"I was grabbed and 'bus-ified'". How a former Belarusian political prisoner ended up at war in Ukraine
"I was walking down the street. A car was turning into the yard. Guys came out in front of me. I immediately started saying that I had documents, that I was a prisoner, now in rehabilitation, getting treatment. Nothing helped." Oleksandr Kotovich, a Ukrainian citizen imprisoned in Belarus as a political prisoner, told Radio Svaboda how he was mobilized.
Oleksandr Kotovich in a dugout. Photo from private archive
Oleksandr Kotovich, a Ukrainian who spent more than two years in a Belarusian prison for criticizing Russian aggression, was seized in Kyiv by military commissariat employees and mobilized into the army. The man is now in hospital with a psychiatric diagnosis and hopes to obtain a status of limited fitness for military service to serve in the rear. Because he is unlikely to be able to completely avoid the war.
"Bus-ified"
According to Oleksandr Kotovich, a Ukrainian, he was detained by employees of the Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support (TCC — as military commissariats are now called in Ukraine) on February 17. He himself says that he was "grabbed" and "bus-ified."
In Ukraine, a special word has appeared: "bus-ify" (from "bus" - minivan). This describes a situation where men of conscription age are detained on the street by TCC employees and put into a minivan to be then sent to war. Men who do not want to fight try to evade service in various ways: some flee abroad "through forest paths," and there have even been attacks on TCC employees.
"I was walking down the street. A car was turning into the yard. Guys came out in front of me. I immediately started saying that I had documents, that I was a prisoner, now in rehabilitation, getting treatment. Nothing helped. They took me away. They said: 'Let's go to the police station now, a policeman will write you a warning there for being on the wanted list, and you and your lawyer will go and sort out all the issues'," he recounts.
Oleksandr Kotovich before his arrest in Belarus, photo from private archive
Oleksandr says he didn't believe them and didn't want to go. But the TCC employees offered him to go voluntarily, or they would force him into the bus. He eventually agreed to get in himself. The man says he was deceived and taken not to the police, but to the TCC. In the same building, on another floor, was the military medical commission. Kotovich was immediately ordered to undergo it. He never returned home.
Kotovich after his release from a Belarusian prison
"Then there were recruiters, selecting fighters. I signed up for a cybersecurity unit. That day, the TCC had already used up its limit for sending soldiers for training, so I stayed at the TCC overnight. In the morning, my surname was called. I said: 'I've already been reserved (for the cybersecurity unit)'. But the guy shrugged: 'I can't do anything. Go'," our interlocutor recounts.
In the dugout
Oleksandr recounts that he was taken to another district of Kyiv, where men were being recruited for an assault regiment, and eventually brought to a military unit in southeastern Ukraine. For another week after that, he remained in the same clothes he was wearing when the TCC representatives took him. He changed clothes when the unit received material supplies.
"Forest. Drones are flying in. Rockets are flying in. Not often. But when they do, it's very audible in the dugout. The film on the dugout was trembling. The first few days were very hard. I was in shock: where am I? We live in the ground, we walk in the same clothes, the same shoes," Oleksandr describes the atmosphere.
Oleksandr after forced mobilization in Ukraine
He and other mobilized men lived in a dugout, dug into the ground and lined with logs. The dugout was located in a swamp. When the snow began to melt in March, their dwelling was flooded with water. They had to carry out 900-1000 liters of water in buckets four or five times a day. After about a week, they were given a pump.
"You wake up, and there's already ankle-deep water," he says. Preparation for military service took 54 days. According to him, they spent half the time doing physical work and half learning.
"From six to eight in the morning, we carried water. After that, we went to the canteen, picked up breakfast. From nine to one — training: tactical medicine, tactics, engineering-sapper work, shooting, orientation, communication, lectures on weapons and drones. Then lunch. From two to six — training again. And at six, dinner. You're already exhausted because you've been wearing a bulletproof vest all day, and it weighs about twenty kilograms," he recounts.
Hospital
Oleksandr is currently in hospital, undergoing examinations and treatment. Part of the day is taken up by medical procedures, and for a few more hours, he can walk around the city.
"I am enjoying spring and walks. The Dnieper is nearby. It rained today, but I still went," he says.
Even before mobilization, he had approached a psychiatrist with complaints about the consequences of his imprisonment in Belarus. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and later, in the army, with anxiety-depressive disorder.
She recommended sending Kotovich for inpatient treatment in a hospital and to a military medical commission to determine his fitness for military service. Among other recommendations from the doctor were not to allow Kotovich access to weapons, state secrets, or driving; and to exempt him from physical exertion.
The psychiatrist advised Oleksandr to avoid stressful situations, work with a psychotherapist, and also prescribed medication for the soldier.
In April this year, Kotovich arrived at the hospital. How long he will stay there is unknown. The man hopes that he will be given the status of partially fit for military service. Then he could be sent not to the front line, but to rear units, for example, to handle logistics. But the chance is 50/50, says the interlocutor.
"Usually, everyone is sent to a military unit, and they decide there. I will strive to get into rear units, not the 'front', to continue serving in a unit, maybe in my profession in IT. One can find a decent job with decent pay and continue to help the country," explains the interlocutor.
According to Kotovich, there is no option for him to be fully released back into civilian life. He says that if he had received the status of a civilian prisoner, together with his psychiatric diagnosis, this might have been a reason not to serve. Another reason to return to civilian life is an injury from the war.
"It's almost impossible. Not just for me. You need to have a very long record of illnesses there: both chronic and non-chronic, to even try. But all of this must be confirmed by military doctors, not at will," he clarifies.
Thirty men who trained with Oleksandr, according to him, are already fighting in positions.
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