Russian soldiers are refusing to fight in Ukraine

“One morning I was called from the office of the division commander in Amur Oblast, where Pavlik served,” said a woman from the Russian region of Tambov, who asked to be identified only by the name Yelena. “Person now: ‘Do you know we are looking for your son, he is gone?’ Pavlik should have boarded the train along with the other troops, but he did not board. “And five other soldiers were with him.”

Yelena’s son, Pavlik, was serving in the Amur region, located in the Far East, when Russia launched its occupation of Ukraine on February 24. Almost immediately, his unit was sent to the front and he served 40 days on the battlefield. His unit then returned to Russia to regroup, Yelena told Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty’s North.Realities. When his unit was preparing to return to Ukraine, Pavlik refused to join.

“If he does not want to go back there, should I push him and tell him to ‘take up arms and go,'” Yelena said. “Those who have not been there have no right to judge those who have been.” Yelena’s son is one of a significant number – but the exact number of Russian contract soldiers who have refused to either fight in Ukraine or fought there but do not want to go again is unknown.

The founder of the legal aid organization Agora, Lawyer Pavel Chikov, wrote in the Telegram that more than 1,000 members of the military and National Guard personnel from at least seven Russian regions have refused to go to Ukraine. Ruslan Leviyev, the founder of the Conflict Intelligence Team, a Russian non-governmental organization that monitors public information about the Russian military, told Current Time that the real number of such cases could be much higher and that soldiers’ refusals to go to war in Ukraine could severely damage Russia’s efforts to regroup and resume its military operations in eastern Ukraine. “The phenomenon of rejection is becoming systematic,” Leviyev said.

“Such soldiers are found in almost every unit that has returned from Ukraine. “According to our estimates, between 20 and 40 percent of contract soldiers who have returned from Ukraine and are preparing to return are refusing to return to combat.” Leviyev said most of these soldiers are not deserters, but may face legal consequences for refusing to obey orders. However, in order to convict these soldiers, prosecutors must prove that the order was lawful and that the refusal to carry it out caused “substantial harm” to the military.

“From the cases we have seen, they are facing the threat of being prosecuted and are being intimidated by military prosecutors,” he said. “But so far none of them have been prosecuted, based on what we have seen.” Human rights advocates say the government’s reluctance to call the occupation of Ukraine a “war” or to declare martial law could provide protection from the worst consequences for soldiers who are refusing to fight.

“Citizens have the right to refuse to go to a foreign war and kill people,” said Agora lawyer Mikhail Benyash who has provided legal services to some soldiers who have refused to fight. “They also have the right not to take part in a ‘special military operation’.

By definition, only special forces troops trained for such operations are deployed [in ‘special military operations]…. An unknown number of soldiers, however, have left military service because they have refused to fight in Ukraine, wrote lawyer Maxim Grebenyuk in the Telegram. He said the question of “what are the consequences of refusing to serve in the ‘special military operation'”, as Moscow insists on being called the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, has become “the most frequently asked question” he has received in the last few weeks./RFE