Ukraine’s Intelligence Directorate: Russia forces war “objectors” to fight in Ukraine

Olena Roshchina – Monday, 18 April 2022, 15:22

The Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine reports that the number of Russian military personnel officially refusing to take part in the war in Ukraine is on the rise, while Russian military command is blackmailing men to fight in Ukraine with fines and notes in their personal files, and by issuing threats concerning their relatives.

Source: Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine on Facebook

According to the Intelligence Directorate: "There is a growing wave of refusals among Russian military personnel to take part in the war against Ukraine. It has been confirmed that the number of refusals has reached 60-70% of the total number of contract military personnel in the 150th Motorised Rifle Division of the 8th Army of the Southern Military District of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Deputy commanders of military-political units and Federal Security Service officers are "working" with soldiers who refuse to fight in Ukraine. The latter are persuaded to take part in offensive operations. If they repeatedly refuse, they are threatened with harm to their relatives.

Those who cannot be persuaded [to fight in Ukraine] receive the following note in their personal files: ‘Refused to take part in the special military operation on the territory of the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics and of Ukraine’."

Details: According to Ukrainian intelligence, those who have not yet participated in the war against Ukraine but remained in the "strategic reserve" at their permanent locations receive a similar note in their personal files.

The Chief Intelligence Directorate adds that those who arrived in Ukraine as part of their unit rotation but refused to take part in combat receive the following stamp in their military records: "Evaded military service duties and combat missions during the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine."

According to the intelligence, Russia is relying on "unconventional arguments" in its attempts to persuade military personnel to fight in Ukraine: for example, the promised RUB 3 million compensation for injury or concussion is only paid out if the soldier in question returns to their unit for further participation in combat.

If they fail to do so, Russian soldiers find themselves facing major problems with paperwork and even obstacles to receiving appropriate medical care and obtaining medical records confirming the very existence of their injury.

The Chief Intelligence Directorate stresses that at the same time, "Russian command continues to take measures to conceal the actual number of military personnel who have been killed. Their bodies are accumulating in morgues all across the Rostov region. Many of those bodies have been in the morgues for over a month.