"If I Knew How to Drink, I Wouldn't Have Quit": Confessions of a Sober Tractor Driver
A tractor driver from a Bashkir village quit alcohol and became a hero in a film about sobriety.
Until he was 48, he regularly went on drinking binges, but he managed to stop and now doesn«t touch alcohol at all. Our interviewee is an ordinary village tractor driver, Valery Andreyev, who did not shy away from appearing in the documentary »Sober Village,« which aired on Russian TV platforms.
Valery is on familiar terms with tractors.
«Why be shy?» he wondered in a conversation with UFA1.RU. «It happened, everyone in our village saw it.»
Valery is now 63 years old.
Valery lives in Durtuli village in Bashkortostan. He was born there in 1962, studied at the local school, and met his future wife there.
Valery has spent almost his entire life, apart from army service, in his native village.
«In the third grade we even sat at the same desk, but we were always fighting and arguing, so they separated us,» Valery recalls.
Valery says his last drink almost extinguished his desire to quit.
After finishing school, he immediately went to work in the tractor park, and was soon drafted into the army. After serving two years in the air force, Valery returned home and continued working as a tractor driver in the village.
The tractor driver also keeps a cow, which calved in early 2026.
«Always in the fields, and for any little thing—we»d drink. We used any excuse. Hammered a nail—have a drink. Vodka, homemade spirits. At first a little, then—more, more, more. I drank in binges. I wasn«t the only one, but some people know their limit, they have a drink and that»s it, no continuation tomorrow. But me—the next day, and then again, and again,« Andreyev says.
Sober life, Valery says, turned out to be no worse and even better.
Despite the binges, Valery wasn«t too worried about his life and health at first. The problem didn»t seem terrible to him, especially since sometimes Andreyev would go for long periods without alcohol at all. But then he would fall back into, as they say, a deep blue hole, and each time he sank deeper.
Valery says his Durtuli is a wonderful place, but young people are leaving.
«I could go for months without drinking, but one glass—and that was it, I was lost. There are people who can have a bottle standing there and it just stays, but others have to drink it all and go for more. If I knew how to drink properly, maybe I wouldn»t have quit,« Andreyev jokes.
Trailer for the film «Sober Village».
At the same time, according to Valery, there was already a shortage of tractor drivers in the village. They kept him on the job, and sometimes he would go out to work drunk. Because of this, he once even drove a tractor into a river. He miraculously survived, but he didn«t quit drinking. Meanwhile, his drinking buddies around him were gradually dwindling.
«My wife»s brother even passed away before me. He was 48, also worked, also drank. In the end—liver cirrhosis. I remember, once I drank a bottle of vodka and thought to myself: another week or two like this, and they«ll carry me to the cemetery too,» Valery recounts.
The turning point for him was the appointment of Radik Faizullin as chairman of the local collective farm. He was a couple of years older than Andreyev, but they had known each other since school, and then Radik left the village, returning many years later. Seeing the state Valery was in when he came to work, the new farm chairman admitted to him that he himself had not been without sin in the past. But—in the past.
«He said he hadn»t drunk at all for many years, and he knew how I could quit too. He says: «Just tell me, and I»ll arrange everything.« I don»t know how he drank or didn«t drink while he wasn»t in the village, but I remembered his words,« the tractor driver says.
After yet another drinking bout, he finally turned to Faizullin. The chairman specifically asked several times: «Do you really want to quit?» Valery confirmed again and again that yes, he really did. Then the collective farm chairman asked him to wait three days, until they found a temporary replacement for Valery and took him to a coding specialist in the city.
Faizullin set one condition: not to drink a single drop until then. Valery promised he wouldn«t, but the very next day he couldn»t resist. According to Andreyev, that April day became one of the main memorable dates in his life.
«I told everyone I was going to get coded. The guys were even surprised: »Valerka, such things are usually done quietly. You«re lying, you probably aren»t going anywhere, just talking.« But why hide it? I drank openly, everyone saw. I»m going for myself, to get treatment, not for someone else. But the day before departure I drank two bottles of gin and tonic,« Andreyev admits.
Unlike him, Faizullin kept his promise. He was sent to the city hospital together with his wife on the appointed date. According to Valery, the doctor first talked with him for a long time, and then took his wife aside. He later found out that the specialist wanted to check with the wife that the patient had come of his own free will.
«Even before arriving I thought, maybe I agreed for nothing. Then I decided: good grief, well, I promised Radik Salikhovich, I gave my word! How can I go back now?!» Valery recalls.
After convincing the doctor that he had made the decision to undergo treatment himself, Valery went through all the necessary procedures. For this, he had to stay in the city for some time, but upon returning, he was firmly sure that he would not drink anymore.
«Radik Salikhovich warned me: »Valerka, at first you can«t do without doctors.» Then, he says, you yourself won«t want to. And I really already wanted to just live without drinking, a sober life,» the tractor driver says.
This thought and the word given to his older comrade helped him abstain from alcohol. A year after the coding, a tragedy struck his family—his mother died.
«Then even my enemies and friends looked at me like: »Now you«ll drink,»« Valery says. »But I didn«t drink then, nor later. I didn»t even have the thought.«
Later, Radik Faizullin also passed away, to whom Andreyev, as he admits, is still grateful for the help. But the main loss for him in 2023 was the death of his wife, with whom he grew up and raised three daughters. The daughters are already adults, they left the village, got married, but sometimes visit their father.
«Young people don»t stay here. Sometimes I think that in another five years, there will be no one left in the village at all. In 1981, there were 20 of us tractor drivers, and now there are only two, me and my classmate,« Valery laments.
It is worth noting that about half a thousand people live in Durtuli. In 2023, the local council took part in the «Sober Village» project. This is a republic-wide program to combat alcoholism, the winners of which receive additional subsidies for improvement projects.
The eponymous film in the genre of documentary tragicomedy was released recently but has already received high praise from critics. In particular, it is praised for its authenticity and humor. Valery Andreyev became one of the heroes of the film, so now he is a real celebrity. By the way, for more on what «Sober Village» is about and why it«s worth watching, read the analysis by UFA1.RU.
