This year He has been in Ukraine more than at home. While in Latvia, he talks about his experiences in the war. A soldier and farmer on farming and the nearby war.

Gundars Kalve is interviewed by Māris Liopa, Chairman of the Forest Certification Council of Latvia, and Pauls Rēvelis, editor of zemeunvalsts.lv.

We are meeting you at the Tome fish farm, shortly before the general meeting of the Latvian Fish Farmers Association. Last year, when we met at “Kalves”*, you mentioned that you had taken up fish farming as an addition to your agriculture, which, as is evident, you have done on a grand scale.

As I have said before – at first, I only had a crop and livestock farm, and one spring, while reviewing my properties, I concluded that there were good opportunities for fish farming. Year after year, my pond areas grew to 8 ha, which made me think about joining or becoming involved in a professional association to learn and gain experience. The association has experienced colleagues whom I still listen to with my mouth wide open. I am not a fearful person, but if more experienced colleagues ask for my opinion, I am truly afraid to open my mouth because I am a small-scale entrepreneur and still a beginner. While working in the association, I consider the most important task and goal to be obtaining information and learning, which, upon returning to the farm, I pass on to my fish farmer; over time, I see whether this knowledge works for me or not. Moreover, I am one of the members of the Latvian Fish Farmers Association who also works in the Crayfish and Fish Farmers Association, which brings together smaller farmers (the Fish Farmers Association brings together the larger producers). Interesting things are discussed in both associations; it is worth being active in both. The large producers look at things from a conventional perspective, from large production volumes, modern nutrients, etc. The small ones, in turn, evaluate the things that are most interesting and necessary for them.

When fish harvest time arrives, you have long queues, as you said yourself. How is work progressing when the owner has gone to fight?

In the spring, there was a very high demand for fish, and we had to turn some prospective buyers away. Assessing the autumn period, October was excellent, while in November we observed a certain decline. It has always been the case that in October, customers who have been waiting for the new produce enjoy both fresh and smoked fish, then wait for Christmas and New Year to buy fish for their festive tables. In November, you notice a certain drop in demand. At the end of the year, each time we smoke fish, we smoke about 240 of them and... we run out. I estimate that we have an average of 80 customers a day. The “geography” is local – Jēkabpils, Līvāni, Preiļi, and Madona, also Rēzekne and Daugavpils – so, the Middle Daugava region and part of Latgale.

You mentioned an employee who looks after the fish while you are in Ukraine.

While I am in Ukraine, “everything is happening” in the fish ponds; the fish live on their own and all that is needed is to feed them well and with quality. A young man who studies at a vocational school works for me; as the summer holidays approach, he arrives at the farm, knows how to feed them correctly, and I can trust him. The overall supervision is up to the master, namely, ensuring that everything for proper feeding has been delivered. Currently, my fish farming is based in four locations already; if we started in “Kalves”, where you visited in March of last year*, now we also work in Medņi in Varieši Parish, in Sāviena in the Madona region, and we lease ponds from the Lutheran church in Sunākste.

Two people are responsible for aquaculture on the farm – the feeder and the master, who takes care that the ponds are populated and that it is possible to feed the fish on time and that they live in welfare conditions. I am always present myself when the ponds are drained.

...because you have to feel the “rhythm” and the situation...

Exactly, especially when thinking and talking about predatory fish! If a pike and a zander are “coming” into the fish trap, we want to sell them as quickly as possible. By the third or fourth day, pike start eating each other – the larger ones eat the smaller ones – while zander do not like stress conditions, and the sooner they reach natural conditions after the pond is drained, the better.

How do zander and pike get along?

They get along well if both are the same size – for example – a one-kilogram zander and a one-kilogram pike will “understand each other”. Of course, there is competition.

Recent observations in Lake Lubāns are interesting. Previously there were no zander there, but some time ago they were released into the lake. What happened? In the sectors where the number of zander was supplemented, the zander “displaces” the pike. I myself used to think that of these two species, the pike is the more aggressive one. No, it wasn't! Wise fish farmers say that the zander really does displace the pike...

What about birds, fish predators?

I have serious problems with mink, otters, and herons. Cormorants fly into our area in the spring but do not nest; there are no offspring for these birds in my area, the birds do not settle.

Heron. The grey heron?

When we started dealing with fish in 1999, we basically saw grey herons, occasionally there was a white one. Now there are mostly white herons and it is a great rarity to see a grey one. There have been major changes over 20 years. Studying nature, I draw parallels with people – if no deterrent measures are taken, people can change like this within a generation. Let us be vigilant!

Your fish farming journey is clear, but... For the last 10 months, you usually talk about Ukraine and what you have experienced there. You have turned from a farmer back into a warrior.

Actually, I was away from the 12th of January and only truly returned home on the 28th of July, not counting a quick short visit.

First I was in Kyiv, later in Mariupol with the “Azov” guys; I experienced many transfers, training sessions, drills, and I boarded the train on the 18th of February.

I came home on the 22nd of February, then the 24th arrived, when an acquaintance called in the morning, saying: “That’s it, it’s starting!” What is starting? “Ukraine has been invaded.”

Still sleepy, I rushed to the TV, I saw a massive attack on Kyiv. I wanted to go there as early as the 25th of February, but my fellow travellers talked me out of it, insisting we go on the 26th. In war, however, every day is important, and at that moment, the invaders were coming towards Kyiv like a black death.

When I reached Lviv on the 27th of February, the feeling was normal – an unshakable conviction – we will defeat them. As time went on, after three months, the feelings changed; I concluded that at that moment, in February, we had been on the edge of a cliff, close to catastrophe. That is exactly right, at that moment the fall was closer and the victory very far away.

As you mentioned yourself, the attack was very massive.

In the centre of Kyiv, Russian special forces units were already raging, their task being to take out the country's leadership and create chaos in the city.

Airborne units were landed at three large Ukrainian airfields, their task being to meet ground troops coming from Sumy, Chernihiv, Chernobyl, and Lutsk. We dealt with this issue – we separated the ground forces from the paratroopers and knocked out the paratroopers who had occupied only the airport territories.

Then, so to speak, the special forces and their people in Kyiv also “lit up”, and we had to deal with them too; locals reported where things were hiding, where things could be found. In short, the invaders' offensive ended with this. The ground troops were stopped by Stinger and Ukrainian forces.

The first Russian helicopters, as is known, were shot down by the Stinger missiles provided by Latvians.

These combat devices came into the possession of the Ukrainian army on the 22nd of February, which proved very useful two days later (24th of February).

What explains the Ukrainians' precision in battles?

First of all, they are well-prepared. Secondly – they choose appropriate conditions for a strike. For example, an invader column is coming through a forest. If the enemy is in the forest, it is not worth shooting at them, because there is a strip of trees on both sides and a narrow road in the middle. You have to wait for them to come out of the forest and then...

I saw with my own eyes the piles of Russian equipment wreckage left after the repelled attacks. Beautiful!

What do you think about the Russian army's preparation? Are they as weak as we hear?

In the beginning, in February and March, they were well-prepared, but – if one can put it this way – “those good ones are now liquidated”. I must say – even 90% of the well-trained Russian military personnel. It is not for nothing that the recent mobilisation in Russia was a forced measure, because those who were intended as the occupiers of Ukraine and the enforcers of the occupier's power were no longer among the living.

For example, in every tank there should officially be a crew of three people, but in fact, they are (were) four. Each tank is “serviced” by its individual drone that follows the tank's security. These are not thermal cameras or night-vision devices, but drones. Drones are connected to the tank by thin, thin wires. If a drone has risen above the tank, it can “hang” there for days, “scouting” the tank's surroundings. The fourth person in the tank crew is responsible for the safety of the tank and the rest of the crew. When a tank is destroyed, the report says that three people (the crew) have been destroyed. For statistics, that is correct, but in reality, there are four.

If you remember the destroyed tank columns turned into scrap metal over 20-30 km... officers, deputy officers, sergeants, the best shooters and snipers, the best soldiers. Now they are all in the cemetery...

Regarding those who fell on the Russian side, we have witnessed not the best stories. For example, on the 6th of September, we entered Izyum, where Russian soldiers who had fallen in April were still lying along the roadsides. Russia had been in charge of this territory for less than half a year, but no one considered it necessary to collect their fallen and bury them with honour. In my opinion, it is an abnormal attitude.

A similar experience was in the village of Vernypil, where we carried out a successful operation, destroying a group of invader soldiers. No one came for the fallen.

I often think about the fact that many call what is happening Russian Nazism. Nazism is something directed against others, but looking at what is experienced in Ukraine, there is no respect in the Russian army for their own people, nor for their own lives. Nazism against their own.

There is also information that in the Russian army at all levels they lie.

Officially, at the state level, they lie, that is clear.

Intercepted conversations (electronic intelligence) show that in internal communication the texts are quite open – “we are in deep trouble”, “we have been abandoned”, etc. When new recruits (the unprepared, who think they are “above everything” and who have only just been in civilian life) arrive at the front, they are quite aggressive. In these cases, we on our side judge that now a sharp or bright attack is needed so that the occupiers do not feel their strength. Then we also strike. If we liquidate 2-3 tanks a day, which succeeds quite successfully, we already feel how the opponent’s emotional level drops... Death before their eyes and comrades roasted in tanks force a situation to be evaluated differently very quickly. And, as I mentioned, harsh language is used in internal communication and the Russians understand the situation quite well. “We have been abandoned, left behind, the colonel is...” As soon as the official way of presenting information begins, the truth is lost.

How long will this continue? Naive, perhaps annoying, etc., but a very important question.

I recently spoke about this and explained it on TV24, namely, now, unlike the first months, the war has reached a different phase; the professional and clever officers and soldiers have been taken out of action forever, but... it is the time of mobilisation. 300,000 “sheep” who decide nothing themselves and independently, who are a mass, but... there are many of them. To deal with this mass, it takes a lot of time and ammunition. As is understood, no one will raise a white flag and there is no hope for such an action, while Ukraine will not gift territories to anyone... There will be no peace!

As I mentioned, we have to deal with 300,000 live combat units. We work with precision weapons, the Russians shoot left and right. We work on the Russians' expensive equipment, liquidating the metal.

At the front, there are currently about 300,000 Ukrainians. The nation is large, ready to fight, so...

By the way, this is talked about less, but in offensive (territory liberation) battles, there are also serious losses for the Ukrainian side. One must reckon with that.

I have so far participated in defensive battles; when I return to the ranks in January, I will participate in an offensive.

Riga Mayor Mārtiņš Staķis recently said that propaganda is one thing, but, look, in Iran even women are fighting. In Russia, there is peace and silence.

I agree, there is no excuse for the indifference of Russian citizens to what is happening. For the war they started, they must be punished.

A sufficiently large (even overwhelming) part of the Russian population, it seems, is not bothered by 9 months of war, judging by what you said about the at least verbal aggressiveness of the new recruits.

I cannot judge the mood in Russian cities and among civilians. I am talking about the changes that happen when a new recruit (mobilised person) ends up in a real combat zone. I can talk about the content of intercepted conversations in March and August of this year. There are no big differences, but the moment a person is subjected to a personal threat to their life, the song they were used to changes...

It is funny that there are so many conversations because, one might assume, the invader side must know that conversations can be intercepted.

In my opinion, they are denied communication, but... who will take such a ban into account during wartime? They have mobile phones, they find a signal, and everything happens.

In the volunteer battalion where you also fight, there are supposedly people from different parts of the world...

Exactly – there are mostly Balts and Poles. Also many Belarusians, two whole battalions, though I have not had contact with them. For a while, I was part of a Georgian battalion. Our unit has representatives of 16 nationalities – Lebanese, Kurds, Azerbaijanis, Hungarians, Czechs, Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Croats...

That is good. For example, the Russians, when organising an attack, decide to conduct one combat operation in the Tajik language. As this message is intercepted, the commander throws it into the general network and (I have checked it myself) not even 30 seconds pass before it becomes clear in what language the communication is taking place. That is why we are such a colourful company.

What surprises me is that on the Ukrainian side, a great many militarily well-prepared Czechs are fighting.

From what I personally experienced – together with my comrade-in-arms, a Czech named Tomas, we received a task to hold our positions for 24 hours. A group of Russian saboteurs had been dropped in the immediate vicinity; we were three combat-capable people, we were literally speaking – in hell, an attack could have started at any moment and from any side.

Another adventure, I hope, will one day be included in some history book – there was an operation in Irpin in which six Latvians participated... let the rest remain for the book for now!

What is the fighters' attitude towards Russian threats with tactical nuclear weapons?

It does not affect us. There is no big difference whether you fall in battle from artillery, a mortar, or something else. After all – you have gone to fight and you can fall in battle or, in short, die at any moment. Nuclear threats worry politicians and civilians more – what to do and how to act if... For a soldier who is doing their duty, it is not important; such questions do not burden us.

The war started and it was concluded that many things in Latvia had not been resolved for years. A lot of very unpleasant things were revealed. You yourself have experienced this personally – some time ago there was the prosecutor's office and an investigation, and now you are an honorary citizen of Jēkabpils.

The prosecutor's office informed me that the case has been closed, although not on rehabilitating grounds – the offence is recorded, that is not good, but the investigation has concluded.

The situation you mentioned in the question worries me. I would be very cautious, because the public likes winners whom they align themselves with, whereas they turn away from losers. Currently, whatever the case may be, Ukrainians and the civilised world are in the basket labelled “we will win”. In Latvia, too, the situation is forming as an attraction to the winner, so that... not everyone likes this. If the situation, God forbid, were to turn around, and the Russians were to realise their marginal ideas, I would be very wary of local fellow travellers who might not be real collaborators, but who would not refuse to lick boots. I am not speaking only about representatives of the Latvian Russian Union, Saskaņa, or Stabilitātei, unfortunately, there would also be no lack of Latvians who would turn their coats if there were a need.

The more the Ukrainians showed their teeth and cleared their territories, the more world leaders began to call V. Zelensky and offer help. Support increased in proportion to the Ukrainians' success on the battlefield. The better it goes, the more we help.

Another thing of great importance is the fact that in the first days of the war, Joe Biden invited V. Zelensky to leave the country with his whole family, promising a safe place to live in the USA. If that had happened, then Ukraine would indeed fall. Here I have a question – if big and serious goals for both NATO and the allies were and are associated with Ukraine, why was it necessary to make such a provocative offer, which in fact meant the possible handing over of Ukraine to be torn apart? Either it was emotionally thoughtless, or “something else”... I hope it was not something else. If Kyiv were to fall, all of Ukraine would fall...

Adding about caution, there is the odd case where with their train of thought regarding the war, young people are nastily surprising... When you talk – the grandfather was a Soviet officer, or a similar story...

Exactly! I evaluate it like this: “It is good, but let us be cautious and vigilant!”

There has been too much Russian language here too!

There are state institutions where you would not be hired if you did not have knowledge of this language. What can I say? It is good that the Latvian language will be taught to children starting from kindergarten; I think that within one generation the issue will be resolved. If this had happened back in the 90s, we would not feel many problems.

Another thing – provocations regarding the language. I recently talked about this with my wife; if you noticed, a message appeared on social networks that Russian personal names would be banned. What is this? It is a provocation! The situation must be looked at healthily and reasonably, find where this information stems from, and invite its authors to the VDD (State Security Service) to have a talk. Such actions are not permissible in a situation where many things are perceived simultaneously in an aggravated and superficial way. This is incitement.

For example, Kharkiv is a distinctly Russian city.

When I started going to Ukraine, in conversations I used to mention that in Latvia there are Latvians and Russians. What did I hear? “Wait, Gundar, in Ukraine these things are different! Those who are now coming (breaking) in, you can call them whatever you want – Moskals, Katsaps, occupiers, orcs... but... In the unit we are 1/2 Ukrainian, 1/2 Russian.”

98% of Russians living in Ukraine support Ukraine, here there are no questions. It should be added that there are often cases when Russians fight Russians on the battlefield (invaders against those who reside in Ukraine). Ukraine's Russians call the invaders exactly that (occupiers) and hate them very much.

A week before the war started, I had a conversation with the head of cultural life of an army brigade. I wanted to take our “Kreicburgas ziķeri” to Avdiivka, because various types of folk music are very developed in the Ukrainian army. During the conversation, she says to me: “Gundar, I am 100% Russian. My dad was caught by a Russian army shell in a petrol station nearby (in 2014). From that day on, I don't speak Russian anymore...” From the conversation, I gathered that there is a large number of such people there.

What is the human feeling for you as a person, a Latvian, and a soldier, being there?

Good, even excellent!

It is a job that must be treated with maximum concentration and dedication.

What does your family think about your fighting?

My wife recently remarked: “You will drive me to the grave one day!” These words sounded in such an intonation that I, if not slightly, became terrified. My grown daughters are... The boy, however, who is an athlete, feels that dad is missing, he worries, moreover, strongly in a way atypical for his age. He already has the look of an eighteen-year-old.
* The interview with Gundars Kalve took place in March 2021; we repeated it on the 28th of February of this year
https://www.zemeunvalsts.lv/vakar-uz-lauka-sodien-paliga-ukrainiem-saruna-ar-lauksaimnieku-gundaru-kalvi
Photographs by Gundars Kalve and zemeunvalsts.lv used.