The prisoners who died at the SVO are considered to have left the unit without permission.

Commanders do not hide this practice, explaining that this is an instruction from the Ministry of Defense

Former prisoners recruited for the war with Ukraine are massively recognized as “abandoning the unit without permission” (SOCH), even if they disappeared, died or are on a combat mission. “Verstka” found dozens of such messages in thematic groups and spoke with relatives of the military. The “SOCH” status deprives ex-prisoners and their relatives of almost all payments; the command claims that this is “an order from above.”

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“We’re going to the base in handcuffs”

January 2025, the body of a military truck somewhere on the front line in the “DPR”, inside more than 10 men in military uniform are going on a “combat mission”.

“We’re going to the base in handcuffs,” says one of them.

In the frame are former prisoners fighting with Ukraine as part of the first battalion of the first company of military unit 95378. All their hands are cuffed in bracelets. According to Vverstka, at the beginning of the year they were taken from their positions and put in a “pit”, where they were beaten and threatened with death, and then taken to an unknown direction. Neither relatives nor colleagues were able to contact any of these men.

When the wives, sisters and mothers of these men tried to find out about their fate in the military unit, it turned out that all these soldiers were assigned the status of “SOCH” - “unauthorized abandonment of the unit” i .

This status is given to those who leave their place of service without the permission of their commanders. For “AWOL” you can be deprived of payments and held accountable.

The video from the back of the truck, which returned empty from the front line, is the last evidence for the relatives for now.

“As long as there is no body, the SOC will not be removed”

Since the beginning of the year, in chats and groups where Russian military families communicate, messages have begun to appear that former prisoners in the Russian army are being en masse assigned the status of “SOCH” - even if they are dead, missing or on a combat mission:

“I’ve been looking for my brother since December 26 – 27, 2024, he went on a mission, since then I haven’t been in touch, they put the status as SOC. Although they supposedly said he died.”

“My SOC was diagnosed while he was in the hospital. Afterwards I went on combat missions twice. The commander said that he was killed. They said: as long as there is no body, the SOC will not be removed,”

“300 people went to the BZ, only a few returned, everyone was given SOC.”

“In the unit they said “SOCH”, but according to his colleagues, he died”

“I was in the status of a damned SOCH. As a result, we received notification [of the death]. Damn the war and the guys who stuff money into their pockets.”

“Verstka” found dozens of such messages. At least 32 such cases concern military personnel of military unit 95378. It is assigned to the 15th separate guards motorized rifle brigade. Relatives of the servicemen of this unit wrote a petition addressed to Vladimir Putin with a request to help remove the “SOCH” status from the “heroes”.

“Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, we, the relatives of those heroes whose names have been discredited by the unlawful actions of the command, ask you to understand this situation, to find out how justified and legal the actions of the command are in assigning the status of SOC to each individual serviceman of our unit,” the appeal says.

One of the authors of the petition is Maria Kovaleva. In October 2024, her brother went to the front from under investigation: he was involved in a criminal case for possession of weapons, but signed a contract before the investigation was completed and the verdict was announced. A day after that, he found himself on the territory of the “DPR” and ended up in the first company of the first battalion of military unit 95378. A significant part of the military personnel assigned to it, according to his sister, were former prisoners.

“I successfully went on my first combat mission, but was without contact for almost three weeks,” says Kovaleva. On his first combat mission, he was given the status of SOC. I returned and my status was removed.”

At the end of December last year, Maria’s brother was again sent on a combat mission, and on January 8 of this year he was once again assigned the status of “SOCH”. She was unable to obtain any information from the command. My brother’s colleagues claim that he died in a mine, but his status was never changed.

Relatives and other military personnel cannot obtain any information from the command and authorities. Natalya’s son, who went missing at the end of 2024, was assigned the “SOCH” status. The command of the military unit did not respond to the woman’s requests, so she called the Ministry of Defense hotline number.

“When I called 117, they directly told me: “SECH status until they find it.” There will be no payments with this status, and we have to wait: maybe he’s alive,” says Natalya.

Some relatives even wrote statements to the military prosecutor's office. One of the complaints is at the disposal of “Vorstka”. It talks about punishments, "pits" and threats of death for men who were filmed in handcuffs.

“The guys were hidden from others so that no one would see the bruises and beatings. […] In the afternoon 2.01. 2025 they sent me a video [where it is clear that] one of their colleagues was thrown into their pit with a knife wound in the stomach. The commanders found out about this. And after that, another colleague was taken out of the pit by the commanders and taken away in an unknown direction. Arriving at the unit in the Samara region in the village. Roshchinsky 95378 and while talking with Betonov, I learned that as of 11/22/24 he was given SOCH status and has not been removed to this day. I asked what this meant and received the answer: “Why remove the status if you put it back again?”,” reads i’s complaint.

“We have such a biased attitude towards prisoners”

Captain Sergei Sergeevich Betonov, who is mentioned in the complaint, is the acting chief of staff of military unit 95378. Several times he admitted to relatives that former prisoners actually receive the status of “SOCH” instead of “missing in action.” At the same time, Betonov referred to some “internal directive” from the leadership of the Ministry of Defense.

“Sergei Sergeevich Betonov verbally said that when “your prisoners” go on a combat mission, we put all their files in the SOC folder. If anyone comes back, we'll get his file out of there. But the president of our country said that everyone there is equal! He is no longer a former prisoner, but a contract soldier for the Ministry of Defense,” says Maria.

The conversation between Maria and the acting chief of staff ended as expected - the military man blocked the woman in all messengers and deleted the message history. According to her, while talking on the phone, he pretended that there had been no correspondence at all.

Nadezhda, whose brother enlisted in the war from a colony in the Kemerovo region, faced the same attitude from Betonov. The military man blocked the woman in the messenger after several questions about the status of the military man, who is currently on a combat mission. The man was recognized as having left the part without permission immediately after he was sent “to the ribbon.”

The “SOCH” status is assigned not only to military personnel who have disappeared or are on a combat mission, but even to those who have died. The military command itself does not hide this.

“The acting chief of our staff told me that he knows that my brother’s group was blown up by a mine. He said: “Wait for evacuation, when the body is delivered to Rostov.” But this is all in words. We did not receive any official notification,” explains Maria.

According to her, in response to questions and complaints, the command openly says, “we have such a biased attitude towards former prisoners.” From the correspondence of relatives, it becomes clear that commanders are not interested in searching for missing and dead military personnel from among the former prisoners.

“The guys who died with my brother had only six months left to serve, and the second one was a year and a month old. One of the spouses calls the command and says: “Look for my husband, have you found a way to get him there? So, return the body.” And they answer her: “He’s SOCH, maybe he’s running and walking somewhere.” It is very offensive and unpleasant to hear such familiar answers. I wrote in the petition that we have the right to be proud of them and we should not knock on the thresholds of authorities. It’s not up to us to prove to our country that they are heroes,” complains Maria.

“It would be BETTER IF YOU FIGHTED FOR FREE”

Relatives associate the “prejudicial attitude towards former prisoners” at the front with money. The state pays the family of those who are officially considered “missing” in cash. Missing and not found contract soldiers can later be declared dead through the courts .

“And then payment from the state is due,” explains Maria, the sister of the defendant who left to fight. “But our guys don’t get anything.”
If a soldier is “SOCH”, then it’s as if they don’t owe [him] anything.”

Elena i , whose “SOCH” status was given to both her dead brother and her missing husband—both left the IK for the war—also considers money a possible reason.

“Of course, payments. For five months I searched for my brother, and then proved that he was dead - and all this time my mother did not receive any financial allowance. No one will pay her for these months,” says Elena.

Human rights activists who work with contract soldiers fighting in Ukraine also talk about financial motives. According to lawyer Maxim Grebenyuk, if a serviceman has “SOCH” status, all allowance payments are suspended. “And if he is missing, then his closest relatives receive monetary allowance. Therefore, this situation, of course, deprives all payments,” the human rights activist notes.

Lawyer and director of the “Conscript School” organization Alexey Tabalov agrees with him. “Here the state clearly wants to save money. “SOCH” status deprives you of the right to a number of payments, changes about this were recently adopted,” he says. “It seems to me that the state’s strategy now is this: we pay you money only while you fight, but it would be better if you fought for free.”

Cover: Dmitry Osinnikov

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