Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there have always been reports of Russian military personnel from various regions refusing to go to war.
In all two months of the war, Russia continued to experience personnel problems. Even conscripts had to be sent to war, or mercenaries had to be collected from poor countries in Africa. Since the beginning of the invasion, according to the Ukrainian General Staff, more than 21,000 Russian soldiers have died. This, of course, also does not increase the enthusiasm and desire to go to Ukraine for Russia’s military. The aggressor country’s military command tried to carry out covert mobilization, attracting soldiers to contracts, but the military still refused to fight en masse.
Lost in denial
The Pskov provincial publication, citing its sources, reported in early April that 60 Pskov soldiers had been transferred to Belarus at the start of the war, from where they would be sent to Ukraine. They refused and returned to Pskov. “Now most of them have been removed, but some are threatened with criminal charges,” the newspaper reports.
The human rights organization Agora, led by Pavel Chikov, reported that “refuseniks” had been fired from their jobs and pressure was being applied to them. He said that on February 25, 12 employees of Krasnodar OMON from the company Plastun refused to comply with the requirements of the order to leave for Ukraine.
“The Russian Guard fighters explained the refusal to carry out the order as illegal. None of them had a foreign passport with them, or intended to leave Russian territory, while their direct official duty was limited to the territory of Russian Federation, “Chikov wrote.
According to him, none of the OMON fighters agreed to work in Ukraine and were not notified about the conditions and work of such a transfer.
Thrown away for slaughter
On March 12, the Ukrainian edition of Grati reported that approximately 80 Russian conscripts and contract soldiers from the marines refused to take part in the war. The publication refers to a resource in the system of law enforcement agencies of the Ministry of Defense in the annexed Crimea.
According to the publication, at the beginning of the war, the military was moved to the Kherson region and “they realized that they would not have exercises, as the commanders said, but participation in battles against Ukrainian forces.” After that, they declared their refusal to fight, and they were sent back to Crimea.
Grati said that of the 80 “refuseniks” there were also conscripts who had only served a few months, and some had not even had time to take the oath. Military prosecutors forced them to resist, threatening them with criminal charges, but this harassment stopped after Putin announced that conscripts would not participate in fighting in Ukraine.
The publication states that those who have already signed a contract for military service, despite the denials, are “involved in the war.”
Without equipment
We know about a similar military situation from South Ossetia. In late March, South Ossetian telegram channels reported that contractors from 4th Guards Military Base would return to the capital of Georgia’s breakaway region, Tskhinvali. Later, former South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity confirmed this information, but did not name the number of returnees and their reasons.
The Mediazon publication, citing a source, reported that the South Ossetian military was sent to Ukraine “empty”: the soldiers bought protection and equipment with their own money.
According to the source, about 300 South Ossetian soldiers returned to the republic after five days of fighting. They made such a decision after the mine blew up one of the soldiers, and the commander refused to take his body home.
Can’t afford to be punished
Servicemen who refused to participate in the war against Ukraine were threatened with criminal charges or fired, but it was difficult to bring them to justice, Mediazona said.
At the disposal of the editors was a recording of a conversation between a serviceman who, after returning from Ukraine, refused to go there again, along with senior officials. One of them requested to “load him into an APC and take him there”.
He also threatened to tell the refusing coward’s father that his son was a coward. Mediazona said there was a well-known case when corresponding defamatory letters were sent not only to the father of a serviceman who refused to protest, but also to his neighbors. The letter specifically said: “We deeply regret that you have not instilled in your son qualities such as loyalty, resilience, decency and love for your Father. In this regard, your son has been removed from the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
The commander began threatening another soldier of criminal prosecution. When he said that he had consulted with lawyers and knew that he was not threatened with a criminal case, the commander began to say that Ukraine will “soon attack your village, what will you do then” and ” we are not at war with Ukraine, but with the whole world, including the EU and NATO ”.
Source: korrespondent
