Give Your Daughter Away, Defend the Motherland

A teenage girl from a single-parent home in Kyachchi, Yakutia, is at risk of being sent to an orphanage after her father received a draft notice. The killer of the girl's mother had signed a military contract with the government to fight in Russia's War on Ukraine after being convicted of murder.

Sergey Yegorov and Masha Achikasova began dating in 2015 when he visited her village, Kyachchi. There, they built a house and a farm together. They married in 2022, shortly before he and many other men in their town were sent to fight in Russia's war on Ukraine. Yegorov had also adopted his wife's daughter, Darina. 

In January 2023, Yegorov was in Russian trenches in Ukraine when he received a call from his wife. She had left him for another man. Guardianship authorities took Darina, who was 15 years old, to an orphanage. Yegorov had to arrange for his daughter to be sent with her grandmother from Ukraine.

On August 16, 2023, Yegorov returned home after being offered leave from the front until September 22. The 48-year-old told Holod, "My daughter and I immediately started looking for [Achikasova]." He also asked the police to help him find her. On September 12, he received a call from authorities. His wife was dead, and he needed to go to Olekminsk to identify the body.

Achikasova was murdered by her partner, Vladislav Kornilov. He shot her once and fired another shot when he heard her gasp. Kornilov covered her body with a blanket and fled to a neighboring village, where he was caught. The murderer was known for his mistreatment and "living off" of his partners, including owing R700,000 ($7,429) in child support to two of his ex-wives. 

Yegorov was recognized as a victim in the case of Achikasova's murder. The investigative committee asked the military enlistment office to allow Yegorov remain in Yakutia while the investigation was underway. His battalion commander asked the single father to send all the requisite documents via WhatsApp. 

In January 2024, the military registration office told Yegorov he had two days to enlist in Yakutsk. He traveled there with his daughter and was arrested for abandoning his unit. Yegorov told Holod, "When they checked all our documents, they were shocked [and] said it was shameful to imprison me." He was released shortly afterward.

Yegorov began fighting to be dismissed from the front. In August 2023, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing soldiers' dismissal for "exceptional circumstances," including family reasons. Yegorov pleaded his case to prosecutors, local officials, and even the president of Yakutia. He was ignored until he released a video message with his story. Alexey Kolodeznikov, a United Russia local deputy, asked the military registration office to demobilize Yegorov. However, Kolodeznikov never said whether his request was accepted.

On June 11, Yegorov received a letter from the local head of guardianship and trustee department, Tatiana Nesmelova. She told the father to "resolve the issue of Darina's life arrangements" and "give your daughter to an orphanage and go defend the motherland" because his dismissal had not been resolved. In April, authorities tried to draft him again, but let him go after seeing his documents.

There are known cases of single fathers struggling to get demobilized. A single father of three was dismissed from duty only after contacting the St. Petersburg governor and human rights commissioner. A single father in Yekaterinburg who has sole custody of his daughter due to his ex-wife's alcoholism was threatened with desertion for not reporting to the front. In May, his case was reevaluated.

Yegorov was summoned to the military registration office for the evaluation of his dismissal case. However, he did not show up. Yegorov told Holod, "I know of many guys that went in, and from there they sent them immediately to Ukraine."

The killer of Yegorov's wife, Kornilov, was sentenced to ten years in prison. However, in June 2024, Yegorov found out that his wife's murderer had been released from punishment and sent to fight in Ukraine. Yegorov said, "To be honest, this is the beginning of chaos in Russia (...)All the guilty are being sent to war. How will they answer for their crimes there?"

Yegorov continues to work on his farm with Darina. Authorities delayed his dismissal case until his daughter's sixteenth birthday, on August 17. Now that she is legally and adult, Yegorov no longer has grounds for dismissal and faces being sent back to the front.