Under the call sign “Smska”: how fresh food is delivered to the Northern Military District zone

Sweets sell out with a bang

Moscow region farmer Dmitry Kolistratov adheres to a strict schedule: two trips a month in the Lugansk direction and one in Zaporozhye. Among the Russian military he even acquired an unspoken call sign – “SMSKA”. This is what fighters call a farmer near Moscow among themselves.

I ask Dmitry: why “SMSKA?”

“For the guys, my arrival is like greetings from home,” he answers. – In general, I bring my own home-cooked food, which the fighters miss. And my relatives often give them parcels through me.

“For them, such gifts from civilian life are very expensive,” continues Dmitry. – There are practically no shops in the northwestern district, and if there are, they are very expensive. In addition, the children do not have such an opportunity to go shopping. But they want something homemade, the same aromatic tea – not army, but homemade – reminds them of their family.

According to the interlocutor, those mobilized do not particularly need anything. The army dry ration is standard and contains all the necessary kilocalories. But these are all numbers, medical recommendations. But you still want something tasty.

Among his fighting preferences, he singles out candies and sweets. Glucose is necessary for a young body under heavy loads. Condensed milk and stew are selling with a bang. For some reason, canned fish is not held in high esteem – it turns out that there are a lot of such cans in dry rations, or “NZ”, as they call it in the army. The fighters also lack fruit.

“Loaded to capacity”

He remembered his first trip. A mobilized guy I knew from Tuchkov near Moscow called – he and his comrades were then in a camp in Valuyki, Belgorod region. He asked me to contact my family, say hello to them and, if possible, bring more warm clothes, and “something tasty.”

Dima knew the road to Valuyki in the Belgorod region well. He has his own small apiary in the village of Kolyubakino, Ruza district, and he doesn’t have much honey of his own. And in order to fulfill numerous orders from buyers for May honey, he often went to familiar beekeepers – just in Valuyki.

Well, so, with local entrepreneurs, we quickly collected the cargo, bought several more generators and the cargo was delivered.

The next time the same guys called late at night. He doesn’t remember the exact date, but it was either at the end of October or at the beginning of November 2022. By this time, the unit where conscripts from the Moscow region (and not only) served had already been transferred from Valuyki to Svatovo, Lugansk region. Where there were hot battles. There the unit came under heavy fire from the Ukrainian Armed Forces…

In general, there was an urgent need for medicine, warm clothes…

“That same night I started calling friends and farmers. My trailer for a car is small, they lent me a large one, two-axle, for one and a half tons, Dmitry recalls. – We loaded it to capacity. Early in the morning my brother and I went to Svatovo…

In order to quickly deliver the cargo, we drove along free, toll roads and did not get stuck in traffic jams anywhere. By the way, you had to pay to travel on the highways; for some reason, volunteers were not provided with discounts on humanitarian cargo.

A navigator guided them through the territory of Russia, and when they entered the Lugansk region, it no longer worked. I was surprised by the large number of checkpoints where the contents of the trailer were strictly checked. Dima had a cover letter stating that he was a volunteer and was bringing humanitarian aid.

In general, the closer to the front line, the more checkpoints and stricter inspections, no one stood on ceremony.

– We carried underwear, potbelly stoves for heating dugouts, stewed meat, smoked meat, sausage, medicines…

Dima admits that the closer he got to Svatovo, the more “goodies” he had to leave at checkpoints, intended primarily for conscripts from the Ruza region. Somewhere there are warm clothes, somewhere there are potbelly stoves… Actually, these stoves are half the size of potbelly stoves. But they can be placed even in trenches. One such heater heats a dugout measuring 15-18 square meters.

“It’s clear that these are all our fighters, Russians,” he says. “And everyone wants to help.” But we had to specifically deliver it for the Tuchkov boys. Their relatives gave them parcels.” Although he adds that there are no such units where purely Russian or Moscow region soldiers serve. Guys from Siberia, the Urals, and other regions of the country are fighting alongside them.

Finally, we arrived in Svatovo, about a kilometer before the front line. Bullets whistle, explosions roar, tanks move – with their lights turned off at night…

The marines, who had just arrived from the Far East, were setting up their positions there. The farmer was carrying shovels and insulation material, which came in handy for the Marines. The day before they were delivered slabs for the construction of a dugout, in general, the entrenching tool immediately went into use.

None of the fighters knew where the unit from the Moscow region was located; units were being redeployed in the battle zone – at that time they were preparing for an offensive.

Fortunately, the commander of the Marine Corps company turned out to be a fellow countryman from Moscow, from Kuntsev.

“He gave us an order to urgently leave the combat zone,” Dima continues. “We’ve already dug in here, but there’s no place for you in the trenches,” he explained. – He promised that he would definitely find out where the unit we were looking for was located and transfer the cargo to its destination. So, at night, also without headlights, so as not to be exposed and not to come under fire, we somehow got out of the battle zone and drove back…

The way back was no easier. And not only because the autumn thaw. The curfew there begins at seven o’clock in the evening, there is special vigilance and searches at checkpoints, at one of them a farmer was even considered… a saboteur and was arrested. True, not for long. When they figured it out, the volunteers continued on their way and with such adventures returned to their Ruza.

A day later, the wife of one of the soldiers got in touch with Kolistratov and said that everything was in order, the Marines had delivered the parcels safe and sound.

“This is the least we can do”

And although Dmitry considers himself a “shot sparrow,” it happens that he gets into trouble. He remembers how he once brought humanitarian aid to Starobelsk, Lugansk region. I arrived there at night, when the curfew began. I called the city administration, but no one answered.

I drove up to City Hall and parked. The road was difficult and he dozed off. And he completely lost sight of the fact that the city was under martial law and that the administration must be protected.

“Suddenly I hear the click of an automatic shutter and a voice from somewhere in the depths: hands up, get off the bus!” – he recalls. – Two people stood in front of me: a machine gunner and a machine gunner. They checked the cargo and calmed down, I also calmed down, they could have shot me, mistaking me for a terrorist.

It soon became clear that when sending him to the Northern Military District zone, Moscow gave Ukrainian telephone numbers to the administration of Starobelsk, and Russian ones were already operating there. That’s why no one answered his calls. There were a lot of similar “overlaps” during almost two years of travel.

Last December, just before the New Year, they brought parcels to the fighters from relatives and their own products – traditional warm clothes, stewed meat and meat products. Not far from Svatovo, the UAZ, which was in their group, abruptly went to the side and a strong bang was heard, as if from a large firecracker. According to the driver, at the last moment he pulled the car to the side; it seemed as if a large bird had dived under the wheels. In fact, this saved his life. Almost a direct hit from a Ukrainian drone. The driver himself had minor scratches, but the car was badly damaged. Kolistratov believes that the group was saved by the priest’s prayer – before the start of the journey, the cargo was blessed.

I ask: is it not a pity to just give away products in which a lot of effort has been invested? After all, they can be sold on the market and make a profit; peasants, as you know, are not very rich people.

“This is the least we can do for our warriors,” he answers. – After all, they lay down their lives for us and our future. We are warm and well-fed here, but the guys are in the cold in the trenches. It happens that on a combat mission you go several days without food.