In early November, 19-year-old Russian conscript Andrei Lazhyev died at a naval hospital in Sevastopol, house of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet within the illegally annexed territory of Crimea.
The latest college graduate’s loss of life got here just a bit greater than 4 months after he was drafted into the Russian army, and was formally decided to be the results of swelling and hemorrhage of the mind, based on paperwork reviewed by RFE/RL’s North.Realities.
His dad and mom — who weren’t allowed to see Andrei after he was hospitalized — have by no means been instructed how or when he acquired the accidents that killed their son and have but to obtain his physique.
However they’ve their suspicions as to how he died; particularly, that Andrei was overwhelmed in an try and drive him to signal a contract with the Russian Protection Ministry that may enable him to be despatched into fight in Ukraine.
In late September, lower than a month after Andrei knowledgeable his dad and mom that he had accomplished his army coaching in Russia and was being transferred with different conscripts to Crimea, he known as to inform them that he was in a discipline hospital.
”He did not know the place precisely he was,” Nikolai Lazhyev, Andrei’s father, instructed RFE/RL. ”He solely mentioned that everybody lived in tents in a discipline, and there have been mountains round. He mentioned that he felt very unhealthy and complained of fixed nausea.”
’They Stopped Speaking To Us Altogether’
The 19-year-old conscript’s dad and mom, who dwell within the northwest Russian area of Karelia, turned to the native recruitment and enlistment workplace within the hope of studying the place their son was stationed and why he had been hospitalized.
”The army commissar simply threw up his palms and mentioned that he didn’t have entry to details about the place the conscripts had been,” the elder Lazhyev mentioned. ”After which they stopped speaking to us altogether.”
The dad and mom finally discovered that Andrei was discharged from the hospital inside a number of days and was transferred two weeks later, on October 6, to Armyansk, a city in northern Crimea.
From there the dad and mom had no phrase of their son’s scenario till, on October 23, Nikolai was contacted on social media by a person who claimed to be Andrei’s hospital roommate.
The person instructed Nikolai that Andrei had been admitted to the naval hospital in Sevastopol round October 8 and was in grave situation — unable to stroll or see correctly, and always vomiting.
Throughout a name, the roommate handed his cellphone to Andrei, who instructed his father that he had misplaced his cellphone and didn’t recall what occurred to him or how he received to the hospital.
’We Did not Even Acknowledge Him’
When the roommate despatched {a photograph} of Andrei, the younger conscript’s dad and mom had been shocked.
”We did not even acknowledge him at first. The sight was horrible,” Nikolai mentioned, saying that whereas his son weighed greater than 100 kilograms when he was drafted he regarded within the picture like he weighed lower than 60.
”I instantly began calling the hospital. However nobody would speak to us,” Nikolai mentioned. ”I needed to find out my son’s prognosis. One of many medical doctors mentioned that she would solely speak to ‘the competent authorities.'”
Nikolai by no means discovered the physician’s identify — nobody he spoke to from the hospital launched themselves.
Looking for to go to the hospital to see Andrei, the dad and mom had been instructed they’d not be allowed to with out particular permission. They tried to acquire permission, Nikolai mentioned, to no avail.
”We could not get permission anyplace, because the enlistment workplace [in Karelia] had no info in any respect that Andrei was hospitalized,” Nikolai mentioned. ”We did not even know precisely what unit he was in.”
’Homesickness Syndrome’
The household subsequent discovered that Andrei had undergone a mind scan on October 21. Two days later his dad and mom had been contacted by a psychiatrist who instructed them no inside injury had been found and that Andrei was transferred to a psychiatric ward.
Andrei’s situation, they had been instructed, was the results of psychological trauma.
”They instructed me that Andrei allegedly didn’t need to serve to such an extent that he had one thing like a nervous breakdown,” Nikolai mentioned. ”They known as it ’homesickness syndrome.'”
However the psychiatrist additionally revealed that he had seen apparent indicators of beatings on Andrei’s physique,” based on Nikolai.
The household maintained phone contact with their son till their final dialog on October 26. After that, the hospital roommate known as with information that Andrei had been taken to intensive care.
Nikolai managed to contact a medical employee who had handled his son and was instructed that Andrei suffered from cerebral edema and hemorrhage.
However, Nikolai recalled, he was instructed that whereas his son would possibly ”want some drugs” Andrei was in good palms as a result of the naval hospital had ”all the pieces.”
In additional conversations the hospital authorities, Andrei’s dad and mom had been instructed they may not go to the ability as a result of Sevastopol was positioned within the warfare zone amid Russia’s ongoing warfare with Ukraine, however medical doctors promised he can be evacuated to safer floor.
The evacuation by no means got here — the household was instructed that Andrei’s situation was too critical. Lastly, on November 1, Nikolai and his spouse obtained the paperwork wanted to go to the hospital, but it surely was too late. The following day, whereas at a Moscow airport en path to Crimea, they discovered that Andrei had died.
’No One Tells The Reality’
The dad and mom had been instructed to return to Karelia, and upon their return house once more started contacting the native army authorities to find out what occurred to their son.
Nikolai mentioned they had been instructed that not one of the native conscripts had been despatched to the army district of which Armyansk, the place Andrei had been transferred, is an element.
”I nonetheless do not know what occurred to Andrei,” Nikolai mentioned. ”The worst factor is once you see all the pieces and might’t do something.”
Some readability got here inside a pair days. A person who launched himself as a commander contacted Nikolai by Telegram. With out revealing his identify or rank, the person despatched a photograph of Andrei’s loss of life certificates that confirmed he died from ”cerebral edema, inside hemorrhage of the mind stem.”
”It was written there in black and white,” Nikolai mentioned, saying the doc revealed the prognosis had been identified for a month earlier than Andrei died.
”Why this swelling occurred is unknown,” Nikolai mentioned. ”My son lay dying for an entire month, and they didn’t report something. If he had been evacuated, I believe he can be alive [today].”
Trying again, Nikolai can not erase the reminiscence that Andrei was repeatedly requested to signal a contract with the Protection Ministry regardless of his reluctance.
By legislation in Russia, which has obligatory two-year army service, conscripts can’t be deployed to combat exterior the nation. That implies that, in concept, these drafted into the army can’t be despatched into fight in Ukraine.
Russia’s unlawful annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, and Moscow’s declare that 4 partially occupied jap Ukrainian areas had been Russian territory, raised considerations {that a} loophole could possibly be exploited to ship conscripts into fight in these areas.
One other avenue is for draftees to signal a contract with the Protection Ministry that may enable them to combat in Ukraine.
This truth, together with widespread rumors that some draftees are bodily coerced to join fight service, leads Nikolai to suspect his son was overwhelmed in an try and get him to signal the contract.
When Andrei contacted him on September 21 to say he was in a discipline hospital, Nikolai mentioned, his son mentioned he was being pressured closely to signal the contract.
”Day by day. Contract, contract, contract,” Nikolai recalled his son saying. ”I instructed him: simply do not signal. He did not signal.”
Nonetheless, Nikolai mentioned, ”there’s info that they had been allegedly pressured to signal contracts by beating them. And I can not rule this out.”
Nikolai, a former army man himself, mentioned that following Andrei’s loss of life, he merely can not belief the authorities.
”I can not consider them, I can not, that is all,” Nikolai mentioned.
Nikolai has nonetheless not acquired any official paperwork from the Protection Ministry relating to his son’s service and loss of life, his requests for info have gone unanswered, and Andrei’s physique has but to be returned house.
These components have led Nikolai to succeed in the conclusion that his son died after an try and drive him to join fight overseas.
”I am afraid that is the way it’s accomplished,” Nikolai mentioned. ”Suspicions are strengthened by the truth that nobody explains something. Nobody tells the reality.”