Adaptedand abridged article from Sever.Realii (translated from Russian)

Yegor Balazeikin is a 16-year-old school student who was detained in Kirovsk (Leningrad Region) at the end of February. According to investigators, Yegor intended to set fire to a military enlistment office, and now he is accused of an attempted terrorist attack. Later, a second criminal case was brought against him, also for allegedly attempting to set fire to a military enlistment office, this time in Saint Petersburg. A correspondent from Sever. Realii found out how the teenager, who a year ago supported the war in Ukraine, changed his mind to the opposite and how it all turned out for his family. 

After his detention, Yegor confessed that he had indeed thrown self-made “Molotov cocktails” at the walls of the military enlistment office, but none of them resulted in fire or serious consequences. At present, the teenager faces the risk of being jailed and spending in prison an amount of time equal to what he has lived to date.

Yegor turned 16 in August. He loves the humanities, especially history and social studies, and has always been a very good performer at school. His father, Daniel, supported his passion for national history. 

Yegor was especially interested in military history and studied all the wars. His uncle Dmitry, Daniel’s elder brother, also supported his interest in military history. Dmitry was a professional serviceman with combat experience and authority for Yegor on complex historical issues.  

Early in his school days, Yegor was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis, a serious condition where the body’s immune system attacks the liver. He even received a disability status, which was later removed. His parents enrolled him in Kyokushin, a Japanese karate style so that Yegor wouldn’t consider himself a disabled person at the age of 10. 

He has amassed many marital arts cups and awards, which are displayed in his home. 

Yegor’s sports trophies are displayed in his home (about half of them)

However, Yegor had to quit professional sports because he moved to a new school and also had to prepare for unified state exams. 

The disease eventually went into stable remission, but he still has to visit a hepatologist every three months, undergo a full medical check-up annually and take life-saving drugs regularly. 

His classmates describe him as a very kind and smart boy. He attended all excursions, electives, and lectures, and always not only had a clear position on any historical issue but also knew how to build his case. 

According to Yegor's relatives, the family always respected his right to have his own opinion and his position and allowed him to choose. And with the support of his parents, he grew up as a person interested in the history of his country. 

With the start of the war in Ukraine, the life of the Balazeikin family changed considerably. At first, there were no disagreements between Yegor and his parents: they all fully supported Vladimir Putin’s decisions.

A friend of his mother, Natalia Krylova (the name has been changed), says:  “It was strange for me, but we never fought about this, because we are adults who can separate their own opinions from friendship and give another person the right to be different. At first, Yegor was like everyone else in his family, like his mom, dad, grandmother, and, more so, his father's brother, his uncle, who was a professional military man. But uncle Dima died almost at the very beginning of the special military operation. And it was after the death of his uncle that Yegor's position began to change.” 

In early April 2022, Dmitry Balazeikin, Yegor’s uncle, went to Ukraine as a volunteer. He was no longer of military age, but had a great experience and had been at hot spots. His friends and relatives describe him as a true officer. 

“He didn’t say anything and just went to the frontline. And died almost immediately near Izyum, where last April and May saw terrible battles and heavy losses,” Natalia says. She goes on to say that his funeral was difficult, including financially. It was necessary to get his body, write an application, and have all paperwork completed. It happened that it was Yegor's parents who took on most arrangements related to Dmitry’s funeral, and Yegor watched all this hard process. 

This was the first funeral in the family for him. “At first his emotions went through the roof. I think he felt rather uneasy,” Natalia says, explaining that there was a lot of noise on the Internet, while the TV continued to say the same things all the time. Yegor’s mother told Natalia that it was hard for Yegor to deal with what was going on and that he was against people being killed on both sides. He seemed to feel like a tense spring and limited all conversations to a single topic about how Russia was doing wrong things. “I think all this was a terrible coincidence, this war, and his inner feelings,” Natalia sighs.

On the evening of February 28, Yegor’s mother had a call from the police saying that Yegor had been detained. According to Rosgvardia, it was he who threw a “Molotov cocktail” at the building of a military enlistment office in Kirovsk. The bottle "broke but did not ignite". 

“I received a message from Tanya on that day. It began with the words “Our family has died,” Natalia says. Later, Tatiana told her that Yegor had reacted to his detention calmly. Perhaps he had expected that. He did not try to run away or break free. He seems to have considered all scenarios, including this one.

Yegor’s mother had a chance to talk briefly to her son before a ban was imposed on the disclosure of case information. According to her, Yegor said the following: “I would have probably hanged myself if I hadn’t done that, because I can’t walk with this heaviness in my soul, seeing how many people are dying.” Initially, he was charged with arson, but then he was accused of an attempted terrorist attack. According to his mother, during an interrogation “the investigators very clearly led him” to the wording they needed. Also, FSB officers reportedly threatened him with rape in the pre-trial detention center and confinement to a psychiatric institution. In reply, Yegor said to them: “Do with me what you want, I will not change my position."

At present Yegor is in Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 5. His mother managed to pass the required medications, textbooks, and warm clothes to him because it is very cold there. According to Natalia, during his free time, Yegor tries to do sports exercises and thinks a lot about what is going on in the country.    

 “Why can’t they put him on home arrest? He is just a kid!” Natalia wonders. “My only hope and all my prayers are that they change the article incriminated to him. Upon detention, he was charged under a very different article. Now they can jail him for 10-15 years – at the age of 16! This would mean no education and no social adaptation, and this would be a trauma, a very deep one, with so many years of isolation. Our state does not value human life as much as its tranquility.” She continues by saying that Yegor’s father has supported him despite the difference in their positions regarding the war. What has happened has knitted the family together. Tragedies like this either break up families or, on the contrary, make people even closer to each other. In their case, the latter took place. Natalia thinks that Yegor's father blames himself for what has happened no less than his mother. Tatiana said: “Did we raise him wrong? But how? After all, I wanted him to be a good person ...” And according to Natalia, he is a good person. 

Leonid Krikun, a lawyer from St. Petersburg known for his defense work for some activists and socially active people, is confident that the verdict will be guilty. 

Mr. Krikun says that “unwanted individuals”, usually choose the most severe measure of restraint in the form of imprisonment and prohibit the disclosure of preliminary investigation data so that the public at large does not get information about violations of human rights committed during the investigation. And in doing so, law enforcement officers don’t care who is before them: a teenager, a young girl, or an elderly woman.

 “In this way, the authorities intimidate those detained on such charges to force them into a full admission of guilt and repentance and present them to the public not as opposition members, but as lost sheep that have realized the fallacy of their behavior,” he believes.