Alexey Voronin is 25 years old. He lives in Gorokhovets. Didn’t finish college and dropped out. And he joined the army.
Why study? When you can just go and do what you are… told to do! Not a step to the left, not a step to the right — everything must be done according to orders. Simple life!
“The main advantage is that you can retire at 40 and not work until you die,” tells Voronin. “My mother and I had lived very poorly,” he explains.
Voronin served in the army for 2 years — and then, Putin launched the “special military operation.”
Voronin was ready to go to the front — not that he was given a choice, but he accepted he had to go. He explained to his mother that he needed to pay off his debts. “I decided, I’ll take a risk, maybe I’ll get lucky.”
But as soon as they were brought to the front line, he almost immediately stepped on a mine — as a result, he lost part of his foot.
“It’s good that he stepped on the mine. He stayed alive,” says Voronin’s mother. “He’s a calm boy, no aggression… He likes to shoot.”
Voronin now works at the military enlistment office, he’s still in the army, but as a clerk. He now sends other Russian men to the front to die. He was the only one from his platoon who survived, the rest of his comrades were killed.
Voronin received 4 million rubles (USD $40,000) for his injury and other combat-related payments. With this money he was able to buy an apartment in his town and a good computer. There was not enough money left to buy a car, so he bought a bicycle.
He now receives a disability pension and veteran’s benefits (about 19,000 rubles per month in total — $190) in addition to his salary.
Altogether, he’s probably getting about 50,000 rubles a month ($500) — that’s not bad money for his town of 12,000 inhabitants. Most people earn about 25,000–30,000 rubles monthly ($250–350).
Voronin says he doesn’t regret anything: “If I stayed at home, I would also have to work hard, sweating for pennies… but now I have everything I dreamed of.”
And that’s why Russians are dying for Putin. They, too, want to make their dreams come true — and so what that you have to kill innocent people and destroy their homes? Putin says it’s okay and even a good thing.