"You have received a signal."
October 19 editor Immortal Barracks Andrei Shalaev was detained in Tver. He was with French journalists at the Mednoye Memorial Complex, showing the execution grounds where hundreds of Polish and Soviet citizens were executed during Stalin's purges. While Andrei was waiting for a train back to Moscow, police officers approached him and asked him to accompany them, as they had "received a signal." Ultimately, Andrei was held at the police station for two days, denied contact with his family or lawyer. He was likely charged under Article 20.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, a copy of which was not provided. He was also ordered to report to the police again on November 1 for "compilation of materials on the administrative offense."
NotMoscow I talked to Andrey about what happened and what he thought were the reasons for the arrest.
—What happened that day?
On October 19th, I went to the Mednoye memorial complex in Tver. The day before, I'd given an interview to a French newspaper. We talked about executions during Stalin's purges, about the executions at Mednoye. So I decided to go with them. We traveled separately to Tver and ran into each other at the memorial complex. Since they hadn't arranged a tour, I decided to show them around myself. I showed them where the Poles were shot, where Soviet citizens were buried. And at some point, we decided to check with the director of the complex when the new exhibition would be opening, which had received widespread attention because they were planning to unveil a bust of Stalin there.
We went to to the director The Alexander Chunosov memorial complex greeted us very coldly. The director literally "took note" of us, copying down our names and asking for business cards. I didn't have a business card, so he copied down my name and the names of the French journalists. He answered all questions in monosyllables and said that they could ask them in writing, and the answers would also be given to us in writing. The journalists chatted with him for a while, and then we returned to Tver together. We decided to travel back to Moscow separately, as the journalists had bought tickets for the Sapsan, and I for the Lastochka. It was raining outside, so we decided to wait in a cafe for our respective trains. We found a cafe and chatted about various topics, not just the repressions. I walked them to the train and then returned to the cafe. At the same table. When I was typing up a post for publication on the “Immortal Barracks” about my trip to “Mednoe”, what I saw, and what impressions I got.
Two police officers approached me and asked for my documents. I asked why, and they said they'd "received a signal." After looking at my passport, they told me to go to the police station to confirm my identity and undergo a search. I immediately started calling my lawyers and friends. The police warned me that it would be best to go with them so they wouldn't have to use force and that it was no big deal. At the time, there were two uniformed officers with me, and another man in civilian clothes—I think he was a Center E officer. He was filming everything on his cell phone.
— Did anyone else participate in your arrest?
The café was in a shopping mall, and suddenly a few more police officers appeared in the mall's vestibule. They, too, arrived at the scene of my arrest, along with a journalist who immediately started filming. He introduced himself as a journalist from Moskovsky Komsomolets, even though his phone had a sticker for the Rossiya TV channel. He immediately started asking me questions: Why did you bring French journalists here? What did you tell them? Why did you talk about 6 people being executed? What right do you have to tell the French anything? Do you realize that when the French come to us, we get problems? They only come to denigrate our homeland. That was the only topic of questioning. I answered some of the questions, but then realized they were provocative and stopped answering, and the journalist continued: you give interviews to French journalists, but not to ours. Then suddenly he asked: you smell of alcohol; have you been drinking? I even laughed. What difference does that make? Anyone can sit in a cafe and drink coffee and alcohol to warm up. They can also drink something else. What's the big deal? At that moment, I realized I was late for the train, and this story wouldn't end with just talking to the journalists and having my documents checked. And the journalist continued: "So what were you talking about with the French journalists?" Luckily, at that moment, I had already turned on the video camera myself.
Then the police escorted me out of the shopping center, put me in a police van, and told me they were taking me for a medical examination. I refused the examination because I was simply sitting in a cafe, not bothering anyone, not disturbing the peace, and all of this, coupled with the "received signal," raised serious concerns.
I tried again to contact my lawyer, as well as my colleagues at the "Immortal Barracks," and told my father. After I refused a medical examination, I was taken to the police station. The officers weren't aggressive, and sometimes even allowed me to go outside for a smoke.
About an hour later, OVD-Info called me and said they could provide an online lawyer. I said they'd most likely confiscate my phone, and no online lawyer would be able to help me. And soon, they did confiscate my phone, and it all began.
The police allegedly found in some "secret database" that I had a double surname, that I'd supposedly changed my passport, and couldn't confirm my identity. Although I hadn't changed anything; my passport was issued in 2007. This was the supposed reason to detain me, supposedly "to verify my identity." They didn't let me call anyone else, even though I asked to call my father or a lawyer. Then they took all my things. And they made me sign some document that stated I was "intoxicated, practically unable to move independently," "speaking incoherently," "mumming," and so on. I read all of this to the policewoman and said, "This is a lie." I'm sitting here, talking to you, literally for half an hour I gave a lecture on the topic of repression, I talked about how cases were falsified in the Tver region, how everything was organized in the NKVD, and in that same half hour you falsified a report on me?
The two officers who had detained me were also there. I told them the same thing, that it was all a lie. They told me that this report was a model, and "we use it to register everyone charged under Article 20.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses" (appearing in a public place while intoxicated – editor's note). I was indignant and refused to sign. They didn't ask me for an explanation, even though they should have, and didn't offer me any other documents to sign. Since I refused to sign the report, the police began searching among the detainees for anyone who could witness my refusal to sign. And, of course, they found them among the detainees, promising to take them out for a 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, and you can't take the hood off because you could, like, hang yourself. They offered to cut the hood off, but I refused, and they took the jacket. The laces too. I didn't take any sheets or pillows. I just sat down on my side of the bunk and lowered my head. And at some point, my nose started bleeding. I went to the door and started knocking: "Captain, my nose is bleeding." He told me: "You were picking your nose." I said, "I need a doctor. And if you don't call one for me, then when I get out, I'll report to Internal Security that you refused to call an ambulance for me."
They eventually called an ambulance for me. A doctor and a nurse arrived. I asked them to examine me to document my condition, whether I was intoxicated, whether I was behaving appropriately, etc. They said they wouldn't argue with the police and would simply document my condition. Just in case, I wrote down the ambulance number for future protection.
They let me go to the bathroom, but not often, and they said, "If you knock too often, you'll end up in a mental hospital for being violent." I didn't eat the food they gave me there for safety reasons; I only drank water. They gave me half a glass of water three times a day. They also didn't let me call anyone, not even a landline.
There was no trial. They told me they'd take me to court the next morning, then at lunchtime, then the next day. But they never did. I didn't know then that the police would go on the defensive, that my father had called the station three times on the first day of his arrest, and they'd brazenly lied to him that I wasn't there. They told the same thing to the lawyer.
I tried again to ask them to call an ambulance for me the next day, on October 20, to record my location, but they refused.
And so, on October 21st, after lunch, which they never gave me, and I wanted to at least drink some water, a policeman came in and said: Shalayev, take your things out.
— When they released you, did they say anything to you?
No. Just so I could get out of there as quickly as possible. The first thing I did was try to turn on my phone and discover it was locked. You know, when you enter the wrong password several times, your phone locks. My tablet was locked the same way. They gave me a notice saying I had to appear on November 1st for a hearing/compilation of my administrative offense. I left the station, and the first person who called me after turning on my phone was my mother. I said I was alive and would call back later. Then friends, colleagues, and my lawyer started calling. I don't know Tver, so I just walked away from the police station and went to the Russian Post office. There, I asked the staff if I could sit for 15 minutes, put the laces in my sneakers, and just freshen up.
Of course, I was shocked by everything that had happened, so just in case, I asked some guys passing by to call me a taxi. I'm grateful to them for their help. In fact, I'm grateful to everyone who helped me get out of Tver. While I was waiting for a taxi, a man in a green T-shirt, jacket, and white pants ran up to the stop. He immediately caught my eye. And when the taxi pulled up, he started taking a picture of the license plate. That's when I realized I was still being followed.
I ran, and he followed me. I reached some beautiful church. I thought I could call a taxi there and go to the train station. But I saw that this man had also reached the church and was waiting for me. I asked a married couple for a ride and explained the situation. They agreed to give me a ride to the train station. I don't understand at all why they had 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 take a photo of them. So the whole time I was waiting for the train, I tried to stay among the people in the center of the station building to stay within range of the cameras. Then the train arrived, and I went to Moscow."
What do you think was the reason for your arrest?
I believe that my detention was connected with the fact that French journalists visited Mednoye on October 19th, where an Open Day was announced. announced On the website and all social media. It was also announced that there would be free tours and free admission to the museum. In other words, anyone could come. When the journalist approached me, he wasn't asking me about the "Immortal Barracks" project; he was specifically asking about foreign journalists. Although they would have come to Mednoye even if I hadn't gone. Perhaps the memorial's director wasn't pleased that the museum was visited by journalists, not just foreigners, or perhaps he didn't appreciate our questions. It was no accident that he kept us under surveillance. I base my work on the law on victims of repression. The goal of the project is to preserve the memory of the victims of repression. I'd also like to point out one detail: according to open sources, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Tver Region is Sergei Kamyshev. He was the chief of police in the Nizhny Novgorod Region from 2018 to 2020, that is, during the period when security forces persecuted journalist Irina Slavina, who later committed suicide.
- What are you going to do?
"My lawyer and I are currently gathering evidence to understand what we're dealing with. And on November 1st, we're scheduled to go to the Tver Central Police Department."
