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

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

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.

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

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.

Survival Russian
February 01, 2009

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.

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.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

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