cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/52382643
Vladimir Putin’s mobilisation decree from September 2022 left soldiers with three legal exits from the army: turning 65, certified ill-health, or a prison sentence. The first applies to almost no one; the second is, in practice, near impossible: the military medical commissions that decide such things are not in the business of letting people go.
With losses mounting and conditions at the front deteriorating, a growing number of men are now trying to be charged with desertion; it sounds grotesque, but they see no other option but to beg investigators for “mercy” and paying for lawyers’ services to fight for “the right” to be imprisoned. The military, short of bodies for the front, has other ideas.
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Have they tried murdering their commanders?
I think Russian command knows damn well how demoralized their conscripts are, and how to viciously prevent desertion and fragging. They have historical experience running penal legions.