WEBVTT - 2) License to Kill 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:03.920 All eight episodes of To Die For are available now. 0:00:04.000 --> 0:00:07.000 To Bitch absolutely free, but for ad free listening and 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:12.160 exclusive bonuses, subscribe to tendorfoot Plus at tenderfootplus dot com 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:14.200 or on Apple podcasts. 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:22.720 Warning, the following episode contains explicit language and sexual themes. 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:25.320 Listener discretion is advised. 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:34.440 There were some difficult decisions to be made after meeting 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:37.879 Alea Rosa. When I researched her online, there was not 0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:41.800 a lot to find. However, there were a few sources 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:45.000 supporting her claims to be a Russian trained seduction spy. 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:47.440 I'm about to introduce you to a real life I 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:48.760 guess you could say red Sparrow. 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:51.440 She was trained in the KGB style arts of seduction, 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:53.080 persuasion and manipulating. 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:55.120 Then there were sources saying this. 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:58.320 Everyone in la is creating a narrative to further their 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:03.840 own careers. Hers just how seems to be absolutely outrageous, 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:08.360 and also a film has already been made, So yes, 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:10.039 she has lied to my face. 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:12.280 I wondered what the truth was and how do you 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:15.679 even go about officially confirming someone was a former FSB 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:20.679 seduction agent. After I watched these, Aliah did give me 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:23.240 photographs and documents, and even let me speak to one 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:26.360 of her former colleagues in Russia. But even the authenticity 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:31.039 of these can't be proven. I also wondered something else, 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.360 how much of some people's skepticalresponse to Aliyah comes from 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:38.360 the fact that she's a woman presenting herself in a 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:44.200 glamorous way online and selling information products. After all, for 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:46.240 the men at the table on the night I met Aleiah, 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:49.040 what was the proof that my friend Johnny Junior's family 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:53.160 was in the mafia family or that my other friend 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:56.080 really held a high position, he claims at the CIA. 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.760 Best selling author Chris Voss has made a career out 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:03.840 of a former FBI hostage negotiator, and he also sells 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:05.440 information products online. 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:09.120 I was an FBI hostage negotiator. It sounds like a 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:10.200 cry for help, doesn't it. 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:14.880 But he's a man and wears a suit. So I 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.400 called him to ask how often he's had to prove 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:22.400 his identity. Here's his answer, show like credentials approve that 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:23.840 you were a former FBI agent. 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:26.000 I haven't had anybody challenge me. 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.040 So I made the decision to sit down with Aliyah 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:31.400 and do something no one has ever done for her before. 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:34.880 Give her a safe space to share her full story 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:38.000 and to not just listen to it, but listen to 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:41.920 truly understand and to support her telling of it, and 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:45.880 then we can look at it all afterward. In order 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.200 to do this properly, especially after what FBI agent Robin 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:51.240 Drake told me in the last episode. 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:53.120 Because basically, she's human trafficked is what she is. 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.440 I took and completed a course in trauma informed interviewing 0:02:56.880 --> 0:03:00.760 and consulted with everyone from intelligence agents to try counselors 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:05.560 to social justice professors along the way. So let's just 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.600 listen to Aliah's powerful story. Over the course of these 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:12.960 next episodes, find experts, agents, and even targets to better 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:16.440 understand the hidden world of Russian seduction spies and experience 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.200 what may be one of the most unforgettable and disturbing 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:25.160 accounts I've ever heard. Note that for privacy considerations, alterations 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:29.519 have been made to certain names, identifying features, and locations. 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:32.560 Listener discretion is highly advised. 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:40.880 Hello everyone, my name is Delia Rosa and I was 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:45.520 a former Russian spy. My name is Delia Rosa and 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:51.280 I was a secret service agent in Russia. My name 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:55.080 is Delia Rosa. I fled my country due to the 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.040 last mission I worked as a secret Service agent. 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:01.200 Okay, I do it. 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:06.800 That's you like it more? Yeah, everybody likes it. In fact, 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:09.880 like we never called each other like spy. I mean yeah, 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:12.160 it was spine, but it's kind of like spies, kind 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:15.720 of like a movie thing like, oh spy, it's so sexy, 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:17.320 but it wasn't. 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:17.760 You know. 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:20.080 It's just like, okay, we were agents even like in 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:22.880 my diploma and then my certificate that says like agent. 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:28.240 You know, we don't call each other spies, but in 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:33.160 fact they would call it espionage. It's exactly what is spying? 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:35.200 Is that? Or is it? Right? In Russia it's the 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:35.640 same word. 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:39.520 Yeah, it's kind of like right they would say, like, 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:41.320 which is spy? 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:45.919 Soish just because people talk out a lot with Russia 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:47.120 with their poisons as well or not? 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:51.120 Oh yes, absolutely, we started all kind of poisons. Yeah, 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:54.599 where to put them? Basically where to place them like 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:57.880 for example, you can pour some in water or tea, 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:05.560 and how long will this poison affect the body and 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:09.800 when the poison will disappear. So when they would do 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:12.640 when the person will read this that, and they would 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:16.599 do how do you call it an English? Yeah, autopsy. 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:22.279 Then they wouldn't find anything. It would be just like, 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.239 you don't know why this person died, maybe hard attack 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.520 or whatever, like oh, maybe something you know, just like happens. 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:33.599 I tell Eleah that it sounds not like a school 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:36.279 for espionage, but a school for death. 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:41.240 It's death. You're kind of like, I mean, death is 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:44.520 so close. You always feel death that you Okay, So 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:46.919 once they give you the gun and you feel the 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:52.240 gun in your hand, okay, so you do understand you 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:57.200 can kill. You have this power, and it's so addictive. 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:09.080 I had to kill you. I'm really sorry. I had to. 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.839 Do it that. I got on. 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:21.760 Duty a bed, I was old, and my god, I 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:32.599 got to like you. I had to kill you, said 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:34.880 so much. 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:02.120 Episode two, Chapter four, Forbidden Motions. 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:09.840 The President of the United States. 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:15.800 Good evening and Merry Christmas to all Americans across our 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:18.880 great country. During these last few months, you and I 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:22.000 have witnessed one of the greatest dramas of the twentieth century, 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:28.160 the historic and revolutionary transformation of a totalitarian dictatorship the 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:33.400 Soviet Union and the liberation of its peoples. New independent 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:36.480 nations have emerged out of the wreckage of the Soviet Empire. 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:40.440 This act marks the end of the old Soviet Union, 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:45.680 signified today by Mikhail Gorbachev's decision to resign as president. 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:51.280 So I am seizing my activities in the post of 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:52.760 President of the uss. 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:53.880 R and from the White House. 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.120 President Bush salutes the man who presided over the end 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:58.520 of the Soviet Union. 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:09.840 I was born in the Soviet Union in Usasa, the 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:15.360 country which doesn't exist anymore. My parents coming from Central Asia. 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:18.000 According to my DNA, I don't have any Russian blood 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:23.640 inside of me. But Kazakhstan was part of USSAR, and 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:28.600 when in nineteen ninety one Yusata was dissolved, my father 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:33.240 and my family we ended up living in Russia in Moscow, 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:38.040 so we had our citizenship of Russia, but yet we 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:41.080 half our heritage coming from Central Asia. 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:45.160 Original lot is shit. 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:49.800 Astrown there was. 0:08:57.040 --> 0:08:59.560 I was born in a family of high ranked officer 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:03.599 of the military army. My father was working on the 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:09.720 Department of Domestic Security, protecting city and country from criminal 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:15.559 gangs coming from former YUSUSA countries. His father was a 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:21.719 national hero fighting against Natzi Second War, and being a 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.640 little girl, my dad would bring me to the main 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:32.720 monument in Stadingrad and he would show his father name 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:39.000 written on the wall with other heroes. 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:43.800 At Stalingrad, German forces were locked in a deadly struggle 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:47.800 with the city's beleaguered Red Army defenders. In the terrible battle, 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.720 half a million Nazi troops were killed, wounded or captured 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:54.920 and more than three quarters of a million Russians. 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:00.160 Being a little girl, I remember I looked at my 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:06.600 dad going to the work, worrying this uniform, and every 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:09.200 single evening when he would come back home, he would 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:11.599 take me on his lap and he would tell me 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:16.760 that I also should protect people one day, and also 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:20.920 would serve military one day to protect my country and 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:25.719 my people. I was so proud of my dad, and 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:28.439 I was so proud to be his daughter, and I 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:30.520 just wanted him to be proud of me too. 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:36.240 And so from a young age, Aliyah began receiving intense 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:40.600 physical training from her father. Home became boot camp. 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:44.360 From six years old. Every day he would push me 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:47.000 to do exercises, push ups and all this stuff. He 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:52.199 would give me very heavy weights to lift and he 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.360 would tell me, okay, so two ki long verchances like 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:56.280 I don't know how many miles, like okay, you have 0:10:56.440 --> 0:11:02.040 to go like with me, but like very heavy stuff 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:06.000 in my hands. And I would be crying and I 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.079 would say I cannot do it, like it's so having. 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:10.360 He's like, no, you do it. You cannot give up 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:13.920 do it. So I didn't have any adoption. I had 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:17.559 to go with him, follow him, and just slowly, slowly, 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:18.839 I became a really strong girl. 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.760 Physical strength and endurance were not enough. Really his father 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:27.439 he also trained her to be strong mentally. When she 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.160 came home from elementary school, Aliah would sit on the 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.599 floor at her father's feet while he taught her his 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:33.520 unique lessons. 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:39.719 The most important technique which my dad taught me is 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:45.920 all the stake cold blooded. All the stay very focused 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:50.599 on the main goal and never be emotional. And you 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:55.439 have to train your mind where whatever comes any stressful 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:58.760 situation in your life, but you all this stake cold blooded. 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:03.920 For example, if something could happen I don't know, my 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:07.680 toy was broken or something, I literally was not allowed 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:11.240 to cry, so I couldn't be emotional. I could cry 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:13.520 only in the night so nobody could see my tears. 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.440 And then one day when she was twelve, Aliyah discovered 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:19.920 her passion. 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:25.720 I remember one day we were driving and we were 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:28.559 driving through the forest and he said, would you like 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:32.719 to try to shoot from gun? And I remember the 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:36.040 first moment I took a gun and it was heavy 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:44.080 and cold, but it was really powerful. He had another 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:49.239 gun which was my favorite. It's much faster, it's more effective. 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:52.800 It calls s teta instead of like vistolt macaroff, which 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:56.079 is gun macarf. It's kind of like common everybody using it. 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:00.400 But teta gun is like one of my one of 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:09.400 my favorite. And I had that excitement that I'm holding 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:16.240 these special with fun, like a superhero to protect other 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:18.880 you know, innocent of weak people. 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:27.600 Much of the training Aliah received from her father, from 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:31.800 shooting guns to hiding her true thoughts and emotions, unintentionally 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:34.280 prepared her to be what they call in Russia a 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:38.959 swallow or a seduction spy. Because of the connotations of 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:41.960 the word swallow in America, it was changed in its 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:46.920 translation here to another bird, a sparrow. This was definitely 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:50.040 not the type of military work that Aliah's father had 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:51.160 imagined for his daughter. 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:56.599 My father comes from Muslim family, but in Usasada or 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.960 no religion, so we wouldn't go to you know, mosques 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:04.480 or wherever or like keep kind of like traditions. But 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:09.520 as a Muslim man, he would be really strict to 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:13.360 my mom and to me too, so we would always 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:15.600 kind of like serve him, you know what I mean, 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:21.560 like serve the man and myself. Like for example, daughters 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.880 they have to when they will marry, they have to 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:28.720 be virgin and before their marriage, they cannot have any 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:32.400 sexual relationship with anyone. So my father didn't allow me 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.360 to go out. My father didn't allow me to have 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:39.880 friends mot even like boyfriends or whatever, so I was 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:42.280 even more shy. So I was not allowed to wear 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:47.240 make up or nail polish, like super short skirts or 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:51.360 something like that. If I would go out with my 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:55.280 friend and I would be late for five minutes, my 0:14:55.400 --> 0:15:01.720 father would literally beat me with his belt. So I 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.440 was honestly like, I was scared of him very much. 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.520 In high school in Moscow, because she was different, Aaliyah 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:11.920 was picked on relentlessly. 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.000 I was bullied in my school all the time because 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:21.240 I was one Asian girl studying with all these beautiful, blonde, 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:25.600 blue eyed girls. I had pimples all over my face. 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:30.400 I had like big lenses, you know, like glasses. I 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:34.240 had long hair. I was dressed really badly because again 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:36.480 my dad didn't allow me to wear like, you know, 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:39.040 short skirts or dresses. 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:41.440 I felt awful. 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:47.320 And that was my childhood. And even though I was 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:50.640 physically strong and I could really beat them up, all 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:53.880 of them, but I just was not confident and I 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:59.120 was just so I was just an ugly duckling. 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.200 When a Leah graduated high school at age seventeen, she 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:10.640 went to a university like most of her classmates. However, 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:14.080 as soon as she turned eighteen, the minimum age to 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.160 join the military, her father did something that wouldn't be 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:21.160 possible in America. He stormed into the university in his 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:25.880 military uniform, made the administrators hand over Lea's records, and 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:28.000 forcibly withdrew her from college. 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.040 And I remember that moment when he went to the university. 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:39.680 He took my papers literally like that. And you know, 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:42.120 in that city where we lived, he was kind of 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:46.560 like a big name. So he took out all my 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:52.440 papers and he sat, no, you have to go to 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:57.960 the military, because this is our life, this is our path, 0:16:58.120 --> 0:16:59.120 and that's it. 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:21.120 Chapter five War Crimes. 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:32.200 Warning. The following contains graphic descriptions of violence and sexual 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.680 assault that may be too intense or triggering to some listeners. 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:37.840 Discretion is advised. 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:45.320 Is there anything that makes the Russian military and its 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:48.679 culture different than the other militaries you've seen and covered? 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.399 So in my experience in working in places where there 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:54.840 has been the presence of the Russian military, whether that 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:59.679 be Syria or in Ukraine, it's just an incredibly brutal military. 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:01.720 It's a very menacing This. 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:05.600 Is Hally McKay, a leading journalist who's investigated war crimes 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:11.000 and violence against women in Russia, Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:12.320 and dozens. 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:12.600 Of other countries. 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.920 Sort of war crimes that have happened, especially in Ukraine. 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:19.240 Just again, the sort of cold blooded killing, the treatment 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:23.720 of the civilians or of prisoners of war is just 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.600 really on another level that I often have just never 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:32.159 seen in my time as a war reporter. And mind you, 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:36.440 Russian society it's a very brainwashed society in many ways. 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:38.160 You know, whatever the Kremlin says. 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:43.399 Goes, And I think any time you believe that you 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:46.880 have the righteous power or that somehow whatever you're doing 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:49.600 is for the grade of good, you can justify any 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:54.000 sort of horrible behavior against another individual. 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:58.000 Before we begin the story of Elah's time in the military, 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.439 which is disturbing on a number of levels. This kind 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:04.760 of context is important because being a spy or a 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:08.399 secret agent may sound glamorous, but not when you're a 0:19:08.480 --> 0:19:12.160 woman in the Russian military. Yeah, I'm just curious any 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:13.920 context you can provide on what it's like to be 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:17.720 a woman in the Russian military or intelligence. 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:22.120 It's about four point two percent of the entire forces 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:23.160 are made up of women. 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:27.200 From everything that I've heard and people that I've interviewed. 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:32.119 Myself, it's just an extremely hostile environment to work in. 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:35.760 And I know even with the US military it's a 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:40.440 very hard slog for women, so many face sexual assault, 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:43.960 But in the Russian military, I want to say that 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:49.840 that is significantly even more intense and even higher. One 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:54.400 particular woman that I remember interviewing back in twenty seventeen 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:57.399 when I was doing some work in Moscow and she 0:19:57.640 --> 0:19:59.440 had been a Russian military medic. 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.000 Allie tells the story of this interviewee who was subjected 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.520 to continued sexual abuse and harassments in the Russian military 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:09.720 and made to serve as what the euphemistically call a 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:12.199 fieldwife to her commanders. 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:13.880 Home in and out, And she was just one example 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:16.760 of someone who had suffered so much of that internal 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:21.240 trauma and nothing was necessarily related to the combat. She 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:25.320 didn't see combat herself, but just being in that environment 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:28.680 for a decade of her very young life, I think 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:30.840 it really destroyed her. And I think she's probably just 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.040 one example of many that once you sort of get in, 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:36.320 it's very difficult to get out. And there is this 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:41.840 mentality of where the military wants to break you that 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:44.000 can be done in so many different ways, and I 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:48.440 think for women that often manifests itself in sexual. 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:52.880 Assault, and it seems that there's a lot of sort 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:55.520 of power and control that if you don't comply with this, 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:59.080 we're going to ruin your entire life in your future, 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:02.159 because this is a career path for the people in it. 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:06.960 Yeah, absolutely, you have very few levers of recourse to 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:10.760 complain about what happened, to file a complaint, to speak 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:11.760 to a supervisor. 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:15.879 That will destroy you in your career much more than 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:16.480 it's going to. 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:17.800 Destroy a perpetrator. 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:19.679 So you're better off just to sort. 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:21.720 Of shut up and be quiet about it and try 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:24.920 to get through it, which of course manifests itself in 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:27.760 trauma in the end. But that is certainly the experience 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:30.840 of what I've heard with most women in the Russian military. 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:36.520 But I personally have never heard of any sort of 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:42.680 repercussion against a Russian soldier for sexual assault or rape 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:45.160 against a fellow combat troope. 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:55.040 And so against this horrible backdrop, you returned to a 0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:58.280 LEAs story and her internship at the Department of Criminal 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:04.879 Investigations ACQUISITE before beginning her formal military training. Because of 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:07.840 the gravity of what follows, Aliah's story will be shared 0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:12.000 in its entirety as she first told it, without any interruptions. 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:15.800 For many, like Aaliah, it's important not to minimize or 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:18.560 dilute the severity of these types of experiences. 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:22.560 Please note that what she just closes here is very 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:25.120 graphic and maybe disturbing to some listeners. 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:33.840 Do they My dad took me and introduced me to 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:39.560 this department, to my future colleagues, my future commander. I 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:44.200 remember the day very well. I was confused, and I 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:47.600 tried to do my best. You know, I wanted to 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:54.480 look good, of course, in terms of my intellectual abilities, 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:58.840 and I just wanted to be good employee and good agent. 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:01.679 And I was ready to study, and I was really driven, 0:23:02.880 --> 0:23:07.160 and I was I had these romantic feelings about my job. 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:10.879 Oh my god, I will protect people, I will do 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:14.240 my best. I will you know, I will serve my country. 0:23:14.359 --> 0:23:18.119 That's amazing, Like I want to be that, you know, 0:23:18.480 --> 0:23:25.600 that hero, like my grandfather was. In that department, they 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:35.280 were about fifty agents and only me was a female one. 0:23:36.240 --> 0:23:41.119 So all these forty nine guys looked at me in 0:23:41.280 --> 0:23:47.119 the way like oh, a new meet. And I didn't 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:51.200 realize basically that I was that, you know, like a 0:23:51.359 --> 0:23:56.840 deer surrounded by wolves. I didn't realize because I was 0:23:56.960 --> 0:24:09.040 too young and too unexperienced as a woman. Just a 0:24:09.119 --> 0:24:12.400 few days later, when I was accepted as an intern, 0:24:12.960 --> 0:24:16.760 and I had to start it my job routine and 0:24:16.840 --> 0:24:19.119 I had to just to learn and see what is 0:24:19.200 --> 0:24:23.359 it about and everything. Somebody called to our home number. 0:24:24.520 --> 0:24:28.000 It was eight pm and I was reading a book. 0:24:28.280 --> 0:24:32.320 I remember, I was preparing to go to sleep. My 0:24:32.520 --> 0:24:36.840 dad picked up the phone and he spoke with someone 0:24:37.480 --> 0:24:41.880 and I heard, yes, yes, okay, I understand, Yes, she'll 0:24:41.920 --> 0:24:45.359 be right back, she'll be yeah, she'll be there. Okay, 0:24:45.600 --> 0:24:50.840 she'll take taxis, she'll come. Then my dad came and 0:24:50.960 --> 0:24:54.000 he said to me, your colleague just called and they 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:57.920 said it's a huge murder, so everybody have to come 0:24:58.040 --> 0:25:02.120 and try to help, you know, to find out killers 0:25:02.200 --> 0:25:06.320 and murders. So you have to go and help your department, 0:25:06.880 --> 0:25:12.399 So get ready do it. Like immediately I came to 0:25:12.480 --> 0:25:17.640 the department, was about like eight thirty. I didn't know right, 0:25:17.680 --> 0:25:21.440 it was my first alarm ever, so I don't know 0:25:21.520 --> 0:25:24.160 what's going on. And I just saw only one guy there, 0:25:24.320 --> 0:25:27.879 like one of my colleague, my my agent, who was 0:25:27.960 --> 0:25:32.200 that time about like maybe twenty like seven twenty like 0:25:32.359 --> 0:25:33.320 eight something like that. 0:25:34.200 --> 0:25:35.040 And I came. 0:25:35.080 --> 0:25:37.440 I said, like, hey, all right, so I received the 0:25:37.520 --> 0:25:39.359 call so and he said, yeah, I called you that. 0:25:39.480 --> 0:25:41.480 I'm like okay, yeah, I'm ready to do, Like okay, 0:25:41.560 --> 0:25:44.159 so what do I need to do? He didn't tell 0:25:44.200 --> 0:25:47.440 me anything, and I was like, why is he's so quiet, 0:25:48.080 --> 0:25:50.960 like what's going on? And then I looked at the department. 0:25:51.040 --> 0:25:56.199 Everything was like dark, like no other agents, no lights. 0:25:56.960 --> 0:25:59.560 Every room is closed, like you know, every office's room 0:25:59.560 --> 0:26:02.639 is so close. And I asked him why no one 0:26:02.800 --> 0:26:05.840 is in the department, like where everybody, and he's like, oh, 0:26:05.920 --> 0:26:08.920 everybody's on their own spots, so don't worry about it. 0:26:09.960 --> 0:26:12.879 And he asked me, do you want to drink, like drink? 0:26:13.720 --> 0:26:15.960 First of all, I don't drink. I was not allowed 0:26:15.960 --> 0:26:19.320 to drink alcohol obviously. Second, like what drink? I mean, 0:26:19.400 --> 0:26:22.560 be supposed to work? Great? And I asked him, like, 0:26:22.680 --> 0:26:27.200 I mean, like no, I don't thank you. He said, 0:26:27.359 --> 0:26:31.080 come here to that room because everything is closed. So 0:26:31.600 --> 0:26:38.199 I entered the like the room, and I saw a table, 0:26:39.119 --> 0:26:43.879 I saw a couch, and I saw, you know, a 0:26:44.040 --> 0:26:48.560 lamp which was like kind of like in a dark 0:26:48.720 --> 0:26:53.760 mode so it's not too bright. And I saw vodka 0:26:53.880 --> 0:26:58.359 on the table and some kind of like snacks, and 0:26:58.800 --> 0:27:03.760 slowly I started to think that this is not what 0:27:03.960 --> 0:27:06.680 I'm I'm supposed to do. I was supposed to work. 0:27:06.840 --> 0:27:09.000 I supposed to be on the alarm, I supposed to 0:27:09.160 --> 0:27:12.399 like do my job like, but this is not like 0:27:12.560 --> 0:27:18.639 there's nothing like that. I had this thought that something 0:27:18.760 --> 0:27:23.159 going on, but I couldn't understand what. And he just 0:27:23.520 --> 0:27:27.680