{"id":5896,"date":"2021-12-25T23:23:05","date_gmt":"2021-12-25T23:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/why-couldnt-you-save-me-how-a-teenager-in-perm-who-dreamed-of-being-a-chemist-built-and-ran-a-drug-lab-in-a-rented-apartment.html"},"modified":"2021-12-25T23:23:05","modified_gmt":"2021-12-25T23:23:24","slug":"why-couldnt-you-save-me-how-a-teenager-in-perm-who-dreamed-of-being-a-chemist-built-and-ran-a-drug-lab-in-a-rented-apartment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/why-couldnt-you-save-me-how-a-teenager-in-perm-who-dreamed-of-being-a-chemist-built-and-ran-a-drug-lab-in-a-rented-apartment.html","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Why couldn\u2019t you save me?\u2019 How a teenager in Perm who dreamed of being a chemist built and ran a drug lab in a rented apartment"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In January 2021, police officers in Perm detained a 16-year-old high school student and his \u201ctwin assistants.\u201d\u00a0According to officials, they had been dealing illegal substances. The official police press release claimed the teenager had rented an apartment separate from his parents in a typical Russian high-rise building to \u201cgrow strawberries there,\u201d but ended up setting up a meth lab instead. The media has reported how the detainee was a great student, especially when it came to biology. According to his friends and teachers, he was interested in science; nobody had any idea there was anything untoward going on. Meduza special correspondent Irina Kravtsova traveled to Perm to find out what really happened.<\/p>\n

Please note. <\/strong>The names of the people in this story have been changed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the evening of January 4, 2021, Ekaterina Mironova paced around her tiny bedroom as the snow piled up outside. Her 16-year-old son, Ilya, had promised to be home by dinnertime, but that had long since passed. She\u2019d been calling him for hours: at first, she just got his voicemail, but later on, a robotic voice started telling her his phone had been turned off.<\/p>\n

She finally got an answer around 2:00 a.m., when Ilya was brought home by four police officers. Ekaterina, relieved, hugged him tight and pulled his head close to her. \u201cIlya, honey, did you see something?\u201d she asked him, thinking he might have been a witness to some kind of criminal incident. But Ilya and the officers just stared at her in silence. \u201cIlya, baby, I know you didn\u2019t do anything wrong, did you?\u201d she asked with alarm. \u201cActually I did, Mom,\u201d said Ilya.<\/p>\n

Ekaterina was taken aback. \u201cDid you steal some chocolate?\u201d she asked him, then turned to the police. \u201cDid he steal some chocolate? Just let me pay for it. Or I can work it off somehow \u2014\u00a0maybe I can wash the floors in the store?\u201d One of the officers looked at her with bewilderment. \u201cWhat are you talking about? What chocolate?\u201d Then he told her Ilya was suspected of selling drugs.<\/p>\n

Afterward, the police asked Ekaterina Mironova to follow them to a different apartment building on a nearby street, where they conducted a search. As officers walked through the unfamiliar third-floor apartment with drug-sniffing dogs, Ekaterina held her son close, ready to defend him.<\/p>\n

On the table were ten or so large, dusty chemical flasks. Ekaterina suddenly recalled taking then-11-year-old Ilya to a flea market; he was fascinated by science and dreamed of doing his own experiments, so she bought him a small flask. After seeing how pleased he was, she promised him on the way home, \u201cIlya, since it makes you so happy, I\u2019ll buy you some more after my next paycheck.\u201d After that, though, there never seemed to be any money for it.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d even had her suspicions about him renting a separate apartment. One day, she even considered following him, but he told her, \u201cMom, there\u2019s no apartment, and if you follow me, I\u2019ll stop trusting you, I\u2019ll stop respecting you.\u201d She cried all evening.<\/p>\n

Ekaterina recounted to Meduza the silent conversation she and Ilya had that night through glances as police officers searched the apartment around them. She looked at Ilya and \u201casked\u201d him, \u201cWell, you want to finish our conversation? So you did rent an apartment after all?\u201d Ilya averted his gaze, but blinked in the affirmative. Then Ekaterina tried to signal back a question: \u201cIlya, why did you do all this?\u201d But their conversation was cut off by the police: \u201cNo signals, please.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chapter 1<\/p>\n

The extra room<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ekaterina Mironova, an elementary school teacher, and her husband Dmitry, a highway patrol officer, lived with their two sons in one room of a Khrushchev-era apartment on the outskirts of Perm. The room was one of the \u201cperks\u201d Dmitry received as a police officer; one of his coworkers lived in the neighboring one.<\/p>\n

When their oldest son, Dmitry, was ten and Ilya was four, Ekaterina and Dmitry got divorced. Before he moved out, Dmitry scolded Ekaterina for being a \u201cfollower.\u201d Ekaterina was soon ordered to turn in the key to the room; she was no longer a police officer\u2019s family member.<\/p>\n

She panicked and went to the head of the building. He agreed to let her and her sons live there until the youngest turned 18.<\/p>\n

The small room is packed full: there are two sofas sitting across from each other, and two tables and a wardrobe sitting nearby. One of the sofas was for Ekaterina, the other was for the two boys. In the evenings, they squeezed into the tiny kitchen with their flatmate.<\/p>\n

The family had a computer. Roman had managed to buy it by \u201cworking his ass off\u201d in Petrozavodsk the summer after he finished tenth grade, and as the official owner of the computer, he was the one who determined who could use the computer and when. He gave his mom two hours on Sundays: \u201cMom, these two hours are yours, so enjoy them.\u201d Ekaterina used the time to search for materials for her students and enter their grades into the online system. Ilya, though, rarely had access to the computer, and was \u201cpowerless\u201d in that regard, according to Ekaterina.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the man who\u2019d been living in the neighboring room moved out, and Ekaterina started spending time in it. \u201cI\u2019d just stand there and take in the feeling of having some space,\u201d she said. Her sons went in there sometimes, too, to play the guitar or solder things. The building head told Ekaterina that the family wasn\u2019t allowed to move into the room, but it was fine to \u201cgo sit in there\u201d sometimes. After a while, Ekaterina moved some of the furniture into the room to give them all some more space.<\/p>\n

Roman soon started university, and before long, he brought a girl named Yulia home. Suddenly there was simply no way for everyone to fit in one room, so the boys decided to take turns occupying the neighboring room. Ilya would get a month (during which he would play computer games at night, a rare opportunity), then Roman and Yulia would get a month. \u201cThey always came out of there happy,\u201d Ekaterina recalled.<\/p>\n

Ekaterina herself had always lived \u201cin dorms and that kind of thing,\u201d so she told her sons that while she was willing to be last in line, she did want her own room sometimes. \u201cI also wanted the chance to enjoy my morning \u2014\u00a0wake up, stretch like a lady, walk around in my underwear, and listen to my music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ekaterina recalled a time when she lived in the room for an entire month and found it to be everything she could have hoped. \u201cIn that separate room, I could be myself, and I actually liked myself. I set up dolls all around and played music all the time, [singer] Irina Krug,\u00a0I really like her,\u201d said Ekaterina. Because she\u2019d gone \u201ca little deaf,\u201d her sons often complained about the loud music she played \u2014\u00a0but still, she was happy that everybody was finally getting along.<\/p>\n

Then the trouble began. Even with Roman and Yulia both working part-time, money was tight, and the family often went hungry. When she went to work, Ekaterina would leave three pieces of chicken: one for Ilya, one for Roman, and one for Yulia. \u201cThen I learn Ilya hasn\u2019t been getting his,\u201d Ekaterina recalled. Roma told her he\u2019d been eating two because he was hungry. \u201cAnd you think your brother\u2019s not hungry?\u201d she told him.<\/p>\n

Ekaterina worked double shifts at school and usually got home around 9:00 o\u2019clock in the evening. When she was at work, she learned, Roma and Yulia would treat Ilya \u201cpretty rough\u201d: \u201cGet out of here,\u00a0this place is for grown-ups,\u201d they\u2019d tell him. When Ekaterina demanded Roman \u201cstop playing house,\u201d he lashed out. \u201cYou\u2019re just lonely, so you don\u2019t let anyone else live their lives!\u201d Roman told her.<\/p>\n

The next time it was Ilya\u2019s turn to live in the separate room, Roma quickly started pestering him about it. \u201cListen,\u201d he\u2019d say, \u201ccan\u2019t you just let us live there? You seriously expect us to sleep on the couch next to Mom?\u201d Ilya gave in, but he wasn\u2019t happy about it. Ekaterina would come home in the evening to find Ilya seething as he played computer games, his back straight and tense. \u201cYou can always tell from a kid\u2019s back when he\u2019s feeling bad,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Chapter 2<\/p>\n

\u2018It makes you feel so strong\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

During our conversation, Ekaterina often cried silently, then got embarrassed, saying the tears made her look \u201cugly like Baba Yaga.\u201d Ilya, she said, would get mad at her whenever she cried after one of their arguments. \u201cHe couldn\u2019t stand my tears,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019d always say, \u2018Mom, go calm down, we\u2019ll finish talking later.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ilya didn\u2019t have any friends until the eighth grade. \u201cI find everyone boring,\u201d he\u2019d say. It made Ekaterina worry. \u201cSon, you have to live with people. You can\u2019t speak ill of them all the time,\u201d she\u2019d say, telling him to try to get along with his classmates.<\/p>\n

It was clear to Ekaterina that Ilya both \u201cloved himself\u201d and felt very insecure. He was an okay student, but he didn\u2019t enjoy much respect from his teachers or peers. In his mom\u2019s words, nobody ever told him, \u201cIlya, you\u2019re such a cool guy.\u201d Troubled by this, she started doing her best to praise him whenever possible (though her praise was sincere).<\/p>\n

When Ilya was soldering, his mom would run into the room and say, \u201cIlya, baby, it smells like rosin. What are you soldering? You\u2019re getting so good at it!\u201d When he played video games, she would marvel at him: \u201cIlya, how do you beat the levels so fast? You\u2019re so good at it!\u201d According to Ekaterina, the praise was great for Ilya\u2019s self-esteem. \u201cMom, come sit with me,\u201d he\u2019d say when he sat down to play. \u201cHe\u2019d be on the computer, and I\u2019d be grading papers in my notebook on the corner of the table. It felt like the relationship I\u2019d always dreamed of. A guy spending time with his mom, not saying, \u2018get the hell out of here,\u2019 not cursing her out,\u201d said Ekaterina.<\/p>\n

In eighth grade, Ilya finally became friends with a classmate named Alex. Pretty soon, he told his mother that he wanted to rent his own apartment and move out (he was 15 years old at the time). Ekaterina took it personally. \u201cSon, why do you want to move out for? I don\u2019t drink, I don\u2019t smoke, I don\u2019t have any boyfriends, I just work from morning to night. You and your friends can come back here, play the guitar, hang out.\u201d But Ilya insisted, and eventually, Ekaterina gave in. She saved up for the first month\u2019s rent, then signed the lease herself. \u201cIf I tell him no, he\u2019ll just want it more,\u201d she told herself then. \u201cLet him live alone for a month \u2014 he\u2019ll get sick of cooking and cleaning, then he\u2019ll come running back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ilya and Alex moved into the apartment. Meanwhile, Ekaterina continued to worry. \u201cIlya, honey, you\u2019re going to get some uncomfortable questions at school. Two young guys living together. Why?\u201d But Ilya said he didn\u2019t \u201cgive a crap.\u201d Soon after, Ekaterina and Alex\u2019s mom brought the boys\u2019 bicycles to their new apartment. \u201c\u2018Guys, now that you have your bikes, you can get some exercise!\u2019\u201d she announced. \u201cAnd the boys started laughing this terrible laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon, Ilya began to change. \u201cIn the past, he\u2019d worn his heart on his sleeve. He\u2019d say, \u2018Mom, don\u2019t worry, you and I will be okay.\u2019 Now, everything was, \u2018whatever,\u2019 \u2018whatever,\u2019 and that stupid laugh. \u201cIlya, baby, you\u2019re not yourself,\u201d she started telling him.<\/p>\n

She used every excuse to visit him. \u201cI\u2019d be sitting at school on my lunch break, eating bread and butter, and I\u2019d start trembling \u2014\u00a0what if he hasn\u2019t been eating?\u201d After her classes, she\u2019d rush to the apartment. Then, Ilya would tell her she was worrying too much and that they had plenty of food \u2014\u00a0\u201deven good food.\u201d And it was true: the apartment had avocados and pineapples, things she herself had never bought. \u201cMy God, they really are doing well here,\u201d she thought.<\/p>\n

Ilya told his mom that he and Alex were paying for food, and for the rent, with money they earned making YouTube videos, though they didn\u2019t show Ekaterina the actual videos. One time, she asked them to make her a video to use in a lesson about traffic rules \u2014\u00a0\u201dYou guys are my experts on this,\u201d she told them. The boys just \u201chowled with laughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

One day, Ilya revealed to his mom that Alex \u201cknows how to steal.\u201d Ekaterina immediately started crying, imploring him not to steal anything. \u201cWhat do you steal?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cChocolates,\u201d he told her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you steal them?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe walk past the shelves, Alex puts a chocolate in his sleeve, and then he pays for another one.\u201d<\/p>\n

That frightened Ekaterina. She threatened to tell the person Ilya respected most: his grandmother. \u201cMom, why would you upset Grandma like that? It\u2019s not like I actually stole anything myself. It\u2019s just so cool when you walk out of the store knowing you\u2019ve duped the government \u2014 you feel so strong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That made her livid. \u201cAre you an idiot? You should feel strong when you help an old woman, [not when you steal something]. Go help your grandma \u2014 she spends all her time slaving away in the garden. Help her plant vegetables, she has a hard time. Or come help me \u2014\u00a0even just take out of the trash, for God\u2019s sake.\u201d But Ilya didn\u2019t budge. \u201cMom, that\u2019s boring. That\u2019s the kind of thing nobody pays attention to. But in the store [when we steal], I feel like a man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some time later, when Ilya came to his mom to tell her that he and Alex had stopped stealing, she threw her arms around him, tears in her eyes. \u201cSon, that\u2019s right, don\u2019t steal anymore! I\u2019ll buy you chocolates, I\u2019ll give you all the money I have \u2014 just don\u2019t steal anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

After that, Ekaterina decided that Ilya must want his own place so he could have girls over. Whenever she went to the apartment, she\u2019d scan for women\u2019s shoes, women\u2019s toiletries, bottles of alcohol. \u201cI completely understand,\u201d she told Ilya. \u201cI was young myself once. But come on back home \u2014 I spend all day at work anyways. I\u2019ll even buy you a nice cake, make it romantic for you. Come on. You can cuddle, eat cake\u2026 Just make sure to use protection!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ilya laughed and told her, \u201cMom, it\u2019s not about girls.\u201d So Ekaterina kept pushing. \u201cThen what is it? Why do you need your own apartment?\u201d \u201cI wouldn\u2019t let it go, and he even started to get mad. He\u2019d come over for a snack when he was hungry. I\u2019d bring it up again, I\u2019d say, \u2018Ilya, honey, why?\u2019 And he\u2019d say, \u2018Mom, I\u2019m sick of you asking why. I don\u2019t like living with you. That\u2019s why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chapter 3<\/p>\n

Catching grasshoppers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Two months later, at the end of his eighth-grade year, Ilya moved back home. Since moving out, his grades had tanked, but neither his mother nor his teachers were sure why. \u201cMrs. Mironova, don\u2019t worry,\u201d the teachers told Ekaterina, \u201cIlya\u2019s a good boy. You just need to push him, we\u2019ll push him on our end, and things will work out.\u201d Another teacher told her Ilya had \u201ccompletely stopped studying. Something\u2019s going on \u2014 try to figure out what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the summer of 2020, after eighth grade was over, Ekaterina asked Ilya to live with his grandmother in the village for a while; she thought the \u201cnature and conversations might get his mind back in order.\u201d Ilya stayed there for three days, then said, \u201cMy dear women, I need to go to the city. I found a new income stream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ekaterina started worrying again. She offered to start giving Ilya a bit of money from each paycheck she earned. Ilya, however, insisted, but when she asked what he intended to do instead, he couldn\u2019t provide a clear answer. \u201cI, for one, trust Ilya,\u201d said his grandmother \u2014 so he left.<\/p>\n

Then one day, Ilya came home with five gas masks. He told his mom that he and his friends had swiped them from an abandoned military warehouse on Lyadov Street. When he tried one of the masks on in the mirror, said Ekaterina, his face just lit up. It sparked a memory for Katya: the boys\u2019 father had once brought a gas mask home from work and shown it to Roma and Ilya, who was then just a toddler. Then three of them started playing with it, \u201cand it was so funny because there was no danger \u2014\u00a0just a gas mask bouncing around on their little baby heads.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the boys would play with the gas mask, they\u2019d take turns putting it on, stealing it from each other. Of course, my oldest would always win because he was stronger. He\u2019d take it from Ilya, then Ilya would start bawling. It was painful for him.\u201d There\u2019s even a photograph of the boys with the mask in a family photo album.<\/p>\n