They are thrown into pits, they lock them up in dark basements, where they await beatings and electric torture. What happens to the Russian defectors? We talked to one of them.
For the two years of Russia's war against Ukraine, more than 8,000 cases of arbitrary dismissal from the army and desertion have been filed in Russian courts. At the same time, this year the cases have increased fivefold compared to 2022 - 700 verdicts are handed down every month, according to the data of "Mediazona".
Of these 8,000 cases, the largest number are self-excommunications - 88 percent. Convictions for failure to comply with an order (6 percent) and for desertion (3 percent) are less common.
In some cases, for arbitrary excommunication, courts impose only suspended sentences. This punitive measure allows the authorities in the Russian army to return the deserters back to the front, Ivan Chuvilyaev from the human rights organization "Capture the Forest", which helps avoid participation in the war, explained to DV. He says 70 percent of the people who approached the organization for help this year were contract soldiers. "The mobilized are fewer and fewer, simply because many of them have already died. Everyone is trying to escape, as there are usually only two options - either you will die or a criminal case will be filed against you."
They throw them into pits, torture them with electric shocks
In some cases, the deserting Russians have to hide in the occupied territories, says Chuvilyaev. If they are captured, they are tortured to be brought back to the front, he explains.
The most common method is to be thrown into a pit under the open sky - this is the punishment both for leaving the unit without permission, and for using alcohol or conflicts with superiors. "It happened that when they refused to fight, they imprisoned people in the basement of an abandoned building, where they then subjected them to torture. After a month in such conditions, a person will go wherever he is ordered," says Chuvilyaev.
Among those who escaped, there are many wounded - the easiest way is to escape from a hospital. One of them is the guitar teacher Vladimir Frolov, who has the third group of disabilities. He was mobilized in 2022, refusing to sign a contract for service in the army. During the two years of war in Ukraine, he was hospitalized several times because of injuries at the front, and when they once again tried to take him back, he decided to run away. This year, Frolov's relatives learned that the deserter had been captured, after which he was imprisoned in a basement. There, according to his wife, he was tortured to force him to sign a contract with the army. In April, he was transferred to an assault brigade, and the same month his wife received a message that he had died.
"They put me in a room without a bed, without windows, with wet mattresses in the wet ward, and there were people with AIDS and hepatitis around. We slept on the floor, they brought us food, but no water," another deserter, who was also imprisoned in such a basement, wrote in Telegram. In Telegram, there are also stories of beatings and torture with electric shocks. Those who agreed to go to assault brigades were promised suspended sentences.
"Nothing can describe the horror there"
In February 2022, Mikhail (the name has been changed at the interlocutor's request) completed his military service in the Russian army. He and the other recruits didn't even know a war had started - they were told it was a small military action and they expected it to end quickly.
In the summer of 2022, Mikhail decided to sign a contract with the Russian army. He says that he was mainly attracted by the social benefits: the good salary, the military mortgage and other privileges. The young man remembers that he was internally preparing for the battles at the front. "It seemed to me that I was ready for death. But nothing can describe the scale of the horror that is happening there."
After spending some time in staff work, in September 2023, Mikhail was sent to the Belgorod region, where he was assigned to mine territories, and in June he also crossed the border to the neighboring country. During one of the actions, he was injured and hospitalized. He made the decision to escape after a shell hit several of his colleagues, and he had to collect their remains in a black sack. He could count on the support of his parents, who at first supported the war against Ukraine, but radically changed their attitude after hearing Mikhail's stories.
The young man contacted the "Havaj horata" organization, from where they helped him leave the country. Now he is making plans for his future: "I want to go somewhere in Costa Rica, from where I can work as an IT specialist".