Among the many problems Russia has run into since it invaded Ukraine in February is a growing number of servicemen refusing to participate in what Moscow calls its “special military operation.” By one estimate, up to 40 percent of troops recently withdrawn from Ukraine are refusing to go back.
Increasing numbers of Russians are going AWOL or deserting outright so they don’t have to take part in Vladimir Putin’s genocidal war.
Ruslan Leviyev, the founder of the Conflict Intelligence Team, a Russian NGO that monitors open-source information about the Russian military, told Current Time that the actual number of these cases might be considerably larger and that the refusals could be severely hampering Russia’s efforts to regroup and renew its military operations in eastern Ukraine.
“The phenomenon of refusal is becoming systemic,” Leviyev said. “Such soldiers are found in practically every unit that has returned from Ukraine. According to our estimates, from 20 to 40 percent of the contract servicemen that returned from Ukraine and that are being readied to be sent back are refusing to return to combat.”
Leviyev said most of these soldiers are not deserters but could face legal ramifications for refusing to obey orders.
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“Citizens have the right to refuse to go to a foreign war and kill people,” said Agora lawyer Mikhail Benyash, who is providing legal services to some soldiers who have refused. “And they also have the right not to participate in a ‘special military operation.’ By definition, only special forces troops with training for such operations are sent [on ‘special military operations’]….”
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Agora lawyer Benyash said he believes the number of such refusals to fight will increase as the human costs of the war become clearer in Russia.“I think that as more zinc coffins come back from Ukraine, the more people there will be in Russia who have no desire to be next,” he said.
There is no point in dying for Putin. He has little regard for human life. He’s killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians and has lost over 20,000 Russian troops for almost nothing.
Those 20,600 dead Russian troops include seven (or possibly eight) generals. The latest dead general is Vladimir Frolov (Владимир Фролов).
Russian General Vladimir Frolov killed in Ukraine, St. Petersburg's mayor says
During America’s Forever War in Afghanistan, only one general was killed during the 238 months of that conflict. Russia’s 1.75 month war on Ukraine has already cost it a minimum of 7X that number. If Putin is reckless about his generals, he certainly doesn’t give a fuck about lower ranking soldiers who get killed in his imperialist adventure.
If you are young and male, your best option may be to take a very long vacation outside of Russia – if that’s possible. It’s certainly preferable to becoming the occupant of a Russian military zinc coffin.
But please don’t wait too long to decide. Putin is gradually restoring the Stalinist policies of the old Soviet Union. Freedom of the press has totally vanished and protesting can put you in prison for 15 years.
It may not be long before Putin brings back the Soviet restrictions on leaving the country. From Stalin’s time until Gorbachev’s rise to power, it was considered a rare privilege rather than a right to travel outside the Soviet Union.
