Thousands of citizens came to donate blood for the victims at Crocus City Hall

Almost immediately, as soon as it became known about the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, a reception of donor blood and plasma was opened in Moscow. Hundreds of people wishing to donate blood immediately gathered at the addresses indicated by doctors – their flow does not dry up almost a day after the start of the collection. It became obvious that donation has not only medical significance for those gathered – it is, first of all, a gesture of solidarity. This means that a fairly crowded, albeit silent meeting of concerned people gathered at the blood centers.

Blood is accepted in several places at once – this is the center at the Botkin Hospital on Begovaya (Polikarpova St., 14k1), in Tsaritsyno (Bakinskaya, 31) and on Shabolovka (Shabolovka, 57). In the middle of Saturday afternoon, on Internet maps the blood donation center on Begovaya, for example, was marked as “closed until tomorrow” – however, in reality it is open. Moreover, already on Saturday afternoon there was a queue of at least 200 people.

“They say you have to stand for two hours, but that’s okay, it’s a day off,” says Financial University student Victoria, who came to donate blood with her friends Alexey and Alina.

There were no classes at the university today, but the guys still met for a noble cause. The guys stand at the back of the line and read the news together on Telegram. Just on the news channels there were reports about the detention of the perpetrators of the terrorist attack. The discussion somehow doesn’t go well, rather scattered remarks: “We need to look for who benefits!”

When Nord-Ost took place in the late autumn of 2002, 22 years ago, the guys were either not born yet or were babies, so asking them to compare tragedies was pointless…

“I remember Nord-Ost well, of course,” says an older woman, Tatyana, standing several people ahead of the students. “It felt a little different then.” On the one hand, an unheard of atrocity, moreover, on live television. On the other hand, it seemed calm, peaceful life around, no one had heard of any drones. That is, everyone was in shock, but it seems to me that now it’s worse: we understand that nothing is stable, anything can happen, and we are not safe anywhere.

Along the street where the blood center is located, city buses lined up in a column, standing on the emergency alert. They were brought here by Moscow transport workers for heating (after all, it’s not May yet, but March) and psychological support for donors. Heating and a place to sit are in demand by some, but psychological support – perhaps those who stand in the longest line can provide it better than others.

Just like in many telegram channels that build communities of interests, people came here who seemed to be accustomed, at the level of reflexes, to perform certain actions “in response to a distress signal.”

Now – go and donate blood. In other cases, drop one to five thousand on a particular card number. Someone who knows how to hug and support. Someone – to provide shelter or transport those in need somewhere. The main thing is that these actions are practiced and included in the routine of life – a great thing, if you look at it.

“I started donating blood in the early 2010s, and at the same time I began to travel as a volunteer to different places where it was needed,” says Vitaly, a 48-year-old university teacher. – Forest fires, that’s when it happened for the first time. Remember? Then Krymsk, flood. And then somehow chains of mutual aid formed. These are not official volunteering structures, we are just used to helping, that’s all. The main thing is you know what? Always have a little free money, time and energy so that you have something to help when the need arises.

You can’t enter the blood center’s courtyard—there are even more people there than along the street. Doctors leaving the office premises (we won’t say why – but they always have matches and lighters with them) answer questions: comrades, they say, there is enough blood and plasma now!

– Nothing! – those standing in line usually answer. – Someone needs it anyway!

Yes, donated blood and plasma can be preserved and will be useful for future use. That’s right. But it seems that people come here and stand in line for a couple of hours to donate blood.

“This is already a kind of sign language,” says Anna, a designer, who reached almost the doors of the center in an hour and a half. – Carry flowers to the site of the tragedy or the embassy. Toys if children died. A kind of ritual to show that this is significant to you, that you are grieving, empathizing, and ready to help. And donating blood is also the most useful of these rituals. But the main thing, of course, is that we all ended up here, that there are many of us.

Truly, in a city where it has been difficult to organize a mass unofficial street event for quite some time, since Covid, donating blood is also turning into an action of solidarity. And no podium, frames, or sound amplification are needed – just as words are not needed at all. The main thing is that people here understand each other. And no explanations are needed, just as nothing is needed except a burning candle and the date of the tragedy on almost all billboards in Moscow.