A court in the Russian city of Ufa has sentenced a 24-year-old corporal to five years in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine. I understand everything, of course. ", Russian mum's fight to save sons from Putin's war, Mariupol: 80 days that left a flourishing city in ruins, Pinned down by Russian fire in key frontline village. One consequence of the Kremlin refusing to declare war on Kyiv - the regime insists that its invasion is a "special military operation", a distinct legal status - is that its options for forcing servicemen to the front are more limited. Eventually his efforts paid off. A month later - 24 February, the day Russia launched its invasion - he was told to cross the border. "He said the [Russian] soldiers had been given no cover; there was no intelligence gathering; no preparation. Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, said the authorities may be worried that a general mobilisation would antagonise large sections of the population that support the special operation. Not from the opposing side. The Insider. Russia launched the attack on Ukraine from three sides on February 24. "I don't want to go [back to Ukraine] to kill and be killed," says Sergey - not his real name - who spent five weeks fighting in Ukraine earlier this year. Moscow initially put about 80% of its main ground combat forces 150,000 men into the war in February, according to western officials. They didn't even [try to] dissuade us, because we weren't the first," Sergey told the BBC. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. The latest as of 7.15 a.m. During wartime, rules are totally different. Video, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story, Ed Sheeran says wife developed tumour in pregnancy, Survivors describe 'nightmarish seconds' as trains crashed, Bieber cancels remaining Justice world tour dates, Daily walk prevents one in 10 early deaths - study, Trump lashes out at Murdoch over vote fraud case, Uranium particles enriched to 83.7% found in Iran, Why the lab-leak theory is being taken seriously, Finland starts construction of Russia border fence. We were illegally jailed.. Among them were 12 national guardsmen from Russia's . ", Stas was a serving officer when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. "I can see that the war continues, it is not going away," he told the BBC. Russia has also turned to mercenaries to bolster its war efforts, deploying fighters from the shadowy Kremlin-linked Wagner group. "They beat him and then they took him outside as if they were going to shoot him. Critics have said many mobilised men hardly had any battlefield experience and have received little training before being sent to the front. A Russian court sentenced Marsel Kandarov to five years in prison for refusing to take part in the special military operation. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, Quote from the General Staff: "Troops from the so-called volunteer Cossack Detachment, attached to the 155th Marine Brigade of the Russian Pacific Fleet, are refusing to continue to take part in offensive operations due to the failure of the offensive and significant personnel losses near Vuhledar.". I want to return to my family and not in a casket.. And that, unfortunately, life would prove that.". When the soldiers of an elite Russian army brigade were told in early April to prepare for a second deployment to Ukraine, fear broke out among the ranks. Leviev says his team estimates a sizeable minority of the Russian contract soldiers sent to Ukraine to fight in the initial invasion refused to go back again. In Kononov's case, court documents say that he pleaded guilty to evading military service and that he testified he wanted to take a temporary break from fighting in Ukraine. All Rights Reserved. The Kremlin has declined to call for a general mobilization to replenish lost troops, instead using what analysts have described a covert, hybrid campaign to recruit fresh troops: using private military companies, extended age limitations, lucrative financial incentives, and sometimes coercive persuasion to bolster the ranks. Many of the newly mobilised troops were quick to complain that they were being sent to a war zone without sufficient equipment or adequate training. Some Russian troops are refusing to return to fight in Ukraine because of their experiences on the front line at the start of the invasion, according to Russian human rights lawyers and activists. Sergey joined the army as a conscript - most Russian men between the ages of 18-27 must complete one year of compulsory military service. He bombarded military officials, prosecutors and investigators with appeals for help. One year from the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, a Catholic priest recounted how a Ukrainian soldier was spared from being killed by . A video showing two Russian soldiers being arrested after they refused to follow orders to fight in Ukraine has circulated on social media platform Telegram. There was no basic hygiene, the soldier said in the testimony, according to the Guardian. I have served for five years in the army. Read about our approach to external linking. It's not just Ukrainians resisting Vladimir . He simply declares that he has anti-war convictions. In particular, conscripts are starting to cancel their contracts. "We do not have any camps or incarceration facilities, or the like [for Russian soldiers]," President Putin insisted earlier this month. Not only are they clueless, but they're simply refusing to fight, Scherba, who is currently in western Ukraine, tells co-host Molly-Jong-Fast. But, after a few months, he made the decision to sign a two-year professional contract which would also give him a salary. Just refuse," Sergei recalls telling Stas, who was already an army officer. Read about our approach to external linking. Hundreds were discharged after refusing to take part in the invasion, the Guardian previously reported. Servicemen fire a 120mm mortar towards Russian positions at the frontline near Bakhmut, Ukraine. Because they ignore everything. As Russia has faced a surprisingly effective resistance from Ukraine, there have been reports of low soldier morale and chaos among the commanding ranks. This is not our war. Its members have been deployed in the Donetsk area and are supposed to take control of the defense line until March 5, he added. There is absolutely no trust in the authorities and the higher command, from the very first word, Kaminsky, 20, told Current Time in a phone interview on July 17, recorded from an undisclosed location in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine. Within the dense smoke caused by the propaganda of one side or the other, the truth is that there does seem to be a good number of Russian soldiers who have refused to fight in Ukraine. "They beat him and then they took him outside as if they were going to . A Russian soldier has been sentenced for refusing to fight in the war in Ukraine. Im supposed to be ready for any situation; this war, this special operation, one soldier wrote. Andrei, a Russian lieutenant, stopped fighting. Almost immediately his unit found itself under attack. We didnt have normal munitions, no flak jackets or helmets. More than 26,000 Russian military personnel have been killed in . April 16, 2022 17:49 GMT. A Russian court sentenced a 24-year-old professional soldier to five years in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, officials have said. Separately, a military tribunal in Moscow sentenced a soldier to five years and six months in a penal colony for beating an officer during an argument, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday. Russian paratroopers. Ilya Kononov, a contract soldier from the city of Pskov in western Russia, was charged with "unauthorized abandonment of the unit" in July, court records show. Theyre making everything so easy for you, guys. But without conscript battalions, Russia could soon struggle to hold the territory it currently controls in Ukraine, especially as Ukraine receives better equipment from Nato, he said. Id rather bury you on the front line, on the line of defense, than give up my position, he said, describing the sentiments of his commanders. The range of experience varies. Later that month he received an order to return to Ukraine - but told his commander that he was not prepared to go. In another incident where Russian soldiers have been accused of refusing to fight in Ukraine, the country's Operational Command South said Sunday in a Facebook post that a Russian military unit deployed in the south would not fight because of a lack of vital supplies such as water. Separately, a military tribunal said it sentenced Kandarov to five years behind bars for evading military service during mobilisation for more than a month. Russian forces were driven out of much of the northeastern Kharkiv region in early September by a Ukrainian counter-offensive that allowed Kyiv to retake thousands of square kilometres of territory. Sergei (not his real name) says his son was beaten with a pistol for refusing to go back to the frontlines, There are reports of mobilised Russian troops locked in cellars and basements for refusing to fight in Ukraine, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. By Robert Coalson. Our commanders didnt even argue with us because we were not the first ones to leave, Bokov said. "They beat him and then they took him outside as if they were going to . Despite speculation beforehand, Putin did not formally declare war on Ukraine during his Victory Day speech on 9 May. My son told me, 'I never thought my own country would treat me this way.' They haven't been seen for five months. The world mourned a year of death and conflict this week as Friday February 24 marked the first anniversary of Vladimir Putin's order for his aggressive Russian Armed Forces to invade Ukraine.. His unit moved on through the Ukrainian countryside, but there was a clear lack of strategy, he says. They just don't care. The men, who belonged to the key headquarters of the Pskov . For some Russians, refusing to return to the front line may be a moral stand. Approximately 60 paratroopers from Russia's Pskov region have refused to be deployed to Ukraine, newspaper Pskovskaya . Unit commanders then staged an intervention. The soldier's testimony said war-weary soldiers were urged by superiors to return to the fight. If a soldier acts according to such procedures, then he cannot be criminally prosecuted for this. Heavy street fighting against Russian troops was underway in Kyiv as officials urged locals to take immediate shelter. Missing In Action: A Russian Soldier's Mother Desperately Seeks Answers, Vox Pop: Muscovites On How Russia's Isolation Affects Daily Life. "It was blown up from a grenade launcher or something else. We were fed once a day at lunchtime. "We're on the same wavelength now," Sergei tells me. A Russian fleet was said to be preparing to shell port city Odessa and land troops. "We went without helicopters - just in a column, as though we were heading to a parade.". Kaminsky said discontent had been building in the unit for weeks, if not months. Sergei and Stas are not the real names of this father and son. He was soon transferred to Belgorod, a Russian city close to the border with Ukraine, where he has been stationed since. Russia struggles to replenish its troops in Ukraine. For the remainder, however, unit commanders ordered them arrested, and held in a makeshift brig in the Luhansk region, according to Kaminsky, where they were being given food only once a day. Did you encounter any technical issues? 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, When disinfo specialists lie, Gray Ladys DeSantis frustration and other commentary, Putins former spin doctor-turned-critic dead, Ukraines northeastern front could decide new battle lines, Biden needs to step up military aid for Ukraine fast. Why wasn't it done?". He had helped oversee fighting in eastern Ukraine. Commanders try to threaten their soldiers with prison time if they dissent, but we tell the soldiers that they can simply say no, Benyash said, adding that he was not aware of any criminal cases against soldiers who refused to fight. It is, first of all, a classic example of military aggression; it is a war without a just cause. He told me his face was covered in blood," the father said while speaking to the outlet. In July, for example, 17 Russian soldiers were reportedly detained in the country's eastern Luhansk region after they said they would not continue fighting in the war and tried to end their short-term contracts. The discontent in Kaminskys 11th Brigade is not an isolated case, and there are indications that Russian commanders are trying different tactics to keep the problem from spiraling out of control: for example, publicly shaming soldiers who are refusing to fight. 2023 BBC. Some soldiers, under the threat of violence, were simply driven out to unknown destinations, they have not been seen since, said Vladimir, according to the Guardian. By India Today Web Desk: As Russian troops try to take control over Ukraine's capital Kyiv, residents of the city are taking up arms to stand in the fight along with the country's military against Moscow's invasion.India Today's Rajesh Pawar visited an office of the Territorial Defence Forces in the city, where citizens are being equipped with weapons to defend against and fight off the . DeSantis won't say he's running. Feb. 27 2023, Published 8:05 a.m. And that means he cant be prosecuted for desertion or going AWOL. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! More than 100 Russian national guardsmen have been fired for refusing to fight in Ukraine, court documents show, in what looks to be the clearest indication yet of dissent among some parts of . "As an officer he understood that if they went ahead, they wouldn't get out alive. I'm shocked by our army. The soldier, "not wanting to take part in a special . Reports of Russian soldiers refusing to fight in Ukraine are also mounting. After that, I wont look at any new offers.. The enemy has somewhat reduced its activity for the fourth day, he said. "It was a difficult decision for him to take. Why Russian Soldiers Are Refusing To Fight In The War On Ukraine. The Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported Friday that Russian officials have detained contract soldiers who refuse to fight in special detention camps in occupied Ukraine. Al Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human Rights. But by September that had all changed. Homesick. While speaking, he blew cigarette smoke into an officers face, who responded by pushing him away. "So many people don't . A Russian soldier was sentenced in July for refusing to fight in the Ukraine war. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the conflictin Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin touts success, yet some ofhis soldiers refuse to fight. "They are keeping people there because they wanted to leave, refused to fight," the father alleged. RUSSIAN soldiers are suffering from low morale with some reportedly refusing to fight the war in Ukraine, according to a member of an elite Russian army unit on the ground. But that means that - while his letter of refusal to fight was accepted - there are no guarantees he won't be sent back to Ukraine during his service period. Russians across the country rallied against the orderbut police have attempted to disperse anti-war protests as they detained hundreds, including some children. Russia Ukraine War One Year Anniversary Ukrainian troops and their UK military instructors, commemorate lives lost in the Russian invasion of Ukraine during a sunrise commemorative service, at . It's absurd. Boris Johnson's cabinet received an update from a senior national security official on Tuesday morning. 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