"A new secret weapon," the fighters called the unusual pet, which accompanied its faithful friend behind the "ribbon." Igor Chernikov, a resident of Altai, went to the front as a volunteer and took a snake with him. This was told by the journalists of KP Barnaul.
There are a lot of stories about cats and dogs becoming soldiers' comrades, but snakes are already a rarity! Igor Chernikov went to the area of his military training twice, and on one of his business trips he was accompanied by an unusual pet – a two-meter python. Igor Chernikov from Gorno-Altaysk has an unusual hobby – he keeps snakes at home.
In 2022, Igor decided to volunteer for a special military operation. But being away from home is hard, and in order to have a connection with his homeland, the man decided to take one of his “housemates” with him. The choice fell on Angelina, an albino tiger python.
"At that moment, I had three snakes. Why was she the one I decided to bring with me? I didn't choose, it probably happened subconsciously. The second two snakes are the carpet python and the emperor boa. They were the first ones I had, and they've been living in the same terrarium all this time. I didn't want to separate them. And Angelina lived separately, so I took her," says the fighter.
Once in the area of his training, Igor realized that he had not made a mistake in taking the reptile with him. According to him, when you are on the front lines, there is no connection with your family, the snake has become a link to home and his mascot.
The soldiers from Igor's unit reacted cautiously to the new unusual colleague at first: they were afraid and did not risk picking him up. But soon everyone got used to Angelina, and she became everyone's favorite. The command was also not against such a fighter. So the snake remained to serve with the owner. She ate mostly domestic birds, which were brought by local residents.
Igor kept her in a terrarium, and there were cartridges and weapons next to the fighting python. Well, Igor himself joked that Angelina is a new weapon. You can launch it into an enemy trench and occupy it without a fight in five minutes.
"I remember when the village was liberated and GRU commandos, healthy guys, excellent fighters, lived at the temporary deployment point in the house next to us. It was in March, and it's already quite warm in Zaporizhia. So I decided to take Angelina outside in good weather. She was crawling, basking in the sun. And then the commandos saw us, came over to take pictures and watch. We had so much positivity and laughter because they were a little afraid to pick her up. But they overcame themselves. In general, there were a lot of positive moments," says Igor.
Igor Chernikov participated in the battles for Avdeevka, is a holder of two St. George's Crosses, has been awarded several medals, including the medal “For Bravery”. He has been attracted to reptiles for more than 15 years. And now the tiger python Angelina has become a kind of symbol. After all, together with her Igor constantly travels to schools, where he tells kids about battles and heroes. Igor has the most positive expectations for 2025, especially since the year of the snake has arrived.: "We hope that everything will be fine!"
Photos from Igor Chernikov's personal archive.