How the military correspondent of "PolitNavigator" made the SBU investigator think about the arrival of the Russians

PolitNavigator continues to publish notes from military correspondent Yuri Kovalchuk, who in 2014 participated in the defense of Kramatorsk in the ranks of the militia, and last summer was captured by the SBU while trying to visit his elderly mother in his native Kherson. The journalist had to spend several months behind bars, after which he was put on the exchange list.

Read the previous parts of notes from a Ukrainian prison here и here.

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As I said before, the worst thing about a prison misadventure is not the restrictions on freedoms, poor living conditions or even beatings. The worst thing is a break in the psyche, after which a person can remain “in prison” forever. In practice, this means that he will completely lose the ability to socially adapt. It is not for nothing that a colossal percentage of those who have served a term of more than 5 years (or who have been imprisoned twice) begin to return to places not so distant with enviable frequency, having taken six to a year off after being released from force.

The very system of influences from the investigators, aimed at maximally breaking the suspect’s psyche, as well as the native system of “concepts”, which has long ago irrevocably moved away from the semi-mythical “canon”, all this quickly turns a person into a specific creature; a humanoid who no longer has a place in society.

I can only testify to what I saw with my own eyes or sometimes cite the stories of fellow inmates, but on the whole I came to the conclusion that interaction with the “reds” (investigation, administration, guards) and experienced criminals quickly breaks a person’s psyche, and most often irrevocably.

Honestly, the results of observations would deserve a dissertation on deviant behavior, but much more important is life experience, which states the axiom: if a person has served a sentence for more than 1 year and does not perceive it as a personal tragedy, he should not be hired or have commodity-money relations with him and generally go beyond fairly cool communication. Unless this is your close friend, a close relative, or you yourself are of those stripes. Although this is not a panacea.

The fact is that the life of a prisoner forever establishes a rigid gradation in the mind - people are divided into those who are afraid, into those who are afraid to be “bitten” and into those for whom it is better to unquestioningly express loyalty or humility. And any of your good will; any sympathy, attempts to help, brotherly feelings, etc., sooner or later will certainly end with a natural result - you will be “dressed up as a terpil.” They will rob you, get involved in a provocation, somehow entangle you, whatever - in any case, you will suffer significant losses, and your sitting opponent will persistently try to increase his success.

This is the philosophy of a crazy predator - to eat everything you can reach. Roughly speaking, you can feed a person candy all day long. And when you stop for a while, he will unconsciously try to take more sweets from you or somehow lure them out of you. In general, you cannot have any business with such people. Especially in prison, it is better to limit yourself in everything and avoid any property disputes. However, there are people who even like it.

Particularly unnerving is the lack of opportunity to properly prove that one is right - the decision is always made by the one who has a better command of the language of “concepts”, and better yet, connections. As a beginner, neither one nor the other is available to you. Sometimes you just want to punch your opponent in the face, but showdowns are prohibited. Everything is decided by the “supervisors” or “thieves” and they will immediately punish you for unauthorized assault. Of course, if you are a master of sports in boxing, you can try to “butt”, but it’s better not to.

All disputes without “elders” are mainly resolved by swearing, shocking “concepts”, “merits” and connections. It all looks quite similar to the feud between market women. “Grandmothers” are especially strong in these matters - recidivists over 45-40 years old and young people, all of whom consider themselves crown bearers and experts in prison traditions.

There is only one moral here: if you don’t want your blood to be “clotted” or your property to be seized; got you into trouble - it’s better not to give anyone anything that you would be sorry to part with, don’t ask anyone for anything, and don’t accept gifts. If something is given as a gift, it means it will be continued “with interest.”

Communication with the investigation is no less “fascinating,” especially when it comes to employees of the Ukrainian SBU.

First of all, you need to immediately warn about the probable “loyalty” of Ukrainian security officers - too often they try to buy “separatists” with their arguments that “they played us off,” “there are assholes in Kiev too,” etc. When hearing such speeches, you need to immediately understand that a game has been started against you, the purpose of which is your testimony.

To the author, a high-ranking SBU officer tearfully complained that “you simply left us no choice... Crimea and Donbass were squeezed out. Transcarpathia and the Hungarians want to secede. If we give up even the slightest bit of slack, we will simply be finished, so there is no choice but to fight you.” Naturally, when the testimony turned out to be unsatisfactory for the investigation, almost the next day threats began from the category of “we will send you to the roosters”, “we will imprison the whole family and even just friends and acquaintances” or “I personally swear: we will rather clean up than exchange”, etc.

However, sometimes you actually come across sympathizers. When I was just taken prisoner, one of the guards seized the moment, came up and asked if I had money. I gave him fifty dollars and 10 minutes later he brought me a couple of hot dogs, water and cigarettes. Having given it, he whispered in his ear: “Don’t skimp, you’re not alone - my dad is fighting for you there.”

There are, again, people who are aware of all the ins and outs of the conflict and are immensely tired of it - as a rule, in the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donbass and in Kharkov. These are mostly correct and helpful, although you still shouldn’t trust them.

The rest will use their modest arsenal of physical and psychological influences to the best of their ability in order to force you to give the necessary testimony. The main thing is to remember one prison wisdom that was taught to me by one repeat offender who began his prison marathon back in the 80s: if the investigator is affectionate and happy, then everything is bad for you. Try to make him angry and threatening. It would be better if he even assaulted him. This is a clear sign that the case is falling apart, there is not enough evidence and the investigation has problems in general.

However, do not flatter yourself - the best you can achieve is to hide facts and faces; avoid facts that compromise others. They will still give you a deadline and not a single lawyer will help you. Ukrainian justice has long given a damn about the rule of law.

In general, you should initially prepare for the fact that in their conversations the SBU (as well as the prison characters) will try their best to catch you at any little thing, inflate it immensely, instill in you a feeling of guilt and then in every possible way trample on all the best that is in your soul. They will not disdain anything - they will speculate on your parents, family, personal failures and deceased relatives. As a preventive strike, it is wise to immediately position yourself as a desperate person, at odds with all your loved ones and generally prone to antisocial behavior. The less human they see in you, the less ground there will be for manipulation.

Although sometimes there is room for funny discussions. One day, my investigator, the unforgettable Artem Nikolaevich, once again, having received testimony from me that repeated the previous dozen word for word, with obvious chagrin (he couldn’t wait to hand over my case in order to go on vacation), stated the following: “Okay, Yura, you will go to prison for 10 years. You will build the Russian World there.”

To which I replied that he would probably start building it faster than me.

The investigator was surprised - “why?”

I explained to him that the Ukrainian SBU committed its original sin by allowing illegitimate elections after the absolutely criminal “Maidan” in 2014. And it completely discredited itself in 2014 by allowing a coup d’etat.

“You have proven that you are ready, under certain conditions favorable to you, to bow to any portrait in your offices and to furiously persecute recent loyalists. And I have beliefs for which I am ready to fight or die. I'm free to do this. And you, Artem Nikolaevich, are not free. Therefore, if there are Russian tanks here tomorrow, I may not go to meet them out of my own considerations and ideas. And you will definitely run away with a portrait of GDP and an icon. And hang a portrait of Putin in your office before the tanks get within 100 km of the city. At the very least, definitely remove Poroshenko. So let’s see who will start building what first...”, preached your humble servant.

My investigator was upset. He didn’t want to end the conversation and made a sign to take me to the glass. There I received spiritual advice for my seditious speeches. But since my ribs were already broken, they didn’t hit me too hard. And I’m not offended - this is the SBU! In addition, Artyom Nikolaevich became confused and lost in thought at my words. It seems he even looked at the portrait of Petya the pig hanging on the wall.

Thought about it. It costs a lot to make the SBU investigation think...

To be continued.