‘I didn’t want to live in an apartment in Moscow’ Why did a Russian woman live with her daughters in an Indian cave for nine months?
In early July, a Russian woman drew international attention after Indian police on a routine patrol discovered her living in a cave near Goa with her two young daughters. Because their visas had expired, the family was taken to a detention center, where they remained for more than two months before finally being deported in late September. To shed light on Nina Kutina’s unusual story, BBC News Russian interviewed her about how and why she ended up living in the cave. Meduza shares a translation of the article.
‘Legendary, in a way’
Part of Nina Kutina’s explanation for moving with her two daughters to a cave in the Indian jungle was straightforward. “We’d never lived in a cave before,” the 40-year-old told the BBC.
Kutina drew international attention in mid-July, when Indian police found her and her daughters, aged five and six, living in a cave near Goa. Their visas had expired, so the family was taken to a migrant detention center. In September, they were deported to Russia.
Kutina said she was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and studied in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk for about eight years. She then traveled extensively across Russia and later spent time in Ukraine, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Costa Rica, Nepal, and India.
Although she trained as a teacher, Kutina worked as an interior designer in Moscow before leaving Russia 15 years ago with her eldest son, Dmitry.
“I didn’t want to live in a concrete apartment block in Moscow,” she said. “I wanted to live by the sea, so my children could run barefoot in the sand and see the world. I wanted to give them a life that was healthier and more interesting.”
Her second son, Luchezar, was born abroad, followed by daughters Ama and Prema. Kutina said she gave birth to all of her children at home and described her family as very close.
“I’m with my children 24/7. I teach them myself — I have a background in education and art, and I’m also a musician,” she said.
On her Telegram channel, Cave Life, Kutina advertised paid knitting lessons and shared that she had taught art and sculpting even while at the migrant detention center in India.
A friend of Kutina’s, Vasily Kondrashov, described her as “legendary, in a way,” saying that she was “living in the Goan jungle with her kids as far back as 10 years ago.”
Kondrashov also recalled visiting her in northern Goa several years ago:
Between the giant roots of a tropical tree, Nina created two small rooms and covered them with fabric — one was a living room with an altar, the other a bedroom. Below, right by the tree, ran a river tumbling over boulders, forming a private natural pool in a stone basin. The area around the shelter was smoothed out with clay. She had built benches and a fire pit. There were dishes, utensils, and children’s toys. I asked her, “Aren’t you afraid of snakes? There must be tons of them here.” She replied, “Two snakes live near our home, and we know each other well.”
‘No animal has ever attacked us’
Kutina told the BBC she’s always tried to find places where she could live close to nature and “understand this planet.” That search eventually brought her to a cave near the town of Gokarna, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
Gokarna, with a population of around 25,000, is known for its beaches and religious sites. The cave, according to Kutina, was a short walk into the forest from town, where the family would go to buy fruit. Neither her nor her daughter, who were raised vegetarian, ate meat. Kutina said they had never once been sick, which she attributed to their natural lifestyle.
She built beds from wooden planks, laid mats on the ground, and decorated the cave with handmade crafts. Luchezar stayed behind in Goa with a friend’s family, where he attended school and occasionally visited his mother and sisters.
Kutina’s eldest son, Dmitry, died in a car accident in Goa in September 2024. She said the loss was one reason she chose to live in the cave near a temple — to have space to process her grief. She and her daughters spent a total of nine months living in the cave.
The police who found them said the family appeared to be living “comfortably.” Still, they warned Kutina about the dangers of forest life, including snakes, wild animals, and landslides during monsoon season.
Kutina responded to these warnings on Telegram: “Not a single snake has ever harmed us in all our years of living in nature. Not one animal has attacked us. The only thing we’ve feared — and still fear — is people.”
‘So many lies have been spread’
During her stay in the cave, Kutina’s Indian visa expired; according to her, she didn’t have the strength to deal with the paperwork after her son’s death. As a result, shortly after the authorities discovered the family, they were taken to a migrant detention center. According to Kutina, conditions there were far worse than in the cave.
“They said they were protecting us from wild animals. But in reality, they made us live with giant cockroaches that would crawl over people at night — there was no escaping them,” she said. “They think they saved the children from hunger and cold. But in the cave, I cooked healthy, tasty food. In the center, they suffered from hunger and vitamin deficiencies.”
According to Indian officials, Kutina contacted the Russian embassy to ask for help returning home. But the situation was complicated when Dror Shlomo Goldstein, an Israeli businessman living in Goa, filed a court petition seeking custody of Ama and Prema. He claimed to be their father and asked that they not be sent back to Russia.
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Kutina refused to discuss Goldstein with the BBC, saying only that she has no contact with “that man.”
Goldstein told the BBC he is seeking joint custody, although he did not complete the required DNA test before the family left India. The next court hearing in the case is scheduled for October 9. In a Facebook post, he wrote:
In recent years, it’s been harder and harder to stay in touch with them. Even when I found them, they seemed distant and told me I had left them before they were born. But I never stopped loving them.
Back in Moscow, Kutina and her daughters are now living with relatives. She said she takes them on regular walks in the forest and is working on renewing their documents so they can continue to travel.
Kutina does not plan to send her children to school and said they are homeschooled. On October 1, Russian child welfare officials visited the family.
“They came to check on us because so many lies have been spread,” Kutina told the BBC. “We’d been portrayed in such a way that made them feel they had to see us in person. But they liked us, and now everything’s fine.”
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Cover picture: Karnataka Police