Hermit in Russia’s frozen Siberia gets a helping hand from kindhearted charity workers after losing all his fingers to frostbite.
Reclusive Leonid, 60, turned his back on the modern world 25 years ago following a painful divorce.
Now he lives alone in a ramshackle log cabin with just his hunting dog for company living off the berries and mushrooms he picks and any game he can kill.
Even chopping wood to keep warm is a struggle with just his thumbs and the stumps of his fingers to hold the axe.
Remarkable video footage just released shows bearded, fur hat-wearing Leonid greeting care worker Yulia Tikhonova, the head of the volunteer group Born to Help.
As Yulia calls out to him, Leonid emerges from the broken front door of his snow-covered cabin wrapped in quilted coats and with a Cossack-style hat on his head.
As the pair talk, Leonid smiles as he holds up his hands to show the camera his finger stumps.
Inside his hidden home there is a simple wood-burning hearth, a blanket to sleep on and cans used for cooking food.
His cabin is some 4.5 kilometres (2.8 miles) from the village of Desyatnikovskoye, in Buryatia, in the Russian Far East.
Yulia explained: “He says that he won’t go to people. He says it’s good here too.
“For 25 years now he has been living like this in his dugout, 4.5 kilometres from the village of Desyatnikovskoye.
“Sometimes he comes to us to sell berries or game, and to his aunt’s to go to the bathhouse to wash.
“But this is rare, after all, the road is long, and not at all well-maintained.”
Leonid explained his simple lifestyle saying: “The forest is my home, and I am the master of it.”
Sometimes he sells his game to the village for a few rubles that he uses to buy essentials from the shop.
But last winter, Leonid got frostbite and lost all his fingers and villagers turned to the Born To Help charity.
Yulia said: “In the summer, residents turned to our foundation, told us about Leonid and added that he needed help.
“They were worried that he would not be able to cope with everyday issues on his own because all the fingers on both hands were amputated, only the big ones remained – one knuckle at a time.
“As it turned out, he had frostbite last winter, and they persuaded him to go to the hospital. The doctors decided to amputate.
“But Leonid did not undergo further treatment, but ran away from the doctors back to his dugout.”
Gradually the charity has been gaining his trust, with Leonid admitting that it is difficult even to chop wood with no fingers.
Yulia said after the encounter: “Today he greeted us like family. We sat for a long time discussing what Leonid needed.
“He talked a lot about his life in the forest, about hunting and even boasted about his game trophies!”
She said that he had managed to snare a hare weighing 5 kilogrammes (11 lbs).
She added: “Tomorrow we will come again, we will take warm clothes, felt boots, and goodies.”
Leonid does not want to relocate, although he says he dreams of building a proper log cabin and improving the road to the local village.
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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