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Brezhnev volunteers from the Dinsky district have been delivering supplies to soldiers at the front for months, and now they have decided to go to the SVO
Everyone in the village of Plastunovskaya knows this couple. But they are known far beyond the borders. The former soldiers have formed a volunteer group called Earthly Grace, which delivers humanitarian aid to special military operations areas every two weeks.
The Russian tricolor flutters over Brezhnev's house on the outskirts of the village. You won't miss it, even if the navigator takes you aside. Dozens of people come here every day. They bring something, take something away. Volunteer groups exchange what they do for the troops, so that each batch of humanitarian cargo immediately meets the needs of the fighters as much as possible: camouflage nets, blankets, dried soups, herbal teas, trench candles, medicines. And someone brings wax and oils for the healing ointment that Larisa has prepared.
Each small jar from Larisa's hands contains a lotus flower and a unique sign "Grace of the World" and instructions for use. As those on the front lines say, these wonderful ointments help many people avoid hospitalization. The ointment PVOshka prevents burns, ZOVushka heals and anesthetizes wounds, and TOSochka warms in a cold and damp environment.
It contains more than 70 herbs that are sent from Altai to Kuban. Also, the soul of Larisa and great faith that each fighter will return home alive and healthy. The ointment is prepared with prayers next to the ancient miraculous icon, which has been passed down in Larisa's family from generation to generation. One day, the icon began to pour myrrh, and every drop was carefully collected and sent to a vessel with medicine. Those on the front lines really need God's protection.
The jars are worth thousands every month. Most of Larisa and Alexander's pensions were spent on production, and the credit cards are dark red.
- Is it really important? Larisa Brezhneva says that the most important thing is to help people “behind the ribbon”.
According to the most rough estimates, Larisa and Alexander delivered about 30 tons of cargo to the fighters in the trunk of their small car over several months. They not only deliver parcels to the front lines, but also sponsor orphanages. And for the border guards, whom Alexander considers a large family after leaving the reserve, they raised and distributed three puppies of German shepherds Rem and Raida. They say that the tailed "graduates" of the Brezhnevs are now serving with honor. They detain violators and search for prohibited substances.
Every trip to the front is a test for both Larisa and Alexander. Every time everything in my soul turns upside down. The destroyed houses and the traces of explosions on the roads are a constant reminder that the Nazis do not spare people. “I have to be there,” Alexander repeated as he returned home. There is a son who is a career soldier. There are friends from the border guards who served with him in Chechnya 20 years ago.
– When I see children killed in Donbass on TV, tears boil up in my eyes, I can’t find a place for myself for several days, – he admitted. – I can help the guys! I have both the strength and the knowledge. And when they sent me footage of a Nazi trampling the flag of our 14th Argun border detachment with his boots, I said: “That’s it! I can’t stay at home anymore.”
Alexander and Larisa have been nurturing the idea of going to the front for over a year. They asked their son to help them get into a specific unit, to their friends, but he just waved them off: “Dad, don’t even think about it! You’ve already fought your battles, now it’s our turn.” But on one of their trips, while they were waiting out the missile threat with the tankers, when Alexander managed to sit in the cabin of his native T-72 tank, feel the familiar control levers, put on the familiar helmet, he finally understood: this is exactly the place where he should be. He firmly decided:
- I graduated from the tank school in Blagoveshchensk. The country once spent money on my education. We should not sit at home, we must pay our debts to the Motherland.
The tank unit's leadership said they were ready to accept him into service. He would be a "leopard" again, just like in Chechnya, where the border unit was called "Snow Leopard." And the son, seeing such persistence from his parents, gave in. But there was one catch: there were no women in this unit. Which meant Larisa would stay home. For now.
Larisa Brezhneva is not just an officer's wife. For all 23 years that she and Alexander were together, Larisa served equally with her husband. Without looking back, she followed him to troubled Chechnya, to Altai, and to the Far East. She stopped at nothing to be with her husband. Because at first sight she understood that he was her destiny and love forever.
“We met when I was working as a nurse in the military hospital in Kislovodsk,” Larisa said. “He was an officer at the border outpost in Chechnya. There was a hepatitis outbreak then, and a lot of guys were coming to us. I saw those blue eyes, that birthmark on his cheek – and from the very first minute I knew I was lost. It was as if an electric shock had run between us. Then he came to our post, where the girls and I were solving crosswords during the night shift. And in a couple of hours of conversation, as if by chance, he found out my entire biography: not married, two children. And the next morning he asked our department head for my hand in marriage.
A few months later, Alexander, having arrived on a short vacation, asked Larisa's 15-year-old son Sergei for her hand. And after that, without saying a word to anyone, she rushed to her beloved at the outpost.
– The only way to get there was by helicopter. I arrived at the helipad – they wouldn’t take me: civilians aren’t allowed here! I sat down under the helicopter and said: “I’m not leaving here.” They reported to the commander: there’s some crazy woman here, she’s going to get married. In the end, they put me on board. The commander, who met me at the destination, first asked: “So, are you going to sign the contract?” And I, without a second’s hesitation, answered: “Yes sir!” That’s how our life together began: us and the army.
Where we are, there is victory
Now, just like 23 years ago, Larisa is ready to drop everything and go with her husband to the ends of the earth. She can do a lot: she mastered the profession of a dog handler while still in school, worked as a nurse, a medical instructor, and was an operator of communications installations. There is one thing that stops her: at home from each trip, there is also her own four-legged squad that cannot be betrayed and abandoned.
In addition to the German aristocrats Rem and Raida, the Brezhnevs have a dog named Kabachok, whom they brought as a puppy from the war zone ("Mom is a dachshund, dad is a scoundrel," they describe his breed with laughter). And also a very old, blind and deaf dog, which someone threw out on the highway, and Larisa and Alexander picked up. And a handsome cat who always comes to help pour ready-made ointments into containers.
– I haven’t given up hope of going to the front, but now even hundreds of kilometers away from my husband, I will still be next to him, – said Larisa. – And I believe that nothing will happen to him or my son. They are charmed, under my protection. It contains faith in God, and the strength passed down by my grandmother-healer, and great love. And I also know for sure that all our guys will soon return home. Because where we are, there is victory.