They Are Watching Us, Literally. The Entire Family, Everywhere." How the Search for a Deserter Ended With His Father's Death

"They are watching us, literally. The entire family, everywhere." How the search for a deserter ended with his father's death

After 22-year-old Viktor Ryasnyansky fled his unit, the military decided to look for him through his relatives. Cars stood watch near their homes, they were followed on minibuses and commuter trains, neighbors were questioned, and wanted notices were posted on poles.

The surveillance reached the point of absurdity: one of the family’s relatives was put under watch in the Far North, four thousand kilometers from Voronezh Region. The family had already started recognizing the military men by sight, and those tailing them began giving Viktor’s father rides home while also suggesting that he sign a contract too.

A few weeks later, this man would be found dead in a river not far from home. Investigators concluded that the cause of death was drowning against a background of severe alcohol intoxication. But the family still considers many circumstances of that night unexplained: during his disappearance, a military vehicle drove past the house; there were tire tracks at the place where he drowned; and the people who had been looking for Viktor for nearly a year also showed up near the place of death and at the funeral.

The military do not deny the surveillance itself. One of the participants in the search explained it simply: "He had to be caught". According to military lawyers, similar informal search groups exist in many units and allow commanders to avoid transferring a case to an official wanted search until the very end.

How the search for one deserter turned into months-long surveillance of an entire family, and why this story still leaves more questions than answers, read on Verstka’s website (with VPN):

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