Russian servicemen who were forcibly kept in Luhansk and pressured to return to war go to Investigative Committee

The Russian servicemen who were kept in detention in the Luhansk Region for refusal to participate in the war in Ukraine have filed a complaint to the Investigative Committee, informs Pavel Chikov, head of the Agora human rights group.

According to the lawyer, the servicemen insist that around 140 soldiers have been unlawfully detained and kept in various locations throughout the Luhansk Region. Chikov underlines that no paperwork confirming the legal grounds for incarceration was presented and no charges were made.

The servicemen demand an investigation and call for criminal prosecution of the responsible commanders for abuse of office.

Attorney Maxim Grebenyuk, who will represent the injured party in court, has published screenshots of their complaints and wrote he had a list of 70 servicemen who are being kept in the Luhansk Region. He said the total number of prisoners was 140.

As we learned on July 26, Russian servicemen who refused to wage war in Ukraine are being incarcerated in Brianka, Luhansk Region. They are being beaten and pressured to return to the combat zone by Wagner PMC fighters and Ministry of Defense officers: Col. Nechiporenko and Lt. Col. Tumanov. The Insider heard similar accounts from multiple servicemen who made it out of the facility.

Russian military commanders are denying their involvement with the facility in Brianka, claiming that the contract soldiers have been detained by the Luhansk military.

The “special detention center” holds at least 130 people, with groups of soldiers departing back to the front line and new ones brought in daily. The Insider has released information on 17 of the prisoners. The Insider spoke to the father of a contract serviceman, who shared that Russian contract soldiers had been promised a leave after three months of service and permission to refuse to participate in combat activities. However, once they’d submitted their refusals, they were detained and taken to the center in Brianka. They’ve spent over a month in lock-up.

On July 31, another soldier who had gotten out of incarceration told The Insider that the troops had awaited their transport to Brianka at the military commandant's office in the community of Borovoye. They had to give up their belongings and sleeping bags, received no food, and had to use a bucket for a toilet.

After that, he and his comrades spent a week at the military unit in Brianka before being moved to a basement in an unknown location. According to him, unknown individuals, presumably Wagner mercs, beat them with batons and pressured them to return to the front line.

After two days of torture and brainwashing, five out of the six soldiers in the basement agreed to go back to the war. One refused. He remained in the basement, and there is no further information about his fate.

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