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Spartak Moscow fan Daniil Mayorov recently traveled around the country and the world, supporting the Reds. -whites», and is now a member of the Espanyola unit and performs combat missions in the Northern Military District zone. In an interview with Sport, “Major” spoke about the real state of affairs at the front, Ukrainian propaganda and service side by side with the CSKA legend Andrei Solomatin.
— What did you do before the Northern Military District?
— I am an entrepreneur: I run a hotel business and have commercial real estate. Of course, I didn’t go to the combat zone for money. The salary I receive under the contract pays off the maximum amount of fuel. I often organize a car with humanitarian aid. A one-way trip from Moscow to Mariupol costs 30 thousand rubles (gasoline, toll road, coffee, cigarettes). And there are three or four of these per month.
— Let's go back a little to the past. How did you get involved in the fan community?
— My father is a fan of Spartak. I was about six years old when he started introducing me to watching football. I started going to the stadium after moving to Moscow. I met my comrades with whom I later went on my fan journey. The first trip was to Yaroslavl, at the age of 13. It went, it started spinning, it went.
— Those wonderful times when in Yaroslavl you could get ripped off before reaching the stadium. Local authorities were angry.
— It happened, yes. I raked a lot!
— How did my parents feel about this?
< br>— But they didn’t even know. He went for bread and returned three days later. Of course, they scolded me a lot, but what can you do.
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«It's a pity that Spartak doesn't have Solomatin»
—You've worked your way up in the fan community , as they say, from a “carlan” to a person close to the base.
— You can say so. We have our own team. The emphasis was on travel. It could be that we didn’t attend a single homework during the season, but we did all the trips, including the Russian Cup and European Cups. Our team goes beyond the football movement. There are not many of us, but it is almost impossible to get to us as a family. We help each other in everyday life, in business, in business, we travel together, we relax together. And in 2022, we are fully involved in supporting the soldiers participating in the SVO. We came to a common opinion: when the country is in a state of war, there is no time for football and travel. We focused entirely on supporting the Espanyol battalion.
— How actively does the football movement participate in the training camp?
— To be honest, at first I wanted to swear. Many were skeptical about this topic. Fortunately, as the SVO progressed, the situation began to change dramatically, more and more teams are joining in and participating in training camps. Help here is important not in word, but in deed, and it becomes more noticeable from the guys from the movement. Which is good news. In fact, any participation is important. We understand that a fan is not comparable in income level to a football player.
— More details about football players.
“We need to convey one simple thing to them. We, the fans, followed them, risking our health and spending money. Let's take the end of 2021: Spartak plays in European competition, the match is in Leicester. About 30 people went there from Moscow. The team was not left without support. For the average fan, the trip cost 100 thousand rubles, and his salary is 120. These are not millionaires. Most of the salary is spent on ensuring that the team is not left without support. And now the moment has come when we need help! We don’t ask football players to give half their salary. We don’t even need money, just provide support and attract attention! Light it up somehow, show the position, but they are silent. There is one Andryukha Solomatin, that’s all.
— Were you surprised by his arrival in the Northern Military District zone, given his status?
— Certainly. At first I thought that he would come now and start like football players: “Bring me Chivas!” And then I look — no, he’s a normal guy. We live in the same room with him. We communicate every day, we got to know each other very well. A great guy! It’s a pity that “ «Spartak» there is no such Solomatin. The horses were lucky.
— Through whom did you get to Espanyol? In the first months of the SVO it was very difficult to get there , as far as we know.
“I’ve been driving humanitarian aid for over a year now. When I first arrived, the unit consisted of 30 people. Senior comrades from the Spartak movement introduced me to the commander (call sign Spaniard — editor's note), and that's how things started.
— What impression did he make?
— A person you can and should trust. His work is not one day or one month. Everything is thought out and calculated as much as possible. Within a year, the unit became a brigade, which is already about a thousand people. And the emphasis is not on quantity, but on the quality of people. Many drop out, others at the learning stage. It also happens that a person already signs a contract, and then they figure out that he is not suitable, so to speak. The Spaniard is a strong leader. The person you need to follow.
“Fan fights now are idiotic”
— Is the hierarchy in the football environment and in Espanyol somewhat similar?— There is such a thing. “Espaniol” completely lacks any “bluntness”. Both I and any other fighter can approach the commander and address him on a first-name basis. This greatly speeds up all processes and affects the business of the department.
— As I understand it, your team was more focused on supporting the team than on any intersections with opponents from other movements? Or did it happen?
— There were clashes. There are not very many of us, but the emphasis is on quality. Helping other teams, they could have killed themselves, but yes, the emphasis was more on traveling.
— What am I getting at? Firstly, are there any of your comrades at Espanyol, and secondly, does anyone serve there with whom you fought with your fists in the old days?
— None of my guys are under contract yet, but one guy is planning. At the same time, they regularly travel to the Northern Military District zone with humanitarian aid. From there I coordinate the collection of necessary things, equipment, high-tech items, and they collect and deliver. Did you cross paths with anyone… Yes, it happened. We once had a huge mess with the St. Petersburg ones, in 2017 or so. I participated there on behalf of Spartak. But now we don’t have any conflicts on the football topic.
— How is that football lifestyle perceived now? Don't you have the feeling that this is all so stupid and unimportant compared to what is happening now?
— Of course, there are such thoughts. When the country is in a state of war, then doing such things — hacking yourself to death, interrupting someone with graffiti — is maximum imbecility. There have been cases when fans have shown that in the event of some kind of global threat they can unite. And now it’s not even a global threat, but a war. And all these disagreements related to football must be forgotten. We now have a common enemy. There are no «red-white», «red-blue» or «blue-white-blue». We are the same color — «white-blue-red». We need to unite and help. I'm not just talking about Espanyol. You can help both civilians and mobilized people.
— Adrenaline. Is it possible to compare the one you received when you were a football fan and the one you received in the SVO zone?
— Around football in the stands, after a match, if there is some kind of crowd-on-crowd mix-up, then there is such an adrenaline rush that you can’t control yourself. You move on instinct. Here you still continue to control yourself. First the brain works, and then the sensations caused by adrenaline. Different types. In football, you understand that at most they will smash your face, break something, maybe, but not kill you. There are not many fatalities there. And here you understand: if you cloud your mind, you will simply die. And you don’t let your feelings prevail over your mind.
— How did you first come up with the idea of a contract?
— I took humanitarian aid there for six months. I collected and delivered it myself almost once every two weeks. And then I realized that I could only increase the quantity and quality of assistance provided by being on site. When I see what comes to the warehouse, what goes to the departments. Therefore, I decided to stay on the contract.
— How did your parents react?
< - Of course, we were worried. But they supported me, especially my father. Nobody knew what it really was like there. Often they say one thing on TV, but in reality something else. Of course, they tried to dissuade us at first, but in the end they supported.
“There are fans who left to fight for Ukraine”
— Did someone close to you or out of fandom condemn you? Or maybe there are those who are worried about Ukraine?
— Among those close to me, probably not. Although… It’s out of fandom. There are those who ran away, and there are those who actually went to fight for Ukraine. I know another idiot who considered himself a patriot. When the SVO began, he said: “That’s it, let’s kill them!” And when mobilization was announced, he left for Turkey. I write to him: “How come, you drowned like that?” When they asked me if I would go somewhere, I immediately said: “Yes, I will. To Donetsk.”
— Was it difficult there at first?
— The hardest thing was that now I don’t sleep alone in the room.
— Is it often scary?
— Scary doesn’t happen “in the moment.” There was a situation recently. It was necessary to deliver the quad and other cargo to Soledar. I take the car, hitch the trailer, and off we go. We arrive, the city is completely destroyed, rats are running around the size of cats, it stinks of gunpowder and corpses. We unloaded, and went back at night, snow, fog. And go by memory, there is no Internet there, and it’s impossible to plot a route in advance.
— Why?
— Because one well-known navigator somehow works very strangely and for some reason always leads through Ukrainians. There were cases in other units. The result is collisions. We unloaded, we go back, from memory. And here is a sign, something like “Artemovsky District”. A comrade asks: “Do you remember this? And I don’t remember.” We went out, took some photos, drove on, and all around us there was broken equipment. We don't remember this either. I open the photo, zoom in, and there is not “Artemovsky district”, but “Artemovsk”. Oh my! We brake the UAZ, and they say to us: “What are you guys doing, Chasov Yar is two kilometers away, and it’s under the Ukrainians. Suddenly the sound of shutters in the bushes, the guys are in a hole and we don’t understand whether they’re ours or not. We’re driving by, the equipment is on fire, we’re spinning took a long time. In the end we got to Popasnaya. We reached the base, slept and then it became a little scary when I replayed it in my head.
— Still, the greatest danger now is “birds”?
— Yes, FPV copters. Andrei Solomatin and I ran away from one of these. We arrived at the position, saw the copters, Andryukha actually hid under a burdock tree, and I ran into the dugout. One jumped, but far away, and the second was right next to us. And if he had flown into the dugout, we wouldn’t be sitting here now.
— The slogan of one of the companies of CSKA fans, which says “There is no fear,” loses its meaning in the NWO zone?
— There is fear. If a person is not afraid, then he is completely frostbitten. Or, like some Ukrainians, they go around on drugs. The most important thing is to overcome fear and complete the task. This is what makes a man out of a boy.
— Is alcohol prohibited at Espanyol?
— Yes. Strict with this. If you get caught — a hand, a jaw. You can replace the jaw with the second hand, by the way. There is a choice. As for the “stupid ones,” I didn’t see it myself, but the guys told me what happened. They shoot at him, but he continues to run with automatic weapons.
— They often say that professional military men are running out on the other side. Is this true?
— There are fewer of them, but they will not end soon. There are still reserves — both personnel and technical. For now, it seems to me, starvation will not work. Yes, there are fewer “birds” among them. If earlier there were ten of them for one of ours, now for one of theirs there are five of ours. And it’s hard to say about the rest. A few months ago we rushed around Mariupol, I was on guard just when it arrived. But before that it had never flown around Marik. In Makeevka they beat, in Donetsk every day. It’s too early to talk about shell hunger. Some moments may be in drawdown, but there is still a reserve.
«Crows feed on the corpses of Ukrainians»
— The Internet is replete with videos of how mobilization is taking place in Ukraine — people are beaten, twisted and sent to the front. Can such a fighter be motivated?
— Some small percentage, perhaps, then acquires motivation… But, in general, no. It is clear that the soldier is unmotivated. It's already hard for them. All the motivated ones died at the beginning of the war. But at the same time, their propaganda works very hard. This is not their merit, of course, but that of our Western partners.
— Lack of motivation also leads to heavy losses for the enemy.
— I saw an interesting moment live. Early in the morning at a certain time, a lot of crows fly towards the Ukrainian side. They also feed on carrion. They arrived and flew away. Every day. The guys who work longer say: that means there are a lot of corpses lying there. And they fly there every day. That side often does not take their fallen comrades, so as not to record the corpses and not pay relatives. Just missing in action. We don't have that. They always take you away.
— Even at the risk of your own life.
— Yes. And there are many such videos.
strong>— Are there still many mercenaries on the other side?
— Eat. But now there are many fewer of them than at the very beginning. Many left for Israel. And the instructors take off and leave. In Israel they pay many times more money. The Israeli-Arab conflict and ours with the Ukrainians — in both cases, finances come from the United States. And Israel is a friend for Americans. Ukrainians are sixes. Accordingly, they “warm up” friends more than sixes. It is much more profitable and safer for mercenaries to fight in that conflict. They don’t really want to fight against us anymore, they’re a little scared. The worst part is that Ukrainians don’t understand: it’s not they who will have to earn American money, but their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Think about it, you haven’t been born yet, but you should already.
—I asked Solomatin about this, I’ll ask him now. What will be the end of SVO for you?
— This is the transition of Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Nikolaev and Odessa regions to Russia. The entire coastline to Transnistria and the border with Russia. For me, this will be a victory.
— Is it possible to achieve this with the current forces?
— Yes. But we need to increase activity and use new weapons. We need to keep up with the times. Now the war is different, not like in Chechnya or Afghanistan. You can't win it with machine guns and attack aircraft. We need a lot of drones, we need electronic warfare, high technology. If we develop it and develop it in step with the times.
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— Did you have friends from Ukraine before the start of the SVO?
— Yes. They stayed, but they don’t fight. Of those I knew, no one went to fight — some in Poland, some in Germany. Nobody wants to die.
— We are fighting for the interests and security of the country, but what are they for?
— If we take the population of Ukraine, then the people there, for the most part, are not educated. I traveled a lot around the world, and I was in the States, and I traveled far and wide across Europe, Asia. A Ukrainian emigrant is, for the most part, a person who engages in physical labor, while a Russian is engaged in mental labor. It happens the other way around, but in percentage terms, about 95% of Ukrainians are engaged in physical labor. This indicates the low level of education in the country. They are not even fighting for Zelensky, but because the propaganda worked well. She worked for a long time.
— Since Soviet times.
— I think even since pre-war times. And after the Great Patriotic War, there remained these sleeping cells of neo-Nazis, so to speak, who passed on values and ideas from generation to generation. This nonsense, in short! And after the collapse of the USSR, everything began to gain momentum, now we see what it resulted in. After the war, a gang of underdogs remained. And now we cannot make the mistakes of those years. It is the radicals who need to be cleaned up. On the other hand, they are difficult to calculate. Even if he “shocks” and “hacks”, he will say that he is from Rostov.
“There is no place for returnees in Russia”
— But relatively recently we considered Ukrainians a fraternal people.
“I think this people has never been brotherly to us.” I have been there many times, and a united Ukraine has never existed. Westerners have always disliked Easterners. Residents of Crimea did not like Westerners. The fact that Ukraine would disintegrate was predictable, a natural process. Until 2014, the Donetsk region was the richest in Ukraine. They were treated the same as Muscovites in Russia. And Westerners were drawn to Poland. It seems to me that after the end of the conflict they will have a reinforced concrete mess with the Poles. It will be interesting. Can you imagine, a conflict will start there, and we will already harness the power of the Ukrainians! It sounds crazy, but in 1919 if someone had told me that it would start in 2022, I would also have thought it was crazy.
— Is there a place for “returnees” in Russia? Solomatin said that they should be executed.
— I think that there is no place for them here. But there is no need to execute, it’s a sin to take on your soul because of some goats. Just don’t let them back in, deprive them of their citizenship. Deny entry. Nobody needs them there either. If we take the stars, then none of them achieved even a small part of the earnings that were here. But they made a choice.
— Ukrainian propaganda works in such a way that people believe: there are no toilets in Moscow, and rockets are assembled from washing machines. How is this even possible?
— Young people listen to their elders. An authoritative guy over 40 years old somewhere in Lvov rubs it in all seriousness: Moscow City does not exist, these are photoshopped shots from Dubai, the Crimean Bridge does not exist, this is some kind of Chinese bridge that was removed. And processes begin in the minds of young people. And the result is a fierce Russophobe, a “Westerner” who speaks Ukrainian with a Polish dialect. If 20 years ago in Lvov they could tell you out of spite that they don’t understand Russian, now this is actually true.
— And in negotiations on the line of combat contact, how do they communicate?
—Everyone on the other side speaks pure Russian. There are not so many hard-line “Westerners” and they try not to send them to war. They have invented some other mythical Ukrainian nation, a Ukrainian gene pool, and are allegedly trying to preserve it. Sick people.
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