Parents of Russian conscripts who disappeared amid Ukraine’s cross-border assault say pro-war activists are pressuring them to keep silent

Journalists from iStories have used open sources to identify 129 non-mobilized Russian conscripts who have disappeared or been captured by the Ukrainian army during its incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. Parents of these conscripts told iStories that the Russian Defense Ministry hasn’t provided any information about their children — but pro-war activists have contacted them to urge them not to speak publicly about the missing. In English, Meduza shares key takeaways from the outlet’s report.

Journalists from the independent outlet iStories have confirmed that at least 84 non-mobilized Russian conscripts who were stationed in the Kursk region when Ukraine launched its cross-border offensive are currently missing, and at least 45 others are in Ukrainian captivity.

In an earlier analysis, journalists from BBC News Russian identified 81 missing and 38 captive conscripts. Additionally, at least three conscripts have been killed in the Kursk region since the start of Ukraine’s operation there.

iStories spoke to the families of several of the missing conscripts. The soldiers’ parents said they haven’t received any information from the Russian Defense Ministry about their children’s possible whereabouts. However, they have gotten messages from pro-war activists and bloggers — referring to themselves as “volunteer helpers” — who told the parents not to speak out publicly about the deaths, capture, or disappearances of their loved ones to avoid “playing into” Ukraine’s hands and provoking conflict with the Russian authorities.

One of these “helpers” is an activist named Svetlana Zarutskaya, who runs a chat group for a military unit. She has advised parents “not to talk with Ukes” and to contact the Federal Security Service (FSB) if anybody tries to help them find their sons.

In a conversation recorded by the mother of a missing conscript, Zarutskaya said the following:

There were conscripts stationed on our border in 1941, and our conscripts fought in Afghanistan and Chechnya! When they took their oath, they pledged allegiance to the Motherland. […] The Ukes are pushing the narrative that we’re at fault for posting the conscripts [on the border]. There’s been a major propaganda campaign aimed at turning Russian citizens against their government and against their state. But it’s important to understand: it was the Ukes who crossed our border and took the conscripts captive, and even killed some of them. And we, the Russian army, didn’t cross their borders. We haven’t crossed the new Ukrainian border anywhere.

Some of the missing conscripts’ relatives said they’ve reached out to Russian propagandists for help publicizing their situation but that everyone they contacted was afraid to help, according to iStories. Among these figures were Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent Alexander Kots; blogger Semyon Pegov, who runs the popular WarGonzo Telegram channel; state media “war correspondent” Yevgeny Poddubny; Izvestia correspondent Emil Timashev; blogger Yury Podolyak; and reporters for the Yekaterinburg-based state news site Ura.ru.

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The Ura.ru employees cited Russia’s law against spreading “disinformation” about the military. Propagandist Anastasia Kashevarova, meanwhile, promised the missing conscripts’ parents that she would help State Duma deputy Shamsail Saraliyev compile a prisoner exchange list, but she then went on to blame the conscripts themselves for allowing Ukrainian troops to cross the border:

Serving at the border in a country at war, they were completely relaxed — wearing civilian clothes and with no weapons. Look at the photos and videos of soldiers captured in the SVO (special military operation) zone: those guys are shell-shocked, dirty, and wounded, and it’s clear that they fought to the end. Compare them with the images of those captured in the Kursk region: some of them are wearing slippers, some are in civilian clothing, all of them look clean. [...] Surrendering without a fight, out of negligence, while drunk — it’s [tantamount to] working for the enemy.