What was your husband like?
— Alexey was a very kind and sympathetic person, he always helped everyone in everything. Since childhood, the husband was fond of football: even coming from the service, he changed clothes and went to drive the ball to the stadium. He instilled his love in our son Nikita. Now he is almost four years old, of which about one and a half he goes to the football section. My husband and son have always had a special bond. If Nikita wants, like his father, to become a soldier, I will not dissuade him.
- Why did Alexei decide to connect his life with military service?
- Since childhood, my husband wanted to become a military man, like his grandfather, a submariner. At one time, his grandfather graduated from a naval school, served in the Far East on a nuclear submarine and often told his grandson about his service.
My husband grew up in Altai, where he went to study in the cadet corps after the eighth grade. In 2014, he was called up for military service in the 22nd Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment of the 11th Army Corps of the Air Defense Forces. There he was promoted to the rank of sergeant and signed a contract. In 2020, he took part in hostilities in the Syrian Arab Republic, received the status of a combat veteran and was awarded the medal "For Military Valor" of the II degree and the medal "Participant in the military operation in Syria".
How did you meet Alexey?
— My husband and I met in June 2016, when he was already serving under contract in the Kaliningrad region. My girlfriend and I came to visit her boyfriend, and Lyosha was also in the general company. Took my phone number, but wrote it down incorrectly - and conducted a whole investigation to find out the correct one.
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We started talking, dating. Ten months later, he proposed to me and on May 20, 2017, we got married. They lived in Kaliningrad. And in the spring of 2019, our son was born.
When did your husband go to the SVO zone? And how did you feel about that?
"Every day I asked my husband to promise me that he would not go to Ukraine. But on February 25, they came with colleagues to my work, and Alexei said that on the 26th they were leaving. I thought it was an army joke that the boys were just joking. But it turned out that everything was serious.
He came home after midnight, and the next day they left for Belgorod. While he was there, there was no communication, he called very, very rarely, maybe once every three weeks. When he was already in the SVO zone, he called me and said that he wanted a second child. We dreamed of our own home and addition to the family.
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Before being sent to the combat zone, they were ordered to be transferred from the air defense to the infantry. His salary was not as a senior sergeant, but as a private. After the death of my husband, I appealed to the prosecutor's office, and he was restored to his post.
How did you find out about the tragedy?
In March, I got a call asking if I had anyone on my business trip. I said my husband, and that was the end of the connection. I was scared. Then they called me back, told me that my husband was alive and well. For a long time after that, I was shaking, as if paralyzed, I could not get up.
We were waiting for Alexei to go home on May 9, hoping that he would return just in time for the holiday. On May 10, I put my son to bed for a quiet hour and took a nap myself. I wake up and see a text message from the wife of a colleague Lyosha: "Natalia, accept condolences!" I started calling the unit, then familiar wives of the military. I called one, she said that they would come to me now. By that time, I had already begun to understand why they would come.
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Two co-workers came. I didn't want to let them in at first — I was hysterical. Then I thought: suddenly they came to say that this is a mistake, that the husband is alive and everything is fine. I opened the door, they were standing, their eyes lowered... Then I realized that no, not a mistake.
My husband did not live to see his 26th birthday for only a month. I still can't tell my son that dad died.
Alexei died from a shrapnel wound to the head. It was hit by a lot of shrapnel. The first time they came was when they were sitting in the dugout. The husband jumped out to check if there were any injuries or dead. The second time is exactly the same. And the third time, he did not have time to return to the dugout.
Another person, a colleague, was killed that day. They met during the SVO. It so happened that they were born with my husband on the same day, and they had funerals on the same day, only in different cemeteries.
- Why did you decide to install a shield with his image in memory of your spouse?
" My husband really wanted to introduce Nikita to his grandparents. I decided to fulfill his wish, and we flew with my son to Altai with a transfer in Moscow. There was enough time to walk around the capital, and I saw banners with the heroes of the SVO on the streets. We have not yet had such shields in the Kaliningrad Region. I liked the idea, I decided to do the same for six months from the day of the death of my husband.
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I came to an agency that deals with outdoor advertising, the general director allocated me a place to place a banner for free, and the banner itself was made at a discount. I paid myself, because Alexei lived for less than ten years in Kaliningrad, according to the law, they cannot perpetuate his memory in this case at the expense of the authorities. They also allowed to install a memorial plaque on the territory of the unit - she also did it at her own expense.
How did you know that the banner was damaged?
"A colleague of my husband called me, said that the banner was doused with paint and it is impossible that it hangs in this form, it must be removed.
I don't even have the slightest idea who poured it on. I immediately filed a police report. Maybe it would be rude, but I would break these people's legs and arms. On the most terrible article, I would put them in jail to get a real sentence. Money has nothing to do with it at all, it's about the honor of my husband.