.by Marina Akhmedova
Junior Sergeant Andrey Grigoriev, call sign Tuta, became famous throughout Russia after a video of his knife fight with a DPR VSSU soldier was distributed on Telegram channels. The Ukrainian had a camera mounted on his helmet that recorded the fight. Grigoriev won. Dying, the Ukrainian called his opponent the best fighter in the world. Tuta also received many serious wounds and was hospitalized.
On January 11, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree awarding the Russian fighter the title Hero of Russia. The fighter admitted that he was shocked to learn of the award. On February 23, the head of state presented Grigoriev with the Hero of Russia Star.
Andrey Grigoriev told the editor-in-chief of the Regnum news agency, Marina Akhmedova , about that very fight and what happened next.
— Andrey, almost every person in our country watched the video of your knife fight with a Ukrainian serviceman, from which you emerged victorious. Hand-to-hand combat rarely occurs in the SVO, they mostly use drones there. Was this the first such case?
— No. The first fight was on May 8, 2024. It just wasn’t recorded on video. And what everyone saw was my second fight on November 16.
- Naturally, you also won the first fight.
- Yes.
— Was it about the same?
— It was even worse then.
- How is it worse? Was it harder to kill the enemy?
- That's not the point. There were more of them, fewer of us. We got too close to the VSSU guys, so we had to resort to hand-to-hand combat.
- Why? There were no machine guns?
— There were machine guns, but we didn't have time to react, didn't have time to reload. So we went hand-to-hand.
“They probably didn’t expect that you had knives and knew how to use them well.
— It wasn't just about knives. Both we and they fought with whatever we had at hand: knives, machine gun magazines, even mugs. That was the most terrifying fight. And during the second fight we were already one on one.
— What was scary about the first fight? Because there were more enemies and they were stronger than you?
- Any fight is scary. It doesn't matter what weapon you have.
— When the video with you appeared and everyone was talking about it, I didn’t watch it. I thought that if I watch this video in addition to what I had seen before, it will stay with me forever. I decided to watch it only to prepare for the interview, to see your feat. It was very scary.
- I have never watched this video.
— Were you afraid to relive these experiences?
- Yes. It would be very difficult to survive them a second time.
— What did you feel then?
— I just wanted to do everything quickly, not die and move on.
— Were you afraid that you might be killed? Or afraid to kill a person with a knife?
— I was afraid that reinforcements would come to him. That's why I wanted the fight to end quickly. When the battle began, we both knew that only one would survive. With God's help, I overcame it.
- You said: "With God's help." At that moment, when you were fighting, did you remember God?
- No. I concentrated on the fight, I didn’t think about anything else.
— Was there adrenaline and nothing else?
- Yes. Adrenaline turns on automatically.
— Do you become just a creature that aims to survive?
Yes. Survive and complete the mission.
— The VSSU officer was also constantly shouting something. Was he calling his own people? I think he was shouting "Storm".
— I don’t remember exactly what he was shouting. He was trying to call for reinforcements. I didn’t shout because our guys were far away and no one would come to my aid. There was no need to waste energy shouting, I needed to focus on something else. To complete the task and get out of there alive.
- When you spoke to him later, there was no anger or hatred in your voice. You spoke to him as if he were just an acquaintance of yours ("Well, that's it, that's it, that's enough").
- He's already essentially dead. He asked me to let him go, to say goodbye to the sky and to his mother. I tell him: "That's it, come on, brother, goodbye." In any situation, you have to remain human.
- I agree with you. Why did you call him "brother"?
- Because both he and I were on a mission.
- So you're just two people put in these circumstances? If it weren't for these circumstances, it would never have occurred to you to kill each other?
- No, of course not. It's just our job.
- And when you stood up and saw that he was already torn to pieces and would soon die, did you feel sorry for him?
— I wanted to get out of there quickly so that others wouldn’t come.
- And when he told you: "You are the best fighter", did you take these words seriously? Or was he just already in a state of affect?
— I was in a state of shock. That's why I said so.
- You said that you were afraid that backup might come to him because he was talking to them on the radio. At the same time, you let him say goodbye to the sky and his mother. Why? Wouldn't it have been more logical to finish him off so that he would shut up?
— I don’t know. It all happened too fast. I just wanted to complete the task and leave. I didn’t pay attention to the rest.
- And why did you want to complete the mission? Why are you fighting?
— If you decide to sign a contract, you have to go all the way.
— What should I go to the end for?
- For your homeland.
- But it doesn’t reach Yakutia.
- It doesn't matter. If you've decided to sign the contract, you have to go.
— Why did you decide to sign the contract?
— Out of a sense of duty. We are the last generation that saw the veterans of the Great Patriotic War alive. We grew up on their stories of how they fought honestly for their Motherland. I have been a patriot all my life. If they tell me to go, I will go.
— Did you communicate with veterans when you were at school? Or was your grandfather a front-line soldier?
— I didn’t live to see my grandfathers, they died. But in our village there lived old men who fought. When they went to the club or stood in line for bread, they told me about the war. I listened attentively and was proud of them. Then I wanted my children to be proud of me too. That’s how I signed the contract.
— Do you remember anything from their stories?
- No comment. Better not.
— Were these sad stories?
- Yes, there were sad ones too.
— Maybe the same situations happened to them as to you, but there were no cameras back then.
— There were no drones back then.
— We just didn’t see it and they told us “a feat”, we thought it was something solemn. And now I looked at him waving his torn leg. I understand that it’s a feat, but it looks scary. It was probably scary at that time too. And I don’t know if it’s good or bad that there were no cameras then.
— I don’t know how the Great Patriotic War went either. I only know from words.
- How would you describe today's war? Did you expect it to be like this?
— When I signed the contract, I thought that we would still be shooting from machine guns. I didn’t think that so many drones would be flying at us. I didn’t even notice that my opponent had a GoPro (camera. — Ed.) and that the video would be spread all over the world. I found out about this on January 3. The whole family went to visit my younger brother, he showed me: “Look, Andrey, it’s you. This video has spread all over Telegram.”
- You were probably shocked. We were shocked because it was terrible. And you say that this is not your first such fight.
- I didn't even tell anyone about this. Why traumatize people?
- And were you traumatized yourself? I mean mentally.
- Of course. We all got injured.
- How have you changed? Have you become less happy, do you always remember what happened?
— At first I couldn’t sleep. Then, when I came home and hugged my family, the pain gradually began to go away.
— I wanted to clarify: the video shows that the VSSU officer stood for several minutes in front of the yard of a broken village house, as if he was waiting for something. And you were there. So he knew you were there?
— He was waiting for the FPV drone to arrive. But when the drone hit, I was already inside the building.
— He saw you and called a drone?
- Yes.
— You were with two comrades who died?
- No. They died before that. I'm the only one left.
- Why did you start fighting with knives? You didn't have a machine gun?
- There was a machine gun. I just walked out of the house and immediately ran into him. Well, hand-to-hand combat ensued without any machine guns.
— Was he strong?
- Yes.
— He also told you: “Why did you come to my land?” He probably said this because he knew he had a GoPro. He thought he would kill you and then show the video to everyone.
- I can't know.
— Have you even heard this question from him?
- I heard. But I didn't say anything.
— What would you say now?
— I wouldn’t have said anything anyway.
- Why? He considers this land to be Ukrainian, and you are from Yakutia. At the same time, we all consider this to be our land.
- I am not a politician. I was given an order, and I carry it out.
- And after he was defeated, where did you go?
— Continue fighting.
- In what sense?
— A counterattack has begun on us. Six people have come.
—Which ones did he call? And how did you fight?
— Machine guns and grenades.
— Is it hard for you to remember this?
- Yes.
- Forgive me, please. If your feat was not meant to go down in history, I would not have tormented you. So these six people came. And how did you survive?
— I was in the basement. The basement had two exits, on the left and on the right. There was also a concrete wall, where I hid. As soon as they arrived, they immediately started throwing grenades, and I was standing behind that wall. The grenade exploded, and they threw another one. Then they asked: "Alive or not alive?" And I sat silently, waiting. Then they sent a man to check. And I was waiting for him and met him with a machine gun. Then they threw another grenade. Then they sent another man. I met him with a machine gun, too. And then they left.
- And those two remained?
— They took one with them.
- And the second one was killed?
- I didn't approach, didn't look. He waited for me, sat until the morning. At about five o'clock I went out, but they were gone. I went out and hid in another place. Changed my position. I was there for six days.
— You hid for six days?
— He hid for five days, and on the sixth day he came back.
- What were you eating at that time?
- Nothing. I crawled out of there.
— Was it hard to bear the feeling of hunger? You probably didn't drink, did you?
- Why didn't you drink? I drank: I had a lot of water and compote.
- And when you left there five days later, where did you go?
— I knew where our guys were. I crawled there. At first I tried to leave on the night of November 19, but they tracked me down via FPV. A lot of drones attacked me, I got 14 shrapnel wounds. But, thank God, I survived.
— And when the drones flew, were you in the field? Or did they just fly in?
— One found me right away, after that the drone arrived. They knew the coordinates. Thank God, I managed to hide in this basement. Then I decided not to move at night, because their drones have a thermal imager — a person immediately glows white. It’s not so easy to see a person during the day, unless you fly very close. They flew by, but they didn’t see me.
At first I crawled for about three kilometers. Then I saw our burnt-out "Motolyga" (an armored tractor MT-LB). I hid there and spent the night.
— There were no dead people there?
— There was one of ours.
- And you spent the night next to him? Weren't you afraid?
- He was lying on top of the "Motolyga". It was already night then, when the drones could see me. What else could I do? I had to endure until the morning. The night passed peacefully. Only it was very cold.
- And he? Did you feel his presence somehow?
— I am a religious person myself. I approached Motolyga at about eight o'clock, when it was already dark. I was tired and slept until about 12 o'clock. Then I woke up. It seemed to me that someone was walking around the armored vehicle and knocking ("Thump, thump, thump"). I felt the presence of a person. It was clear that it was him. I told him: "Brother, I'm tired. Please, let me sleep. If I get out of here with God's help, I will definitely tell you that you are lying here." After that, he disappeared.
— He wanted to be taken away?
- Yes.
- And they took him away?
- They took him. They're taking everyone now. As soon as I got out to my people, I immediately told them about him.
— Was the guy Yakut or Russian?
- I didn't understand. He had been lying there for a long time - torn to pieces.
- You said that you are a religious person. Have you been a religious person since childhood?
- Yes. Yakuts are mostly pagans. But we also believe in Jesus.
— As far as I know, the Yakuts are Orthodox, but at the same time they believe in the middle world, the lower world and the upper world. Does this all fit together, and does one not contradict the other?
- No. God is God. Whatever he is called: Allah or Jesus. I believe in him.
- You say that we take everyone. Then why was he lying there?
— Until the position is taken, they can lie down.
— As a believer, could you explain why it is so important for the dead soldiers to be taken away? Do the dead care?
— All the same, it is necessary for relatives to take their brother, husband or father. So that everything is fair, at home, according to tradition. Everyone wants to go to their native soil.
- So it is important for him to be treated fairly. And do you think that honesty is an important quality for a person?
- Very important. Especially in war.
- How can you be dishonest in war?
- In fact, we are close to each other, we treat each other seriously. No one quarrels with friends. Today you quarrel, and tomorrow you need to protect each other's backs. So it's better without quarrels.
— It seems to me that your honesty extended not only to the Russian fighters, but also to the Ukrainian ones. You could have finished off the enemy so that he would not scream.
- As I already said, I was taught since childhood to remain human in any situation. The main thing is not to lose humanity. Even if it is an enemy.
— When everyone discussed this story, they said: “A Ukrainian fighter told a Russian that you are the best soldier, and he did not finish him off. Now we can overcome the feud.” It is clear that we will overcome everything and will be able to live as brothers. But this VSSU officer is not just an enemy. He specifically wanted to kill you, called a drone on you. He had a special camera and spoke words to you to boast about how he would kill you. Nevertheless, even with him you treated him fairly.
- I didn't come there to play. I came to kill him.
— And yet, why, after this tough fight, did you talk to him as if you were doing some peaceful thing (chopping wood or carrying water) and were simply out of breath?
- What was I supposed to do with him? I saw that he was done.
— Who taught you humanity as a child?
— Relatives: mom, dad, sisters, brothers.
— How was this humanity manifested in their actions?
— They knew how to forgive.
— Did you have anything to forgive people for as a child?
- Of course. First we fought, then we went sledding. You always have to forgive people.
— And if the war were over, could you go sledding with this VSSU student?
- Probably. Let's move on.
- And when you were little and fought, did you always win? Or did they always win you too?
- Of course, I was also beaten. Today I was lucky, tomorrow he is. We forgive each other and continue playing ( laughs ).
— Can we say that these childhood games prepared you for war?
— Faith prepared me for it, constant faith in the soul of man. Of course, we need a peaceful sky. Constantly. So that no one fights with anyone. But if they tell you to go to war, then you have to.
- After what you've been through, it's painful for you to talk about it.
- It hurts. It hurts a lot.
- And after what you've been through, you're still ready to go fight?
- If the Supreme Commander-in-Chief tells us to go to war, we will go further.
— And what did Putin say when he presented you with the Hero Star?
— Thanked everyone.
- He probably watched this video too?
- Don't know.
— Let me clarify one more thing: you spent the night at Motolyga, but where did you go next?
— Then I crawled out to my own people. I had the last battery left in my radio, and I still had three kilometers to go. But I reached my own people on the radio. The fighter said, “Brother, where are you? Let me pick you up on the ATV.” I said, “It’s dangerous on the ATV. I’ll get out myself. True, my battery is dying. So you’ll shoot twice every half hour so I can get my bearings.” That’s how I reached them.
— Were they somewhere in the trench?
- No, in a village near Ugledar. There are many houses and basements there.
- How did you know which house to go into? There could have been Ukrainians there.
— I’m telling you, he shot, and that’s what I was guided by.
-- And you crawled up to the house like that?
- Yes. I came and listened. Someone was talking inside. At first I didn't understand what language they were speaking. I thought it was an enemy and went to another house. But they came out to meet me. It turned out that they were the ones speaking Yakut in the neighboring house.
— You don’t know the Yakut language?
- I know. I was just stressed, so I didn't recognize my native language. Heika met me. I cried as soon as I saw him. Then they took me to the commander, Bishkek. There, an evacuation group immediately picked me up and took me to the hospital.
— How many enemies have you defeated these days?
- Don't know.
— Is commander Bishkek a Yakut or really from Bishkek?
- Kyrgyz.
— I just thought that you had your own detachment made up only of Yakuts.
- No. We have many nationalities: Russians, Buryats, Altai, Tuvans, Yakuts. We communicate with each other in Russian. Everyone is very friendly. We don’t know, what if today is his last day or my last day. I can save him tomorrow, or he can save me.
- So, if every day could be a person’s last, you need to treat him kindly, so that he leaves without offense and so that you don’t feel hurt that you offended him?
- Yes. Why quarrel? We are going for a common cause. We all help each other as much as we can. And we give each other something. A treat, for example.
- What do you like? What is delicious for you?
— Meat, of course. I am a hunter by nature. I even lived in the taiga. In our family, when I was little, we lived in Sayylyk. It is very far away, there is no civilization there. We lived with nature there: we fished and went duck hunting.
— How did your parents teach you to deal with nature?
- Respectfully. Clean up after yourself.
— And were there cases when, for example, you needed two ducks, but you killed ten?
- No. Why? You can take as much as you need.
- And if you take more, no one will see and no one will punish you.
- Why? It will go bad later. It's better not to do it.
— At what age did they start taking you hunting?
— From the 2nd or 3rd grade, my father and older brothers took us with them. And from the 4th grade, I was the only one with a gun.
- So you were walking somewhere far away alone? You could have gotten lost.
- I navigated by the sun. We mostly go to two or three familiar places. You know exactly where home is.
- I've been to Yakutia several times. It's very cold there.
- Yes. In Yakutia it is cold in winter and hot in summer.
- How could you survive this hunt in winter? You're small, you're cold, and you still have to navigate by the sun.
— The thrill of hunting warms me up ( laughs ).
— It turns out that if you are used to such cold, then in Ukraine you were always warm. And you say that you were cold in Motolyga.
— It's very cold at night.
- Why? I thought you somehow had a special way of keeping warm.
— Firstly, in Yakutia we wear appropriate clothing. Secondly, in Yakutia there are no temperature fluctuations: if it is hot during the day in summer, it is also hot at night. And in Ukraine it is the opposite: it can be hot during the day and cold at night. When we are at war, we dress lightly during the day. And at night the temperature can drop to zero. That is why it is cold.
— What kind of nature do you like more? Yakut or steppe?
- Everyone has their own homeland. I'm used to the Yakut weather and nature. I feel better at home.
— How many degrees is it at your house now?
— It’s more or less warm now, minus 20 or so.
— Do you remember any moment from your childhood when you were happy?
— I was always happy.
- How can you be happy all the time?
— I have everything I need: mom, dad, brothers, sisters. Why be upset?
- How do you know that you are happy at this moment? After all, happiness is the moment when you understand that you are good, calm, joyful.
— I can’t say. I just had a good childhood. I try to give my children a happy childhood, so that they remember it. I would like a peaceful sky and to raise children happy, so that they don’t need anything.
— Having lived through all this, would you like your sons to go to war too?
- No.
- And if it happens, what to do?
- It's their duty to the Motherland. If it happens, they'll go. I won't dissuade them.
— And yet, what moment from your childhood seems the happiest to you? Maybe when you went hunting or sat with your parents somewhere? There was no civilization there, as you say. You probably lived in a yurt?
- No, in an ordinary wooden house.
— What is the happiest moment you remember from your childhood?
— Holidays: New Year, birthday… When gifts were given. There is also the Yakut New Year, which is celebrated in the summer. The whole village sings, dances and wrestles on horses — a national sport.
— And when you were little, did you also take a knife with you when you hunted?
- Yes. A man must have a knife.
- And when were you entrusted with a knife?
— I don’t remember exactly. When we started going hunting in 1st and 2nd grade, they gave us both a knife and a gun.
— What other animals have you hunted besides ducks?
— A hare and an elk.
— Right from childhood?
- No. When we were little, we went duck and hare hunting. And when we finished school, we went after big game: elk and deer.
- What was the first big animal you hunted?
- Losya, when I was walking with my older brother. We killed him with a gun. I remember him. It was joyful.
— Weren’t you afraid to cut it up later?
- Why? You'll eat it later.
- For you it's normal because you were born in such conditions. But for us it's scary to cut up the animal because it's still warm.
- On the contrary, it's better this way. We were going to eat it. We butchered it, divided it. There was a lot of meat. At that moment, I was proud of myself for getting the meat.
- Can I ask you a terrible question? When you defeat an enemy, don't you feel proud of yourself?
- No. Self-defense and adrenaline are already kicking in there.
- So you understand that you shouldn't do this, but you're in a hopeless situation, because otherwise you'll be killed. And, after all, you're fighting for your Motherland, you need to achieve victory. So there's no pride?
- No.
- What feeling is there?
- The usual. Whether it's hard for you or not, you just do your job.
- It turns out that hunting prepared the boys for war. Because you were already a hardy man.
— I wouldn't say that we were prepared for war from childhood. We were simply taught to get our own food. And because of this, endurance appears from childhood.
— And how did your parents show their love for you? After all, from a city dweller's point of view, it seems cruel to send a 7-year-old child into the forest with a gun and a knife. We are afraid to let our children go out into the yard alone, but for you it is normal.
- My father died when I was in sixth grade. My mother, thank God, is alive. She loves us all.
- And how do you understand this?
— There are nine children in our family. When times were hard and there was not enough money, they still tried to spoil us. Once they even went into debt to buy a mountain of sweets. That was how they wanted to express their love.
- They knew you wanted sweets.
— I loved sweets when I was a child. Now I don’t eat them at all.
— And what moment in the SVO was the most difficult for you mentally?
- All these hand-to-hand fights. And any task is very difficult. It is difficult to decide to go on it. It is always scary.
— Are you scared already on a mission? Or are you scared when you have to push yourself to go on a mission?
- Yes, push out. It's hard to decide to do it. And when you're on a mission, the adrenaline effect kicks in automatically.
— How do you convince yourself that you need to go?
- I don't know. A task is a task. The commander said - we must do it.
— What did you do before the war?
— Tractor driver.
— Do you live in Ulus?
- Yes.
— Is it beautiful there?
— It’s beautiful everywhere here. We have our own nature.
- You talk about love for the Motherland. Are you a patriot of Russia or a patriot of Yakutia?
- Of course, Russia. I served in the army, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief awarded me. I fought for clear skies.
- Still, you sacrificed some part of your soul. It probably won't be restored now. Do you think the clear sky is worth these sacrifices?
- I can't speak for everyone. I want the war to end and for everyone to live like brothers. That's what I really need.
— And with Ukraine?
- With anyone, as long as the sky is clear.
— How did you get that knife?
— Before leaving for the war, I bought three knives from a craftsman. I gave two knives to friends and kept one for myself.
— Is the Yakut knife special?
- Of course. We are used to narrow knives. It is light and sharp.
— Do you still have it?
- No. I gave it to a friend before I was sent to the hospital. I said: “I’m going home, and you’re staying here to fight. You need it more. And I’ll buy myself another one.”
— If you don’t return to the SVO, what will you do next?
- Work.
— A tractor driver?
- Yes.
— So you received the Hero of Russia award and you think that you can return to your old job on a tractor?
— Actually, I would like to open a small business — a station for repairing and painting equipment. I would also like to keep cows and horses.
- It's clear why you need cows: cottage cheese, milk and meat. And what do horses give?
— Also meat, horse meat. I have five children. They will have their own families. They will call me and say: "Dad, bring some meat."
— Will you take care of the animals yourself?
- Yes.
— So, nothing has changed in your life because you became a Hero of Russia? Will you do the same work on the land? Didn't you feel like, forgive me for asking, a big person?
- I get a lot of attention. Frankly, I'm tired.
- Do you want to go back home, sit behind the tractor, then you will be happy?
- Yes. This is happiness.
— You were walking around Moscow at the same time. You had a jacket on top, but it’s great that you’re in uniform. We should see our heroes. It’s very good when people walk around in military uniform.
- But it is also very dangerous.
— Why? Do you think that not everyone in Moscow agrees that the SVO is underway? We live in our own country and we are defending our country.
- Of course, we protect, but it’s still dangerous everywhere.
- But it is not you who should be afraid, but they who should be afraid to show this attitude.
- I can't say.
— Did they recognize you?
- Yes, they recognize me. They come up to take pictures. They recognize me even if I'm in civilian clothes.
— You wouldn't want this video to be posted online at all?
- Yes. It's cruel. I don't want children and our entire generation to remember me as a cruel person.
- You don't look like a cruel person there. You're just fighting for your life.
- It's still cruelty.
— Did the children watch the video?
— The younger son didn't watch it, the older one did. I forbade him, but he found it at his friends'.
— Did it affect him in any way?
- No. He said he was proud of me.
