The Rustle of a Bamboo Grove

Stanislav ASEYEV was born in Donetsk in 1989. In 2012, he went to Paris to join the Foreign Legion, he later returned to Donetsk and wrote an autobiographical novel about his experiences in France and his life in the Donbass region under Russian occupation. This novel was published in book form by “Kayala” in Kiev in 2016. Aseyev also wrote anonymously as a blogger for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Ukrainian service and for various Ukrainian publications under the pseudonym Vasin. On 2 June 2017, Aseyev was detained by separatist militants in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR). This short book of eleven pieces of prose consists of unpublished material that Aseyev left behind with his publisher, “Kayala,” in case anything should happen to him. Because he has already been detained for two months, we decided to translate the book into English and make it available to the public so as to draw more attention to his plight and hopefully save him.