Russian soldiers from the Irkutsk region who had just been mobilized made a video greeting for Vladimir Putin. They said that they had been moved while being commanded by the fictitious Donetsk People’s Republic. The DPR command, in the troops’ words, orders them to the front lines “to be butchered,” and if they refuse, the commanders fire machine guns at them. The People of Baikal Telegram channel posted the Irkutsk conscript recruitment video.
The servicemen said that they were part of the DPR’s Slavic brigade and that they “were broken into assault units” and instructed to storm the fortified territory of Avdiivka without any assistance, artillery, communications, sappers, or reconnaissance” in a single day.The men continued, stating that Donbas leaders use machine guns and IFVs to open fire on individuals who do not wish to join the assault forces. “The command directly says that we are all expendable, and the only chance to return home is to get wounded,” they claimed.
The men identified their regiment as 1439 and mentioned that members of the regiment’s second battalion had also recorded a video clip with a similar message. The men claim that this unit has practically been completely decimated.The names and positions of their superiors are unknown to the soldiers, they claimed. As they are not on the front lines, the commanders themselves are unaware of the actual situation there. According to the soldiers, the unit has experienced significant casualties and has already undergone a sixth recruitment.
The soldiers also think that because the local military prosecutor’s office is “in collaboration” with the command, appeals to it are useless. Thus, as a final resort, the men decided to approach the Russian leader.Such complaints from the Russian military are not uncommon. In mid-January, about 30 men in camouflage and with their faces covered introduced themselves as mobilized from the Yaroslavl region and said that during the fighting in Ukraine they had to retreat from their positions following the orders of their commanders, but now they are about to be charged for deserting their units. Also, the military accused the employees of the military enlistment offices of the Yaroslavl region of lying to them. During the conscription process, they were promised service in the local territorial defense units, but in the end, they were sent to the front line.
After the appeal to Putin, all the contacts with the soldiers from Yaroslavl stopped. According to a relative of one of the conscripts, after the video with the complaint appeared on the internet, riot police was sent in, and the military commission from the Luhansk region demanded that they return to the abandoned positions.
