In the past, Yuri Alekseev is a successful Moscow lawyer. Seven years ago, he quit his job and moved to live in a dugout on the Yaroslavl Highway. The curiosity of the media helped him create the image of a hermit who refused comforts. And this is despite the fact that Yuri's house has a computer, a solar battery, a telephone and even an intercom for intruders. On the wave of general interest, the man started his YouTube channel and began to upload videos under the pseudonym The Hobbit Hermit. It now has over 100,000 subscribers. Yury's popularity was also increased by his attitude towards Alexei Navalny. The man regularly installs art objects next to his home - symbols of his oppositional views. Several times the local administration ordered the man to get rid of them.

The hermit's dugout is located on the 106th kilometer of the Yaroslavl highway.Finding her is not difficult, she stands right next to the track, surrounded by three handwritten posters. On each inscription: “The Hobbit Hermit. YouTube". Nearby there was a place for an actual political protest against raising the retirement age. On signs resembling road signs, the numbers 63 and 65 are crossed out.

Voices come from the open door. The hobbit cheerfully explains something to his interlocutors. He notices me and the photographer and smiles: “Sorry for not meeting you. I just have guests. Yuri offers his hand, and I go down to him, touching the doorway with the back of my head. Hurt.

Outwardly, the dugout resembles the house of Bilbo Baggins from the movie "The Lord of the Rings" - round wooden door, flat roof. True, it has a solar battery installed on it, which hobbits should not have, but this does not spoil the overall fantasy still life. Inside, there is a surprisingly high ceiling, log walls along which books are placed on the shelves, there is a small stove, a bed. We stop at the door so as not to disturb the conversation.

“So, when Vladimir Putin came to power, troubles began in Russia ...” - the Hermit addresses his interlocutors. They listen to him for about ten minutes, then interrupt and say that they have to go. Yuri sighs sadly and escorts the men.

When he comes back, I hand him two bottles. sunflower oil.

"Here. You asked to be brought,” I say. Yuri takes the bottles and holds out the money. I refuse. Present.

The hermit takes me in like an old friend. At least he tries to make it feel that way. He hospitably offers to sit down, talks about how his day went, and the shooting of the next video for the YouTube channel. During the conversation, he picks up a log, which seems to be specially prepared for our meeting, and begins to saw it. Right there, in the corner of the dugout. 2.5 hours. Saws and speaks. Saws and speaks. Sometimes complains about popularity.

“You know, I often have guests. If this continues, I will put up a sign: “Meetings by appointment only!” - complains Yuri.

I ask him about the people who came before us. The hermit, in response, talks about the importunity of the public and how tired he is of answering the same questions.

“They ask: “How do you live here?”, “How is your day?” If you ask such questions, I can still answer, because you are a journalist. I am for you good material. I don't want to answer them. Why do people need to know all this? - says the man.

True, such meetings have their advantages, the owner admits. For example, products that guests bring. But the man immediately notes that sometimes he refuses things if he understands that he does not need them.

After these words, I pay attention to a strange structure with products tied with a rope to the ceiling. Boxes with gingerbread, dryers, cookies and sweets stick out of it. Due to the large packages of sweets, the design sways slightly in different directions. Rope cabinet, something, I think.

Yuri notices where I’m looking and continues in a satisfied tone: “You see, I’m just in front of everyone and I don’t hide from anyone, that’s why people are so interested. In addition, I made everything so attractive that you all go to me, and not me to you, ”he explains.

The hobbit is lying. For its popularity, you have to get out of the dugout. For example, in May of this year, he, along with the popular blogger Amiran Sardarov, was in Chelyabinsk and starred in one of the issues of Khach's Diary.

As planned, Yuri came to Chelyabinsk to meet another local "hobbit" - Sergei Andryukov. Inhabitant Southern Urals built a whole "village of hobbits." Exact copy villages from The Lord of the Rings movie. Yuri then spent the whole day with Sergey and interviewed him for Sardarov's YouTube channel.

“Amiran said they needed an actor and offered me the role. The impressions from the trip were positive: I was treated like a star. The only drawback is that I didn’t get enough sleep then, ”says Yuri.

Yuri is talking to me, expressively leaning on the saw. Periodically, a man is distracted from the process and changes his position. Everything for the photographer to catch an interesting angle. With a saw in his hands, barefoot and bearded Yuri perfectly wins back the image of a wild hermit. He resembles Tom Hanks' character in the movie Cast Away. Only instead of the silent ball of Wilson next to Yuri is the fluffy rabbit Petrushka. He doesn't speak either, but at least he's alive.

However, the furnishings of the hut are not as well thought out as the image of the owner. There is a sense of props and pretense. A hermit who has abandoned the comforts of civilization is easily found to have a laptop, an iPhone, a coffee grinder, Fumitox mosquito repellant tablets and fresh bed sheets, neatly covered by a shabby plaid. Portraits of the classics watch the guests from the walls: Chekhov, Shakespeare, Rachmaninov. Opposite them is a crumpled leaflet with Navalny. In my head, all this does not fit with the concept of "hermit".

Several times Yuri looks into a small box with me - there is money. When asked where they come from, the hermit catches up with mysteries: “I’m on public security. That is, I am engaged in social work, and society provides me for this.

By "social work" Yuri means his communication with guests, as well as shooting videos. The hobbit believes that such publicity is a kind of work for which you can receive a fee in the form of food, medicine (Yuri does not deny that he uses them) or money.

“I now have 100,000 subscribers on the channel,” Yuri repeats every now and then. “If earlier power and the parameter of success were measured in money, now they are measured by subscribers in in social networks».

Yuri does not want to talk about the past. Not about parents, not about personal life. These topics are taboo. His admirers should not know about this. This will destroy the image of the "hospitable hermit."

But we talk about Alexei Navalny and the politics of Vladimir Putin for a long time. Yuri considers the oppositionist the only alternative for Russia.

“This is a man who very quickly managed to gather public attention. He has no alternative. Navalny's shares are now the most profitable and powerful on the political market. And I am ready to invest in them, ”the Hobbit shares his opinion.

We drink Turkish coffee and continue. Already without a voice recorder, I ask him: “What real reason the fact that he now lives in a dugout? Yuri replies that he became a hermit for two reasons: firstly, he had nowhere to live, and secondly, in protest.

Seven years ago, everything went downhill: he was once again asked to move out of rented apartment. And then he decided to stop. All his life he did not have his own corner and a roof over his head. First, the parental home in Stary Oskol, then a hostel, an army barracks, a hostel again and now rented housing. different districts of Moscow, different conditions. Eternal attempts to please the new owners. Loitering around rented Moscow apartments and going to an unloved (albeit prestigious) job. Tired. He dreamed of his own apartment, but even he had money for a mortgage. young specialist not enough.

Trying to decide what to do next, Yuri decided to go abroad and seek his fortune there. But here a new barrier arose. Expired passport. To get it, you had to ask for leave at work and go to Stary Oskol. True, the Moscow police, to whom he turned for help, hinted that all issues could be resolved for money. It was Last straw. Yuri is broken.

"Russia - welfare state. Budgetary funds are enough to provide the minimum needs of all citizens of the country for a roof over their heads and food. But the state machine has no such purpose. This means that our president is also the guarantor not of the rule of law, but of the regime of his power in order to enrich his family and the families of his friends, ”the hermit argues.

The man left law firm, took an old tent and settled on the Yaroslavl highway. In protest. The tent then turned into a dugout, and the homeless Yuri - into the famous Hobbit the Hermit.

“Just imagine, I worked in an office, everything was boring and monotonous. And now I have a colossal project here - 100,000 subscribers!” he exclaims.

A blog for a former lawyer is a serious project. He makes videos every day. In the vicinity of the dugout and in it itself, several filming pavilions with scenery are equipped.

The Hobbit leads a tour of creative domains. The Hollywood Film Company, that's what he calls it. Having reached the last scenery, Yuri offers to take a cool photo: he will sit in a chair with the inscription "director", looking thoughtfully and purposefully at film set. We refuse. There are too many staged photos.

After the tour we return to the dugout. She has guests again. Middle aged man and woman. They look upon the Hobbit as a saint.

“Do you really live here?” the woman asks with interest. The hobbit is silent, he goes down to his house and returns with two postcards: “There is a link to the YouTube channel. Take a look and then come visit." The couple nods and tidies up the cards: “We will definitely, definitely return!”

Yuri also gives us postcards. He signs them with a black pen and adds, "Giving autographs is part of my community service."

The Hobbit waves goodbye to me. This gesture seems rehearsed. I get into the car and imagine how, after our departure, the dugout falls with a roar, turning out to be a cardboard scenery, and Yuri himself goes into the actor's trailer, washes, gets into the car and leaves back to Moscow. Live a real life.

Hi all.

07/14/2018 my family visited the Hobbit the Hermit.

The hermit's name is Yuri and for several years he has been living in a dugout.

I learned about this man from youtube videos and I wanted to get to know him better.

After watching a few videos that were filmed various people running on the way to unusual resident(or those who specially come to visit him), I realized that Yuri was already quite tired of the guests, many of whom tortured him with questions about his personal life, while constantly (in most cases without asking) filming him on camera.

I understood that the Hermit should have his own time when he sleeps or eats, so at night, in the evening and in the morning it is stupid to come to a person. A day is acceptable, in my opinion.

I will not hide that it was inconvenient for me to go and communicate with Yuri, but curiosity got the better of us and we went to visit while it was still possible.

I did not know what to bring him as a gift, I searched the entire Internet in an attempt to find out from others what the Hermit really needed, but did not find an answer to my request.

As a result, they cleaned the carrots for the Petrushka rabbit, and I found Yuri a cup with a picture of a rabbit, coffee and sugar. I brought coffee only because I knew that Yuri was quite hospitable and treats coffee.

I am embarrassed to drink and eat at a party, and my husband even more so, and it seems to me that we even offended Yuri with our refusal.

When we arrived, we saw a couple of parked cars, apparently, sooo many guests go to him.

We waited a bit and went to the booth with the phone. We picked up the phone and heard the voice of Yuri, he invited us and we went down to the dugout.

Yuri gave me his hand and laid a rug for us to sit down..

I can’t say for sure if the Hobbit needs something, but he loves to read books, there are a lot of them in his dugout. To be honest, I also like the paper version, not the electronic one. Since childhood, I read a lot, until now my father is very kind to books and the whole apartment is full of books (there are two rows of books on the shelves, books under the bed, books in the corridor, etc.), so books are the first thing I I noticed when I entered the Hobbit's dwelling.

He felt tired and he looked like a wise man, but his look betrayed his young age.

His views on life are not close to me, but perhaps he is right in some way ..

And I am absolutely not interested in who and what says about him, because a person can be judged only by talking to him personally. I mean, many people talk about the fact that they have left a residue from communicating with the Hermit.

I did not ask Yuri questions, it was clear that he was tired of them and, in principle, it is indecent to come to visit and start "torturing".

I tried to speak only on those topics that he himself touched on, and, basically, my husband talked with Yuri.

My son fed the rabbit Petrushka with carrots, which, by the way, the rabbit liked. Parsley allows himself to be stroked, but does not caress, he loves his master and tries not to stray far from him. Probably, numerous guests also tire him.

It seems to me that Yuri has practically no friends. Yes, there are those who support him, but more curious ..

It's hard to find friends these days though.

In general, we were satisfied with the trip, we had a "talent" from clay from the Hobbit the Hermit as a keepsake.

StarHit correspondents visited Yuri in the summer of 2013. Then the man lived in an Indian wigwam, built on the side of the Yaroslavl highway near Aleksandrov, and dreamed of improving living conditions. Two years later, the 41-year-old hermit met us in a solar-powered dugout, where he moved with his rabbit Petrushka. StarHit found out how Yuri's life has changed since our first visit.

back to nature

Yuri admits that the decision to drop everything and go to the forests matured gradually.

“It’s just that I began to think about what I spend time on,” the man shares with StarHit. - When you have stable income, profession and all the attributes of a good life, but there is no interest, it's hard not to think about such things.

The final decision to move to nature came after a trip to India, where on the ocean, a lawyer let nature take care of itself. At work, Yuri began to appear less and less, and then quit altogether. Although employers doted on him and offered to come for 4 hours a week, it was still a burden to him.

Since Yuri did not have his own housing, he drove from Pereslavl towards the capital, choosing a suitable place. I photographed the corners I liked, wrote down the coordinates and compiled tables in Excel, so that later I could slowly make a choice. The vending glade was found on the outskirts of the Aleksandrovsky district. Every year, Yuri more and more equips his life. First, the ex-lawyer built a tipi - a wigwam, later a straw hut appeared, but it burned down, and two and a half years ago he dug a winter dugout. Years later, Yuriy still sees solid advantages in his lifestyle: there are no expenses and dependence on money, you don’t have to pay taxes and rent an apartment, you can live the way you like.

He is not afraid of being asked to vacate land to which he has no rights. He is friends with the law, knows the intricacies of such cases and is sure that no one is interested in doing such things. “Power should not interfere with a person's life, otherwise it is not power,” he calmly declares.

FROM WHAT WAS

Yuri built the house from improvised materials. For example, carton boxes truckers brought him to live, and the pipes were found in a landfill. Some of the things, including equipment, the hermit took from past life. At 20 square meters dugouts, he placed a sleeping corner with a table, shelves with books, a technical corner with a computer, batteries and other equipment, a kitchen with a sink and a wood-burning stove. A tiny nook is set aside for a toilet with a shower, where the light is turned on by clapping your hands and a semblance of a sewer is equipped - dirty water goes down the pipe into the ground.

If earlier a lawyer bathed in a stream, and in the cold months he moved to live in someone's dacha, now he hibernates without leaving his familiar place. Yuri receives electricity from solar panels and a small generator. The dugout has the Internet, sewerage and intercom - there is nothing strange in the fact that he lives in comfort, he believes modern hermit. Heating is more difficult. According to Yuri, it is not difficult to warm up to 10 degrees, but to bring it to 15-20, it will take a lot of effort, time and firewood. In summer, Yuri uses a tipi, next to which there is a hammock with an awning, a summer table with chairs, and closer to the New Year, he even decorates the Christmas tree.

Another dugout was built in the neighborhood - for guests who are ready to stay overnight. By the way, they often appear here: sometimes acquaintances, sometimes just curious people look into the dugout. There are dozens of visitors a day. Many people come for a tour. Yuri gladly receives people, invites them to tea and discusses with them.

“This is one way of knowing the world and yourself,” he says. The beloved woman Clara also comes to him, she did not leave her knight without a horse. They have been together for several years and meet regularly, and the rest of the time they communicate via Skype. True, she is not yet ready to leave her job and move to a dugout. If you ever get tired of talking to tourists, he promises to just put up a “Do Not Disturb” sign.

ONE DAY

“There is always something new going on here. I wake up in the morning and my whole day is alone big job. I don’t have a strict schedule, I have the necessary things to do - cook food, bring water. I also need to walk the rabbit - this is my new friend, ”he explains. In food, Yuri is not picky, he cooks simple stew or coffee on a wood-burning stove. The main products in the dugout are peas, flour, butter. By the way, all the years Yuri does not use money, which he simply does not have, and does not go to stores. He eats what he himself gets in the forest, and the gifts that tourists bring. Thanks to their visits, fruits and sweets appear on the table, and new things in the house. However, the savage is sure that he can easily do without these benefits. He also does not get out to the city - he does not want to, and the need has not yet arisen. He had not been to the hospital or the barbershop since he settled in the forest. He had to meet with a doctor once, when in the forest he accidentally injured his leg with an ax. Fortunately, a friend came to visit, who lived nearby for 10 days and even called a doctor.

Yuri is often asked if it's boring to live like this - without entertainment and away from the world? A man only grins at such questions and shows a laptop with an Internet connection - this is how he learns the news and watches movies. In addition, the inhabitant of the dugout reads a lot. Another hobby that has emerged in the last couple of years is bookcrossing. Yuri collects books and gives those who wish something to read.

“It doesn’t get boring over the years,” he notes. But the idea to open a music salon by the road, which he shared with StarHit three years ago, was temporarily abandoned. Yuri believes that he is an ordinary person.

“There is nothing outstanding about me. I do not like to exist in the city, to fight for survival in the metropolis. I do not associate myself with a hermit or a downshifter - I just chose this lifestyle. Life is arranged, you don’t have to work, you don’t need to pay for an apartment either, there is enough communication with people - everything is fine. Fate itself will help me find a way out of any situation,” he says.

For several years now, Yuri Alekseev has been living in a dugout near the highway.
Yuri built his dugout in two months, and has been living in it for several years.

Now many articles have already been written about Yuri Alekseev (that’s the name of the “hermit hobbit”) in various publics, and most of them begin with a story about how Yuri, being a successful Moscow lawyer, quit his highly paid job and moved to a dugout, refusing wealth. There is indeed some truth in this story, but the journalists are a little cunning.

The library is Yuri's main pride.
Yuri registers all his books in the bookcrossing system.

In fact, Yuri can hardly be called a hermit and an ascetic - he has so many guests that they often collide with each other at the door or go one after another. So that regular guests would not be so annoying, Yuri even adapted a kind of intercom - a telephone at the beginning of the path, by which guests should report who they are and for what purpose they came to him. And so that those wishing to take part in bookcrossing would not disturb Yuri once again, he took his library to a separate shed.

Hobbit hermit.
Yuri's house has electricity provided by a generator.

Yuri's asceticism is also peculiar, or one might even say hipster. His dwelling really looks more like a hobbit mink: almost everything is made of wood, a lot of carpets, rugs, bedspreads, even the door is deliberately round to make the association with hobbits even more complete. But at the same time, there is a music column above the entrance to the dugout (you can hear Yuri’s audio recordings in which he recites classical works of Russian literature from it), on the roof there are solar panels, and inside you can see a computer, a synthesizer, an audio system, a tablet, a laptop, a phone and quite stable lighting.

The road leading to Yuri's dwelling.
The road to Yuri's dwelling.

Together with Yuri lives a white rabbit named Petrushka. He also sometimes becomes a member of the Moscow Region hobbit video. Yuri even calls his channel - "Channel of the Hobbit Hermit and Petrushka."

Rabbit Parsley.
Yuri regularly shoots videos and puts them on his Youtube channel.

Seven years ago, Yuri Alekseev really moved from Moscow to the Yaroslavl highway. Then he worked as a lawyer, now - a blogger. Yuri considers his blogging to be quite a serious job, and, admittedly, he succeeds in it: now there are more than 125,000 subscribers on his Youtube channel.

Yuri constantly receives guests in his dugout.
Yuri believes that now his life is much better than the one he had in Moscow.

“If earlier power and the parameter of success were measured in money, now they are measured by subscribers in social networks,” says Yuri Alekseev. - “Just imagine, I worked in an office, everything was boring and monotonous. And now I have a colossal project here - 100,000 subscribers!”

Yuri almost never leaves his home, preferring that he does not go to people, but they go to him.
Yuri often hosts journalists.

Almost every day, Yuri uploads a new video - sometimes about his life, sometimes he writes down his reasoning, he has quite a few videos in which he reads Chekhov, Pushkin, Turgenev and other classics aloud. Sometimes he asks his subscribers to become sponsors of his channel and transfer money to him. When journalists contact him and ask for an interview, he may also ask them to bring certain foods or medicines.

Yuri against the backdrop of a canopy with a library.
Intercom on the street.
Intercom in the dugout.

“There is nothing outstanding in me,” says Yuri. - I do not like to exist in the city, to fight for survival in the metropolis. I do not associate myself with a hermit or a downshifter - I just chose this lifestyle. Life is arranged, there is no need to work, there is no need to pay for an apartment either, there is enough communication with people - everything is fine. Fate itself will help me find a way out of any situation.

What would I say today at 43 to my past 33 year old self? - Yura repeats my question. - I would say: “Run here, to me, for 106 kilometers, leave this empty and useless life, it’s so great here, you can’t imagine!” But of course, I wouldn't believe my past self today. That I had a house, a job, money, trips abroad, a car, a refrigerator, expensive clothes... Everything that I don't have today. And what I have today and what I didn’t have in the past is completely intangible, therefore it is impossible to present as an argument: the meaning of life, harmony with oneself, freedom of expression ...

Yura constantly expresses himself. For four years he has been living on the edge of the forest, far from the cities, in a comfortable dugout with a round door - "in a hole under the ground", like Bilbo Baggins. He calls himself "a man - a cherry orchard", because he loves Chekhov very much and "preaches" his way of thinking to his numerous guests. He shoots, edits and uploads to the Internet videos about the life of a hermit, in which he shares, as he himself says, "life's wisdom and follies." He wears a fluffy red beard on his face, and tangles on his head, very similar to dreadlocks. Instead of a dog and a cat, Petruha the rabbit and Pasha the raven live with Yura. Sometimes he looks. 15 meters from the dugout, along the Yaroslavl Highway, Yura installed round plank shields and wrote the word "Navalny" on them in huge letters - an art object, also the fruit of his artistic self-expression. Earlier, by the way, the inscription “Dimon” flaunted on the same shields.

Downshifting technologies

The main complaint against Yura from his commentators on YouTube is inconsistency with the canons. “What a hermit you are,” these good people- if you live on the highway? If you have a phone with a video camera and electricity? You are a deceiver and an idler, not a hermit. Hermits must live in the deep forest, with wolves, drink from puddles and eat grasshoppers. We know!”

To this, Yura, not at all upset, replies that, they say, friends, the 21st century is in the yard, and the hermits in it can in no way be similar to their long-standing predecessors. Hermits are now like me.

On the roof of the dugout there are four solar panels and a stack of car batteries, day and night providing Yura with light, charging for his phone, the operation of a laptop (which he hardly uses) and a rather loud playback of Chekhov's audio books, completely drowning out the cars rushing along the Yaroslavl highway.

There is a modern stainless steel potbelly stove that can heat and boil peas in exchange for a negligible amount of firewood. There is a working toilet, a shower, a kind of bath and impressive stacks of books. A Toyota Corolla that has not been driven for a long time is parked by the road, and in the house, that is, a dugout, there are guests every day: friends, journalists, just passers-by, and even officials of the local administration.

Yura is an absolutely honest hermit. But not the one whom the Greeks called an anchorite, that is, a hermit monk, but a modern downshifter - a man who escaped from civilization, arranged a demarche for the “meat grinder” of the metropolis, where, according to him, one must “work all his life for the Abramovichs in order to have a roof over head." Moreover, Yura never called himself just a hermit - he is a hermit hobbit who is always glad to people.

Thanks for the beans

On the way from Moscow, I was afraid to miss the hermit camp, and starting from the 104th kilometer, I carefully looked around. The fears were in vain: the very inscription “Navalny” unmistakably reports about Yurina’s localization.

The owner is making something on a wooden cable reel that replaces his garden table. When he sees me, he quits his lesson, waves affably and goes towards me. Looking at him, I understand that in the rapidly growing popularity of the hermit, not last role appearance plays. He is petite, thin and really looks like a hobbit. Freckles are scattered across her expressive face. A lush beard of an almost unreal red-copper color. Age not determined. The movements are restrained, unhurried, he speaks a little mockingly.

Excuse me that I'm not dressed like a hobbit today, I just washed all my things in the morning, - Yura laughs and, looking into the handed bag, sees red beans there. - Oh, so you are a journalist from Lenta.ru, whom I asked to bring beans? Paul, I think? Thank you very much, I need the beans for the YouTube video: "What Hermits Eat." Actually, I eat peas, but people ask me to cook beans in the video as well.

The right to stop and listen to yourself

Beautiful places and far from the villages - I make a true compliment to the 106th kilometer.
- Yes, they are beautiful, I chose for a long time, and I looked at the cards, and looked with my eyes, - Yura continues to chuckle. - I would say that this is one of the most beautiful places 100 kilometers from Moscow.
- And you've been here for six years?
- No, constantly four years. And before that, he lived here for another year and a half, in a thatched house, which then burned down. I think that no one set it on fire - my carelessness is to blame.

According to Yura, six years ago he was exactly the same person as other Russians who received higher education and the rest to live in Moscow. Worked as a lawyer in a non-profit foundation, filmed one-room apartment on Oktyabrsky Pole, went on vacation abroad, but did not have time to take out a mortgage. But existence in the cycle of everyday life, work from bell to bell for a roof over your head, a life in which one mistake - and you are on the street, oppressed him more and more. He increasingly thought that every citizen of the earth should have the right to a tiny corner and modest food, just like that, at least for a while, to stop, think, listen to himself.

Straw and mud house

The last straw was the refusal of the deputy head of the passport office of Chertanovo-Yuzhnoye (where the civil passport was issued) to give Yura a new passport. Based on the fact that he is not registered in Moscow.

I was rude - they simply sent me to hell - a little angry with Yura's unpleasant memories. - Although I didn’t ask for a favor or some kind of preference, I asked them to fulfill their official duties, kept my civil rights. I was sent, and then I decided to stop being a citizen, but to remain first of all a man - homo sapiens, who was born on this earth and, therefore, has the right to live on it.

Officials clearly wanted motivation. Yura, on the other hand, acted radically: not only did he not give a bribe, but he abandoned his entire habitual way of life and went to live with a friend, at an empty dacha near Pereslavl-Zalessky. He spent the winter there, and then moved to neutral territory - the 106th kilometer of the Yaroslavl highway. Settled in a canvas tent.

After some time, a friend from Pereslavl, a builder of cottages, came to visit Yura. After the construction of an avant-garde elite mansion, he was left with 150 straw blocks that looked like giant bricks. He suggested and then brought them to Yura. Yura built a cozy house out of blocks, put up a potbelly stove and began to live. Gradually he smeared the house with clay from the outside, smeared it with clay from the inside, but the section of the roof adjacent to the chimney was not processed ...

So scattered

When you live in a house for a year and a half, - he complains, - you get used to it, and it starts to seem that it will be so, nothing can happen. But red-hot ash flew out of the chimney, and the house was gone. Then I built this dugout. I built it for two months, and I have been living in it for four years.

Yura says it is correct distribution effort: two months building - four years living. The freed forces he spends on his hobbies and community service. For two years he was fond of bookcrossing (to the best of his ability, he ensured the circulation of books between people with the registration of these books on special sites), read a lot, “preached” Chekhov, especially “The Cherry Orchard”.

Journalists came to him, filmed his dugout, books, stove, rabbit and crow, and Yura thought that if it was so interesting, he could talk about himself. A year ago, I started learning how to shoot and edit videos using my phone, and launched my own YouTube channel. Today, the ratings of this channel are growing rapidly: a week ago, Yura had five thousand subscribers, and today there are more than nine thousand.

Car can be eaten for life

Yura does not and has never used alcohol or drugs. He tries not to smoke because he considers it a weakness. Not a vegetarian, but practically does not eat meat. Seventy percent of his diet is boiled peas with sunflower oil and soy sauce. He dilutes this food with gifts from numerous guests, but he does it more out of courtesy. He says that one bag of peas, one package of sunflower oil and one package of sauce would definitely be enough for him for six months of his life.

The ceiling in Yurina's dugout is high - there is still a meter of space above your head. Dimensions are two by four meters. Most of the area is occupied by a podium covered with an old carpet - it also serves as a bed at night. The walls are reinforced and finished with wooden poles - not a European-style renovation, but the design is not devoid of aesthetics. There are shelves on the walls, literally bursting with books. In the far corner is a potbelly stove with one burner - for heat and cooking. Behind the door is the plaster head of Socrates. From habitual to us entertainments - tea.

Two things were bought here for money: solar panels and a modern telephone. Everything else is handmade or brought in by visitors. Yura says that everyone can do this. You need some money, but if, for example, you sell a car, it will be enough for the rest of your life. And even if in the end they were kicked out of the land under some pretext, the construction of a new dugout would take him another two months.

Where is the best law school

Yurin's day consists of three parts: communicating with guests, reading books and maintaining his YouTube channel. In his videos, Yura exploits the hermit life for the time being, but according to the idea, this is just a way to attract an audience. And the ultimate goal is to speak in the margins and between the lines: to share wisdom and nonsense, to talk about Chekhov, our society, freedom and how little a person needs to be happy.

Yura Alekseev came to Moscow from Stary Oskol. There he was born, raised and graduated from high school. Then he studied as a programmer in Belgorod, but did not graduate from high school and went into the army. Served in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. During his service, he became friends with an officer who advised Yura to receive legal education and explained that there are four worthy legal departments in the country: at St. Petersburg State University, at, at the Russian State University for the Humanities and Moscow State Law Academy. He also gave Yura a recommendation (for out-of-competition admission) to a law school, which, by the way, did not work in the places listed.

After the army, he tried twice to enter St. Petersburg State University - he did not pass. In the third year, he applied to four places at once and at the age of 24 he entered the Faculty of History, Political Science and Law of the Russian State University for the Humanities.

The unbearable burden of life

I lived in a hostel, worked as a courier, a loader, studied - in general, I was absolutely like everyone else, - Yura smiles at his memories. - In the fourth year I got a job in my specialty, at the age of 30 I received a diploma and again became like everyone else - that is, I sat at the computer in the office all day long, did some paperwork, rented an apartment. The usual typical story, of which there are millions. Was in good relations with the founders, had excellent working conditions, could eventually become a partner. He worked as a lawyer for six or seven years - enough to understand: now his life has gone, and there will never be another.

In the same years, Yura often traveled abroad, but foreign sights and alien nature quickly got tired. People have always been interesting. But why travel so far? Yura registered on a couchsurfing site (exchange of travelers) and began to host foreign guests, show the city, and communicate. People brought with them the spirit of freedom, and Yura saw that our world was a nightmare for them. Yurino's disagreement with this trouble - life in a tiny rented odnushka, in a concrete anthill, in civilized slavery - grew until it was resolved by a dugout on the side of the Yaroslavl highway.

Enraged Lamb

We talked for four hours until it began to get dark. Sometimes cars pulled off the highway. "How are you?" - asked strangers. “Why are you for Navalny?”, “What can you bring?”, “Nobody disturbs you at night?” - Passers-by are interested, shouting over the noise of the route. “The main thing is that conscience does not disturb,” Yura chuckled in response.

By the way, the hermit said that winter was not a problem for him. The dugout is wonderfully warmed up by a potbelly stove, and firewood is a forest deadwood, which is visible and invisible around.

Unfortunately, everything that Yura said cannot be conveyed in one note. How he slept on newspapers on the floor of the Kursk railway station while he took exams at Moscow State University and the Russian State Humanitarian University. What I understood from Chekhov's plays and why he loves them more than stories. And why happiness can be either here and now, or not at all.