‘They forgot about him’

Three years ago, Putin’s ‘partial mobilization’ sent 9,000 men from two Siberian regions to war. Today, a third are dead or disabled.

When Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization” in September 2022 — Russia’s first call-up since World War II — thousands of men from Siberia were sent to the front. From the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia alone, at least 9,000 were drafted. Three years later, roughly a third of them are dead or permanently disabled. The independent outlet People of Baikal looked into what is known about the fate of these men. Meduza shares a lightly-abridged translation of their reporting.

According to official figures, at least 5,000 men from the Irkutsk region and 4,000 from the Republic of Buryatia were sent to the front during Russia’s “partial mobilization” in the fall of 2022. In the three years since, at least 1,178 of them have been killed: 567 from the Irkutsk region and 611 from Buryatia. That translates to one in nine mobilized men from Irkutsk and one in seven from Buryatia.

How many have been left disabled is harder to gauge. If we assume there are two severely wounded for every soldier killed, the number would exceed 2,000. In other words, within three years, roughly a third of all mobilized men from the region have either died or been permanently disabled.

The number of missing is also unknown. There is no official, public list; families often share such information themselves. In July, for example, People of Baikal was contacted by relatives of a mobilized soldier, Nikolai Lazarev, who has not been heard from in more than two and a half years. “At first they told us he’d deserted his unit. But how is that even possible? He’s a combat veteran, he fought in Chechnya. He’s not some 18-year-old boy,” his relatives said. “We wrote to the Defense Ministry, even to the president. At this point it feels like the only option is to get on a plane and fly to Putin personally.” In practice, a “missing in action” designation usually means a soldier was killed but his body was never retrieved from the battlefield.

The average age of these mobilized men was 34 when they were drafted and 36 at the time of their deaths. The oldest was 54-year-old Oleg Makrov, killed by artillery fire in Ukraine’s Luhansk region. He left behind a wife and daughter. The youngest was Lev Shignokhoyev, who was born during Putin’s presidency and was just 21 when he was killed near Bakhmut.

Some were killed almost immediately. Dmitry Sidorov, 23, and Andrey Pichuyev, 44, were both drafted on September 22. By October 4 — less than two weeks later — both were dead. It’s unclear whether they received any training before being sent to the front.

Most mobilized soldiers from the Irkutsk region and Buryatia who were killed in action fought in Ukraine’s Donetsk region; only 29 died elsewhere, mostly in Russia’s Kursk region and Ukraine’s Luhansk region. The bloodiest losses came during the decisive days of the battle for Bakhmut in February 2023, when at least 84 men from the region were killed.

‘The spleen isn’t a vital organ’

Russians drafted under mobilization have spent three years at the front, with no end to their service in sight. Officials say they will remain there “until the objectives of the special military operation are achieved.” In practice, there are only two legal ways to be discharged: reaching the maximum military age of 65, or sustaining a serious injury or illness.

But the injury has to be truly severe. Otherwise, once treated, a soldier is sent back into combat. Take the case of Alexey Kuptsov. Drafted in October 2022, he was badly wounded by December, suffering shrapnel injuries that left him blind in one eye. After several surgeries, he was returned to duty half-blind. Kuptsov was assigned to military police patrols in Volnovakha, an occupied city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. In January 2024, while on duty, he suffered a stroke.

In some cases, wounded soldiers are sent home, though that doesn’t mean the state will always recognize their disability. Konstantin Alexandrov sustained multiple injuries to his head, legs, and abdomen. Doctors removed his spleen during surgery. A military medical board declared him only “partially fit” for service and sent him home. But when he applied for disability status and the benefits that should have come with it, he was denied.

“Doctors told him the spleen isn’t a vital organ, that he just needs to get his blood checked once a month. But his immunity collapsed — he’s constantly sick with colds and pneumonia. He can’t work properly. He drills wells. When he was fighting, the state needed him. But once he became essentially disabled, they forgot about him,” his mother told People of Baikal. Alexandrov has a six-year-old son, but once he was declared unfit for service, his family lost state compensation to cover childcare costs. Now he receives only 5,000 rubles a month (about $60) in veteran’s benefits.

At least one mobilized soldier from the region took his own life. Viktor Petrov was stationed in Luhansk in occupied Ukraine. He told his mother that the military police frequently beat him and others for drunkenness. “My son said they beat him with a stun gun and batons, hung him by his hands from the ceiling,” his mother recalled. During one beating, his ribs were broken.

After being discharged from the hospital, Petrov was placed in a military police barracks. From there, he called his mother and asked for money to buy equipment. The next day, his commander called to say Petrov had hanged himself. When his body was brought home, his mother wasn’t allowed to open the zinc coffin. She is convinced her son didn’t hang himself but was killed. Investigators opened a case on charges of “incitement to suicide” but later closed it.

Almost no way out

Some mobilized soldiers have chosen escape or surrender over continued service. But those who are captured and later exchanged are sent right back to the front. Dmitry Petrov, for instance, was taken prisoner six months after being drafted. Two months later he was exchanged and immediately redeployed to the battlefield, where he was killed.

How many mobilized men are on the run is unknown; most cases only come to light once they’re caught. One man, Vitaly Petrov, deserted after an argument with his commander and twice escaped custody. Police eventually found him hiding in his mother-in-law’s cellar. He was sentenced to six years for desertion, while his mother-in-law received two years after a violent clash with officers during the arrest.

Others, after being sent home for health reasons, later returned to the front voluntarily. In February 2023, Viktor Khoroshikh suffered severe injuries that perforated both eardrums. He was discharged and went back to civilian life, finding work at a helicopter plant in Ulan-Ude. But a year later, he signed a new contract with the Defense Ministry as a volunteer. Five months after that, he was dead. He was 43 and left behind a wife and five children.

In all, at least 399 wives of mobilized men from the Irkutsk region and Buryatia have been widowed, and at least 828 children have been left fatherless. The true numbers are likely higher, since obituaries often omit details about surviving family members.

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