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Russian contract soldiers are refusing to go to Ukraine

2022-04-21 16:29:09Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Russian contract soldiers are refusing to go to Ukraine

"One morning I was called from the division commander's office in Amur Oblast, where Pavlik served," said a woman from the Russian region of Tambov, who asked to be identified only by the name Yelena. "The person now: 'Do you know we're looking for your son, he's gone?'. Pavliku should have boarded the train with the other troops, but he did not board. And five other soldiers were with him."

Yelena's son, Pavlich, was serving in the Amur region, which is located in the Far East, when Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. Almost immediately, his unit was sent to the front and he served 40 days on the battlefield. His unit later returned to Russia to regroup, Yelena told Radio Free Europe's North.Realities. When his unit was preparing to return to Ukraine, Pavliku refused to join.

"If he doesn't want to go back there, should I push him, say 'Grab the gun and go'," Yelena said. "Those who have not been there have no right to judge those who have been."

Yelena's son is one of a considerable number – but, that the exact number is unknown – of Russian soldiers who are contractual, who have refused to either fight in Ukraine or who have fought there, but do not want to go again.

Lawyer Pavel Chikov, founder of the legal aid organization Agora, has written on Telegram that more than 1,000 members of military personnel and National Guard troops from at least seven Russian regions have refused to go to Ukraine.

Radio Europe and Lire says Ruslan Leviyev, founder of the Conflict Intelligence Team, a Russian nongovernmental organization that monitors public information about the Russian military, told Current Time that the actual number of such cases could be much higher and that the refusals of soldiers to go to fight in Ukraine could seriously undermine Russia's efforts to regroup and resume its military operations in the east. Ukraine.

"The phenomenon of rejection is becoming systematic", Leviyev said. "Such soldiers are found in almost every unit that has returned from Ukraine. According to our estimates, between 20 and 40 per cent of contract servicemen who have returned from Ukraine and are preparing to return are refusing to return to fighting."

Leviyev said most of these soldiers are not defectors, but could face legal consequences for refusing to obey orders. However, to convict these soldiers, prosecutors must testify that the order was legal and that refusing to implement the same caused "substantial damage" to the military.

"Of the cases we have seen, they are facing threats that they will be prosecuted and are being intimidated by military prosecutors", he said. "But so far neither of them have been prosecuted, based on what we have seen."

Human rights lawyers said the Government's unwillingness to call the invasion of Ukraine "war" or declare military law could offer protection from the worst consequences to soldiers who are refusing to fight.

"Citizens have the right to refuse to go to a foreign war and kill people," said agora lawyer Mikhail Benyash. He has offered legal services to some soldiers, who have refused to fight.

"They, too, have the right not to participate in a 'special military operation'. By definition, only special forces troops trained for such operations are sent [to special military operations]....".

An unknown number of soldiers, however, have left military service because they have refused to fight in Ukraine, lawyer Maksim Grebenyuk wrote on Telegram. He said the question of "what are the consequences of refusing to serve in the 'special military operation'", as Moscow insists on calling the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, has become the "most frequent question" he has accepted in recent weeks.


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