“Help us, they’re going to kill him” - Astra Press

Contract soldier in the Russian Armed Forces, citizen of Azerbaijan, was not allowed to leave the army after Defence Minister Belousov’s order to dismiss him. He was charged under several articles of the Russian Criminal Code, but he managed to escape.

According to the relatives of 31‑year‑old Tural Khagigat oglu Aliyev, who has been living in the Russia since 2018, in December 2023 he signed a “one‑year contract” with the Ministry of Defence “because he considered the Russian state to be a fraternal state for citizens of Azerbaijan.” He was assigned to military unit 82717 in Kamyshin, Volgograd Oblast. He ended up in Ukraine as early as January.

On January 19, 2024, he was wounded in the Donetsk region while participating in an assault.

After rehabilitation in St. Petersburg, he returned to Kamyshin in March, where he learned that he was to be sent back to Ukraine, despite the consequences of his injury. Aliyev had a falling‑out with his superiors because he couldn’t get treatment to continue and the shrapnel removed, but in September he still received a 15‑day leave and came back to St. Petersburg, where he received treatment on a paid basis, as he didn’t have a referral from the head of the medical service of his unit.

After the leave ended, he didn’t return to the unit but stayed with relatives in St. Petersburg. In September, he was added to the list of persons who had left their unit without permission, but no criminal case was initiated regarding the desertment. The investigator refused to initiate a case, as Aliyev did not take the oath, relatives claim.

On March 9, 2025, officers from the military commandant’s office in St. Petersburg detained him, after which he was returned to Kamyshin, where Aliyev remained on the lists of deserters.

On March 13, 2025, the foreigner was dismissed from the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation by order of the Minister of Defense of Russia. On March 14, based on the results of the military medical commission, he was assigned category B — limited fitness for service. On March 18, a criminal case was initiated against Aliyev under Part 5 of Article 337 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — unauthorized absence from the unit for a period of more than a month. Relatives claim that the foreigner was hidden in the basement of the military unit and was not allowed to leave.

Later, he became a defendant in a second criminal case — theft on an especially large scale. Allegedly, he stole money from a fellow serviceman.

From May 2025 to May 2026, 40 court hearings were held by the Volgograd Military Court. After Aliev filed complaints with the prosecutor’s office, the Investigative Committee, and the presidential administration, he became a defendant in a new criminal case unde desertment and in October 2025 was placed in pre‑trial detention center. Later, he was transferred to Pre‑Trial Detention Center No. 1 in Volgograd, where he remained until May 1, 2026, when the consideration of the theft case was suspended. The fellow servicemember whom Aliyev was allegedly accused of robbing stated in court that he had given his testimony under torture. The foreign national was returned to the military unit.

Relatives claim that Aliyev was offered to resolve the issue for money so that he could disappear from the lists of the military unit: “Either pay up, or we’ll put you in prison.” In the summer of 2026, they wanted to send him to war again, the relatives said. At the same time, the prosecutor’s office and the higher military command stopped accepting Aliyev’s appeals regarding the unlawful actions being taken against him.

On August 16, Tural Aliyev managed to leave the territory of the unit and is now in hiding.

Relatives are trying to get a personal appointment with the Prosecutor General and the head of the Investigative Committee, but their appeals are sent to Kamyshin, and they aren’t successful.