\u2018A broken man\u2019
\n PSKOV
\nIn the picture, Anastasia and Elizaveta Grigoryeva\u2019s father is faintly smiling, smartly dressed from head to toe in military uniform and holding a puppy to the camera.
\nIt\u2019s an image of their father no longer recognisable to the 18-year-old twin sisters \u2014 not since he left to fight in Ukraine some six months ago and returned a \u201cbroken man\u201d.
\n\u201cHe was there for the most intense fighting, under shelling, everything,\u201d Elizaveta tells AFP.
\n\u201cHe says himself, being shelled for six hours will change a man. And so many deaths. He needs medical help,\u201d she adds.
\nThe psychological scars her father has brought home from the battlefield have built pressure on a family already at odds over whether the conflict is justified.
\nAnd their story points to a broader issue, one uncomfortable for the Kremlin \u2014 that fighting in Ukraine is taking a harsh toll at home and tearing apart some families. Elizaveta believes many more veterans will return traumatised.
\nThe sisters, who are staunchly opposed to the military intervention in Ukraine, live in Pskov near Russia\u2019s border with Estonia.
\nThe medieval city of around 200,000 people is also home to the 76th Guards Air Assault Division \u2014 their father\u2019s paratrooper unit.
\nIn January, Grigoryev told his daughters he was leaving just for a few days for military drills in Belarus.
\nHe wouldn\u2019t return for six months.
\n\u2018War is a crime\u2019
\nHis unit took part in the calamitous assault for Kyiv that ended with Russia\u2019s withdrawal from northern Ukraine in March.
\nInvestigative journalists have placed the unit around that time near the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where Kyiv and international investigators have accused Russian forces of executing civilians.
\nRussia denies harming civilians but Anastasia and Elizaveta wonder if their father could have somehow been involved.
\n\u201cHe says he didn\u2019t kill anyone,\u201d says Elizaveta.
\n\u201cBut war is a crime in and of itself,\u201d Anastasia answers.
\n\u201cYeah, so, supporting or taking part in the war is already a crime,\u201d concludes Elizaveta. The sisters were shocked when Putin announced Russia\u2019s military invention, and in early March took to the streets, carrying signs that read: \u201cPeace in Ukraine, Freedom in Russia.\u201d
\nTurnout was low at the protest in Pskov and the sisters were immediately detained. They were threatened with jail time by police but were eventually released. Instead, there were ordered to pay a fine equivalent to around 330 euros for \u201corganising\u201d an illegal gathering.
\nWhile Anastasia and Elizaveta were entangled in legal problems at home, their father\u2019s well-being was deteriorating.
\nIn May, the 43-year-old soldier asked his family to start the administrative process needed to return him from the front.
\nHe left the battlefield \u201cfor health reasons\u201d in mid-June and is now going through the procedure to be discharged from the army after around 20 years of service.
\n\u201cThat much stress has changed how he sees the world. He lost comrades. He saw corpses everywhere,\u201d Elizaveta says.
\nNew legislation introduced in Russia against maligning the military means he could face jail time if he speaks publically about his experiences in Ukraine.
\nNeed \u2018democracy at home\u2019
\nBut in the privacy of his home and cottage in the countryside, his daughters said he spoke openly about what he witnessed.
\nThey say however that he sometimes becomes aggressive, and the three fight regularly. He is not seeking psychological help.
\nThe girls left the family home last month after the situation there had become untenable.
\nA women\u2019s rights organisation helped them find a flat to live in, and they are partly living off the money they gathered from a crowd-funding campaign for their fine.
\nStill, they do not want to break ties entirely with their family.
\n\u201cWe love our father. We\u2019re not going to reject our own family,\u201d Elizaveta says.
\nBut she and Anastasia say they avoid speaking about the conflict with their father and 38-year-old mother.
\nUnlike their parents \u2014 who like many Russians of their generation stay clear of politics \u2014 the sisters are still politically active and became interested in politics from an early age.
\nThey said they had been drawn in by the sleek video investigations and political statements of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who is serving a sentence for fraud.
\nThe sisters say they have no intention of halting their political activism despite their parents\u2019 disapproval.
\nThey are \u201cabsolutely not afraid\u201d of being imprisoned and even admire \u201cthe strength\u201d of Ukrainian people who they say are facing extreme violence.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re liberal,\u201d says Elizaveta. \u201cWe criticise the government. We need to build democracy at home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018A broken man\u2019 PSKOV In the picture, Anastasia and Elizaveta Grigoryeva\u2019s father is faintly smiling, smartly dressed from head to toe in military uniform and holding a puppy to the camera. It\u2019s an image of their father no longer recognisable to the 18-year-old twin sisters \u2014 not since he left to fight in Ukraine some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-283119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n