October 24, 2023

Mosque Raid Leads to Star's Enlistment


Mosque Raid Leads to Star's Enlistment
Mamut Useinov singing. Valeriya Lanskaya, Youtube.

Mamut Useinov, a finalist for the musical talent show Perepoy Zvezdu! (Outsing a Star!) was attending a prayer service in a mosque near Moscow. As the singer and fellow worshipers left the building, riot police from Russia's National Guard, OMON, forced them onto a bus without explanation and then impressed them to fight in Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Useinov's smooth tenor voice outshone his fellow contestants on Channel One Russia's reality show, landing him a spot in the finale. The 26-year-old hails from Crimea and received a Russian passport following Moscow's invasion of the peninsula in 2014.

Useniov and others were attending a Friday prayer service at the Kotelniki Mosque near Moscow. OMON raided the building as worshipers exited, under the pretext of checking documents, and detaining male attendees. The police instead forced them onto a bus and took them to an enlistment office in Lyubertsy, where they were compelled to undergo a medical examination. It is unknown how many men were taken from the mosque.

Useniov was declared fit for military service and ordered to sign a contract or face prison. However, the singer is unfit to serve in the army due to an undisclosed illness. As well, Useniov is under contract with the state-owned Channel One Russia, which deemed him eligible for a postponement of a draft due to his stardom.

Despite this, on October 21, he learned he would be sent to the Northern Military District.

According to British intelligence, the Russian government is avoiding mass mobilization, which has become unpopular among the public. In response, officials have been recruiting Central Asian immigrants, promising them expedited Russian citizenship and high salaries in exchange for going to fight in Ukraine.

According to Movilizatsya Novosti, the Kolelniki mosque was targeted by OMON because of its many Central Asian parishioners. Similar raids have reportedly taken place in markets and vegetable warehouses across Russia.

You Might Also Like

Notes at the Front
  • August 15, 2023

Notes at the Front

More poignant and brave “last words” of dissenters, and a look at one popular place (again) of exile.
Integration through Education?
  • October 08, 2023

Integration through Education?

Russian President Putin stressed the importance of education in regions newly annexed from Ukraine. But is there a more sinister motive at play?
One Country, Two Wars
  • September 16, 2023

One Country, Two Wars

The Kremlin is currently conducting not one, but two horrific wars.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955