At the trial of the recruitment of a student in ISIS, her closest relative spoke

From the first day of the disappearance of Moscow State University student Varvara Karaulova, FSB officers joined in the search for her and later asked her for cooperation. This was told by the mother of the defendant during the interrogation. The woman could not hold back her tears. On Thursday, the Moscow District Military Court continued hearings on high-profile case Alexandra Ivanova (Varvara Karaulova), who is accused of trying to join a terrorist group banned in the Russian Federation " Islamic state».

At the next meeting, Varvara dressed in a peach dress with short sleeve, loosened her hair and brightly made up her eyes.

On Thursday, the defendant's mother, 45-year-old Kira Karaulova, gave testimony to the court. A fragile woman in a checkered dress stood behind the podium and began her story. The woman could not hide her excitement. The witness said that she works as a specialist in one of the capital's schools. Kira Alexandrovna divorced her husband, father Varya in 2003, but the couple officially divorced two years later.

Varya stayed with me. I was in charge of raising my daughter. We didn't have a trusting relationship. She was registered in social network"in contact with". I once, when she was in the 10th grade, went to her page because she forgot to close it. I accidentally found out that in the life of my daughter there was a certain Vlad. I'm in Lately I was very worried that Varya did not have a boy. She didn't share anything with me. But acquaintances told me that she had Vlad, the witness recalled.

According to her, the daughter was baptized. The parents of the defendant are atheists.

We celebrated Easter in 2015 by baking Easter cakes. Varvara wore headscarves in winter. I myself was shy in my first year, wore a long skirt and a knee-length sweater, then I thought that she was just as stupid as me. Before leaving for Turkey, she taught herself how to cook and knit - she knitted a sock.

Mom described Varvara as closed person. “When she matured, I decided not to interfere in her personal space. “Why don’t you go anywhere?” - I asked her more than once. She answered me that it is difficult for her to study and it takes a lot of time. "

Kira Karaulova recalled with tears in her eyes the day her daughter escaped. That day she took youngest daughter to school and went to work. In the evening, she received a text message from Varya: "I'm staying with my dad, take a walk with the dog."

But at one in the morning she did not come home, although she was always at home at eight in the evening. I called Papa Varya Pavel and we went to file a complaint with the police. We have accepted it. Then we turned to the Foreign Ministry,” the woman said. - I got a call from the deputy dean of Moscow State University Bushev and I went to see him. He told me strange things, that his daughter was dressed strangely and asked me to meet with the FSB officer who oversees Moscow State University. I met with him - it was a senior lieutenant named Denis Aleksandrovich, he promised to help us. Then we went to our house with him, and he asked not to communicate with the media.

After that, Kira Karaulova handed over her daughter's correspondence to the FSB officers.

I discovered Varia's love correspondence with her fiancé. The letters began with "Habibi", as I later found out, it means "beloved". But I couldn't find the strength to read it. I handed over everything to Denis Alexandrovich Lavrenchuk (FSB officer). I was constantly in touch with the FSB officer. Pavel went to Turkey. Denis Alexandrovich was the first to tell me that Varya was found in a group of girls like him. I called the employee every hour and he told me last news about Varya, - said Karaulova.

She admitted that she had a strained relationship with ex-husband Pavel. "So Varya was the first to text me, hoping that I wouldn't call ex-spouse", the witness explained.

While they were looking for Varya in Turkey, a woman with her current husband Alexander was invited to Moscow State University. There, FSB officer Denis Aleksandrovich introduced her to colleagues who also joined in the search for the student. After Varya was returned to her homeland, her mother barely recognized her.

I was in shock, she was wearing a hijab and was in apathy and depression. We had to hide from journalists at Papa Varya's dacha.

The woman managed to have a heart-to-heart talk with her daughter, and she admitted to her that she was madly in love and was going to get married, because "Muslims are the most best husbands, and it will be like behind a stone wall.

“He (Vlad) is the only person who loves and understands her.” I got the impression that she fell in love with an invented image, the woman believes.

Subsequently, the FSB officers suggested that Varya's parents "reflash" all her daughter's gadgets so that she entered into correspondence with the ISIS under the guidance of the special services. However, after arriving in Russia, the student was hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital, a security officer went there with her, since the special services "had views" of Varya.

One day, Varvara was taken by ambulance to the psychiatric ward. I picked her up from there and took her to another hospital, and the FSB officer was on duty in the women's department for the two weeks she was there. Doctors diagnosed her with "schizoid disorder of puberty," the mother of the accused claimed.

The girl was released from psychiatric clinic and on the same day, the FSB officer gave us gadgets - a tablet and a smartphone. Later, an FSB officer, operative Poluektov, repeatedly came to Varya's house and they were left alone behind closed doors. Varya, in the presence of the FSB officer, continued to correspond with her fiancé from ISIS.

Varvara lived for some time at the home of FSB officer Poluektov. The special services constantly followed her, every step was under control. They wanted to understand if one person corresponded with Varvara or a group. “We were very grateful to the FSB officers that they saved her, so we did not interfere with their work,” the witness said.

After Varvara Karaulova was detained and taken to the FSB Investigation Department, the operatives bought her food. Investigator Sergei Aguzarov pretended to be friendly to Karaulova's parents, but then stopped answering Kira's calls: "They told me that everything would be fine if Varya confessed everything."

Varvara Karaulova is a student of the Faculty of Philosophy at Moscow State University and speaks English, German, French and Arabic.

On May 27, she left the house, said that she was going to study and disappeared. About the disappearance of a girl on her Facebook page written by her father Pavel Karaulov. Parents put forward the version that Varvara was recruited by the Islamists: “Varya was taken to Istanbul (Turkey). Presumably for transfer to Syria or Libya. We need the help of law enforcement officers in Turkey, the Russian consulates and embassies, the FSB!” Pavel Karaulov said then.

Later it turned out that the girl at the university wore a hijab, became interested in Arabic literature. She secretly issued a passport for herself. Interpol and special services of six countries joined the search for a 19-year-old student.

The search was active, and a few days later, on June 4, Karaulova was detained in the Turkish city of Kilis while trying to illegally cross the Turkish-Syrian border. Together with her, 14 other people were detained.

It was reported that they were all going to join ISIS (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation).

Return

On June 11, Varvara returned from Turkey to Moscow. Karaulova did not leave with the other passengers who had arrived from Istanbul, which meant that she was taken right off the plane law enforcement for verification activities. However, representatives of law enforcement agencies limited themselves to a conversation with the girl. As Pavel Karaulov told RIA Novosti: “There was a small conversation, Varvara testified.”

The Investigative Committee then announced that they would not initiate criminal proceedings against Karaulova. “The check on the fact of the possible participation of Varvara Karaulova in the activities of an extremist community and her recruitment has been completed, a decision has been made to refuse to initiate a criminal case,” RIA Novosti said. official representative RF IC Vladimir Markin.

According to Karaulov, his daughter is an excellent student, knows several languages, and may have been dressed according to Muslim traditions when fleeing. Billing detected the girl's phone near the Syrian-Turkish border. They probably took her there. Information appeared in the media that Varya was detained while trying to cross the Turkish-Syrian border. According to the lawyer of the Karaulov family, the fugitive did not commit any offenses, and if she explains why she came to Turkey, she may be able to stay there. However, it is not clear whether the Karaulov family will agree to this. Meanwhile, a source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation said that if it is confirmed that Varvara Karaulova was recruited, then a criminal case could be opened against her, which means that Russian law enforcement officers would demand her extradition.

The girl is currently being held at the Turkish National Migration Agency. Earlier, the Russian embassy announced that the girl would be extradited to Russia.

family in currently refuses to communicate with the press, and Pavel Karaulov himself tearfully pleads through social networks: “Dear journalists! Be people! Don't touch my family!"

Why Varya?

I must say, a lot of information about the fugitive loser leaked to the press. Varya is an excellent student, she knows many languages, at one time she was strongly involved in Orthodoxy and was even fond of nationalist ideas. As one of the publications that talked with Varvara's mother found out, everything changed with the divorce of her parents. The girl, probably yearning for her father, withdrew, stopped communicating with her peers, despite her attractive appearance, was not fond of romantic dates, did not go to the company, especially if they drank there. She became seriously interested in Islam and even stopped wearing a pectoral cross ...

But at home, she apparently hid new hobbies - she went to university in ordinary clothes, but there, they say, she changed into a long skirt and a hijab. “We were very surprised how a girl who was a nationalist suddenly started wearing a hijab in six months,” Varvara's classmates told Life News.

Probably, the parents noticed something, since Varvara's mother said that, having begun to get involved in Islam, Varya cooled off towards her beloved dog - they say, an unclean animal. By the way, the dog also figured in the story of Varya's disappearance - on May 27, allegedly leaving for the institute, the girl unexpectedly called her relatives and asked to walk the dog, which she had never done before.

19-year-old Moscow State University student Varvara Karaulova, who, according to her father, was forced by unknown people to go to Turkey and then to Syria, was supposed to return to Moscow before the holidays. True, the deportation was delayed due to the girl's lack of a passport and the execution of all the necessary papers.

Under what circumstances could her passport be stolen? What awaits Varya upon returning home? And why the special services should have paid attention to her at the age of 15, the girl's lawyer Alexander Karabanov told MK.

We very much hope so. There is a legal process. The fact is that Varvara's passport was stolen, now her documents are being restored. Her extradition directly depends on this. Varia's passport was deliberately stolen in order to keep her in Turkey for some time. She was taken under tight control to deprive her of free movement.

Was she crossing the border illegally, or was it still a border checkpoint?

The entire group was detained on June 5 at passport control at the official border crossing in Kilis. They have not yet crossed the Syrian border. Varya was already wanted by Interpol. Therefore, she was detained.

What does Varya plan to do as soon as she returns home?

Wants to return to ordinary life. The issue of passing the session at Moscow State University will be discussed. Now Varya hardly understands how she got involved in this whole story. I spoke to her father. She admits that certain psychological trainings and maybe even psychotropic drugs.

Earlier, the media reported that no traces of any narcotic substances were found in the tests taken from Vari.

I have no information that Varya had any medical research. But it should be noted that now there are many psychotropic drugs, which are excreted from the body quickly enough and do not leave any traces in the blood or urine of a person.

Experts say that upon arrival in Moscow, Varya will undergo an in-depth psychological and psychiatric examination.

Of course, in order to determine whether her free will or someone influenced her will to leave Russia, such examinations will be needed. This is in our interest.

Read the material: Lawyer: Varvara Karaulova announced the use of psychotropic substances against her

Will Varia's mother be met at the airport?

The situation with her mother is difficult, she has a tough relationship with Varya, but I think that she should still come to meet her daughter, because she is very worried.

Can the version that Varya fell in love and therefore followed her chosen one to Turkey, and then to Syria, be completely ruled out?

All this remains to be seen. How do recruiters work? Some are recruited through personal relationships, some for an idea, some for money. With regard to Vari, the impact was non-standard. This is a case that goes beyond all norms and rules. The man went to the university in the morning, and then suddenly ended up in Turkey. In an instant, memories of relatives, friends, plans for the day were erased. With regard to Varya, targeted work was applied. Here acted a man with non-standard abilities.

Now more and more young people are being recruited from good families. Either they are used as a tool to influence their parents, or they are sold, or they are trained to recruit in their own social environment. Varya is essentially a trained agent. She knew perfectly 4 languages, studied Arabic, had unique abilities. Previously, special services tracked such gifted children, watched them from the age of 15, then sent them for further education, where they improved according to a special program. And now Varya has been “clicked through”. But someone noticed and decided to use it to their advantage.

I am grateful to the media for covering the story of Varya. By joint efforts, we may finally make the law enforcement agencies work. Previously, they did not want to notice this problem. Meanwhile, only last year According to the head of the FSB, the number of Russian citizens fighting in the ranks of ISIS in Syria and Iraq has approximately doubled, to 1,500-1,700 people.

Varvara Karaulova (Alexandra Ivanova) is a student of the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University, who gained fame after failed attempt penetrate into Syria and get into the territory controlled by the "Islamic State" (recognized in Russia terrorist organization whose activity is prohibited by a court decision). On December 22, 2016, a military court found Karaulova guilty and sentenced her to 4.5 years in prison. On April 16, 2019, a court in Vologda granted her request for parole

Biography

Varvara Pavlovna Karaulova was born on November 29, 1995. At the time of her attempt to leave for Syria in 2015, Karaulova was a second-year student at the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University, at the Department of Cultural Studies. She was expelled from the university in October 2016 of her own free will.

Karaulova owns several foreign languages. was engaged Thai boxing on professional level.

Acquaintance with Airat Samatov

In 2012, Varvara met on the Internet a young man, a native of Tatarstan, Airat Samatov. Varvara later told about their communication: “We met Samatov in 2012 in a group of CSKA football fans on the VK network. He introduced himself to me as Vlad from Krasnogorsk. At first we discussed everyday issues, then I woke up to him a feeling of sympathy, To young man, then the feeling grew into love. He didn't send me a photo. Now I understand that he deliberately arranged everything so that we did not see each other. Then he had nationalist posts. Sometimes we fought and argued."

In February-March 2015, the themes of Islam began to slip through his mind; earlier, he positioned himself as a pagan. I learned about the existence of the Islamic State from him. He presented this as stereotypes that are not related to Islam, that Muslims are terrorists. At the university, they told me about Islam formally. I maintained such conversations with Samatov for the sake of communicating with him. From his words, I liked that a woman in Islam is not infringed, but is under the protection of her husband. It was in August 2014, in September I started thinking about converting to Islam. In October, I decided to join this religion, I tried to read namaz. In the group "VK" "Women's club" Muslim "" I also asked questions. I came to the mosque, where I lost the desire to communicate with someone there, I was not met there as I expected.

On the background romantic relationship with Samatov, Varvara developed an interest in Islam. She became interested in Arabic culture, began to study Arabic, communicated with representatives of schools for the study of Islam, and planned to enroll in a course on the correct reading of the Qur'an. At the end of 2014, Karaulova converted to Islam. In secret from her parents, she began to wear a hijab, putting it on after leaving the house.

After a sudden two-month break in communication from Samatov, which Varvara took painfully, Airat got in touch, inviting Varvara to come to the territory of Syria, which is under the control of the Islamic State.

After resuming communication with Samatov, Karaulova considered the marriage with Nadir invalid. Samatov promised to return the money sent by Nadir.

Personally, Karaulova never met Samatov. He wrote about his activities in correspondence: "I am an attack aircraft. My duties include running forward." At the same time, Samatov changed accounts and names, using the pseudonyms "Artur Sokolov" and "Adam TT".

Karaulova herself also changed nicknames on social networks, corresponding with Samatov as "Sofya Shevchenko" and as "Varya Karaulova". She also used a profile with the nickname "Amina Sayfutdinova". On her social network page, extremist literature was published, which was recognized by the court as prohibited. Karaulova herself later explained that Samatov had access to her page.

Trying to leave for Syria

In mid-February, he flew from Moscow to Istanbul. At the same time, he began to send me his photos, it was a Russian young man. Later I found out that these were not his photos. Then he wrote that he was leaving, it was hard for me. In May 2015, I flew to Turkey. I, already upon arrival, told him my phone number, and we began to correspond in "WhatsApp". Then he admitted that his name is Airat and sent his real pictures. I cried there all the time. On May 31, another woman and I took a bus from a Turkish apartment closer to the Turkish-Syrian border. Then they detained us, put us on a bus that looked like a truck, I was very scared. We were fingerprinted, none of the soldiers, these border guards even spoke English, I only managed to write down my father's phone number. From this base, we were taken to a temporary detention center for two days, and then to a refugee center, where my dad came to visit me.

On May 27, 2015, Varvara Karaulova secretly left for Turkey from her parents. After the disappearance of the girl, her parents contacted the police. A few days later, Karaulova's father found out that her daughter had received a passport from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after which she flew from Sheremetyevo Airport to Istanbul on flight SU2132.

On June 4, 2015, Karaulova was detained on the Turkish-Syrian border among Russians, including those from Chechnya and Dagestan, as well as citizens of Azerbaijan, who, as investigators suggest, were going to join the Islamic State.

After returning, Karaulova continued to correspond with Airat Samatov through the WhatsApp messenger and wanted to re-leave for Syria. Subsequently, she explained this by the fact that she loved Samatov and wrote to him "to maintain communication."

According to the father of Varvara Karaulova, the girl, having returned to Russia, was under the control of the FSB and resumed correspondence at the initiative of the operatives.

Criminal case

On October 23, 2015, a criminal case was initiated against Karaulova on charges of attempting to participate in the BADR group as part of the Islamic State. On October 28, 2015, the court chose Karaulova a measure of restraint in the form of detention.

At the same time, it became known that, having returned to Russia, Varvara Karaulova changed her name, calling herself Alexandra Ivanova. According to the parents, this was done due to excessive attention from the press with the knowledge of the special services on the recommendation of law enforcement officers. However, representatives of the prosecution pointed to the change of name as one of the preparations for a new attempt to leave for Syria.

Karaulova subsequently spoke about her arrest and interrogation: “The investigator suggested conducting an interrogation without a lawyer. But before signing the papers, [FSB investigator Aguzarov] Sergei Muratovich said that we would wait for a lawyer. But I told him that the document did not contain exactly my words. He said that this was a short version. Then he asked me to plead guilty in order to alleviate the situation. I thought that the investigator understood that I was not a terrorist, it was just the circumstances." In court, Karaulova retracted her confession given during the preliminary investigation.

Court

The court began considering the case of Varvara Karaulova on October 5, 2016. During the process, Varvara did not admit her guilt, but did not deny that she continued to communicate with Samatov and wanted to try again to leave for Syria. Karaulova also admitted that she had warned Samatov about the security services spying on him.

"Once I had some kind of glitch in my head and I went to my VK page" Varya Karaulova "and saw a lot of letters from Samatov that he was worried about me, I reassured him. Then I noticed that FSB officers wrote to him on my behalf, I saw 4 messages," Karaulova said during one of the court hearings.

The conclusions of the psychiatrists, announced at the Karaulova trial, were contradictory. According to the forensic medical examination conducted by specialists from the Serbsky Institute, the girl was not diagnosed with mental disorders. In the voiced conclusion of the doctor of the Alekseev hospital, it was said that Karaulova had a schizotypal disorder.

On November 3, 2016, when asked by the state prosecutor about which trend in Islam Varvara considers herself to be, she answered: "I was probably related to the Shiites." This statement by Varvara does not agree well with the fact that the Islamic State, of which she is accused of trying to join, is a Sunni group fighting against the Shiite (Alawite) leadership of Syria.

On November 9, the state prosecutor stated that a psychological and linguistic examination confirmed Karaulova's intention to leave for Syria. Karaulova herself also confessed to the court that she communicated with the alleged recruiter of the Islamic State recognized as terrorist at her own will, and not at the request of the FSB officers.

On November 17, 2016, when asked by a judge about her attitude towards Islam, Karaulova said that she had stopped practicing Islam and praying when she became disillusioned with Samatov. "I consider myself an agnostic and have been an agnostic all my life, but I still like Islam very much," she said.

On April 26, 2017, Varvara Karaulova was transferred to the Vologda penal colony No. 1.

In July 2017, the European Court of Human Rights received a complaint from Varvara Karaulova, alleging numerous violations during the preliminary investigation and an unreasonably harsh sentence.

In April 2019, the lawyers sent a request for parole Karaulova. On April 16, 2019, the Vologda City Court granted the request for parole for Varvara Karaulova. The prosecutor and the administration of the colony objected to parole. The representative of the colony said that the convict was characterized negatively, because she had outstanding penalties.

According to the court order, Karaulova, after her release, is obliged to be registered monthly and not change permanent place residence. In case of violation of the conditions of parole, she will continue to serve the sentence.

On April 27, Varvara Karaulova left the colony. She was met by Oleg Dimoni, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Vologda Oblast. Accompanied by an employee of the colony, they quickly proceeded to the car.

Notes

  1. Student of Moscow State University Varvara Karaulova: dossier // AiF. 06/05/2015.
  2. Student of Moscow State University Varvara Karaulova: dossier // AiF. 06/05/2015.
  3. From the testimony of A. Ivanova in court on 11/17/2016.
  4. Karaulova confirmed her intention to study at the Koran reading courses // Caucasian Knot. 10/27/2016.
  5. Varvara Karaulova: “Dad, I was wrong!” // TVNZ. 19.06.2015.
  6. Varvara Karaulova: “Dad, I was wrong!” // TVNZ. 06/19/2015.
  7. Karaulova announced her marriage to a militant // Caucasian Knot. 10/25/2016.
  8. Varvara Karaulova: “Dad, I was wrong!” // TVNZ. 06/19/2015.
  9. Karaulova explained the correspondence in social networks about IS by the need to maintain a conversation with her fiancé // Caucasian Knot. 11/02/2016.
  10. From the testimony of A. Ivanova in court on 11/17/2016.
  11. Varvara Karaulova: “Dad, I was wrong!” // TVNZ. 06/19/2015.
  12. Karaulova confirmed her intention to leave Russia in court // Caucasian Knot. 11/04/2016.
  13. Moscow State University student who tried to join ISIS was left in custody // Channel One. 11/10/2016; Varvara Karaulova changed her name on the recommendation of law enforcement // AiF. 29.10.2015.
  14. Karaulova said that she pleaded guilty at the request of the FSB investigator // MK, 11/17/2016.
  15. From the testimony of A. Ivanova in court on 11/17/2016.
  16. Contradictory conclusions of psychiatrists announced at Karaulova's trial // Caucasian Knot. 11/01/2016.
  17. The prosecution asked for five years in prison for Varvara Karaulova for links with IS // Meduza, 08.12.2015.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Varvara Karaulova has been imprisoned for more than a year

In the Moscow District Military Court, at the trial in the case of Moscow State University student Varvara Karaulova, who is accused of trying to join the Islamic State group banned in Russia, the defendant herself spoke, after which she was interrogated for three hours by the presiding judge Alexander Ababkov.

In fact, the court and the public for the first time heard the story of Varvara Karaulova in her own presentation and in all details: from the moment she met her future lover, who persuaded her to convert to Islam, and then became the reason for her unsuccessful flight to Syria, and to interrogations in the investigative FSB department, where, according to her, investigator Aguzarov tricked her into confessing her guilt.

Judge Ababkov did not limit her story in any way. Moreover, when the prosecution and the defense asked Karaulova several questions, the judge began the interrogation himself, thoroughly asking the defendant about all the moments and details that she missed in her speech.

Varvara Karaulova, who officially changed her name to Alexandra Ivanova last September, is accused of "preparing to participate in the activities of a terrorist organization."

A student of the Faculty of Philosophy of Lomonosov Moscow State University disappeared in May 2015. It soon became clear that she secretly flew to Turkey and was detained there while trying to cross the border with Syria. From Turkey, she was deported to her homeland, came under FSB surveillance and was arrested in October last year, after the special services considered that she continued to communicate with an Islamic State recruiter and allegedly hatched plans to escape to Syria again.

At the beginning of the trial, Karaulova (Ivanova) announced that she was retracting her confession and pleading not guilty.

First suitor

In the presentation of Varvara Karaulova, all her misfortunes are the story of her virtual love story with a young man named Vlad, whom she met in the CSKA fan group of the VKontakte social network, whom she had never met "in real life" and who ultimately turned out to be not-so-young Islamic State militant Airat Samatov.

"Just a person with whom I liked to talk about football, about everyday affairs. This correspondence became more and more significant for me. Sympathy turned into love. He did not send any photos, I thought he was shy. Now it seems to me that he deliberately so that we could not meet," says Varvara (Alexandra).

Despite the absolute virtuality of the novel, these relationships very quickly began to influence real life girls.

The “young man” was furiously jealous of her for any male representatives, so Varvara, according to her, at some point stopped greeting men altogether.

"In February or March 2014, topics related to Islam began to slip through his mind. Prior to that, he positioned himself as a person professing neo-paganism. I thought it was some kind of cultural direction. And then the topics of Islam appeared," the defendant said.

Image copyright AFP Image caption At the beginning of the trial, Varvara Karaulova stated that she was retracting her confession and did not consider herself guilty of the charges against her.

Varvara Karaulova liked Islam. At the trial, she could not clearly explain what exactly, except that her sympathy was caused by the status of a woman among devout Muslims. According to her, in Islam, the husband takes full care of his wife and children, so that a woman can feel under reliable protection in any circumstances.

Step by step, and over religious conversations with her boyfriend, whom she then mistook for "Vlad", Varvara came to the decision to convert to Islam.

“I converted to Islam. Samatov said that he had converted to Islam before that, but he didn’t want to tell me. After that, he told me that he wanted to go to the Islamic State and fight for their ideals. I decided to beg him to marry me, so that I can leave with him," the accused confessed.

Second groom

After that, Airat Samatov, according to Karaulova, really left for Syria, warning that he would not be able to get in touch for some time.

“It was a difficult moment for me. Then I realized that I love this person very much and cannot imagine my life without him,” the girl emphasized again.

At that time, she did not dare to tell her parents either about her love or about her new religion: "The relationship was not very trusting, so I didn't know how to put it."

According to Varvara, at one time she similarly kept her decision to become a vegetarian secret from her parents.

And then a certain girl came out to her, "either a Kazakh, or a Bashkir", with the question "how is Airat doing?"

"I immediately realized that we are talking about the man I knew as Vlad, Karaulova assures. - I always expected meanness or setup from him. For me, like a piano fell on my head. It was embarrassing and hard."

In a fit of jealousy and resentment, she not only immediately deleted all their correspondence on social networks, but also rushed to look for a new groom for herself - in a group of Muslim women in the WhatsApp messenger.

“I wrote that I didn’t mind getting married. I was told that there was such a Nadir. He wrote to me, we talked once, I said that I agreed to marry him. The marriage was carried out via Skype. All that was required was my consent, and on it can be said that the marriage was concluded, "says the girl.

Nadir - by the way, who fought in the ranks of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group considered in Russia - even managed to send her money for the journey to Syria.

However, here - in April 2015 - Airat Samatov again got in touch with her just in time, explaining his long silence by the fact that he was trained in the "Islamic State".

Samatov quickly and convincingly convinced Karaulova that the Skype marriage was not valid, after which she said goodbye to Nadir, not forgetting to return the money.

Third suitor

The story of the third groom Varvara Karaulova is the most vague. She continued to communicate with Airat, but at the same time she felt his insecurity, so she managed for the second time in two months to decide on an adventure with a "blind marriage".

“I really didn’t care who I married. Of course, I wanted Samatov, but then there was an incomprehensible relationship, I thought that I would find him somewhere, that everything would work out. The main thing for me was to get married for a Muslim, because I thought that they treated women differently, that they would not leave their wife," she assures.

People who promised to find her a Muslim husband turned out to be obligatory, and on May 27, 2015, Varvara received a plane ticket to Istanbul, departing on the same day. All she had to do was pack her things and follow instructions.

In Turkey, she was transported from city to city, from apartment to apartment, in the company of other women who, like her, went to their fiancés or husbands in Syria to the territory of the Islamic State.

It was only at that moment that Airat Samatov finally confessed to Varvara who he really was and sent her his real photos. However, after a couple of days, he took his words back, calling it a "check."

“I was constantly crying there, I didn’t know how to behave,” Varvara told the court (and even really shed a tear). The greatest emotions of the current Alexandra Ivanova were evoked by memories of how her parents rushed to look for her - according to her, she did not expect such a reaction from them to her flight.

Karaulova did not make it to Syria - Turkish border guards detained her at the border, who sent her to a center for illegal migrants, from where her father Pavel Karaulov, who came for her, pulled her out with some problems.

“The FSB officers took us straight from the plane. They asked about Samatov. At that moment I already understood that I had gotten involved in such an adventure, that I didn’t want to communicate with anyone, Samatov, or anyone,” said Varvara Karaulova.

Overweight

In the presentation of Varvara Karaulova, the ending of her story looks simple. First she was placed in one psychiatric hospital, then in the second, where, with the help of antidepressants, she managed to bring herself to her senses.

“I left the hospital, I felt better, I wanted to reset my life, start anew. I started running, learning Korean. But I couldn’t fix myself in this state. Depression, emptiness, loneliness began to return again. I sat at home all the time,” - she says.

At the same time, she began to gain weight, which further exacerbated the depression.

“I began to gain weight very strongly. Weight is generally a big problem of my entire teenage life. I always considered myself well-fed. I always started eating when there were problems, gained weight, and it only got worse. In two weeks I gained somewhere 15 kg, my complexes worsened, a feeling of loneliness. I even continued to run, but continued to gain weight, "complains Varvara.

And then she "broke down" - she went to check her account on VKontakte and found a lot of messages from Samatov.

“Through him, I tried to get rid of this depression, I no longer believed him in anything, I was frightened by his views. If before I reported to him about every step, now I didn’t tell him anything or deceived him,” she assures.

Karaulova admitted that she once wrote to Samatov that she still wants to come to him in Syria, but now she assures that she really didn’t think so then, but only wrote what Samatov expected to hear from her.

At the end of September of that year, she confessed to her mother that she could not cope with this pathological addiction on her own, and she took away all the gadgets with which she could access the Internet.

“I started taking medication again, turned to a psychoanalyst. I started playing volleyball, three times a week, went to learn to embroider, studied the language. I taught French,” Varvara lists.

And yet, on October 27, 2015, at six in the morning, riot police came to them, searched the apartment, and Varvara herself was sent under arrest.

"We didn't offer to change clothes"

Thorough interrogation by Karaulova judge Aleksadr Ababkin, which at times seemed either too harsh or playful to the point of "trolling", showed that the defendant omitted a number of details in her story that make the ending of her story by no means so unambiguous.

The current Alexandra Ivanova - although more than a year has passed since then - still cannot give a clear answer about her attitude towards Islam.

For the first time after returning from Turkey, she continued to wear Muslim clothing, refusing it only after leaving the hospital.

"Parents did not offer to change clothes?" the judge asked her.

“They didn’t offer to change clothes,” Karaulova replied. “I didn’t always wear a hijab. I put on a headscarf if I went outside, I went home in ordinary clothes.”

Only after the hospital did she feel that she no longer felt the need to dress like a Muslim.

“After I was discharged, I completely stopped practicing Islam, I didn’t read namaz, I didn’t observe the fast. When I started talking with him (Samatov), ​​I thought that I should. After they took away the gadgets, I stopped thinking about Islam again,” she assures.

The girl's father, Pavel Karaulov, after her arrest, assured that while still in Turkey, Karaulova admitted that she had made a mistake. According to Karaulov, after returning from Turkey, the girl actively cooperated with the investigation and corresponded with an IS recruiter under the supervision of FSB officers.

Words about the "mistake" Varvara Karaulova confirmed, and cooperation with the FSB was not so unambiguous. Karaulova firmly stated that she did not like the idea of ​​texting Samatov under the dictation of the secret services, so she put emoticons that were atypical for herself. And then she told Samatov in plain text that the FSB was interested in him.

Karaulova explained her initial confession by fear. According to her, the investigators threatened her "to give her 20 years" and said that the confession of guilt - the only way lighten the punishment.

Then, according to the defendant, she got new lawyers who convinced her to “tell the truth”, so that she no longer feels fear in court.

Judge Ababkin asked with a chuckle whether this should be understood as a compliment to his panel of judges, after which he granted the state prosecution's request to read out Karaulova's testimony given during the preliminary investigation.