Putin drags conscripts to fight in the war in Ukraine but denies it

Svitlana Kizilova - Tuesday, 8 March 2022, 22:29

The Russian Ministry of Defence and the president of the aggressor country, Vladimir Putin, claim that conscripts are not fighting in Ukraine. However, there are Russian prisoners who have already claimed that they are conscripts in the Russian Army.

Source: Meduza, citing a POW's father 

Details: Recently, Putin has repeatedly stated that conscripts are allegedly not participating in the war in Ukraine. However, these statements have turned out to be a lie.

The Russian independent media organisation Medusa managed to find the father of a Russian POW in Ukraine, Damur Mustafayev. The POW's father confirmed that his son was serving his mandatory conscription service; he had not signed a contract to be an active-duty soldier.

Sobirjon Mustafayev, Damur's father, said, "My son was called up for military service in June 2021. He was sent to serve near Chita. He was trained as a mechanic driver. Then he went to Naro-Fominsk. It seems that later, they started participating in exercises. Then Voronezh. Then they got scattered across the Belgorod and Kursk regions. I called him for the last time on 22 February. It seemed like everything was fine. On 24 February, he received an order. They said it was to 'do exercises'".

Damur Mustafayev's video first appeared on the Search for Your Own Telegram channel, where Ukraine publishes data on captured Russian invaders.

Sobirjon Mustafayev, Verbatim: "He really was a conscript. I don't know what happened there. He said he didn't sign the contract. But I was surprised: [military service contracts] could be signed on their behalf or something.

"Now that I see the video… Many people have been taken prisoner and say that ]contracts] were signed on their behalf. [...] It seems that our president (Putin - ed.) says there is no order to send conscripts and that there are no conscripts there at all. [...] I don't really know what to do, how to help."

Putin continues to claim that "conscripts are not participating in hostilities and will not participate in them". The Russian Ministry of Defence also says that only active-duty personnel are involved in the war against Ukraine.