December 19, 2023

Pacifist Violist: Life with an Ankle Bracelet


Pacifist Violist: Life with an Ankle Bracelet
"If music be the food of love..." Wikimedia Commons, Frinck51.

Anna Chagina of Tomsk lives for music. The musician plays the viola and transmitted her love for the arts to her young students in Tomsk. But everything changed on November 30, 2022, after the police raided her home in response to her anti-war posts on VKontakte.

Now Chagina lives under a curfew, is cut off from the internet, unable to send correspondence and attend public events, and sports an ankle bracelet.

The Beatles, Tchaikovsky, and Vivaldi were constantly playing in Chagina's childhood home. She grew up watching her father and mother riffing on their guitars. Her school teachers admired her talent on the violin. After a hiatus from music during university, Chagina returned to a music college shortly after graduating. Her skills on the violin had diminished during her time away, so she picked up the viola.

Chagina identifies as an Orthodox Christian Pacifist. In 1988, she posted pamphlets protesting NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia. She attended her first protest in 2014, after Russia illegally annexed Crimea. When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it was the last straw. "I had been letting too much pass before my ears and eyes," she said. "But when the war began, it was too obvious."

On March 6, 2022, Chagina was detained at an anti-war rally while carrying a sign that read, "Blessed [are the] peacemakers," a nod to the Christian Beatitudes. She then turned to VKontakte to express her anti-war views. In response, the Prosecutor General's office blocked her page in September 2022 and opened an investigation into her actions.

On November 29, Chagina celebrated her birthday. Then, at 6 AM the next day, there was a knock at the door. Seven policemen were on the other side.

"I was in a cheerful mood, so I asked everyone to take off their shoes," Chagina said. "After they started the search, I realized I couldn't just sit there." So she picked up her guitar and sang a mix of her own songs, children's music, and pieces by Bulat Okudzhava and Boris Grebenshchikov during the two hours police spent searching her apartment. When the search was completed Chagina and her daughter Marina, who the next day developed symptoms of pneumonia, were detained. No one knew where the women were for several hours.

The interrogation went well at first. Then, the investigator, Islam Nabiev, said, "[You] don't like Russians." Chagina was speechless. The musician later discovered who denounced her. A senior lieutenant, Pavel Kudasov, and an unemployed man, Pavel Kytmanov, testified that they saw Chagina's anti-war posts.

Despite ongoing court hearings and her visible ankle bracelet, Chagina's community continues to support her. Her friends keep in contact. When she was fined R200,000 ($2200), Tomsk residents collected the sum in two days to help her pay. But, she said, "I won't be able to officially do what I love: teaching music to children."

In August 2023, Chagina was fined again R150,000 ($1600) and banned from posting on the internet for two years.

You Might Also Like

A QR Crackdown
  • December 14, 2023

A QR Crackdown

Moscow bans QR codes on billboards in response to the Russian political opposition.
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.
A Video Song-Apology
  • August 16, 2023

A Video Song-Apology

Three waterpark employees in Crimea were fined and forced to sing "Vladimir Putin is Great" after dancing to a Ukrainian song.
Street Musicians Killed by Missile
  • August 17, 2023

Street Musicians Killed by Missile

Two musicians were performing on the streets of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. An hour later, a Russian missile strike killed them.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

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. 

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices
May 01, 2013

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

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