"For us, it's a shock, we can't believe it." Residents of a village near Smolevichi told how they survived the night raid by Russian teenagers

The house that became the target of the assailants stands on the very edge near the forest. Two dogs run in the yard behind a chain-link fence — they were the first to sense something was wrong that morning. Their barking woke the homeowner, who, seeing silhouettes of people lurking in the dark, managed to press the "panic button".

Павялічыць

Employees of the Zhodino Department of Protection arrived at the call. They detained two of the attackers on the spot, and another one a little later somewhere nearby in the forest. They turned out to be three young men aged 17-18, who had come from Russian Novgorod. Later, they testified: they received an assignment via messenger to find the victim's house, beat the man, and send a video report to the client. For this, they were promised a reward of 300 thousand Russian rubles (a little over 11 thousand Belarusian).

The attackers had a bat, knives, brass knuckles, and a gas can with them. They arrived at the victim's house in a car-sharing vehicle and almost completed their task: they managed to break in and started beating the homeowner, his wife, and a relative. But they were soon detained by police officers. The Minister of Internal Affairs, Ivan Kubrakov, also visited the scene.

Павялічыць

Павялічыць

"Before this incident, I didn't even lock the door"

Today, when journalists arrived in Budagovo, no one was home. However, according to available data, the homeowner has already been discharged from the hospital. Reminders of yesterday's attack included a ladder leaning against the first-floor window and shards of glass in the window frames. The journalists decided to walk around the agricultural town to find out what local residents thought about what had happened.

Павялічыць

A day after the high-profile raid, Budagovo seems to be living at its usual pace. The streets are enveloped in a frosty haze — it's minus twenty degrees Celsius on the thermometer, so there are almost no passers-by. Local resident Alesya came to the post office to send a parcel. The post office itself, with its bright blue sign, shares a building with the House of Culture and a grocery store. This is, you might say, the center of local life, and the news of the attack here is the number one topic.

"We moved here from Zhodino for peace and quiet," says Alesya, filling out the parcel form with calligraphic handwriting. "There's good infrastructure here: a school, a kindergarten. When we found out what happened, we just couldn't believe it."

Павялічыць

"I don't remember anything like this ever happening here!" another Budagovo resident interjects. "By the way, these same people had their garage and car burn down in the summer, in June or July. And now this [misfortune] again. Yesterday, by four in the afternoon, all of TikTok and Instagram were already full of this news."

Both women draw attention to an important detail: after the incident, everyone started to imagine themselves in the situation and discuss the need to install a "panic button."

"I used to not even lock the door," Alesya admits. "But yesterday I heard the news and checked the lock one more time. Now I'm thinking about that button. My mom definitely needs one!"

Павялічыць

In the grocery store, almost empty in such cold, there was the smell of freshly delivered pastries. Periodically, the door would open, letting in a frosty gust, and a local resident would appear on the threshold.

"We've never had anything like this!" says the saleswoman. She herself comes here to work from a neighboring village. "We have such a good, peaceful village. People are so sympathetic, almost everyone knows each other. So for us, it's a shock. It's hard to believe that something like this could ever happen here. It's unclear what prompted these 'children' — one is only 17 — to commit such a crime."

At the same time, there are few details about the victims themselves in the agricultural town. According to locals, the family kept to themselves, did not socialize closely with neighbors, and "didn't even go to the store in the House of Culture."

Павялічыць

"Ordinary people, they worked in their garden, on their house. They said they were visitors from Russia, that the homeowner was supposedly a former banker. But who knows what's true. It's all just rumors," one of the visitors said.

The saleswoman confirms:

"Sometimes a modestly dressed person comes in, communicates on equal terms, jokes, and then turns out to be some important person. Anything can happen, of course. But these people [the victims] definitely didn't come to our store."

"Such a peaceful town"

The journalists found another local resident, who "just came to read the schedule," at the bus stop. He said he learned about everything from the news and was also very surprised that such a thing was possible in their quiet Budagovo.

"A peaceful town. Before this, perhaps a house burned down last winter, and our locals crashed in a car, three of them. Right there, at the entrance," he waves his hand towards the highway. "An entire family died. He worked as a tractor driver, she worked on a farm. And a relative was with them. Luckily, they had dropped off their young daughter, about twelve years old, shortly before that, otherwise there would have been more victims..."

Павялічыць

On the way to "that very house" near the forest, two more locals are met. The men, like everyone else before, "learned about everything on TV."

"At four o'clock, I saw our Budagovo in the news. It was a complete surprise! Can you imagine: beating a living person with a bat?! You could beat someone to death like that," one of them muses.

The conversation smoothly transitions to history. Budagovo used to be an ordinary village, but after the 80s, it rapidly grew. Settlers were actively brought here after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.

Павялічыць

"This used to be a millionaire collective farm! A huge enterprise, with substantial earnings," the men recall. "Now everything is different. Recently, both Minsk residents and Russians have started coming here. They buy houses, build..."

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