A man lives in a dugout in Yaroslavl. A dugout with a toilet and your own YouTube channel

Have you ever wondered whether you live comfortably in your apartment? Could you exchange city life not just for rural life, but, say, for the life of a hermit in a dugout?

But 42-year-old Yuri Alekseev could.

About 6 years ago, Yuri, a former Moscow lawyer who graduated with honors from the institute, left the comfort of the city and settled in a dugout at the 106th kilometer of the Yaroslavl highway.

Yuri was a native of Stary Oskol, lived, worked, rented an apartment in Moscow, was also married, and went abroad on vacation. But somehow Yuri realized that he was suffocating from city life. That there was no freedom of thought, no harmony in the soul, and then he gave up everything and chose the life of a hermit.

When my family and I, having left Pereslavl-Zalessky, were returning home, I saw a strange large poster on the road. It was written on it - “The Hermit Hobbit.”

To be honest, I had already read about this place before, so I decided to park and go visit Yuri.

To my question: Do you live here permanently?

Yuri clarifies with a smile. - Here? Do you mean on planet Earth? Yes, constantly, for a long time, several million years. We tried closer to the sun, but it was hot there.

And he takes the globe in his hand, “Look, here she is,” Yuri tells me.

Unfortunately, Yuri was a little busy, and therefore I did not take up his time with my questions. I just asked permission to take a few photos.

Anyone driving along the highway can stop by and visit the hermit. The Russian Hobbit, as the Western press dubbed him, is very hospitable. He has his own Youtube channel on which he posts his life story. By the way, here is a business card given to me by Yuri.

He built his dugout for 2 months, and has been living in it for 4 years. Before that, he had a straw house, which burned down due to careless handling of the stove.

Solar panels with batteries are installed on the roof of the dugout, which allows him to use electrical appliances.

Yuri eats mostly peas, which he garnishes soy sauce and butter, says that it is a very nutritious product. But sometimes he accepts gifts of other food from all passing guests.

He also does not refuse small financial assistance, which he uses mainly to pay bills for the Internet and mobile communications.

Yuri good-naturedly allowed me to take a few photos as a souvenir, but his girlfriend Klara was shy and asked her not to take photographs. Klara works in Moscow just like Yuri once did, in a stuffy office. Until she finds the strength to leave the comfort of city living and move to a permanent place of residence in a dugout. She visits the hermit on weekends and brings food. By the way, at the moment when I drove into the dugout, the girl was going to return to Moscow.

This is the intercom you need to call if you decide to visit the hermit.

And here is the entrance to the dugout itself.

To get inside, you have to bend over.

And this is how it works inside.

And of course, where would we be without a pet? Dog? No!, Cat? - No!

Rabbit! Nicknamed Parsley.

There is a pile of antennas on the roof, or just some long sticks.

And this is instead of a fence.

Hammock for relaxation.

There are a lot of books everywhere.

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 his living conditions. Two years later, the 41-year-old hermit met us in a dugout with a solar battery, into which he moved with his rabbit Parsley. “StarHit” found out how Yuri’s life has changed since our first visit.

Back to nature

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

“I just started thinking about what I was spending my time on,” the man shares with StarHit. “In conditions when you have a stable income, a profession and all the attributes of a good life, but no interest, it is difficult not to think about such things.”

The final decision to move to nature came after a trip to India, where on the ocean shore the lawyer allowed nature to take care of itself. Yuri began to appear at work less and less, and then quit altogether. Although his 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 appropriate 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 clearing I liked was found on the outskirts of the Aleksandrovsky district. Every year Yuri arranges his life more and more. 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, Yuri still sees complete advantages in his lifestyle: there is no spending or dependence on money, you don’t have to pay taxes or rent an apartment, you can live the way that suits you.

He is not afraid of being asked to vacate land to which he has no rights. He is friendly with the law, knows the intricacies of such cases and is sure that no one is interested in dealing with 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 scrap materials. For example, truck drivers brought him cardboard boxes for housing, and the pipes were found in a landfill. The hermit took some of the things, including equipment, from past life. At 20 square meters In the dugouts, he placed a sleeping area with a table, shelves with books, a technical corner with a computer, batteries and other equipment, a kitchen with a sink and a wood stove. A tiny nook is allocated for a toilet with a shower, where the light is turned on by clapping your hands and a semblance of a sewer system is installed - dirty water goes through a pipe into the ground.

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

Another dugout was built next door for guests who are willing to stay overnight. By the way, they appear here often: either acquaintances or simply curious people look into the dugout. There are several dozen visitors a day. Many come as if on an excursion. Yuri gladly receives people, invites them to tea and discusses with them.

“This is one of the ways to understand the world and oneself,” he believes. His 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 into a dugout. If he ever gets tired of communicating with tourists, he promises to simply hang up a “Do not disturb” sign.

ONE DAY

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

Yuri is often asked whether it’s boring to live like this - without entertainment and away from the world? The 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 appeared in the last couple of years is bookcrossing. Yuri collects books and gives them to those who want to read something.

“Over the years it doesn’t get boring,” he notes. But he temporarily abandoned the idea of ​​opening a music salon near the road, which he shared with StarHit three years ago. Yuri believes that he is an ordinary person.

“There is nothing outstanding about me. I don’t like existing in the city, fighting for survival in the metropolis. I don’t associate myself with a hermit or a downshifter - I just chose this way of life. Life is organized, there is no need to work, there is no need to pay rent, there is enough communication with people - everything is fine. Fate itself will help me find a way out of any situation,” he says.

On February 28, 2018, taking a travel companion with me, I left St. Petersburg. We caught the car quickly. Immediately to Pereslavl. That's where I needed to go. The driver drove at 180 km/h and already at 8 pm we were at the place - at the Hermit Hobbit. Unreal luck.
I made an appointment with the Hermit in advance, but whether I would go alone or not alone, I didn’t know until yesterday, and I didn’t have time to warn. He was waiting for one person, two arrived - it turned out awkward.
We arrived at the wrong time - the Hermit was recording the tale on video. He asked me to be quiet and not to move. I put the phone on a tripod, sat in front of the camera and began to read a fairy tale. Then he fed us “pea food” and treated us to tea and cookies.

I offered to cook my own buckwheat, but the owner of the dugout said that he didn’t mind the cereal, it’s not such a valuable thing, the most valuable thing is my time and attention. While eating, I asked how best to communicate - in “you” or “you” - I read many articles where journalists mostly communicated in “you”, but Yuri was categorically against it - and gave an example that in English language There is no word “you” at all, but intelligent and educated people say “you” to each other. I gave the Hermit a book and a pack of wheat flour, which he did not want to accept because he does not eat such things. And the video of him baking pancakes, it turned out, was made for hype for Maslenitsa. In fact, he doesn't like to cook anything.

We didn’t manage to communicate - Yuri was busy with installation work, and we went to sleep on the bunk, where the table was and the rabbit was running. At night, the Hermit did not sleep at all, he kept re-reading the fairy tale, and it was not clear when he slept. “Or maybe he’s an alien and doesn’t sleep at all?” - suggested the driver who picked us up.

The dugout is good - clean, dry, no insects. There is no garbage, there are exhibits - for example, socks hanging on a line. The stove maintains about 20 degrees, by morning the temperature drops a little, but even in my summer sleeping bag it was warm.

At six in the morning I woke up and took my pills. The hermit pushed my fellow traveler aside. Now Yuri was more talkative. He talked about why he went to live in the dugout, although I did not ask such a question. The fact is that he studied in Moscow (he wanted to go to St. Petersburg, but they didn’t accept him) - with the goal of definitely graduating from one of the best universities in Russia. Lived in a hostel, worked. But the living conditions did not suit him, and there was no time left for his life. Then Yuri Valentinovich said to his boss: “Can I work half as much?” The boss replied, “Then you’ll get four times less.” He stood in line for improved living conditions, but was not given an apartment. As always, it went to someone official. And then he went into the dugout. And he seems happy. You are your own boss, you don’t owe anything to anyone, you don’t need to stand in traffic jams and be nervous, it appeared free time to mind your own business. When Yuri talks about the production of the video, his eyes light up. “Imagine, before, to make a movie, you needed a movie camera, like this. On television, in order to film a program and have it watched by an audience, you need a lot of people and equipment, but now it’s enough to have a phone, a tablet and Internet access! I have it on my channel statistics, my video was watched at the same time... man, that is, this is... cinemas " - Yes, - I nod - in the digital era you are your own actor, director, editor, and so on. I asked if Yuri makes a profit from his channel. It turned out that commercial profit is not the goal, but the goal is to convey information, to use YouTube as a means of mass influence on people. This is the only tool available to everyone and free from censorship that the government does not yet control. There is also LiveJournal, but who is on LiveJournal now? Bloggers who write articles are mowed down by the FSB for articles. They tried to close YouTube after the scandal with the oligarch, but failed.

In addition, there was time to read books. There are a lot of them here - a whole library! Previously, Yuri was fond of bookcrossing. Now he fills in the gaps and reads classic literature and fairy tales that are still relevant today.

As a farewell, Yuri gave me an autographed postcard and a clay chip with the inscription “Talent”.

In general, the hermit, of course, is not the same as he appears in his funny videos, such a friendly, cheerful hippie, he is smart, well-read. a very serious, purposeful and hardworking person who clearly knows what he wants.

He acted very wisely - he needs to get out of the country before it’s too late, or at least go to the bunkers. So as not to depend on slave conditions. After all, the pension contributions we are paying now are disappearing. Everyone knows this, but no one is indignant, everyone is forced to pay. In addition, rent and food eat up your salary, not even your home, from which you can be evicted at any time. So, the water was turned off in our house - and it’s a mess, we can’t wash ourselves or make tea. And in the dugout there is always a spring or snow/ice. The snow in the city is dirty, and they melt it with reagents. In the forest, the snow is clean, the air is coniferous, it’s pleasant to breathe, the sun is shining.

In the past, Yuri Alekseev was a successful lawyer in the capital. Seven years ago he quit his job and moved to live in a dugout on Yaroslavskoye Highway. The curiosity of the media helped create the image of him as a hermit who refused comforts. And this despite the fact that Yuri’s house has a computer, a solar battery, a telephone and even an intercom for uninvited guests. In the wake of general interest, the man started his own YouTube channel and began posting videos under the pseudonym Hobbit Hermit. Now more than 100,000 people have subscribed to it. Yuri’s popularity was also increased by his attitude towards Alexei Navalny. The man regularly installs art objects near 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.It’s not difficult to find her; she stands right next to the highway, surrounded by three handwritten posters. On each is the inscription: “The Hobbit Hermit. YouTube." Nearby there was a place for an urgent political protest against raising the retirement age. The signs, which resemble road signs, have the numbers 63 and 65 crossed out.

Voices are heard from the slightly open door. The hobbit cheerfully explains something to his interlocutors. He notices us with 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.

Externally, the dugout resembles Bilbo Baggins' house from the film "The Lord of the Rings" - a round wooden door, a flat roof. True, there is 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 shelves, there is a small stove, and a bed. We stop at the threshold 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 sees the men off.

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

"Here. “You asked to bring it,” I say. Yuri takes the bottles and hands over the money. I refuse. Present.

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

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

I ask him about the people who came before us. The hermit responds by talking about the intrusiveness of the public and how tired he is of answering the same questions.

“They ask: “How do you live here?”, “How is your day going?” If you ask such questions, I can still answer, because you are a journalist. I am good material for you. 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 food tied to the ceiling with a rope. Boxes of gingerbread, biscuits, cookies and candies stick out of it. Due to the large bags of sweets, the structure sways slightly in different directions. A rope closet of some sort, I think.

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

The hobbit is disingenuous. For your popularity you have to get out of the dugout. For example, in May of this year, he and the popular blogger Amiran Sardarov were in Chelyabinsk and starred in one of the episodes of “Khach’s Diary.”

As planned, Yuri came to Chelyabinsk to meet with another local “hobbit” - Sergei Andryukov. Inhabitant Southern Urals built a whole “hobbit village”. An exact copy of the village from the film "The Lord of the Rings". Yuri then spent the whole day with Sergei and interviewed him for Sardarov’s YouTube channel.

“Amiran said that they needed an actor and offered me this 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 talks to me, leaning expressively on the saw. Periodically, the man is distracted from the process and changes his position. Everything so that the photographer catches an interesting angle. With a saw in his hands, barefoot and bearded, Yuri perfectly plays the image of a wild hermit. He resembles Tom Hanks' character in the movie Cast Away. Only instead of the silent ball Wilson, next to Yuri there is a fluffy rabbit Parsley. He doesn't speak either, but at least he's alive.

However, the furnishings of the hut are not as thought out as the image of the owner. There is a feeling 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 repellent tablets and fresh bed linen, neatly covered with a seemingly shabby blanket. Portraits of classics watch over 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 in front of me - there is money there. When asked where they are from, the hermit instills mystery: “I am on public welfare. That is, I do social work, and society provides me for this.”

By “social work” Yuri means his communication with guests, as well as filming videos. The hobbit believes that such publicity is a kind of work for which one 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 my channel,” Yuri repeats every now and then. “If previously power and the parameter of success were measured by money, now they are measured by subscribers on social networks.”

Yuri doesn’t want to talk about the past. Neither about parents, nor about personal life. These topics are taboo. His admirers should not know about this. This will destroy the image of the “welcoming hermit”.

But we talk about Alexei Navalny and Vladimir Putin’s policies 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. There is no alternative to him. Navalny’s shares are now the most profitable and powerful on the political market. And I’m 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 is the real reason 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, as a sign of protest.

Seven years ago, everything went downhill: he was once again asked to move out of his rented apartment. And then he decided to stop. All his life he did not have his own corner and roof over his head. First, my parents’ house 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. Hanging around rented Moscow apartments and going to an unloved (albeit prestigious) job. Tired of it. He dreamed about own apartment, but even for a mortgage the young specialist did not have enough money.

Trying to decide what to do next, Yuri decided to go abroad and seek happiness there. But then a new obstacle arose. Expired passport. To get it, you had to take time off from 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. This was the last straw. Yuri broke down.

"Russia - welfare state. Budget funds are sufficient to provide the minimum needs of all citizens of the country for a roof over their heads and food. But the state machine does not have such a goal. This means that our president is 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 the law firm, took an old tent and settled on Yaroslavskoye Highway. As a sign of protest. The tent then turned into a dugout, and the homeless Yuri turned into the famous Hobbit 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 gives a tour of the creative domain. The Hollywood film company is what he calls it all. Having reached the last set, Yuri offers to take a cool photo: he will be sitting in a chair with the inscription “director”, looking thoughtfully and purposefully at film set. We refuse. There were too many staged photos anyway.

After the excursion we return to the dugout. She has guests again. A middle-aged man and woman. They look at 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 a YouTube channel. Take a look and then come visit.” The couple nods and tidies up the cards: “We will definitely, definitely come back!”

Yuri also gives us postcards. He signs them in black pen and adds, “Giving autographs is part of my social work.”

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 decoration, and Yuri himself goes to the actor’s trailer, washes himself, gets into the car and drives back to Moscow. Live a real life.