Prisoner with learning difficulties sent to fight in Ukraine

A prisoner from the Siberian city of Kemerovo who has learning difficulties and is unable to read or write, has been sent to fight in Ukraine, his relatives told independent news outlet Mediazona.

Semyon Karmanov, who was handed a two-year jail sentence in 2020 for theft after he failed to report finding a phone and two bank cards on the street in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, was due for release next April, but somehow signed a contract with the Defence Ministry while still in prison despite being illiterate.

Karmanov’s family reportedly only learnt that he had gone to the front from his cellmate. His family believe his military ID was “foisted on him in prison”.

“He had terrible difficulty at school. He learned how to count money, and knows some letters, but he can’t read words and sentences. … His signature on his ID is just the letter K,” his sister Anastasia told Mediazona.

Karmanov, who was assigned to be a driver despite being unable to drive, later contacted his family himself and said that he had been sent to Ukraine after passing a medical and being deemed fit for military service. His family fears that Karmanov believed he would receive a longer sentence if he refused to sign the papers he was given.