"Not one step back": Russian soldiers issued with memo with justification for war in Ukraine

The Russian military has issued a memo to soldiers being sent to Ukraine, most of which is devoted to the ideological justification for the war.

Source: Meduza, a Russian Latvian-based news outlet

Details: A map of Ukraine is drawn on the cover of the brochure issued by the Western Military District: Crimea is not on it, and the territories of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts are marked in red [other areas occupied by Russia are not marked in any way – ed.].

The memo from the Russian military asserts they are convinced that the US has decided to "destabilise" Russia, faced with a "deficit of resources". Accordingly, the United States wanted to "suck all the juice" out of Russia.

Therefore, according to the authors of the brochure, they are trying to conquer Russia "with foreign hands" and "dismember" it.

"Western countries are no longer satisfied with Russia's ‘honourable capitulation’. Their goal is to plunge the country into chaos and anarchy, destroy statehood and dismember the country," the memo says.

The Russian invaders are also convinced that "active Nazis" and the perpetrators of "numerous bloody crimes of the Kyiv regime" deserve only to be "brought to justice".

Reflecting on the Russian retreat in the fall of 2022, the authors of the memo cite Stalin's notorious order No. 227, better known as "Ni shagu nazad!" ["Not one step back!" – ed.]. The document, signed by Stalin, prohibited soldiers from retreating without an order, ordered to "exterminate" "panickers and cowards" on the spot, and introduced barrier detachments as part of the armies and penal units, where, by decision of the command, military personnel who committed a violation of discipline "due to cowardice or instability" were sent.

Two unnamed contract soldiers told the news outlet that before the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, no such memos were distributed to the Russian military.

One of those who fought in Ukraine last spring and soon left the service spoke briefly about the content of the brochure: "Goebbels-style [indoctrination - ed.], what can I say. We didn't have such [memos - ed.]: we had to enter Kyiv in 12 hours."

Earlier: As of 3 April, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have killed about 175,160 Russian invaders.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!