Family sues wife of missing soldier who married twice during war

Alexander Rodkin, from the urban-type settlement of Golyshmanovo in the Tyumen region, grew up in an orphanage, spent his life searching for family and care, and married twice within a year while serving in the war zone. After he went missing, a bitter conflict erupted between his relatives and his official wife.

“Everything happened very quickly”

Alexander Rodkin grew up in an orphanage. According to his sister, their mother was stripped of parental rights, and all the children were placed in different institutions. Alexander himself, together with his brother Sergei, ended up in a correctional school, while another sister was in a different orphanage. Only later, when the children grew up, their grandmother began to bring them together – it was she who helped maintain contact and gather the whole family.

“We grew up without parents, but we always tried to stick together. Sasha was like that – he always needed care, attention, family,” says Valentina.

Alexander, according to her, never created his own strong family. He was never officially married before the events related to the war, although he lived with different women.

His sister is sure that the decision to go to the war zone was not a conscious choice or an ideological step. Alexander led a difficult life: he abused alcohol, got into conflicts, and lost his driver’s license.

According to Valentina, the immediate reason for signing the contract was a domestic quarrel. In one of the companies, Alexander pushed a woman, after which a complaint was filed against him. The situation could have been resolved by paying moral compensation, but, as the family claims, the man was ‘processed’ in such a way that the contract became, in his opinion, the only way out.

“He went to the police, came back to me and said that he decided to sign the contract. Everything happened very quickly,” the sister recalls.

Married twice in a year

Before being sent to the war zone, Alexander lived with women more than once, but, according to relatives, he had never formalized a relationship before. Valentina says that she repeatedly asked her brother not to rush into marriage, but he was always looking for care and warmth – perhaps because of his orphanage past.

Alexander entered into his first official marriage already during his service – with a woman he met on social media. However, this union quickly fell apart, and the divorce went through without problems.

The second marriage, which became the cause of the current conflict, was concluded literally in two days. Alla, with whom Alexander registered the marriage, according to his sister, had previously been acquainted with their family through the older sister. They had been corresponding for a long time, and when Alexander came on leave, he went to her for two days – and it was during this period that the marriage was registered.

“They started communicating by correspondence, just two months in total. When he came on leave, he went to her for two days and that’s it – they signed. And I even told her in court that if you knew him before, then you didn’t need him then, but as soon as you found out that he was in the war zone – you immediately fell in love with our brother,” Valentina says.

At the same time, Alexander, the sister claims, did not trust his new wife: soon after the marriage registration, he came to Valentina and issued a new general power of attorney in her name. And after that – he went back to the war zone.

Already there, according to the sister of the serviceman, the man began to have a rift with his new wife. Having come to his senses, he allegedly asked his sister to file for divorce on his behalf. However, the divorce proceedings did not take place.

On May 10, Alexander Rodkin went missing. Valentina was informed about what happened by his comrades. Ten days later, the sister applied to the military commissariat, but there, according to her, they refused to communicate with her, citing the presence of Alexander’s official wife.

“They told me directly: he has a spouse, we are not obliged to tell you anything,” says Valentina.

As for the spouse herself, according to relatives, she did not take any part in the search for her husband. Then Valentina went to court on behalf of her brother, filing for divorce from Alla. Later, the court received an official notification that Alexander was listed as missing. Because of this, the case was suspended. Alexander’s body has still not been found. According to his sister, his comrades speak extremely cautiously: it is only known that the man went on a combat mission that was called ‘impossible’.

Conflict over payments that do not exist

After Alexander’s disappearance, an open conflict began between his relatives and his official wife. The family insists: the marriage was fictitious, concluded spontaneously.

“By law, she is the wife. All payments are to her. We have no rights at all,” says Valentina.

At the same time, according to the sister, Alexander’s wife actively insisted on providing a DNA sample, raising the issue of payments, but allegedly did not participate in the search. The serviceman’s relatives refuse to provide DNA at the request of his wife.

“We are searching without DNA, they are not going to do anything for her,” says Valentina. “I asked at least to give me the right to bury my brother if he is found. They don’t even give me that.”

Now the family hopes for publicity and legal assistance. They admit: formally the law is on the side of the wife, but they consider the situation unfair.

“He was our brother. We grew up with him in an orphanage, we were his family all his life. And now it turns out that we are nobody,” the sister says.

“We married for love”: the wife’s version

Alexander Rodkin’s wife Alla insists: their marriage was not fictitious and was not concluded for the sake of payments. Alla assures that she met her husband about ten years ago and they have kept in touch since then. Communication, according to her, resumed in the autumn, when the man was already in the war zone. Alexander himself wrote to her on social media. The couple always had feelings for each other. They regularly corresponded, called each other, she worried about him and prayed.

According to Alla, Alexander proposed to her himself. She admits that at first she doubted – she was scared by the war and the risk of losing her husband.

Nevertheless, the woman claims, the decision to marry was conscious and mutual. According to Alla, by the time of his last leave, Alexander had difficult relations with his relatives. The woman claims that he himself did not want to communicate with them and asked not to interfere in his personal life. At the same time, she insists: it was she who persuaded him to visit his sisters, despite the tension.

When Alexander came to her in Golyshmanovo, the woman introduced him to her children and relatives. The serviceman himself came to his beloved with flowers and gifts, was happy and talked about the future. It was then, she claims, that he finally decided to register the marriage.

The registration, according to Alla, took place without pressure and haste, and she explains the short period between Alexander’s arrival and the wedding by his limited leave.

“He was happy in those days. And when he told his sister: ‘I will live with the woman I love. I will sign, that’s it,’ she started stomping and yelling that I won’t let you get married. But is he a child? Why are you deciding?” she indignantly says.

Alla says she learned about her husband’s disappearance unofficially – from his comrades. The woman claims that she still does not believe in Alexander’s death and hopes that he may be alive. Alla says that she independently contacted various authorities, looked for information through acquaintances, and tried to find out if Alexander had been admitted to morgues or hospitals.

“I am still looking everywhere. In morgues, through acquaintances. I was told that he is not there. I am glad that he is not there. Maybe he is alive. I pray to find him alive,” says Alla.

She rejects the relatives’ accusations that she is only interested in payments and emphasizes: the fate of her husband is more important to her.

“I don’t need the money. I don’t need these millions. I can earn it myself,” says Alla. “They are portraying me as some kind of gold digger. I want to find him alive. And she (the sister) won’t calm down because of this money. Do you think she needs her brother now? She doesn’t even look for him. She doesn’t provide a DNA sample, even though I have asked many times. She needs the money.”

What else have we written about similar stories?

Previously, we told you about another conflict. A dispute unfolded between the mother of a Tyumen resident who died in the war and his young widow. According to the mother, the widow received payments and is now seeking awards – the ‘For Courage’ medal and the Order of Courage. For these, the 20-year-old widow is also entitled to payments.

Now the mother of the deceased serviceman is trying to prove that her son’s marriage to a girl from Tyumen was fictitious. According to Irina, 19-year-old Vladimir got married while in a colony, two weeks before being sent under contract to the war zone. Before that, he had no relationship. However, Alena told a completely different version. Details are in the article.