"Let them be cursed." How Russian soldiers are forced to fight with deceit and threats

Last autumn, a noise rose in the media Around the camp in the city of Red Ray on the territory of the so -called "LPR", where Russian troops who refused to fight were held. There they were subjected to psychological and physical violence, which relatives told reporters. Soon after, information appeared that the camp was closed, and the military was allegedly released . However, today the loved ones of some of those troops say that they were returned to the front when the noise in the press was a verse. And this is a common practice in the current Russian army: they refuse to kill and die Russian soldiers with deception and threats are returned to the front everywhere. Siberia. Reals talk about several such cases.

In the so-called "LPR" refuseniks, without any officially presented charges, were kept as criminals in the premises of the former colony No. 19 in the city of Krasny Ray. There, in particular, there were soldiers from the 39th Sakhalin Brigade.

- When the camp was dismissed, they announced that the commanders had arrived for some of the guys and took him to the rear. And those who have not arrived, were released and do not interfere with the departure to Russia, ”says Lyudmila, sister of one of the refuseniks, 32-year-old Vseslav Tadjekov from Gorno-Altaysk. - This is all a lie! Because my brother just disappeared. When they were tortured in a red beam and they were all just blue from the beatings - he clearly said that he would never return to the war. And at first he was informed that they were being taken to his unit on Sakhalin, since he was seconded to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. But then he disappeared, and for several months I could not find any information about him. In August, he briefly called, said that they were not allowing to communicate with his relatives, but, they say, while I was holding on, in Russia. I realized that the matter is bad, he was tortured and forced to go to fight again. She began to call everywhere, write with a vengeance, and at the beginning of the year - a call: "He died in the performance of military duty, received a injury that is not compatible with life." And I know for sure: he was not going to go to fulfill this “duty” again. But do you prove it?! He is a driver in a tank-he died so that it can be identified with difficulty.

In February 2023, Vseslav was buried.

The mother of another refuser, the prisoner of IK-19 in the Red Luch, 20-year-old Maxim Kochetkov from the village of Tymovskoye, Sakhalin Region, says that not all "refuseniks" were killed. Her son last month was put for 13 years for refusing to return to war. Kochetkov got into the red beam when he wanted to quit the army after the end of the contract in March 2022. He was extended "automatically."

- After the dissolution of the camp, he was sent to trial for the "Samolk". In February, Maxim was first given a suspended sentence. They tried with him [conditional] to send him to "his", he rested, not at any! Well, if the torture in the "LPR" survived how people were beaten there and they disappeared, then here even more so. He was just his ground - I won’t go to kill and die. They threatened, of course, to kill and plant. In September, they put a strict regime on 13 years in the same 377th on desertion, ”says Military Anastasia . - I will not say that it is very happy with the deadline, there [in prison] is also dangerous. But alive, but.

"He was forced to sign the contract illegally - after three months the termination!"

In November 2021, 18-year-old Kirill Kholkin was called up for military service in the army, sending Kolomna near Moscow to the 236th Guards Artillery Brigade. When a full -scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, the conscript was sent to the territory of Donbass.

- He served in the military service for three months, after which he, still a conscript (!), Was sent to the "Special Military Operation" zone. On February 24, he arrived there. At that time, he knew nothing about the beginning of the war at all. He was immediately forced to sign the contract. Yes, already in the combat zone actually, ”says the widow of Cyril, 20-year-old Ksenia Kholkina . -At the same time, no one talked about some kind of war, they did not know anything about the “special military operation” then. That's how they lured the boys there. They signed contracts, after which they were sent to the front.

According to Ksenia, the commanders simply deceived the conscripts, telling them that nothing would change with the signing of the contract for them.

- They said, they say, with him at least the money will receive the remaining months of service. And so the conscript will fall off the same time for free. Already after they learned that the war actually began and, of course, this is not the same thing - you remained a conscript or became a contractor, ”says Ksenia. - Plus they were already brought there [to Ukraine], they were already in the war. They had no connection - since February 24, he never called me. Then he called, simply said: “That's it, I'm in the Donbass,” signed a contract when. At that time, there was still no law that allows conscripts to recruit immediately. That is, in fact illegally he was offered to him even. He only served at that time three months. Knowing everything in advance [that there will be a military invasion], he would simply not join the army. We have a very small daughter ( now Sophia 4 years ), he dreamed of simply living with us and growing her. He was not going to die. And kill others too. Who dreams of this?

Ksenia recalls that he and her husband, when he was in the war, had never said for a long time - literally two minutes, because "there was no connection there."

- In the Donbass, he stayed until September 2022. During this time, they were very rare, possibly every two months, 2 minutes of conversation. He only managed to say that "alive and well." Because the connection was interrupted, barely caught there, two or three minutes-again there was no connection, ”Ksenia recalls. - I know that from the very beginning he was in the Donbass, and then in Raisins, there is most of the time. On September 26, he returned to Russia with a wound.

Kirill Kholkin received a fragmentation wound in the shoulder and head. According to the medical jack, he was diagnosed with a fracture of the skull. After hospitalization and treatment in the Tula hospital, the corporal was sent for restoration to Omsk, where he was put the III group of disability and category “D” - that is, not suitable for a month.

- This means that in a month a new military commission was needed, but it was never appointed. Although the symptoms were one worse than the other - a fragment of a millimeter from the brain stuck! He had constant headaches, hearing loss, noise in his ears, problems with memory, high intracranial pressure. From treatment - drops in the nose, and that's it, ”says Ksenia. - There was a wound in the shoulder: it was sewn through and through it, a fragment flew into the armpit, they pulled it out, and they didn’t pull it out of his head - it was dangerous. That is, the operation is dangerous, and to fight with it is normal!

Shortly before the New Year, Cyril received an order to go to his part, stationed in Kolomna. They refused to send him to the medical board, saying that he would have to return to the front. Then, in order to confirm disability and avoid returning to war, on February 5, he fled from the unit.

- Cyril showed in the units the documents that were made a month earlier in Omsk - there was a direct direction that it was necessary to put disability. He asked for 15 days of additional leave to do all this in Omsk. The command did not allow: "Who will fight instead of you?!" He simply took away all the medical documents that he brought with him, and began to threaten infantry - they already wrote a report to his transition from artillery to infantry. Then he left. I just bought him a ticket, he left the unit and went to the airport. He was a contractor, they have a free exit, after 18:00 the working day is completed. On February 4, he left the unit, on the 5th flew to Omsk, ”says Ksenia. -We began to immediately do all the documents, to undergo doctors for the commission, he was given a disability of the 3rd group. After that, they themselves went to the garrison military court in Omsk, brought all these documents, he said that he could not return for health reasons. Then they brought a criminal case on their husband. Temporarily, while the court is going on, he was seconded to the Omsk part.

For the "long -term abandonment of the part" of Kholkin, they condemned the criminal article 337, part 5. On July 13, he was given 5 years conditionally.

- When he received a suspended sentence, was it possible to terminate the contract?

- No, it was not. Even our lawyer said: they will give you a conditional and they will not be taken away with him, you will simply serve within the country. And she said: “You need to agree when the judge asks: is you ready to serve further? You have to say“ yes ”. Because in any case you will not be sent there [to“ Swim ”. If you say no, they will give you a real term.”

- Now you think it was a mistake - to agree in the court?

- I think nothing would have changed, even if he said no. I think he would not have been given even then a real term, because they are very rarely done. For them, conditional is the best option, because with him they again take them [refuseniks] back to war. Yes, before they were not sent with conditional [to war], now it no longer works.

During the trial, the Military Medical Commission recognized Kholkin as suitable for military service with minor restrictions (category "B").

-After he was told: "Well, ok, do not want-serve in Russia, but you must transfer from the military unit near Moscow to the Omsk 48th railway brigade." For the translation, supposedly you need to come to Kolomna, draw up documents.

- It turns out that even then they planned to deceive him?

“I don’t know what they planned, but in the end they stated that they agreed to transfer him to Omsk, and on August 15, a lieutenant came after him as an accompanying person.” At night of the 15th they flew to Moscow, there they were met by a civilian car at the airport, they said that it was supposedly escort to the part, there are another three hours to go there. After that, he began to contact me and say that instead of Kolomna, he was again taken to the border with Ukraine - at Ksenia, who held on to the whole conversation, the voice begins to tremble. -They said that some kind of check is supposedly in the unit, so he needs to go to the border, his commander is now there and he wants something from him. After that, he arrived in the village near Belgorod, they had a camp there, after that he did not get in touch.

I wrote a statement to the military prosecutor’s office, while still in Omsk. And the next morning, I was already in Moscow. Because I was told in Omsk that I need to contact the military prosecutor's office of Moscow. On August 16, only the plane landed, he got in touch, called, said that he was being taken to his own. I didn’t say anything else, because, apparently, someone was nearby.

While Ksenia was in Moscow, they called her and said that Cyril’s things, including his phone, were in the Kolomenskaya military unit, and asked to come for them. When she took them and turned on the phone, she saw a message that Cyril tried to send her before his mobile phone was taken away.

- He wrote to me a message that he was chained into handcuffs and kept the night without water and food, selected the documents. This message did not go to me. I already saw him from Cyril on the phone when I took his things.

- After he got in touch?

- Yes, he got in touch when he was already in the battle zone: the guys (he was placed in the same company with the same colleagues) took the phone, we called up with him. I met with his command on August 16 - they stated that "everything was according to the law." When I started talking about handcuffs, I was told "you have no evidence of this": "How are you going to prove?" From there, from Kolomna, I straightened him the parcel through his part, because he had nothing with him. He was not even given a body armor, a helmet.

Then the commanders began to scare me: "He would be transferred to the infantry (there is much more dangerous and higher the risk of perishing), if you write a statement somewhere." I was afraid to write. I thought that I would only do it. Cyril called the next day: “Write, do not be afraid, there is nowhere worse,” Ksenia recalls. - I began to write immediately to the Ministry of Defense, the president, the Commissioner for Human Rights, to all sorts of funds that we have in the city. But there were no answers. His mother walked along the NPO of soldiers' mothers - to no avail. The only statement came and returned to his own part in September - so they forced Cyril to write an explanatory that supposedly "there are no complaints."

On September 19, in the evening, the unknown called his relatives Cyril and said that he had died.

“I don’t know who exactly called, his youngest brother told me.” I already called myself a unit of the commander of his unit: "What's wrong with Cyril?" He said: "Shipping wound, he died." They were in Svatovo, where exactly - I do not know. He was not in the assault, he would tell me about it, that is, I would know. That is, he was constantly threatened to storm when he refused to sit in a tank or shoot, but did not send, he did not manage to send to the attack aircraft. He demanded some money for the commander: they say, "they spent on you while returning" (although the Ministry of Defense paid for tickets). He served in his own positions, in which he had before, with the same boys. Every day they went "on the gun", shot. The 19th was a direct hit in them. He was a mechanic in a tank. The day before, he again refused to sit there - he said that he simply did not remember anything, inhibits, he hears nothing. He was summoned to the commander, put on a watch at night, did not feed, said: "In any case, you sit down for the tank." And they planted ...

-Now you would do something differently?

- Now I would not let him go at all in August. We were deceived then, believed that they would really do documents at the headquarters. Because they promised us in direct text in Omsk, and in the end, - Ksenia is silent again for a long time. - He did not want to serve at all, that is, that is. But breaking the contract is simply unrealistic. After the injury, almost a year (!) We tried to do this, but it did not work out - the maximum disability and a delay on it. And then - she did not give up to anyone, no one observes.

-What did he say about the war itself, did he see the Nazis there, who are scared in the talk show?

-Yes, we never watched the TV, so we did not know anything about some Nazis. And the war did not expect the rumors about her - everything was past us. She became a complete shock for us.

Cyril's mother refuses to communicate with reporters.

“She feels very bad now.” But as soon as he comes to his senses, we will go to all instances, we want to punish these who sent him. Husband's mother repeats that he will achieve punishment for them, who strongly sent him to this war. Curses them constantly.

- They are who? The country's leadership?

- The command, which deceived him to "his".

- Do you think that they executed the order of higher? Those who started the war?

- Don't know. I will try to punish someone at least. I will do everything for this. And we will do everything to protect his younger brother from this (the younger brother of Kholkin this year turned 17 years old). We still do not know how we will do it, but we do not want him to go even to serve.