do not agree,” she stated of her neighbors in Darasun. “He went to guard us. To struggle in a foreign country in order that they would not assault us. I do not assume they may have made it to Zabaikalye, however to Moscow, perhaps.”
Initially, when Melnikova requested that the funeral be held within the village membership, officers demurred.
“The family members requested us to present them an area within the membership,” village head Valentina Cheremnykh stated. “However they’ve their very own program, youngsters’s teams and so forth.”
As an alternative, Cheremnykh proposed holding the funeral outdoor.
“Many honorable residents of Darasun had their funerals exterior, with out specific pomp,” she stated. “It’s a regular factor for us.”
But it surely was not sufficient for Melnikova.
“When the village head recommended it, I began writing on social media and to the media,” she recalled. “One tv channel responded. They raised a fuss that reached the governor and better. In the long run, they gave me the membership for the ceremony.”
Twelve kilometers down the highway from Darasun lies the neighboring village of Makkaveyevo, with a inhabitants of fewer than 5,000. Late final month, the navy coffins of two native males — former convicts Dmitry Filippov and Sergei Slepukhin — had been shipped again to the village for burial.
Filippov’s aunt, Nadezhda Filippova, arrived from her house within the Kursk area of western Russia to supervise the preparations and was appalled that the boys weren’t being handled like common navy as a result of that they had served within the Wagner mercenary military.
“The native navy fee and the Protection Ministry did not need to have something to do with the funeral,” she advised RFE/RL. “I do know that in Kursk the navy fee partially subsidizes the funerals for Wagner fighters, so why is it completely different right here?”
Similar to in Darasun, locals in Makkaveyevo don’t have any love misplaced for Filippov or Slepukhin. Filippov was serving sentences for a number of robberies and for promoting harmful do-it-yourself alcohol. Slepukhin had been convicted of at the very least six robberies and two muggings.
“He was held in custody as a minor,” Slepukhin’s sister, Olga Vanchugova, advised RFE/RL. “He fell into unhealthy firm. However later he went to struggle, and I feel he redeemed himself.”
Nadezhda Filippova agreed.
“They bought rowdy as silly youths, however with their deaths, they redeemed the whole lot,” she stated.
Following lobbying by the 2 households, a navy funeral was held for the 2 males on the native faculty, with the pupils in attendance.
“My youngsters go to that faculty,” stated one native lady. “What sort of instance is that this that we’re giving such honors to latest prisoners? After all I’m in opposition to making youngsters watch this and letting them assume that this can be a good life path — theft, drunkenness, jail, warfare.”
“That is what we stated to the village head and, at first, she totally agreed with us,” the girl added. “However you understand what occurred.”
Makkaveyevo administrator Tatyana Zhuravlyova did not remark intimately about why she modified her thoughts.
“It was determined to compromise with the family members,” she advised RFE/RL. “Sure, some residents had been sad. Such bills aren’t included in our price range. Sure, the household purchased the graves themselves, however the flags and the whole lot needed to be bought from the price range.”
Locals stated solely the family members of the 2 males attended the college ceremony.
“They complained to everybody, together with the native navy commissar,” one native lady stated. “He introduced them an honor guard and a few common to present a speech. Troopers carried the coffins.”
“It was a nightmare to see these convicts buried with such honors,” she added. “And we needed to pay for it. The varsity wants repairs and our native museum is falling down, however, no, we have to pay for honor-guard funerals for convicts who ran off to warfare as an alternative of serving their time.”
