The Russian army is bleeding: soldiers are fleeing and their commanders are wounded. Crimea is becoming a focal point.
MOSCOW — There is no war without individual obedience: Vladimir Putin’s invasion forces are losing strength. More men are turning to Russia — and now in Crimea: Several soldiers from the 20th Motorized Rifle Division of Russia’s 8th Army in southern Russia are now reported to have deserted and wounded their deputy regimental commander. Too bad he died shortly. Citing the Ukrainian secret service, several independent media reported this without providing further details. The 20th Motorized Rifle Division is stationed in occupied Crimea.
Desertions are becoming the norm in Vladimir Putin’s invasion army. This can be combined with counterattack successes Ukraine war As Christian Goebel suspects, it is linked to the low respect Russia has for its soldiers. On the Bundeswehr podcast “Enquired,” a lieutenant colonel at the Center for Military History said: “In Russia, for example, the so-called ‘Dedowtschina’ (‘rule of grandfathers’) still exists. Extreme harassment of junior soldiers by veterans; Officials also misbehave with subordinates Usually violent regimes or soldiers mistreating each other; Corpse obedience must be beaten.”
In this context, Gobel quotes former Russian reserve officer and current author Mikhail Shishkin: “The Russian army has been a ‘school of slaves’ in which old soldiers have practically unlimited power over new ‘recruits,’ says Shishkin.
The counterattack has an effect: 100 verdicts per week in Russia
the sea Newsweek As part of the ordered offensive, soldiers in Crimea swapped their uniforms for civilian clothes and fled their base in the Simferopol district to the neighboring Russian region of Krasnodar. More than five million people live in this area – probably enough to hide. Many refugees also flee to the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Kazakhstan. Since March 2023, the exiled media Medusa reported that the Russian military justice system has issued 100 sentences against Russian soldiers every week – in most cases unauthorized removal from the troops, known colloquially as demobilization or desertion. Some convictions lead to probation and pre-trial detention, while others lead to prison terms.
Under the law, which was tightened in Russia in September 2022, desertion is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, and self-capture by the enemy is punishable by ten years in prison. “Treason is a very serious crime, traitors must be punished,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in 2019 after the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Sergei Skripal. The view of humanity in Russia is clearly different from that in Europe – this was especially evident in Russia’s wars and is even more evident now: the German think tank Stiftung Wissenschaft undpolitik described it as a stress test shortly after the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict. system of government. His prophecies were fulfilled.
Traditional Neglect: A Problem for Russia’s Military
Nevertheless, Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime appears unshakable so far, and his people seem to support him. So leaving one’s own armed forces is a challenge: by the end of last year, before the end of the first year of the war, Swiss Radio and Television (SRF), the Kazakh immigration authority, reported 100,000. Russian men liable for military service emigrated.
Getting out of Red Flag seems to have a certain tradition; The Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk “Group of Soviet Armed Forces in Germany” (GSSD) reported on the desperation entrenched in the former GDR: “Out of pure desperation, around 400 to 500 soldiers decide to leave every year – an almost hopeless effort. Their hopes of somehow returning to their home countries are dashed. : They were captured by their own people or captured by the People’s Police. Later, the captured fugitives were usually given short breaks: long prison terms, beatings until they gave up, labor camps, and the death penalty.
Putin’s response to fugitives – Germany offers protection
In contrast to Russian conscientious objectors, Russian defectors seek asylum in Germany, Germany’s editorial network notes the Federal Ministry for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). According to the updated decision-making procedure after the outbreak of war on the situation in Russia: “Fugitives should continue to receive international protection. Persons who are conscripted and refuse to serve receive international protection, the conditions for which must be met. These are specific acts of persecution related to the cause of persecution. However, these conditions are not included in this group. will be less than those who have left.” Shortly after the start of the invasion, the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs determined the status of asylum seekers: “From the word ‘war’, referring to the attack on Ukraine, already in the Russian Federation “opposition political representation may be punished, leaving as an active expression of opposition to the war – is considered an expression of opposition.”
Writer Elias Ganetti saw secession as the individual’s only chance to make a personal statement against war: especially in war, the military depends on obedience and therefore fears the authority of the individual. Russian paratrooper Pavel Filativ, in whose diary the British Guardian quotes – representative of the critical voices of many Russian soldiers already raised six months after the attack: “Our ancestors shed so much blood for freedom. It would have been easier to bear everything if Ukraine had attacked us ethically, but the truth is that we invaded Ukraine without anyone asking. Although it doesn’t change anything, I don’t want to support this madness anymore.” (Carsten Hinzmann)
Machine assistance was used for this article written by the editorial team. The article was carefully checked by the author Christian Storr before publication.
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