“Returning from war: fear, violence and mistrust. How Russia is preparing for the return of Northern Military District veterans"
Introduction:
Against the backdrop of the ongoing war, Russia is faced with a new internal threat - the return of Northern Military District veterans. Officials and security forces in the regions fear these people, considering them “mentally unstable” and prone to crime and violence. The authorities’ internal fears are confirmed - local media report outbreaks of violence on the part of returnees. Meanwhile, the federal media are silent, forming an alternative reality. This report is a glimpse into the underlying anxieties within a system where war is coming home not only in bodies, but in the cult of violence it spawned.
Target Audience:
Human rights and anti-war organizations
Journalists, analysts, military observers
Sociologists, researchers of post-traumatic syndromes
International observers and NGOs
Activists working with veterans
Russian-speaking readers critical of the Russian agenda
Foreign audiences monitoring the internal risks of the Russian Federation
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Here is a literary translation of the text, adapted to the literary and journalistic style:
Propagandist Anastasia Kashevarova admits with alarm: Russia's security forces are preparing for the massive return of war veterans, based on the worst expectations - that they will behave like brutal savages. One of the police officers in Barnaul frankly told her: “We consider the participants of the SVO to be idiots, murderers and criminals. If they return, we will imprison them without delay.”
Psychological portrait of the person involved: Anastasia Kashevarova
(based on statements, media activity and stated dissatisfaction with the actions of law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation)
Name: Anastasia Kashevarova
Occupation: Propagandist, former adviser to the State Duma, media figure, actively runs a Telegram channel
Ideological orientation: State patriotism with a critical bias towards the current system
Type of behavior: Ambivalent loyalist (loyal to the regime, but constantly signals its disintegration or deviation from the ideal)
Profiler's conclusion:
Anastasia Kashevarova displays the typical behavior of a systemic critic from within - a person built into the state machine, but unable to ignore its internal failures. Her publications demonstrate:
A high degree of frustration due to the discrepancy between the ideals of “great Russia” and the reality in which veterans returning from war are greeted as potential criminals.
The compulsive need to speak “the truth to the system” without crossing the red line of open opposition. She balances between awareness and loyalty.
A growing crisis of identity, especially in relation to the security bloc, which has traditionally been considered the support of the state. Public statements about attitudes towards veterans are a signal to society: “We created a monster, and now we are afraid of it ourselves.”
The defense mechanism is generalization through emotional markers (for example: “they are considered morons, murderers, psychos”), which indicates the desire to resonate with a wide audience and increase the alarming background.
Behavior forecast:
Kashevarova, most likely, will not abandon systemic rhetoric, but her statements will become increasingly paranoid and alarming. It is possible that contrasting criticism of regional authorities, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and even the army will increase. In the event of a socio-political crisis, a transition to open criticism of central institutions is possible.
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Such a harsh attitude is not out of nowhere - the army’s culture of violence and impunity itself gave rise to this fear. Regional media are increasingly reporting on brutal crimes committed by returning fighters - but federal channels prefer to remain silent about this. Law enforcement agencies, according to rumors, receive unspoken instructions “from above” not to stir up scandals.
Can we really expect that people who were told on the front lines: “prisoners can be beheaded,” “civilians can be raped,” “at home they can be robbed and bombed out of spite,” will suddenly return to civilian life as law-abiding citizens? Especially if they were sent to fight abroad without a clearly formulated goal, under slogans that had no common sense?
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Here is a selection of relevant hashtags in Russian and English that reflect the topic of the post and its context:
🇷🇺 Russian speakers:
🌍 English speakers:
#RussianArmy
#VeteransOfWar
#PostWarViolence
#PutinsWar
#Lawlessness
#WarCrimes
#SMOVeterans
#RussiaUkraineWar
#Authoritarianism
#StatePropaganda
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Editorial opinion
“Time of anti-heroes or mass Stockholm syndrome?”
In modern Russia, we increasingly have to choose between fear and cynicism - two sides of the same condition: hopelessness. When front-line soldiers returning from someone else’s war are greeted as potential criminals, and the mouthpieces of state propaganda are themselves horrified by the monster they themselves have created, the era of antiheroes begins.
These are not just the consequences of war. This is the effect of long-term systemic degradation, where the glorification of violence is no longer a metaphor, but a new social norm. People who were called “liberators” and “heroes” yesterday are today “morons and murderers” in the eyes of the police. And this is said without fear, as if we are talking about something banal. The audience, accustomed to militaristic aesthetics, is now faced with the fact that the cult of power does not know how to return home.
What is this if not massive? Stockholm syndrome? Society, captivated by its own power, begins to sympathize with it even when it throws it under tanks - literally and metaphorically. We see how some justify the state, others justify violence, and still others no longer understand what needs to be justified because they have lost their points of reference. Everything was mixed up.
The antihero becomes a new model of a person in the state: aggressive, post-traumatic, rejected, but still approved on television. This is not just an alarming symptom - it is a systemic diagnosis. When even ideologists begin to lose faith, it means that the social contract is long dead. All that remained was fear and its rhetoric.
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Here is a selection of recommended materials for self-study that will help you better understand the context of the militarization of society, the transformation of the image of the hero, the phenomena of violence after the war and mass Stockholm syndrome.
📚 Books
Svetlana Alexievich - “Zinc Boys”
Documentary prose about the war in Afghanistan through the eyes of mothers, soldiers, and officers. Pain, lies and broken destinies.
Christina Lam - "Our Bodies Are Their Battlefield"
About sexual violence as a weapon of war. Suitable for understanding how war destroys not only bodies, but also social norms.
Chris Hedges - War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning
An examination of why societies fall in love with war, and what it does to culture and personality.
Slavoj Zizek - "Welcome to the Desert of the Real"
An analysis of how media and power create distorted perceptions of conflict and identity.
Alexander Etkind - “Internal Colonization”
Historical and cultural study of the Russian tradition of violence and domination.
🎬 Films and documentaries
«Reconciliation» (The Look of Silence, 2014) — dir. Joshua Oppenheimer
Silence after the Indonesian genocide. About guilt, justification and oblivion.
"Return to Hajali" (BBC)
A documentary about returning veterans and how they adapt to civilian life.
“The House I Live In” (2012) — Eugene Jarecki
Not about war, but about the mechanisms of state violence and criminalization of the population.
"Kandahar" (2001) is an Iranian film about trauma, violence and the attempt to return to normality after war.
"Come and See" (1985) — dir. Elem Klimov
One of the most realistic anti-war films with which you can begin any serious reflection on war.
🗞 Author's columns and analytics
Anastasia Mironova — articles on post-Soviet militarization and everyday fascism.
Ilya Yashin (archive) — about the return of violence to public space.
Columns “Cold”, “Mediazone”, “Project” — investigative journalism, focus on veterans, SVO participants and their crimes.
Telegram channel @a_nesmijan_longread — author's analyzes of military propaganda and social consequences of the North Military District.
Magazine essays on n+1, OpenDemocracy, The Insider — critical analytics, comparative approaches.
🧭 Additionally for comprehension
Listen to the podcasts “Text of the Week” (Medusa), “What Happened” (Medusa), “Speech Techniques” - they regularly analyze materials on post-traumatic syndrome, veterans and social trauma.
Explore case studies of post-war adaptation in Serbia, Afghanistan and Chechnya (available through academic repositories: ResearchGate, JSTOR).
Take advantage of the Youtube archives of independent media (Editorial, Rain, Present Time), where direct conversations with veterans, psychologists and profilers were published.
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