Vladimir Garin

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Vladimir Garin (26 January 1987, Leningrad - 24 June 2003) was a Russian actor, and star of the critically acclaimed film Vozvrashcheniye (Russian: Возвращение), titled as The Return in the USA.

Garin drowned in Lake Osinoveckoe - 69 km of Saint Petersburg, where a portion of The Return was filmed, just before the film's international debut - while boating with a friend, Misha. Both boys were challenged to jump into the lake by two local girls who were slightly intoxicated, and Garin rose to the challenge. However, as theorized by his mother Tatyana Garina, a cramp seized his legs, disenabling him from swimming. He managed to grab a hold of the dinghy, but it capsized.

"Misha - who was then on the shore - began to shout and called me on the mobile. But on the way there, I was already sure he was dead." said Tatyana Garina. She also said her "maternal intuition" told her Volodia died immediately and suffered little pain. "When the divers found him three days later, I had the impression that he was just sleeping," she said. "He had a very calm face."