“I’ve knocked about all the country through seeking out for you”

There are missing people. Our son is on these lists. He is a conscript navy soldier. We couldn’t manage to contact him, because the phone was taken away in March. They were not allowed to call anyone and say where they were. In the middle of March, he contacted us with someone else's phone. He just asked for money quickly, quickly. He said that everything was fine, but they were not allowed to call from there anymore.

They looked for him in clinics, in three hospitals, but he’s not on the lists”.

Olga, Nikita's mother, told “Novaya Gazeta. Europe" the story of her son.

According to her, back in the spring and summer of 2021, Nikita studied at a technical school. In June, he was supposed to have exams, but an order came from the local military registration and enlistment office not to beat around the bush.

Nikita was enrolled into the army on June 18th, 2021. “He said: exam is on 16th, and on the 18th — off we go”, — the mother conveys her son’s words. He was sent to the military registration and enlistment office right from the technical school, and “under false pretenses they give a piece of paper that says that the boy allegedly received a subpoena to the army,” says Olga. “They didn’t even send out these subpoenas so as not to waste time,” she said.

He signed up for the amphibious assault forces. That shocked me, naturally. So, they are taken away, contact with him has been lost for four, five, six days. No contact. A week, two weeks, three weeks. There is no contact with my child, I cannot find him.

She started to reach out for the military registration and enlistment office. They didn't give any information. Then I yelled at them: “You took my child, a person, and mean to say that you have no information where they sent him? Are you kidding me?" I yelled at them.

Some woman told me: “Well, write it down. Vaenga Station”. I started to look for this Vaenga Station. But they didn’t give me any phone numbers and told me to look for it on the internet myself. So, I began to search.

I got through to some military registration and enlistment office (Vaenga station is somewhere close to Severomorsk), a man gave me a phone number, then with this number I got through to the fleet headquarters. With some help, I found a military branch of my son, and they told me that they would find him. About 15 minutes after this conversation, I called back, and they told me, "I think it's your son sitting in front of me."

He answered my call. I tell him: “I’ve knocked about all the country through seeking out for you”. And he says: “We arrived, there were not enough sockets to charge the phone, and everyone rushed to recharge station. Should I fight? So, I didn’t manage [to charge the phone].”

Then he says: “And they sent me to the navy, to the warship. He says that those who have signed up for amphibious assault forces are sent to the ships.

I have no idea how they were worked on and what arguments were given to them. As I understand it, they were told that it was prestigious, fabby, cool. Then he gets into the training unit, they are sent from Severomorsk to Severodvinsk, and it turns out that he spends half a year in this training unit until November. In November, he goes to the Black Sea Fleet. Well, then he said that as a result of the assignment he got to “Moskva”. According to him, he worked on the Moskva warship in the engine room, where fuel and oil are monitored.

The name of Syromyasov Nikita Alekseevich is mentioned in the report on the results of self-examination of students of school No. 14 in the city of Sysert, where he participated in a tourist gathering. Judging by these data, in 2015 Nikita was in the 8th grade of the school.

About conscripts on the warship "Moskva"

Nikita Syromyasov is not the only conscript who could be on the warship Moskva. A day before “Novaya Gazeta. Europe” spoke with the mother of a conscript sailor who had been called up for service shortly before the war in Ukraine started. He survived and contacted his mother the day after the sinking of the cruiser. According to the woman, “about 40 people died”, many were injured.

“The Agency” reported another missing conscript sailor: VKontakte user Ulyana Tarasova stated that her son Mark went missing after the sinking of the Moskva warship. Journalists also found the profile of Mark Tarasov on Instagram. On December 15th, he posted a photo in the uniform of a conscript sailor and signed it “See you in a year!”. A friend of the sailor confirmed that he had gone into the army.

Earlier, Radio Station “Liberty” found another message about the disappearance of a conscript from Moscow. Dmitry Shkrebev wrote in VKontakte that his son Egor had been called up for military service in 2021 and after a basic military training he started the service on the warship Moskva.