Committee of Soldiers' Mothers

“Dear Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers,” the letter begins. “I want to tell you my story.” From the Russian countryside near Lipetsk, a woman pleads for help for her soldier son. 18-year-old Andrei had already been taken prisoner once as he fought in the Russian army against Chechen separatists. Using money donated by her neighbors, the boy’s mother made the difficult and dangerous journey to the Chechen village of Shali, where she told her son’s Chechen captors, “I will not leave here, I will die here, better to kill me than to send me away without my son.” Eventually the Chechens agreed to free Andrei, on condition that his mother view the corpses of Russian soldiers littering Chechen soil. Back in Russia, Andrei was allowed a month’s psychological counseling and temporarily assigned to non-combat service. Now, the Russian military is ordering him back to Chechnya.

“I want to help these mothers so much, and I don’t even know how,” says Maria Kirbasova, 54-year-old chair of Russia’s Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers. “It torments me. I collect information, I shout about it, and nothing happens.”

Kirbasova is being modest. The Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers, which was recently nominated by a group of German parliamentarians for the Nobel Peace Prize, has a history of making things happen. Founded in 1985 during the heyday of perestroika, the Committee’s accomplishments range from winning health insurance for Russian soldiers to providing legal and medical advice to soldiers’ families. Staff members answer queries to the Committee’s telephone line from 9 a.m. until late at night. Draftees, soldiers, deserters, and their anxious mothers line up outside the Committee’s office in Moscow for advice and counseling. Every Monday evening, the Committee offers classes that teach mothers and soldiers about their rights.