‘It’s impossible for the system not to change’: patch from a Buryatian village where one percent of residents have joined the war in Ukraine

MEDUZA/EN/VHF

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began, 23 men from Selenduma, a village in Buryatia, have joined the war; that's about one percent of the village's population. In late March, the village buried Andrey Dandarov, the first resident to return from the war in a body bag. A week later, residents held a patriotic motor rally, lining up their cars to form the Z symbol. In early May, the local magazine Lyudi Baikala (LB; "People of the Baikal") published a report about how young men from Selenduma have been dying in Russia's wars for four decades now -- in Chechnya, Afghanistan, and Ukraine -- and how residents nonetheless continue to support the ongoing "special military operation." With their permission, Meduza has translated the article in full. Original Article: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/05/11/we-want-to-die-for-the-motherland-too