The Prague Post - Russian town buries soldier born under Putin, killed in Ukraine

EUR -
AED 4.303976
AFN 81.441964
ALL 97.724417
AMD 449.756269
ANG 2.097062
AOA 1074.532108
ARS 1467.319002
AUD 1.793664
AWG 2.109223
AZN 2.007504
BAM 1.958274
BBD 2.365789
BDT 142.830437
BGN 1.955834
BHD 0.441678
BIF 3446.235331
BMD 1.17179
BND 1.500996
BOB 8.096228
BRL 6.556157
BSD 1.171981
BTN 100.360786
BWP 15.654777
BYN 3.834544
BYR 22967.090269
BZD 2.353573
CAD 1.604592
CDF 3381.786877
CHF 0.93107
CLF 0.029006
CLP 1113.110977
CNY 8.413747
CNH 8.416905
COP 4712.940666
CRC 590.946541
CUC 1.17179
CUP 31.052443
CVE 110.733745
CZK 24.628631
DJF 208.250341
DKK 7.46078
DOP 70.48331
DZD 152.044871
EGP 58.118102
ERN 17.576855
ETB 159.490077
FJD 2.633306
FKP 0.863336
GBP 0.862264
GEL 3.175215
GGP 0.863336
GHS 12.176313
GIP 0.863336
GMD 83.782479
GNF 10143.017355
GTQ 9.005376
GYD 245.029545
HKD 9.197904
HNL 30.876537
HRK 7.532502
HTG 153.784275
HUF 399.797296
IDR 19039.249117
ILS 3.888528
IMP 0.863336
INR 100.455709
IQD 1535.045319
IRR 49361.666877
ISK 143.40402
JEP 0.863336
JMD 187.306624
JOD 0.830825
JPY 171.514723
KES 151.742248
KGS 102.473037
KHR 4711.768848
KMF 493.324088
KPW 1054.585525
KRW 1610.122236
KWD 0.357783
KYD 0.976434
KZT 607.637627
LAK 25240.363919
LBP 104992.412278
LKR 352.255003
LRD 234.941473
LSL 20.846005
LTL 3.459992
LVL 0.708804
LYD 6.329253
MAD 10.551939
MDL 19.860089
MGA 5191.031139
MKD 61.507957
MMK 2460.182431
MNT 4205.038884
MOP 9.474069
MRU 46.525908
MUR 52.972553
MVR 18.042664
MWK 2034.81537
MXN 21.838129
MYR 4.980692
MZN 74.947358
NAD 20.845642
NGN 1797.127848
NIO 43.063088
NOK 11.836558
NPR 160.576856
NZD 1.952268
OMR 0.450555
PAB 1.17168
PEN 4.153409
PGK 4.848848
PHP 66.335527
PKR 333.081322
PLN 4.246852
PYG 9081.472602
QAR 4.266021
RON 5.077134
RSD 117.19662
RUB 91.646306
RWF 1680.347319
SAR 4.395227
SBD 9.769127
SCR 16.535124
SDG 703.660427
SEK 11.142801
SGD 1.50036
SHP 0.920843
SLE 26.368938
SLL 24571.861406
SOS 669.677436
SRD 43.649776
STD 24253.693785
SVC 10.251951
SYP 15235.769903
SZL 20.846096
THB 38.293909
TJS 11.336221
TMT 4.112984
TND 3.40394
TOP 2.744453
TRY 46.921414
TTD 7.956051
TWD 34.240841
TZS 3078.883475
UAH 48.97497
UGX 4206.313826
USD 1.17179
UYU 47.39988
UZS 14875.878317
VES 131.577763
VND 30629.42717
VUV 139.799183
WST 3.226363
XAF 656.786717
XAG 0.032209
XAU 0.000354
XCD 3.166822
XDR 0.815664
XOF 654.420316
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.397416
ZAR 20.8927
ZMK 10547.504558
ZMW 28.502007
ZWL 377.316005
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Russian town buries soldier born under Putin, killed in Ukraine
Russian town buries soldier born under Putin, killed in Ukraine

Russian town buries soldier born under Putin, killed in Ukraine

A baby-faced 20-year-old, Nikita Avrov was killed in Ukraine while serving as a gunner on a Russian tank.

Text size:

At his funeral on Tuesday, those giving eulogies leave no room for doubt: the private died for a good cause, for his Russian fatherland.

In front of his family's house in the small town of Luga, 150 kilometres (93 miles) south of Saint Petersburg, Avrov's casket is briefly put on display, surrounded by funeral wreaths, while the flag of his motorised infantry division flies alongside.

Around 60 people file past to pay their final respects to a soldier who was born after Russian President Vladimir Putin took power in 2000.

Mourners also hold a ceremony at a war memorial where an Eternal Flame burns beside monuments to Soviet soldiers killed in World War II and Afghanistan.

Five fur-hatted soldiers and their commanding officer carry the coffin to the cemetery to the mournful sound of a brass band and fire their guns into the air.

In this town of 30,000 people, there is little sense of the bloody military operation in neighbouring Ukraine, launched by Russian troops on February 24, to fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces depicted by Moscow as hordes of neo-Nazis.

Some cars bear stickers with the letter Z, which has come to symbolise patriotic backing for the Russian operation.

According to the local authorities, Avrov was a gunner: loading the weapons of an assault tank.

He died in late March in Izyum, a small town in eastern Ukraine that was taken by Russian troops, strategically located between the cities of Kharkiv and Slavyansk.

- 'Forces of evil' -

Whether officials, military or clergy, those who speak at the memorial ceremony frame his death as a patriotic sacrifice.

"Fighting neo-Nazis and nationalists in Ukraine, he died for our motherland, for peace for each of us," says Alexei Golubev, a municipal official, as the dead man posthumously receives a bravery medal.

"When Russia shows weakness, some impure people try to bring it to its knees... But they won't manage it!", says Sergei Nikitin, a colonel.

His speech echoes Moscow's official rhetoric: that the West took advantage of Russia's weakness after the breakup of the USSR and brought Ukraine under its sway.

In a nearby Russian Orthodox church, a priest makes similar patriotic points.

"Nikita wasn't afraid of the forces of evil. He defended us so that we could have peaceful skies," says Father Nikolai, as some 200 people gather to listen to the eulogy.

Standing outside are two former classmates of Avrov, who give their names as Sergei and Anton.

"Nikita was a soldier and died in combat. That's a heroic deed," says Sergei.

"We have to defend our country. It's true that it's the best ones who die," adds Anton.

- 'No justification' -

A mournful mood about such deaths prevails among women present.

The exact numbers of Russian troops killed in Ukraine are not known, while a Kremlin spokesman last week acknowledged they are "significant". Russia last gave a figure of 1,351 deaths, on March 25.

"It's very painful; it's very scary when they die so young," says Anna Korolyova, a 59-year-old neighbour, carrying two carnations.

Russians choose their words carefully, since they face potential jail terms if they are found guilty of making "fake" statements about the military's activities in Ukraine.

At the cemetery, another woman, 48-year-old Svetlana, who prefers not to give her surname, expresses bemusement.

"It's terrifying to even imagine what the mother feels. You wouldn't wish that on your enemy. What grief. What are these horrors happening, that mothers are losing children? This can have no justification," she says.

A.Slezak--TPP