One day this man was staring at me and with his eyes getting round and asked me “Aren’t you afraid to go there?” “There” means to Lugansk, and as many others who left “for two-three” weeks, I had to go back at the beginning of Autumn last year. Why? Simply to get worm clothes as those 2-3 weeks became 2 months. There was a winter ahead and Minks-1 just happened, so it got quiet in Lugansk.

At that point I didn’t understand the question, why would I be afraid if there were no shelling? “But what about armed men in the streets?” he asked me. To be honest in those three days that I spent in the city I only saw couple of vehicles, one had anti-aircraft gun and another one had aggressive militant coloring. I also saw couple of “great” warriors who were not armed. So that’s all. And I remember he honestly told me “I wouldn’t go, I would be afraid.” When grown up 50 y.o. man who saw a lot in his life honestly tells that that he is afraid of something, that kind of confession is much more respected than bravado based on something or based on nothing.

So he didn’t go, because of ideological reasons mostly, he really didn’t like those who came to power in our city, so he was trying to stay away from “young and dynamically developing republic”. But destiny got interesting plans for him and it made him forget about danger. Things that we would be afraid to do for ourselves we do for those who we really love without hesitation. It happened that to get his daughter to the “Promised Land” the representatives of Israel consulate needed solid proof of her origin.

Everybody knows that Jewish society is extremely sensitive about origin and they need the proof that nobody can doubt it. And to get that evidence he needed to get to the place where that evidence was, in our case that was in Lugansk. So he had to go. He went as he thought using the safest route via Russian Federation entering via border checkpoint in Izvarine. That was a hard way, many hours in a bus, summer, hot, 3 customs, Ukrainian, Russian and Russian again. That was hard, tiring, but tolerable.

But when he got to “republican security service” his tiredness was gone in a blink of an eye. If his registration was not from Lugansk (he’s been living in Kiev for last 10 years already) it’s hard to imagine what would happen after interrogation at “republican customs”. That was famous Lugansk style conversation with bulling. Drunk “security service officer” was questioning my friend for a long time about what he was doing in the last few years of his life. Looked like he was looking for a candidate to through into a “basement” or to send him to dig trenches. Well… you need to be on alert during a wartime. Suddenly somebody called for interrogator and he forgot about his vigilance and returned passport to my friend and disappeared. My friend got out there even faster that the “security service officer”, jumped in a bas and got to Lugansk so fast that he forgot about heat. For him it looked fast as the road was broken and they were going quite slow and on the way to Lugansk he didn’t see any single car, nothing in the direction they were going or back.

They arrived Lugansk at 1:30 am. A lot of taxi drivers rushed to offer their services, you know those kind of taxi drivers. But their offer is like an offer from Don Corleone that you can’t decline. I will explain what it means in more details.

Taxi driver: So, let’s go, 100 UAH from each person.

My friend: I live nearby, I can just walk. (He really lived nearby and could walk to the crossroad of Oboronna st. and Radyanska st.)

Taxi driver: I can tell you where you would get walking, till the 1st patrol. You will be detained for violation of curfew. And tomorrow morning while it’s still cool you will be sent to dig trenches!

My friend:… How? Who? Why?

Taxi driver: So, let’s go or you came to dig trenches?

You can’t decline such offer, so 6 people got in one car. My friends starts to talk to taxi driver saying that he’s got good business making 600 UAH in one trip.

Taxi driver: I am making money not for myself.

My friend: And for whom?

Taxi driver: For who needs!

Lost interest to talk for some time. They were driving for couple of minutes quiet, some of the passengers asks “And how do you pass by patrol yourself?”

Taxi driver: I know the password.

And after some time there is patrol, the car was stopped, the driver told something like “I am from Dobroslav”, the patrol let him go without even coming close to the car. After some time he finally got home, fall asleep and got up in the morning rushing to collect solid proof for meticulous Israel officials.

Lately only deaf-mute wasn’t talking about how clean Luganks can be. I am just surprised why I never saw that in the last 40 years. But for some reason the war, shelling and riots provoked that. It would be good if this tradition remains after the war. So after walking around absolutely clean Lugansk compared to Kiev, my friend got to the government office that he needed and received all statements and certificates. All “government offices” work like a clock, but have short work day till 12.00-13.00. Many in “continental” Ukraine could envy those “republican government offices”, but that was the only reason to envy them, the rest was unclear and pretty unenviable.

And suddenly there was a little delay, there was a document that needed to be stamped, and “republican” stamp on “solid proof” for Israel consulate that’s…. well… LPRstampturnssolidproofintounsubstantiatedclaim. But local officials were experienced people and they saved previous (I have no doubts about that) and future Ukrainian stamp, because everybody understand everything very clear.

The correct document with all valid stamps was received and no Israel official would be able to say anything against it. It’s time to walk around unbelievably clean city of your childhood and youth and see that happened to it and think about how it was possible. But there was no desire to walk around at all. The streets were empty by 4pm, no people in cafes except ones in camouflage. Other people just had no money for such luxury. Andit was depressing to see the city where 500,000 people used to live as now it looked like it was abandoned by them. Even cleanliness couldn’t save from that feeling…

And here is what my friend who had a chance to look at the city from the outside told me:

• Tell me, Sergey (I changed the name of my friend to be politically correct), all of them want to go back to USSR so much, does it look like Soviet Union?
• No, doesn’t look like USSR at all, it looks exactly like it was in 90-ies.

I see creepy irony of the destiny in this. Those people are nostalgic for the “golden era” of USSR of the 70-ies or first half of 80-ies. And they hate 90-ies, and trying to rebuild 1977 they get and will always get 1992, but with anti-aircraft guns and grenade launchers.

George Sushchenko for Informator.lg.ua