A Russian soldier who converted to Buddhism is sentenced to two years in prison for refusing to return to war

A military court in the Murmansk region has sentenced Senior Lieutenant Dmitry Vasilets to two years and five months in prison for refusing to return to war, reports Mediazona, citing Vasilets’ lawyer, Elvira Tarasova.

According to Tarasova, the court found Vasilets guilty of not following orders during combat, an offense which carries a sentence of three years in prison. The prosecution sought the maximum sentence for Vasilets, reports Telegram channel Military Ombudsmen.

Mediazona writes that Vasilets went to war in Ukraine in February 2022. He was granted a leave after five months, during which time he went to Buryatia to see the relatives of a deceased fellow soldier. He later “accepted the philosophy of Buddhism.” After that, his military command told him to return to the front, but he refused because of his philosophical convictions.

Vasilets was the first well-known case of a soldier prosecuted for refusing to follow orders since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine.