Russia, “hundreds of soldiers refuse to fight”

“Hundreds and hundreds” of Russian soldiers refuse to fight in Ukraine. To tell the Guardian is Mikhail Benyash, the lawyer who supports the dodgers. Since officially the one in Ukraine is only a “special operation”, anyone who refuses to fight risks dismissal at most, explains the lawyer, stressing that no one has been arrested. Meanwhile, the shortage of infantry soldiers is emerging as one of the most important problems facing the Kremlin. “The commanders threaten to send the soldiers to jail, but we explain to them that they can say no,” said Benyash, whose law firm was contacted by “hundreds and hundreds of soldiers”. “There is no legal basis for initiating a criminal case if a soldier refuses to fight outside Russian territory” as no war has been declared, he explains. Among those who refused is Dmitri, the name is a fictional one, soldier in a unit based in the Russian Far East. In February he was sent to fight in Ukraine, starting from Belarus. The unit then withdrew, but in April it was decided to return to the front. “It quickly became clear that not everyone agreed. Many of us just didn’t want to go back. I want to go home. Not in a coffin,” said Dmitri, who refused to go back to fight with others. eight companions. The superiors “were furious, but they had to calm down because there wasn’t much they could do,” he told the Guardian. Dmitri has now been transferred to Belgorod, on Russian soil, and intends to stay there until June, when his five-year contract with the army expires. the main problems of Russia in Ukraine, the shortage of infantry soldiers. At the time of the invasion, 150,000 men were deployed, 80% of the ground troops, but since then the army has faced a high number of casualties and low troop morale. Russian President Vladimir Putin “must make a decision on mobilization in the coming weeks – says military analyst Rob Lee – Russia does not have enough ground units with contracted soldiers for sustainable rotation. The troops are becoming exhausted”. Mercenaries are not enough, while a general mobilization or recourse to conscripts would send poorly trained soldiers to the front and could create discontent in internal public opinion.