Kobzarro, 19, who never reveals her real name but is known as Russia’s Batgirl, used to be a quiet office worker. Now she puts on a mask and cape and balances on trains as they speed through Moscow and other parts of Russia. "It’s like a mystical experience for me," Kobzarro said of her dangerous hobby. She pursued it initially to escape overbearing parents and an oppressive home life. It has evolved into a pastime that symbolizes, she said, her rejection of a stifling Soviet state — although one she never experienced. "I admire people who create their own rules, who live their lives according to their own internal ideas about freedom and what’s possible."
In addition to train surfing, which has resulted in run-ins with the police — although she has so far avoided arrest and received only fines — Kobzarro routinely, and also illegally, explores abandoned Soviet-era hospitals, factories and other buildings. She does this, she said, to connect with a physical Soviet past.
"It helps me understand it better. That doesn’t mean I would prefer that time to now," she said.