In September of last year, when Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of Russian males, it took Adam Kalinin – not his real name – a week to determine that he should migrate to the forest.
The IT expert was opposed to the war from the beginning, getting a fine and spending two weeks in custody for posting a “No to war” poster on the wall of his apartment building.
Kalinin did not want to risk being sent to the front lines to kill Ukrainians when Russia announced it was calling up 300,000 soldiers to assist turn the tide of a war it was losing.
However, unlike hundreds of thousands of other individuals, he did not wish to leave the country.
Friends, financial restrictions, and an aversion to leaving what he knows kept him in Russia.
“Leaving would have been a challenging departure from my comfort zone,” said Kalinin, who is in his thirties. “Even if it’s not precisely pleasant here, it would be really difficult to leave on a psychological level.”
Living off-grid in a cold jungle to avoid Putin’s call
Therefore, he took the rare decision of leaving his wife behind and moving into a tent for nearly four months in the jungle.
He accesses the internet via an antenna attached to a tree and obtains energy from solar panels.
And he has withstood temperatures as low as -11C (12F) and relies on frequent food deliveries from his wife.
He believes that living off the grid is the greatest way to avoid being drafted. If the authorities cannot personally serve him with a summons, he cannot be compelled to go to war.
“If they cannot physically take me by the hands and carry me to the recruitment office, that is a 99 percent defense against mobilization and other forms of harassment.”
In some aspects, Kalinin’s life continues as before. He continues to work eight hours every day at the same job, but during the winter, when there is less daylight, he does not have enough solar energy to work full days, so he makes up his hours on the weekend.
Some of his coworkers are already in Kazakhstan, having left Russia once mobilization began, but his internet connection via a long-range antenna secured to a pine tree is dependable enough that contact is not an issue.
He also enjoys the outdoors, spending many of his former holidays camping with his wife in southern Russia. When he decided to move to the wilderness permanently, he already possessed much of the necessary equipment.
Living off-grid in a cold jungle
His survival is greatly dependent on his wife, who spent a few days at Kalinin’s camp over the new year. Every three weeks, she brings supplies to a drop-off location where they briefly interact in person. He then transports the supplies to a secure location, which he goes to every few days to restock. He uses an improvised wood-burning stove to cook.
“I have buckwheat, oats, tea, coffee, and sugar. There are not enough fresh fruits and vegetables, but it’s not terrible “He claims.
The new residence of Kalinin is a big tent designed for ice-fishing. When he first arrived in the jungle, he established two camps five minutes apart: one with internet connectivity where he worked and the other in a more sheltered location where he slept.
As winter neared and the temperature dropped, he merged the two sections to live and work under a single tent.
The recent temperature dip to -11C was colder than he anticipated. Now that the days are growing longer and the snow is beginning to melt, he plans to remain in his current location.
Although Kalinin has not gotten a summons, he believes he may receive one in the future because the situation is continually evolving. Officially, IT professionals like Kalinin are exempt from conscription, but there are numerous accounts of such exemptions being disregarded in Russia.
The mobilization was declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 21, immediately after Ukraine’s quick counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region, in which it recaptured thousands of square kilometers of territory from Russian forces.
He stated that mobilization was required to protect Russia against the West. However, many in the country protested, and hundreds of thousands of people fled Russia’s borders, creating chaotic scenes.
The summons had a significant impact on Russia.
Until then, the lives of the majority of Russians were mostly unaffected by the war. True, certain Western brands vanished and sanctions hampered financial activities, but the immediate impact on society was minimal.
The mobilization took the war to the doorsteps of many Russian households. Suddenly, sons, dads, and brothers were sent to the front lines, frequently with inadequate equipment and inadequate training. If the fight had previously looked remote, it was now nearly hard to ignore.
Yet, such demonstrations are uncommon in Russia, which has been criticized in Ukraine and the West. However, according to Kalinin, many are fearful of what could happen to them.
“We have a totalitarian state that has risen to such prominence. In the past six months, legislation has been passed at an astounding rate. If a person opposes the war at this time, the state will pursue them.”
With 17,000 people following his nearly daily posts on Telegram, Kalinin’s life in the jungle has earned him a certain kind of popularity online. He shares films and photographs of his surroundings, his daily routine, and the organization of his camp. Wood chopping is prominent.
Kalinin asserts that he does not miss his prior life all that much. Although he considers himself an introvert who enjoys solitude, he misses his wife and would like to see her more regularly. Nevertheless, he argues that his current predicament is still preferable to be transferred to the front lines or prison.
“I’ve changed so drastically that things I may have missed have faded into the background,” he says. “Things that were once deemed significant no longer possess their former significance. There are people in considerably worse circumstances than we are.”
