The mother of the owner of the burnt shelter revealed the background of the tragedy that claimed the lives of 22 homeless people

On Monday, the court sent into custody two accused of involvement in the fire in the Kemerovo nursing home. And if the fire inspector Roman Pleta insisted that he could not check the shelter because of the red tape on the part of the prosecutor’s office, the organizer of the rooming house Andrei Smirnov immediately admitted his guilt. We talked with the mother of the arrested person, who insists on his innocence.

Did you keep in touch with your son?

Of course, this is my child. And she always took her grandchildren for the weekend. But I had nothing to do with the sphere of his activity and I don’t have any, I have never been to Tauride (the address where the burnt shelter was). My son hasn’t let me in on his business for a long time.

– And how did he come to the evangelical church?

Yes, he is a former drug addict. He told me himself: “I’m a drug addict, save me.” You see, she cured one, infected another. He was a drug addict for a long time, I sent him to Biysk far away from here. My husband’s acquaintances held the center, phoned them and pushed them there. And from there he came not as a drug addict, but with another hemorrhoids – with this faith.

“You didn’t know anything about his affairs at all?”

“I only know good things. That very often he went to the orphanage, to the oncology center, helped everyone. I know that homeless people in Kemerovo were fed at the station every weekend. And now the usual bullying begins.

— I’m sorry, but 22 people died in his shelter. What’s with the weed? It’s about fire safety.

– I’ll tell you more, I was with them on the weekend, I brought my granddaughter, I see – he is upset. He says: “Mom, I swelled so much into this cauldron, again I started to let something down.” Worried. He is not the one who installs this boiler, he is looking for specialists.

– However, this shelter was not registered.

— It was a non-profit charitable organization. I know that he rented this house with a subsequent buyout, that he has a shop there with a very good profit.

– Did the inspectors come with a check?

“Of course they did. Some kind of special service, I don’t know. Thirteen thousand were given to them, for forty minutes they rummaged around, looked at the boiler. This was two or three days before the fire.

– Tell us about Andrei himself – what did he do, why did you decide to create a shelter?

– He had everything like everyone else: school, army, work, factory. He studied so well that I transferred him from our village school to the city. He never belonged anywhere, he was not registered, there was never a criminal record. He served in Yurga, in a construction battalion.

– When did he get married?

– Even when I was completely healthy. And still does not smoke, does not drink.

They have two minor children, a 3-year-old girl and an 8-month-old boy. Another boy is adopted, he is 15 years old.

– What kind of interest did your son have in this activity? Did he really sincerely want to help these poor fellows?

– Yes, you won’t believe it, it probably happened. He says his faith helped him. I ask: “Andryukha, why this faith, and why not our ordinary church?” You know what he answered: “When I was stuck, I went to our church, I went everywhere, nothing helped me. It was this belief that helped me. So, I will believe in it. I believe that it helped me.” This is how he explained it to me.

– And he believed these poor fellows, it turns out?

I wanted to believe. No one speaks, but he has a lot of people who came out of there. They didn’t drink, I know that there were two weddings in the center, they got married among themselves. I know that after they got on their feet, Andrey tried to employ them. I know that he helped put these young people into some hostel, who got on their feet, found a job and gave up alcohol.