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"Arrhythmia Across Russia": Not Moscow Through the Eyes of a Muscovite

In May 2024, Muscovite Alexander Kolesnikov got into a UAZ Patriot and set off on a grand journey across the country, beginning a solo road trip called "Arrhythmia Across Russia." A blog post of the same name Telegram He wrote, "Whoever reads my notes will see Russia through the prism of my perception. It's certainly far from objective, but at least it's alive, and, importantly, not indifferent." We confirm that Alexander's perspective is highly subjective and, by definition, that of someone who travels, not someone who lives in one place for long periods. But an outside perspective is also interesting, even if it sometimes seems unfair. In any case, Alexander speaks frankly about what he's seen.

We met Alexander when he stopped in Tomsk. When asked which city it was in his "Arrhythmia" series, he replied, "What difference does it make? More than a hundred, probably." For him, it's not the number of towns and cities that matters when traveling, but the experiences. Alexander was once a successful businessman, but then he decided his life was lacking adventure and began traveling. Eight years ago, he and his friends drove to Indonesia in two old Volgas. The idea for "Arrhythmia across Russia" arose from a desire to travel across Russia in one go. This could only be done by traveling in zigzags. When it dawned on him that the journey would resemble a cardiogram, the name was born. Plus, one of Kolesnikov's favorite Russian films, Boris Khlebnikov's "Arrhythmia." That, in fact, is where the expedition's name came from. "Arrhythmia across Russia".

I almost immediately wanted to go in a zigzag, says Alexander,  Because it's the only way to travel the entire country in one go, covering the maximum number of regions and territories. And you need to travel simultaneously from North to South and from West to East. This way, you can clearly see the changing climate zones, how nature changes in real time. I realized this when the guys and I drove from Moscow to Indonesia in old Volgas. And when we were driving through China, we were driving down from Tibet to Kailash. A few days ago, you were still in winter clothes, and now we're getting out of the car in sweaters. It's kind of hot, everyone's sweating. I say, "Guys, check the weather." We check the weather, and it's 27 degrees Celsius. It was just winter, and now it's 27 degrees Celsius.

If people travel a lot, it usually means they were hooked on the subject as children. Do you remember your most vivid childhood travel experience?

Yeah, that's spot on! We got a car around '90 or '91, a Moskvich 412, and wherever Dad went in it, I was always with him. We'd be playing in the yard with the kids, and I'd see Dad getting ready to go somewhere, and I'd immediately tell the kids, "Okay, goodbye, I'm not coming." If I wasn't allowed somewhere, and someone else was driving, I'd be hysterical. My favorite story about this: we had a dacha outside Moscow, and one day we arrived there, and it turned out Dad had forgotten to lock the garage. It was already night, and it was the most amazing trip, when I realized that now not only were we going back to Moscow, but we were also going there and back! We saw the sunrise on the way! Back then, it was practically the longest car trip I'd ever taken. It was awesome!

Alexander learned to drive quite early, taught by his father in his Moskvich. At 18, he got his license, and in his fourth year of university, his parents gave him their old car.

— How are your relations with the traffic police? Have you been stopped often on the road lately?

Honestly, in the entire four months of traveling, I was only stopped three times. And once at home. I laughed because my route turned out to be so complicated, it passed through my house: I left the Smolensk region, and the next leg of "Arrhythmia" passed through Moscow. It was funny because by then I'd already traveled five thousand kilometers, had been to the far north, and the only time I was stopped during that stretch was as soon as I entered the Moscow region. And then they started: "What were you drinking, when were you drinking? Go sit in the car." That was the only time it happened like that. In the Moscow region! I was stopped a couple more times in Dagestan, but there, I think, they just wanted to look at the car.

Alexander and I are walking along the old part of Tomsk, along Bakunin Street, and he asks:

Is this paving stone old?

Yes, this is an old pavement. Various repairs have mangled it, and they haven't been able to put it back together properly. History buffs are outraged, of course, but nothing changes.

Honestly, I think the only city dwellers who don't really like their city are This is from Omsk, Alexander shares. Usually, when you visit other cities and compliment people about their city, they're happy. But in Omsk, on the contrary, they're upset. "No, everything's bad here, no, we have this and that..."

— They have a saying, don’t try to leave Omsk?

Yes, yes, yes. And it's everywhere there. Some guys even came up to me, people who'd seen me on TV, seen my car. I started telling them good things about Omsk, too. They were really upset, you could tell. I said, "Guys, it's probably not much better in other cities." And then the conversation turned to Chelyabinsk. They said, "Oh, we liked Chelyabinsk!" No, I'm not saying Chelyabinsk is bad, but compared to Omsk! I'm looking at them, are you serious? You liked Chelyabinsk, but you don't like Omsk? You know, they have another joke: the last one to leave Omsk, don't forget to turn off the lights at the airport.

— What are your impressions of Tomsk, which is often confused with Omsk?

I can say for sure that, since I was traveling to you from Novosibirsk, when you come to Tomsk, it's immediately obvious that the city has history. That something used to be here. And a lot of it. And Novosibirsk, I walked around it... It's young, the city is 100 years old. And it's not that I'm offended, I'm not a Siberian at all, but it seems to me that many Siberians are offended that Novosibirsk is considered the capital of Siberia. Well, everyone seems to say so, although it seems rather strange to me. It's technically a city, but I didn't feel any urban atmosphere there. There simply isn't one. A city without a soul, that's what I would call it. Alexander shared.

Overall, Alexander didn't particularly like Novosibirsk, especially since it doesn't rank highly in his personal ratings for driver politeness. As for the condition of Russian roads, the road traveler believes it's directly related to the region's financial situation. The richer the region, the better the roads. The poorer the region... sometimes it's not even the roads, but the directions. Predictable, of course. Alexander considers Yaroslavl's roads to be the worst of all the roads he's seen in Russia.

There's, for example, five kilometers of perfect road, and then ten kilometers of total crap. Or they have a section there between Rybinsk and Uglich that's been repaired, and you drive along—it's a perfect road. Then it's just in the middle of the forest, 500 meters of crap. Then it's a perfect road again. What's going through your head?

 The roads in the Pskov region, however, are no better, according to Alexander, they a local meme and the subject of sad jokes.

Let's briefly move from Russia to Indonesia. Tell us about the "Voskhod Expedition," when you and your friends traveled from Moscow to Bali in two old Volgas. How difficult was it, technically and legally, to organize such a route?

Legally, yes, it was complicated and expensive, especially traveling through China. We paid over $20 just for a permit to travel through China, because we were traveling through Tibet. We were very lucky with our guide. Not many people have traveled through China along a similar route before. Our guide was simply wonderful, covering for us wherever possible, treating us like her own children. Despite a ton of violations, we made it through China.

The travelers decided not to return from Indonesia in the Volgas. After the team reached Java, the cars were shipped to Russia by sea. Alexander hasn't yet decided how he'll return home this time: whether to send the car from its final destination in Vladivostok by train to Moscow and fly there himself, or return by car, but via a less complicated route.

— Do you have some kind of time plan, some kind of deadline, at least approximately, for “Arrhythmia”?

I have a short deadline, not even a deadline, but I want to complete the route by mid-October. My grandmother's birthday is on October 26th; she's quite old. I didn't exactly promise her, but I told her I'd try to be back for her birthday. So, I need to try to be in Moscow by October 26th. I'm hoping to make it to Vladivostok at least by the 25th, hop on a plane there, and then figure out the car. I'm running low on money; if I find someone who'll lend me some money, maybe I'll drive myself.

— Tell me about the budget for such a trip. Where do you get the money? How do you find sponsors?

Yes, but that's just how I am... I just don't like going around asking people, offering them anything. But of course, ideally you need some kind of pitch or go and ask for money. So, I sold my apartment, or rather, traded it – sold a nice, big one, bought a small one.

- Sounds like a midlife crisis.

Yes, it might seem that way from the outside, but you have to keep in mind that I became obsessed with this journey eight years ago. I was working towards it. A midlife crisis—it usually just hits me and I'm off! I've had this dream for a long time. Usually, when people hit a crisis, they start giving up on something: going on a trip, leaving their family, that sort of thing. But I didn't take on any unnecessary commitments from the start because I understood that if I did, I wouldn't be able to go anywhere. And I wouldn't be able to do what I wanted.

— Did anyone dissuade you from this trip?

- Mother.

— Is she worried?

Well, yes. "You'll go somewhere alone. It's dangerous."

Alexander went on this trip alone because he realized that company wasn't his thing. One of the main challenges on his previous trip had been interacting with people. Being in close proximity for long periods of time proved a difficult challenge.

“Psychologists select the cosmonauts for the team,” says Alexander. "Nobody picked us up, we were just random people. But essentially, we were in the same conditions: we'd sit in cars together, then spend the night in the same rooms together. But here I don't have to coordinate anything with anyone. If I want to, I stay; if I want to, I go. If I want, I drive for 24 hours, without stopping. I don't have to listen to anyone. Some people need to, I don't know, pee, drink coffee, some are tired, some can't drive. I just keep going.

— Where do you usually go when you come to a new city?

Basically, it's always a walk around the center, to see, roughly speaking, where the heart is in each city. By the way, Novosibirsk This is a city that has no heart. This is the second city that has no heart.

- And the first one?

The first one? The first one is Volgograd. Volgograd technically has one, but it's dead. That's the thing. It's a city with a cemetery at its heart. A huge cemetery, and this endless pain. And the city is built around it. There's no center as such, there's the Volga, the embankment, but it's not a promenade like many cities have, it's just an embankment, there's nothing special about it. And the whole city is a sprawling development with a huge cemetery in the middle. I tried to get a feel for it, to wander around, but there's nowhere to walk, nowhere to stroll. After Volgograd, I came to Arkhangelsk and accidentally wandered into a football bar, and some guys were sitting at the counter. They said, "Hello, where are you from?" They told me they were from Volgograd, and their second sentence was, "Did you know that Volgograd is the most depressing city in Russia?" And I immediately said that I do. And I start telling them my impressions of Volgograd. And they say, yes, it's all true. We all left there because it's impossible to live there, in that city.

— Which cities evoked positive feelings?

 I really liked Yekaterinburg. I really didn't expect it. I really enjoyed it! I really liked Tyumen. Speaking of cities beyond the Urals. And before that Oddly enough, I liked Astrakhan. It has its problems, too, but overall I liked it, even though the south isn't my thing. I wanted to get away from Krasnodar Krai, Rostov Oblast, just as far away as possible. Not that I'd never go back, but I wanted to get away from there somehow.

— What didn’t you like about the southern cities of Russia?

Rostov is a show-off city. And Krasnodar is the same. I can't stand the show-offs, the waste of unnecessary energy that won't go away. I don't like all that. I actually met some guys in the Rostov region on the shore of the Sea of ​​Azov; I went there to swim and train. They were just ordinary young men with their girlfriends, with their children and their mothers, the nicest people, intelligent, good. I mean, I understand that not everyone there is the same; there are all kinds of people. But the overall atmosphere isn't my thing.

— And do people who say that they would leave their cities name the places they would move to?

I don't really ask, to be honest. Well, basically everyone probably wants to move to Moscow. And from somewhere like Astrakhan, probably to Krasnodar – more or less the climate. Krasnodar is a fairly dynamic, developing city. The fact that it's not my thing is one thing, but in terms of what Krasnodar was like 10 years ago and what it is like now, that's quite another. I think Krasnodar is one of the leaders in Russia in terms of authentic development. About 10 years ago, it was practically a village. There was nowhere to go even in the evening, but now it's a real metropolis. I understand Comrade Galitsky is there (Russian entrepreneur, founder of the Magnit retail chain Ed.) participated. Basically, oddly enough, there are many where a good impression of a region is formed, and then it's explained that it's simply... rich people there. For example, the Vologda region. If I needed to show some foreigners rural Russia, and from a good, peasant side, I'd take them to the Vologda region. It's rich, the villages there are well-preserved, and the roads are excellent.

— How were the dots placed on the Arrhythmia map?

I started working on the map two months before leaving. I was leaving soon, and I didn't have a map. I'd been trying to give it up for a year before. I tried, but nothing worked. I even tried drawing very detailed tracks of how I'd travel. I took maps and drew tracks right along the roads, looked at satellites, and then at some point I realized I didn't need a detailed map, I just needed a diagram of how I'd travel.

— But something had to click. What clicked?

No, it's just that I've been getting ready for this for a very long time, and it's been a long time since I left. I even tried starting a business to earn money so I could go. Even in the same format: I had this one IT project, we were making a dating app, and it almost became successful. This was before the pandemic, then the pandemic hit, and our entire team was relying on enthusiasm. The pandemic derailed everything, and, in short, everything fell apart, although we weren't that far from achieving any kind of success, but that's the way it usually is.

— Is there some kind of global goal behind this whole “Arrhythmia in Russia”?

I enjoy traveling and writing history. I'm good at it. I'd like to continue doing this, and if I can turn it into a professional activity rather than a hobby, that would be wonderful. Initially, I wanted to make this trip more immersive, but the route I've come up with doesn't allow for that. I mean, if I had an infinite amount of money and an infinite amount of time, then yes, I could travel this route for five years.