by Marco Imarisio
He feared the call to the army with the mobilization: he started from a building in Krasnodar in southern Russia. He was born Ivan Petunin and was 27 years old
In 2016 he recorded the song Stelle with Ukrainian rapper Artem Lojk. See the stars shine on your shoulders… Who said being young is easy? Do the services listen to your phone or not? Are you sure you are alone now after entering Telegram? Maybe they count you like you’re one of the cattle? Because you express opinions, you spread extremism, and if you stop speaking, they’ll catch you on thought crime.
Now Lojk writes songs that praise the strength and honor of our soldiers fighting at the front. His friend, or former Russian friend, died because he didn’t want to go to the front. At least that’s what his friends and dissidents opposed to the Special Military Operation say, who found in his recent video message signs of capitulation to the unsustainable mobilization.
Walkie T, born Ivan Petunin, lived to be 27 years old. He killed himself by throwing himself onto the eleventh floor of his apartment on Congress Street in Krasnodar, the regional capital in southern Russia, where he was considered an idol. He had even gained decent fame at the national level by participating in the Battle of Rap, an event that takes place on social networks in which the most famous Russian rappers take part.
By the 2016 edition, the video of the song that took him to the semifinals had reached six million views. The following year, Ivan spent a few months in a psychiatric hospital treating major depression.
Every historical moment needs a symbol, someone who represents the zeitgeist. It doesn’t matter if there were already signs of discomfort. Walkie T will be remembered as a victim of the partial mobilization that propelled his country into a new phase and brought palpable fear even to the streets of Moscow. He was certainly not a reservist, and he himself explained that his clinical picture had saved him from being called to arms. But he feared it would happen in the event of a second wave of forced recruitment. He had also told his partner that because of the referendums, everyone would go to the front without distinction.
The reasons for his gesture are clear. In a last video message, which he recorded shortly before his death, he says words that cannot be interpreted in any other way. It hurt me so much to find myself in this world that has been dominated by war for the past seven months. I cannot and do not want the sin of murder to weigh on my soul. I am not willing to kill for any ideal. I have no right to take up arms and shoot people. Sometimes you have to die for your principles. If you’re watching this video, it means they’re gone.
I want people to remember that I lived by my conscience and died for my principles. wrote just before he took the life of his girlfriend and friends. His new album came out a week ago. In the post announcing it, he wrote: Listen to these songs to understand who I was. The choice to stop always being remains an unfathomable mystery that almost never finds an absolute explanation. But these are certainly not times for fragile souls. Not even in today’s Russia.
October 1, 2022 (change October 1, 2022 | 22:29)
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