The Bridge at Stanytsia Luhanska

In 2015 I had just arrived in eastern Ukraine to work as a diplomat. My job was to secure the safe passage of civilians over a bridge in a forest that divided Russia-occupied Ukraine from the rest of the country. Even in my first moments at that spot (where I was to spend three years), I intuited that there was something folklore about the situation.

Source: Book Proposal

My job on that bridge was to ensure the safe passage of ten-thousand-civilians crossing from Russia-occupied Luhansk (what I referred to as the Rebel Troll Kingdom) into Ukraine government-controlled Luhansk, and back again.

Source: Disinfolklore (1)

We whose fate it was to participate in the daily array of diabolical dramas staged there by Russian war lords became like stock characters in a long-running soap opera. The cast of players acting out roles in this tragicomedy included diplomats, mercenaries, traders, soldiers, Russian occupiers, spies, and ordinary folk just like you and me.

That wooden and iron bridge was the only pedestrian crossing between Russia-occupied Luhansk and the rest of Ukraine. It became both a literal and metaphorical site of Disinfolklore.

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