November 9, 2023
Source: Govorit NeMoskva
Andrey Shalayev, the founder of Immortal Barracks, a Russian project commemorating the victims of political repression, told NeMoskva that he has left Russia.
After meeting with French journalists at the Mednoe memorial nearby the city of Tver, visiting together the execution grounds where hundreds of Polish and Soviet citizens were shot – Andrey was detained for two days on trumped inofficial charges of having no valid identification and being intoxicated. In reality such the authorities want to suppress activities they deem as harmful to Russia, such as “Immortal Barracks” and that is they way they make this clear.
“I really was forced to leave the country.” I did this after the events in Tver, when the police detained me, and my parents and lawyer had to put me on the wanted list, since the police did not tell them where I was. I spent two days in the city’s Central Department of Internal Affairs, where they simply did not give me water. I was not allowed to tell my family or my lawyer about my whereabouts.
Returning to Moscow, I felt that I was being followed, even when I left the capital for a while. I decided to leave the country in order to, most importantly, save the project and myself. At the station, when I left Russia, activists from [the ultranationalist] National Liberation Movement with St. George ribbons and Z signs followed me, filming on their phones. “They shouted that I was a ‘traitor’ and an ‘enemy of the people.”
I left the country, but I took out and saved everything I had for the project. The editorial staff of the “Immortal Barrack” are no longer in Russia, and the barrack itself is immortal and continues to devour its citizens. There is a lot of work ahead, the family history of millions must be preserved,” said Andrei Shalaev.
He thanked everyone who helped him these days.
Acknowledgement of Mass Murder
Current Russia authorities have difficulties acknowledging the scale of the crime against humanity constituted by the practices of various state organs in the former Soviet union. After a huge increase in openness and honesty in the early 1990s, the Russian government has returned to its old habit of trying to control the public remembering and consciousness through various policies. President Putin has been actively participating and instigating revisions, such as the view on the Molotov Rippentrop pact or the view on Stalin. This right wing turn, if you will, in politics has had an effect on the minds of many Russian people.
For example, read a long social media posting about why the Tver memorial site is “Western disinformation” and probably an act of hatred against Russia, if anything.
See also Katyn massacre.
So, a current request of Russia and Russians, might be that we wish to see their public acknowledgment of the full scale of the repressions and crimes during the Soviet times. Seeing state supported memorial sites and the sites of gulags, that are well kept and being supplied with all information on what happened there would help a lot. Unfortunately, we do not see it right now. At the same time the state closes non government organizations, such as Memorial.
So, many things could be better.
Previous Arrest and Detention of Andrej Shalayev in Tver
October 19, 2023
The founder of and editor of “Immortal barracks” Andrei Shalaev was detained in Tver. He had been with French journalists at the Mednoe memorial complex in Tver and showed the execution grounds where hundreds of Polish and Soviet citizens were shot during Stalin’s repressions. When Andrei was waiting for the return train to Moscow, the police approached him and asked him to go with them, as they “received a signal.” As a result, Andrei was kept in the police department for two days, not allowing him to contact either his relatives or his lawyer. A report was probably drawn up against him under Article 20.21 of the Administrative Code. He did not receive a copy of any allegations made against him. He was ordered to report to the police again on November 1 to “compile material about an administrative violation.”
— What happened that day?
— On October 19, I went to Tver to the Mednoye memorial complex. The day before, I gave an interview to a French newspaper. We talked about executions during the Stalinist repressions, about executions in Medny. And I decided to go with them. We got to Tver separately and crossed paths at the memorial complex. Since they were not given a tour, I decided to show them everything myself. He showed where Poles were shot, where Soviet citizens lay. And at some point we decided to check with the director of this complex when the opening would take place, which received a wide response, since they were going to unveil a bust of Stalin there.1
We went to to the director memorial complex to Alexander Chunosov, who greeted us very coldly. The director literally “took us on a pencil”, copying our names and asking for business cards. I didn’t have a business card, so he completely rewrote my name and the names of the French journalists. He answered all questions in monosyllables and said that they could be asked in writing, and the answers would also be given to us in writing. The journalists talked with him for some time.
Then we went back to Tver together. We decided to get to Moscow separately, since the journalists took tickets for Sapsan, and I took tickets for Lastochka. It was raining outside, and we decided to wait each for our train in a cafe. We found a cafe and talked about various topics, not only about repression.
I accompanied them to the train, and then returned back to the cafe. At the same table. When I was typing up a post for publication on the “Immortal Barracks” about how I went to “Mednoye”, what I saw, and what impressions I got, two policemen approached me and asked to show my documents. I asked on what basis, they replied that they “received a signal.”
After looking at my passport, they informed me that I needed to go to the police station to clarify my identity and be searched. I immediately tried calling my lawyers and friends. The police warned that it was better to go with them, so that they would not have to use force and, as they said, there was nothing wrong with coming with them.
At that time, there were two uniformed policemen next to me, and another person in civilian clothes, I think it was an employee of Center “E”. He filmed everything that happened on his mobile phone camera.
— Was anyone else involved in your arrest?
The cafe was located in a shopping center, and some more police officers appeared in the vestibule of this center. That is, they also arrived at the place of my arrest, and with them there was also a journalist who immediately began filming. He introduced himself as a journalist from Moskovsky Komsomolets, although he had a sticker from the Rossiya TV channel on his phone. And he immediately started asking me questions: why did you bring French journalists here? What did you tell them? Why did you talk about 6 thousand executed? What right do you have to tell the French something? Do you understand that when the French come to us, we have problems after that? They come only to denigrate our homeland. Questions were asked only on this topic. I answered some questions, but then I realized how provocative they were and stopped answering, and the journalist continued: you give interviews to French journalists, but not to ours. Then suddenly he asks: you smell of alcohol, have you been drinking? I even laughed, and what does that change? Anyone can sit in a cafe and drink coffee and alcohol to warm up. You can also drink something else. What is the crime? At that moment, I realized that I was late for the train, and this story would not end simply by talking with journalists and checking documents. And the journalist continued: so what did you talk about with the French journalists? Fortunately, at that moment I already turned on the video camera myself.
Then the police took me out of the shopping center and put me in a paddy wagon and told me that they were taking me for a medical examination. I refused a medical examination because I was just sitting in a cafe, didn’t touch anyone, didn’t disturb the order, and all of this, together with the “We have received a signal,” raised serious concerns in me.
I again tried to contact my lawyer, as well as my colleagues at the Immortal Barracks. I told my father. After I refused a medical examination, I was taken to the police department. The police did not behave aggressively, sometimes they even let me go out to smoke.
About an hour later I received a call from OVD-info and said that they could provide me with an online lawyer. I said that now, most likely, my phone would be taken away, and no online lawyer would help me. And soon they really took my phone away and it really started.
The police allegedly found from some “secret database” that I had a double last name, that I allegedly altered my passport and that I could not confirm my identity. Although I didn’t change anything, my passport was issued in 2007. This allegedly served as a reason to detain me, like “to clarify my identity.”
They didn’t let anyone else call me, although I asked to call my father or a lawyer. Then they took all of my things. And they gave me a document to sign, that stated that I was “in a state of intoxication, I practically cannot move on my own,” “speech is unrelated,” “mumbles,” and so on. Moreover, I read all this to the police girl and said: “This is a lie. I’m sitting, talking to you, literally for half an hour I gave a lecture on the topic of repression, talking about how cases were falsified in the Tver region, how everything was arranged in the NKVD, and in that half hour you falsified the protocol against me?”
The two employees who detained me were also there. I told them the same thing, that it was all a lie. They answered me that this protocol is a sample, and “we use it to register everyone who is charged under Article 20.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences” (appearing in a public place while intoxicated – editor’s note).
I was indignant and did not sign. They didn’t ask me for an explanation, although they should have, and they didn’t offer me any more documents to sign. Since I refused to sign the protocol, the police began to look among the detainees for those who could testify to my refusal to sign. And, of course, they found them among the detainees, promising them that they would take them out to smoke.
— Then they took you to a cell?
Yes, they took me to a cell. They took away my jacket because it had a hood, but it’s not allowed because you could hang yourself. They offered to cut off the hood, but I refused, and the jacket was taken away. Laces too. I didn’t take any sheets or pillows. He just sat down on his part of the bunk and lowered his head. And at some point my nose began to bleed. I went to the door and started knocking: captain, my nose is bleeding. He told me: you were picking your nose. I say I need a doctor. And if you don’t call him for me, then when I leave, I will inform my own security service that you refused to call me an ambulance.
They eventually called an ambulance for me. The doctor and nurse arrived. I also asked them to examine me in order to record my condition, the absence of signs of intoxication, the adequacy of behavior, etc. They said that they would not enter into disputes with the police, and would simply record my condition. Just in case, I wrote down the number of the ambulance squad for later protection.
They were allowed to go to the toilet, but not often, and they said, “If you knock often, you’ll end up in a mental hospital like a violent person.” I didn’t eat the food they gave me there for safety reasons, I just drank water. Water was given three times a day, half a glass. They weren’t allowed to call anyone either, not even on a landline.
There was no trial, they told me that they would take me to court the next morning, then at lunchtime, then the next day. But they never delivered. I didn’t know then that the police would go on the defensive, that my father called this department three times on the first day of his arrest, and they blatantly lied to him that I wasn’t here. They told the lawyer the same thing.
I tried again to ask for an ambulance to be called the next day, October 20, to record my location, but they refused.
And so on October 21, after lunch, which was never given to me, but I wanted to at least drink water, a policeman came in and said: Shalaev, take your things on the way out.
— When you were released, did they tell you anything?
No. Just so I can get out of there as quickly as possible. The first thing I did was try to turn on the phone and found that it was locked. You know, when you type the wrong password several times, your phone gets locked. The tablet was also blocked in this way. I was given a piece of paper stating that I must appear on November 1 for the consideration/drafting of material about an administrative violation. I left the department and the first person who called me after turning on the phone was my mother. I said that I was alive and that I would call back later. Then friends, colleagues, and a lawyer started calling. I don’t know Tver, so I just walked away from the police department and went to the Russian Post. There I asked the employees for permission to sit for about 15 minutes, insert the laces into my sneakers, and just clean myself up.
Of course, I was shocked by everything that happened, so just in case, I asked passing guys to call me a taxi. Thanks to them, they helped. In general, thanks to everyone who helped me leave Tver. When I was waiting for a taxi, a man in a green T-shirt and jacket and white pants came running to the stop. He immediately caught my eye. And when the taxi arrived, this man began to photograph the number. Then I realized that they were still following me.
I ran, he followed me. I ran to some beautiful church. I thought that I could call a taxi there and go to the station. But I saw that this man had also reached the church and was waiting for me. I asked some married couple to give me a ride and explained the situation to them. They agreed to take me to the station area. I don’t understand at all why they needed to follow me.
— So, they followed you all the way to the station?
“I also noticed four people at the station. I even managed to photograph them. Therefore, the entire time I was waiting for the train, I tried to stay among the people in the center of the hall of the station building in order to remain under the cameras. Then the train arrived and I went to Moscow.
— What do you think was the reason for your detention?
I believe that my detention was due to the fact that French journalists visited Mednoye. On October 19, an Open Day was announced there. This was announced on the website and in all social networks. It was also reported that there will be free excursions and free admission to the museum. That is, anyone could come. When the journalist interviewed me, he didn’t ask me about the “Immortal Barracks” project, he asked specifically about foreign journalists. Although they would have come to Mednoye even if I had not gone. Maybe the director of the memorial didn’t like the fact that the museum wasn’t just visited by foreigners, and maybe the journalists didn’t like our questions. It’s not for nothing that he took us “on his pencil.” I base my activities on the law on victims of repression. The goal of the project is to preserve the memory of the victims of repression.
I would also like to note this detail: the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Tver region, according to open sources, is Sergei Kamyshev. It was he who was the chief of police of the Nizhny Novgorod region from 2018 to 2020, that is, during the period when security forces persecuted journalist Irina Slavina, who then committed suicide.2
— What are you going to do?
“Now my lawyer and I are collecting evidence to understand what we are dealing with.” And on November 1 we have to go to the Central Police Department of Tver.
Footnotes
- October 13, 2023, Govorit Nemoskva: The director of the memorial complex Alexander Chunosov, wrote on his page on the social network VKontakte: “The Mednoye memorial complex will be a unique place where you can simultaneously see sculptures and busts of Lenin, Stalin, Dzerzhinsky, Sverdlov, Kirov, Kalinin, Voroshilov.” Now his account is closed and recording is not available. ↩︎
- European Federation of Journalists:
The shocking death of Irina Slavina must be investigated.
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