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The Russian soldiers say they were detained by their superiors in eastern Ukraine after they refused to fight in the war. In an interview with The Guardian, a soldier reveals how he was imprisoned for more than a week in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic – currently controlled by Russian forces – simply because he did not want to continue fighting alongside the Russian army.
Vladimir, whose name was changed at his request, said he was arrested on July 19. in a division without access to food, where there were 25 soldiers from his unit who also refused to fight. This was just one of the first cells where he was held. He later transferred to a school in the city of Bryansk which had been converted into a military base. According to the soldier, some 80 soldiers were held there in the same situation, under the surveillance of soldiers from the Wagner group, a mercenary company that has been linked to the Kremlin and accused of human rights violations.
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“During all the time they did not give us any document explaining the reason for our detention.. They illegally detained us, ”he denounces in a statement sent to the Russian prosecutor’s office, to which the British newspaper had access.
At the base, they were only fed once a day, at lunchtime, and there were no basic hygiene conditions, Vladimir says. The soldier adds that they were warned that there were mines outside and that whoever tried to flee “would be considered an enemy and shot on the spot”.
The soldier was only released when a doctor recommended that he be hospitalized for injuries sustained earlier in the war. Now, he demands a criminal investigation of two Russian commanders and a major who he claims are responsible for his arrest.
To the newspaper, a lawyer who heads a defense organization in Moscow revealed that he had a list of 70 Russian soldiers who were taken prisoner. According to Maxim Grebenyuk, in total about 140 were detained.
An Insider investigation had already reported that members of the Russian ranks were being detained for refusing to fight. In an article published in late July, they named 17 soldiers, mostly between the ages of 20 and 26, who were being forcibly held in the village of Krasny Luch, in an abandoned settlement in Lugansk.
Source: Observadora
