INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
a city of 235,000 people in the republic of Karelia.Inside the coffin lay the body of 19-year-old Russian soldier Kirill Chistyakov, one of
the first to be sent by the Kremlin to invade Ukraine in 2022.Relatives, friends and local officials gathered to pay tribute to Chistyakov,
Yet even in the face of their loss, few families of slain soldiers have publicly questioned the war.Irina Chistyakova, the soldier's mother,
to bid farewell to Chistyakov were also crying and carrying carnations traditionally placed on graves.Moscow Times ReporterChistyakov was
buried at the Honorary Sulazhgory Cemetery among other Russian servicemen and Wagner mercenary fighters who died in the war."It's painful
find her son for two years after he went missing in action in the Kharkiv region village of Mala Rohan
public information on how Chistyakov died, Mala Rohan became a site of heavy fighting and Ukraine regained control of the village at the end
of March.Human rights organizations that month urged an investigation into allegations of apparent abuse by Ukrainian forces against
captured Russian fighters that reportedly took place in Mala Rohan.Moscow Times ReporterSince his childhood, Chistyakov had dreamed of
army as a conscript, fulfilling the compulsory service for military-eligible men
He had in fact signed a military contract in November of that year, his mother said, hardly expecting that he would be sent to the
battlefield in three months.Shortly before the invasion, he told his family that he and his comrades were being sent to military drills in
invasion from a Ukrainian phone number.Since then, Chistyakova had to search for her son both in Russian morgues and in Ukrainian captivity
She even contacted Ukrainian mothers and the Ukrainian Red Cross in search of any information she could get.Moscow Times ReporterChistyakova
spoke out about Kirill's disappearance in the media, urging the authorities to act and even appealed to President Vladimir Putin, becoming
she said in her appeal.As part of her quest for answers, she also sifted through numerous photos of deceased soldiers and visited a military
morgue in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, helping other families to find their missing relatives.Eventually, she spoke with a
released Russian prisoner of war who claimed that her son was being held captive in Ukraine
despite her criticism of the Russian military and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for their apparent lack of help in finding her son,
Chistyakova does not seem to question why the Kremlin started the war
are bidding farewell to a serviceman of the Russian army, Kirill Alexeievich Chistyakov, who died in the zone of the special military
referring to the Moscow-occupied territories of Ukraine and repeating the Kremlin's unbacked claim that Ukraine is run by Nazis.Moscow Times
ReporterChistyakov was also posthumously awarded the Order of Courage, a state decoration awarded to people who have shown dedication,
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