A Russian conscript returned from Ukrainian captivity faces pressure after his mother’s communication with journalists

The deputy commander of the unit claims that the conscript is being interrogated because of “treason of the motherland”

Today, in military unit 12721 in Klintsy, Bryansk region, conscripts – including those who returned from Ukrainian captivity – were allowed to see their relatives and pick up their gear. Victoria Abramenko and her husband came to hand over things to their 21-year-old son Maxim – before the Kursk region, he served in unit 12721. Parents spent the whole day at the fence.

“One [military man from the unit] came out and said, ‘Who are you waiting for?’ I answer, Avramenko. ‘Oh, one of these? Well, who were captured?’. Yes, I say, you don’t even consider them to be people? Of these?!” – Victoria is indignant.

In the late afternoon, a deputy officer with the initials Kuznetsov V.A. on his uniform came out to the woman. “He said, ‘Your son is being interrogated by the military police for treason. He told you that he [the conscripts who returned from captivity] was treated badly here, and you called Astra.”

At the end of August, Victoria told ASTRA that her son had not been allowed to contact his family for four days since returning to his homeland as part of the prisoner exchange.

“He hasn’t been in touch since about a week. After the publication, they immediately brought him a phone and said, ‘Here, call, because the prosecutor’s office called us already.’ And, in my opinion, the FSB called my husband and told him to refute the publication, saying that my son had already contacted you,” the woman says.

At that time, her son was in a military unit in Moscow. Victoria says that there was a normal attitude towards the conscripts who returned from captivity and they were well fed. The part in Klintsy, according to her, conscripts compare “with prison” and complain about the bad (“like cattle”) attitude of colleagues due to the fact that young people returned from captured exchange.

“I’m telling this deputy [Kuznetsov], explain to me how this is possible at all? In the sense of being interrogated about treason? <…> It’s your unit that hung up on me, it’s your unit that said you had no information. That my son was missing from you, even when he was officially already found in captivity,” Victoria complains.

Maxim, she says, was allowed to see her “for exactly a minute” to pick up the bags. He managed to tell her, “I do not know what will happen to me next.” What is wrong with her son now is unknown. According to the latest information, Maxim is still being interrogated at headquarters.

Another possible reason for the pressure, Victoria believes, is her husband’s correspondence in the telegram chat “We are together. Alushta”, which may be associated with the “Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers”. There, the man suggested that the relatives of conscripts who returned from captivity, who complain about the lack of information, contact the editorial office of ASTRA. After that, her husband received a call from the chat administrator — from which he was then deleted. Victoria suggests that the chat administrator could have reported this to the military unit.

“I do not know what they want. Maybe they earn some points <…> And why don’t you interrogate those who simply threw the boys [conscripts] to slaughter and fled [after the breakthrough of the APU in the Kursk region]? Why didn’t the commander of the unit come out to us then? Let him come out and tell me in my eyes that my son is a spy,” says Victoria.