Acid Attack Survivor Recounts Recovery in Yekaterinburg

Alena Fominykh, a mother of many children from Yekaterinburg who was doused with a corrosive liquid last winter on the orders of her ex-partner Nikolai Yermakov, is still undergoing rehabilitation. She faces a series of operations, including surgery to detach her ear. She told E1.RU how she is coping with the aftermath of the horrific attack.

The Case

On the morning of 12 January this year, Alena was taking her daughters to kindergarten when a stranger suddenly attacked her in the underground parking garage at 5 Vladimir Beloglazov Boulevard, splashing sulfuric acid in her face. Fortunately, the children were not hurt. Their mother immediately said that her ex-partner was involved in the attack, a man she had left a year earlier because of domestic violence.

Investigators then formed the theory that Nikolai Yermakov enlisted Eduard Seredyuk and Ksenia Vladimirova in the crime. He gave Vladimirova the keys to a car (the foreign-made vehicle was payment for the hit), the toxic chemical substance, and the keys to the parking garage.

Ksenia drove Eduard to the scene of the attack, and he carried it out. According to an E1.RU source, they admitted guilt and testified against Yermakov. Two months ago, Seredyuk left pretrial detention to join the military operation in Ukraine, and Vladimirova was ruled criminally insane. A court will decide whether to send her to a psychiatric hospital for compulsory treatment. Nikolai himself denies guilt, and his trial will begin soon.

Almost seven months have passed since the incident. Throughout this time, Alena Fominykh has been undergoing rehabilitation. We asked her to talk about this difficult journey. What follows is her story in her own words.

“I Can«t Turn My Head”

The liquid they threw on me was sulfuric acid. The burns were so severe that I needed a skin graft. To this day I am still undergoing a course of recovery at the clinic of Dr. Yegor Abramov. He personally performed several procedures, for example nitrogen plasma therapy. The procedures are quite painful. I experience severe pain because they are done on the scars that remain. The procedures take place once a week. I also get Botox injections in my right arm and neck, because I can«t move my arm or turn my head.

Once every month and a half I get injections of the hormonal drug Diprospan to break down the scar tissue so it doesn«t keep forming. They cause severe discomfort and tighten the skin. Thanks to the injections, I can at least partly act like a normal person. I express great gratitude to the plastic surgeon Nikolai Alexandrovich. He and Abramov are kind and attentive people. In the burn unit I had a doctor, Mikhail Igorevich. He performed the operation to graft skin from my leg onto my neck and around my ear. He has golden hands.

I will continue attending the procedures for another six months. In the winter a series of operations will begin, including surgery to detach my ear, because it has, roughly speaking, fused together. Then there will be surgery to detach the scar on my neck; it is forming and looks really ugly. After that there will be surgery to separate the fingers on my right hand; they have fused together, and that is also painful and uncomfortable. Then another operation for a scar on my back; it has started to take shape and is also painful.

Unfortunately, the scars on my face will remain; there is no way to remove them. The only thing is, the doctor told me he will try to smooth them as much as possible to give my face a more pleasant appearance.

“I Spent a Whole Month in a Psychiatric Hospital”

These injuries also left psychological consequences. I spent a whole month in a psychiatric hospital because I had post-traumatic stress syndrome, a fairly severe one. I am still afraid to enter the building alone and to ride the elevator alone. The parking garage is a whole separate topic for me. I am scared and it is hard for me to go down there. My children, who were present at that moment, are still very frightened. They have nightmares. I take them to a psychologist, and we are working through this trauma.

The children are afraid of unfamiliar men and sleep restlessly at night. They glance warily at passersby, whereas before they were cheerful — such laughing, kind girls. Now they are like hunted little kittens, trembling at everything.

I myself put a ton of makeup on my face to somehow hide the defects and scars. If I used to consider myself a fairly attractive person, now, with these scars, my self-esteem has immediately plummeted. I have a huge pink scar on my cheek, and I have to cover it up and apply blush to smooth over my flaws. I have stopped trusting people and don«t meet anyone.

“They Wanted to Slash My Face with a Knife Afterwards”

Many acquaintances communicate with me remotely because they are afraid something might happen — for instance, that Nikolai won«t calm down and will do something again, and they will be next to me at that moment. Everyone fears for their life. I understand it all; I don»t want to set anyone up or put anyone in danger.

I used to be quite open, but now I am very constrained and reserved. I try not to be photographed on other people«s phones; I only take photos myself from a certain angle so that this ugliness is less visible. The scars hurt terribly. Thank God, most of the procedures are free, but I experience terrible pain every day: physical and moral. Simply because a person (Nikolai. — Editor»s note) wanted it so. There was an examination, and it showed that if the sulfuric acid had gotten into my eyes, nose, and mouth, there would have been instant blindness and asphyxiation.

That person was prepared for me to die; he calmly went ahead with it. I was lucky that I was not hurt as badly as I could have been. They (the accused. — Editor«s note) were counting on something else. They wanted to slash my face with a knife afterwards too, but God protected me. I covered my face with my hands, and it all flew onto my neck and beyond. But I think they wanted to achieve a fatal outcome.

“It Is Very Cruel, Painful, and Frightening”

During these difficult months, my friends, relatives, and doctors have helped me enormously. I am very grateful to all of them. I am also supported by wonderful people, Natalia and Vladislav Tyulpanov. They were the very first to respond to my call for help.

It turns out there are so many kind people in the world. Everyone understands that even animals don«t behave the way Nikolai did. This is simply unthinkable cruelty. He wasn»t even stopped by the fact that I was with his children at that moment. In the first days after what happened, I held on only thanks to the support of those close to me. They were with me in the hospital around the clock.

The dead skin was simply cut out of me — roughly speaking, cut off with a scalpel. That is also very painful, hellishly painful, but you endure it all. People look at photos on the internet and think I am doing fine. They say I have nothing, that supposedly everything has healed. No, nothing has healed. I just take photos from my best angle. I wouldn«t wish this on anyone. It is very cruel, painful, and frightening.

The E1.RU editorial team thanks Alena Fominykh for her detailed account. We wish her a speedy recovery.

Everything known about Nikolai Yermakov can be read in this article, and here is the biography of his accomplices.

We are following the course of this story in a special feature.