Draftees from Russia’s Omsk ask for help from their governor and Putin, cite extortion from ‘DPR’ army and disbanding of their regiment

Draftees from the Russian city of Omsk have recorded a video in which they say that they are being extorted by the army of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk people’s republic” (“DPR”) and complain about their regiment having been disbanded. The video was posted on Telegram channel Draftees Tomsk.

The mobilised servicemen are asking the Omsk region governor Alexander Burkov and Russian President Vladimir Putin for help. They say that they underwent training as gunners as part of the 504th tank regiment of the military unit 83444.

On 5 January, they were deployed to the territory of the “DPR”. Afterwards, the personnel were divided into groups and deployed to different cities. A group of draftees counting 107 people, members of which have recorded the video, ended up in a city they do not name.

In Omsk, the soldiers’ regiment commander was lieutenant colonel Dmitry Kulachkov, the unit’s commander was lieutenant colonel S. Godyaev. The mobilised soldiers are unaware of these commanders’ current location.

“Communication with our commanders has been lost. The only officer that remained with us, chief of artillery lieutenant colonel says: ‘I’m not your commander, I’m the chief of artillery, and [the artillery] doesn’t exist anymore, seeing as the 504th tank regiment was disbanded’ and we now belong to the army of the ‘DPR’,” the person speaking in the video says.

Some time later, the “DPR” army started retraining the draftees as infantry soldiers.

“After several trips to the training grounds, they started demanding money for gas from us. If we don’t give them money for gas, it means that we have no need for training and we’re ready for combat on the front line,” the man in the video adds.

According to him, military IDs were seized from the entire group. The IDs were stamped without soldiers’ consent, without a date and a commander’s signature. In the video, the soldiers are asking to be returned under Russian officers’ command.

The governor of the Omsk region Alexander Burkov responded to the posted video. He says that the Department of Regional Security is preparing an inquiry to Russia’s Defence Ministry “to clarify the circumstances described by our fighters in the video”.

“The details of the regiment’s disbanding, collection of money for gas, and deployment of servicemen to the DPR people’s militia directorate definitely require clarification,” Burkov writes.

On 8 February, Russia’s mobilised soldiers from the 1444th Regiment of the Samara Region who had suffered a missile attack in Makiivka on New Year’s night asked Vladimir Putin to send them home due to being “outrageously treated” by commanders.

The 1444 regiment consists of residents of Russia’s Samara region who were mobilised in September 2022. It was stationed near Makiivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on 20 December. The building where the 1st battalion of the regiment had been stationed was attacked by a missile on New Year’s night. The draftees from the 2nd and 3rd battalions who recorded the appeal were in a different place.

After the incident, around 1,500-2,000 draftees were taken to Krasnopillia, and then to Russia’s Rostov and Kursk regions. There, “odd individuals wearing uniforms” assigned them to the 20th Army, 362nd Regiment, 3rd Division, while the 1444th regiment was disbanded, the servicemen reported in the video.

Yesterday, 18 February, a video was shared online in which men wearing uniforms are apologising for complaining about the lack of gear. It is reported that the men in question are mobilised servicemen from Samara.