1 min read. Later that month he received an order to return to Ukraine - but told his commander that he was not prepared to go. Dmitris refusal to fight highlights some of the military difficulties the Russian army has faced as a result of the Kremlins political decision not to formally declare war on Ukraine preferring instead to describe the invasion, which will soon reach its fourth month, as a special military operation. The man narrated the ordeal his son suffered to the BBC, saying that he had begged his son not to go. 02:32. Almost immediately his unit found itself under attack. Read about our approach to external linking. 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. Timofei Rozhanskiy is a correspondent in Kyiv for Current Time, the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. - Ukraine's President . Soldiers are refusing to fire artillery on civilians until they clear the area. "As an officer he understood that if they went ahead, they wouldn't get out alive. But after a certain adaptation period, our men fight brilliantly.". Dmytrashkivskyi added the Russians had carried out 15 assaults over the past day, while the same number stood at 60 assaults per day a month ago. In July, the father of a Russian soldier told The Insider that troops were being detained or moved to a detention center in the occupied Luhansk region if they attempted to leave their posts. 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. Second, the conduct of the war by Russian forces violates the most . The young Russian was among those men who enlisted. A Russian military unit deployed in Ukraine's south has refused to fight over a lack of vital supplies such as water, Ukraine said Sunday. A Russian soldier who refused to fight in the war in Ukraine was allegedly beaten and locked up by his own comrades, according to a report. Russian troops release video as they say they will not fight. Russian soldiers are increasingly dying from accidental friendly fire . In his conversations with Current Time, Kaminsky lamented what he described as commanders callous disregard for the wellbeing of their troops. And there is no guarantee that more prosecutions might not emerge in the future. A group of desperate Russian soldiers have issued an open letter by way of video to despotic President Vladimir Putin. "He said it was my choice. Never mind the myriad reports of Russian troops refusing to fight by the thousands, sabotaging their own shoddy equipment and even deliberately wounding themselves to abandon the war, Russian . A Russian court sentenced Marsel Kandarov to five years in prison for refusing to take part in the special military operation. "This is all nonsense and fake claims and there is nothing to back them up with. News/Politics 2022-12-22T11:35:49.577Z. "Later I was told that the building they were in had been shelled and that all five men were missing. The Russian defense ministry didnt respond to the Guardians request for comment. .. Advertisement .. Russian Soldier Brutally Thrashed For Refusing To Fight In Ukraine War: Report, Arrested AAP Ministers Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain Quit Delhi Cabinet, Nithyananda's 'Republic Of Kailasa' At UN Meet. Source: cnnespanol All news articles on 2023-02-28 You may like. "We're on the same wavelength now," Sergei tells me. Our commanders didnt even argue with us because we were not the first ones to leave, Bokov said. Soldiers like Sergey - reluctant to return to the front line - are not unusual, according to Ruslan Leviev, the editor of Conflict Intelligence Team, a media project investigating the experiences of the Russian military in Ukraine through confidential interviews and open source material. Russia launched the attack on Ukraine from three sides on February 24. Some large government-run companies have received letters urging them to sign up their staff for the army. A video of the incident that circulated online showed the soldier complaining of poor training, using obscenities, and calling the drills an imitation. Without a formal . 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 . My son told me, 'I never thought my own country would treat me this way.' As Russia's forces run out of food and fuel, some h Stas told his father about one particular battle. Moscow initially put about 80% of its main ground combat forces 150,000 men into the war in February, according to western officials. Finance chiefs at a Group of 20 conference in India this weekend issued a joint statement condemning Moscow for its war in Ukraine, with only China and Russia declining to sign. We had no food, no water, he said. The soldier, along with several others who decided not to take part in the fight anymore, put his refusal in writing. While the exact number of soldiers refusing to fight remains unclear, such stories illustrate what military experts and western governments say is one of Russias biggest obstacles in Ukraine: a severe shortage of infantry soldiers. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! But significant damage has been done to that army, which has confronted logistical problems, poor morale and an underestimated Ukrainian resistance. 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. 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 forces have significantly reduced activity in the Vuhledar area due to the mass refusal of their troops to go on the offensive, spokesperson for the Ukrainian military's Tavriiskyi District forces, Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi, said on Feb. 27. . Kononov reportedly had taken part in President Vladimir Putin's so-called special military operation in the Eastern European nation but left his military unit without permission for more than 10 days. A stamp that was purportedly placed in the military-service booklet of one soldier who refused to serve in Ukraine. What's he waiting for? Russians across the country rallied against the orderbut police have attempted to disperse anti-war protests as they detained hundreds, including some children. Ukrainian soldiers move on the road in the freed territory in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. Benyash said hundreds and hundreds of soldiers had been in touch with his team for advice on how they could avoid being sent to fight. 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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. 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. "Then they took him into a room and told him: 'You're coming with us, otherwise we'll kill you.' About 140 Russian soldiers have reportedly been jailed so far. "In these months [of compulsory military service] that I have left, anything - including the worst - could happen. . Why Russian Soldiers Are Refusing To Fight In The War On Ukraine. A similar account to Dmitris was given to the BBCs Russian service by Sergey Bokov, a 23-year-old soldier who at the end of April decided to leave the army after fighting in Ukraine. A Russian court has sentenced a 24-year-old professional soldier to five years in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, officials said Thursday. When his son was sent to fight in Ukraine, Sergei begged him not to go. Also, according to Dmytrashkivskyi, the 136th Brigade, which was formed for the war in Chechnya, has arrived in the Vuhledar area. 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. A Warner Bros. Other units include troops from private military companies like Vagner, or specialized, semiautonomous units overseen by Chechnyas strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov. By Robert Coalson. I dont regret it one bit. R ussian troops have destroyed a concrete dam built in Ukraine's Kherson Region in 2014 to cut off water to Crimea, the RIA news agency quoted the governor of Russian-annexed Crimea Sergei . At the beginning of April, Sergey was sent back over the border to a camp on the Russian side. Nearly all . The bosses response was: We dont care about your problems, go ahead and quit. We didn't leave anyone in the rear, so if someone decided to come in from behind and hit us there was no protection. A group of Russian soldiers recently sent Vladimir Putin a video complaining about "being sent to the slaughter" and begging for more military support in . They were continually shelled, he says, both when moving and when parked overnight. The code has been copied to your clipboard. The contract soldier was subsequently sentenced on July 21 to restriction in military service for one year, with a 10 percent deduction from his monetary allowance going to the state. The prisoners at the penal colony in St. Petersburg were expecting a visit by officials, thinking it would be some sort of inspection. 2023 BBC. We drove around it and on, firing as we went. But he stresses that Russian military law does include clauses which allow soldiers to refuse to fight if they don't want to. Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine. "I'm morally exhausted. CNN in Russia 10 videos. Belarus, a close ally of Russia, has supported its eastern neighbour in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.Before the start of the offensive, Belarus allowed the Russian Armed Forces to perform weeks-long military drills on its territory; however, the Russian troops did not exit the country after they were supposed to finish. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports on the conflict in Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin boasts of success, though some of his soldiers refuse to fight. The airline carrier Wizz Air has announced it will . 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. Newsweek was unable to independently verify those claims but reached out to Russia's foreign ministry for comment. Among them were 12 national guardsmen from Russias southern city of Krasnodar who were fired after refusing to go to Ukraine. This is one of many reported incidents where Russian soldiers have been accused of refusing to take up arms in Ukraine. In Buryatia, where the 11th Brigade is based, dozens of personnel have sought legal assistance from local activists, seeking to break their contracts and get out of service in Ukraine, for various reasons. "Those refusing to fight are doing so because they've had more than their fair share of front line action," explains Elena Popova. A lawyer told Sergey and two like-minded colleagues to return their arms and go back to their unit's headquarters - where they should file a letter explaining that they were "morally and psychologically exhausted" and could not continue fighting in Ukraine. Earlier Ukraines General Staff reported that invading Russian forces were seeing mass desertion among its troops amid Ukrainian military successes. The latest as of 7.15 a.m. The head of Britain's GCHQ spy service said on Wednesday that new intelligence showed some Russian soldiers in Ukraine had refused to carry out orders, sabotaged their own equipment and . 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. Al Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human Rights. An anonymous specialist from a coalition of lawyers and experts from Russian human rights organizations told independent Russian news outlet MediaZona that Kononov's punishment in the form of a one-year restriction in military service does not imply early dismissal and is instead "something like corrective labor for military personnel.". He shares that soldiers in Crimea refused to be . Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much 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. 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Soldiers from Ukraines Special Operations Forces and the 72nd Separate Mechanised Brigade destroyed pieces of Russian equipment and captured two Russian servicemen near Vuhledar on 23 February. Sergei and Stas are not the real names of this father and son. A Russian soldier was sentenced in July for refusing to fight in the Ukraine war. That's what people who have come from there say.". As they stopped for the evening in an abandoned farm, their commander said: "Well, as you will have worked out by now, this is not a joke. He and several others who'd decided to refuse had their guns taken off them and were put under armed guard.". I told him: 'Better to take it. Sergey was told that returning to the unit was important because simply leaving could be interpreted as desertion, which can result in a two-year sentence in a disciplinary battalion. In phone conversations with Current Time, he said troops were not granted any leave for 4 1/2 months, even as the losses and casualties for the brigade mounted: Up to half of the brigades personnel -- around 1,000 -- have been either killed or wounded in action, he said. Of the 78 soldiers from Kaminskys unit who have disobeyed orders, some have been ordered held in a makeshift brig for days, he said. They'd been ordered to advance, but no one knew what lay ahead. On 15 February, Ukraines Defence Intelligence reported that Russias losses were the largest since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. "You've got relatives there. Read about our approach to external linking. All Rights Reserved. Many of the units that are supposed to train conscripts are fighting themselves, Lee said. I didn't look back.". 2. These people are ready for anything. Ukrainian media claims a "riot" broke out on the warships, based in nearby Crimea.. At the same time, a number of Russian helicopters and drones were flying over Luzanivka beach, preparing for landing.. 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. 'I'd rather go to jail than fight in Ukraine', Surgeons operate on baby in Kyiv blackout, Station master arrested after dozens killed in Greece train crash, Covid origin likely China lab incident - FBI chief, Ukraine war casts shadow over India's G20 ambitions, Blackpink lead top stars back on the road in Asia, 'Wales is in England' gaffe sparks TikToker's trip, India anti-corruption crusader fighting to clear his name, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. He's changed completely. Dmitri's refusal to fight in the war is the latest in a string of reports of Russian soldiers disobeying orders to join the fight. I have nothing to be ashamed of. He believes his commanders had planned to capture strongholds and key cities very quickly - and had calculated that the Ukrainians would simply surrender. My daughter was born three months ago. 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. Servicemen fire a 120mm mortar towards Russian positions at the frontline near Bakhmut, Ukraine. Youre just a soldier for them; youre nobody.. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook. A month later - 24 February, the day Russia launched its invasion - he was told to cross the border. 2023 BBC. If we had moved gradually, if we had checked the roads for mines many losses could have been avoided.". "Some soldiers, under the . He believed it was right. Nearly five months into the largest war in Europe since World War II, a growing number of Russian soldiers like Kaminsky are refusing to fight, demanding to return home, or outright not going to Ukraine in the first place. The soldier, "not wanting to take part in a special . "It was a difficult decision for him to take. 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.". Russian troops also lost territory in the southern Kherson region as well as the Lyman transport hub in eastern Ukraine. Artillery sentry duty? We didnt have normal munitions, no flak jackets or helmets. 2d ago. A Russian soldier's service card was stamped "traitor" for refusing . A group of Russian soldiers are suing the army after they were fired for refusing to fight in Ukraine. They've spent time in the trenches, getting cold and hungry, but when they come back they just get shouted and sworn at by their commanders.". He refused so they beat him over the head several times with a pistol. Born in Russia, he graduated from St. Petersburg State University and also received film and video production training at Bard College in New York. Once again, we have changed their names. Instead, men in uniform arrived and offered them amnesty if they agreed to fight alongside the Russian army in . ", Stas was a serving officer when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. But even before that, there are many reports from our intelligence officers, who work quite successfully, about what is going at the enemy both in the rear and on the front line there are very frequent refusals to participate in hostilities., Read also: Russians pushing for breakthrough near Vuhledar, but unlikely to succeed, says UK intelligence. The whole time, not a single document was provided that would explain our arrest. ET. There was no basic hygiene, the soldier said in the testimony, according to the Guardian. "The commanders' aim is to keep the soldiers down there. Three days of duty? Sergey's complaints about lack of equipment have also emerged in phone conversations alleged to be between Russian soldiers and their families, intercepted and posted online by the Ukrainian security services. The arrests of the soldiers, whose . Hundreds of Russian soldiers have refused to fight or fled their posts since the war in Ukraine began, according to report published Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal. Stas was sent back to Russia. 2023 Cable News Network. The soldier's testimony said war-weary soldiers were urged by superiors to return to the fight. As a result of what I believe were tactical and strategic mistakes made by my commanders and their total disregard for human life I made the decision not to continue in the military operation, one soldier jailed for over a week said in written testimony to prosecutors, which was observed by the Guardian. Putin's army continues its full-scale aggression in Ukraine. Sergey joined the army as a conscript - most Russian men between the ages of 18-27 must complete one year of compulsory military service. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 2023 RFE/RL, Inc. All Rights Reserved. "It's a way of making people go back into that bloodbath," says Elena Popova from Russia's Movement of Conscientious Objectors. Because there are no criminal articles for requesting the termination of a contract based on anti-war beliefs, Krivenko told Current Time. Russian resistance is growing against Putin's war. 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. Perhaps this is due to the weather conditions, which doesnt allow them to actively use military equipment now, the spokesperson said. Sergey says he is traumatised by his experience in Ukraine. 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 . 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. Equipment now, the conduct of the units that are supposed to train conscripts are fighting,! To that army, which has confronted logistical problems, poor morale and an underestimated Ukrainian resistance to cross border. 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