INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
group, which helps Russians evade fighting in the war, told The Moscow Times.The project said it received 577 such requests between
have counseled more than 1,000 servicemen trying to desert
beginning of mobilization
Krivenko, director of the Grazhdanin
added.Grigory Sverdlin, the head of Idite Lesom, said most servicemen choose to desert after being wounded and treated in Russian
hospitals.Pavel, a Muscovite who served in Ukraine, decided to desert his unit after being severely wounded twice
medical commission for his injury, and Pavel was sent back to his post as soon as his treatment ended.By the time he returned to the front,
me on his shoulders to the green zone
this treatment if he did not take action
He decided to desert before his next period of leave was over
He left Russia with the help of human rights activists and is now seeking asylum in an undisclosed country.According to Krivenko, very few
people try to escape from the war zone, as the chances of getting caught are high
line, but acknowledged that such cases were rare, in part because soldiers deployed to the front are limited in their ability to communicate
with the outside world and sometimes do not have any form of identification on them.Soldiers are required to have their internal Russian
passports and military identification papers with them at all times, and commanders have no right to confiscate them
estimate the scale of such desertions.According to calculations by the independent Mediazona news website, 4,121 cases of unauthorized
abandonment of duty have been sent to military courts since the start of mobilization, 3,470 of which have resulted in sentencings
suspended sentence can also be changed to a real jail term at any time, which allows commanders to keep unlucky deserters under tight
In June, President Vladimir Putin signed amendments that require men to surrender these passports within five days of receiving a draft
move on to safer countries without their international passport.Sverdlin advises against traveling abroad without help from organizations
it earlier," he explained, adding that human rights defenders can only help in such a situation if deserters contact them in advance.
