Posted on 06/01/2022 3:37:50 PM PDT by marcusmaximus
Hundreds of Russian soldiers have escaped the fighting in Ukraine or refused to take part during the early stages of the war, according to military decrees viewed by The Wall Street Journal as well as accused soldiers and lawyers defending them.
Military analysts and Ukrainian officials say there have been many more.
Russia’s army stumbled badly early in its invasion of Ukraine and suffered thousands of casualties and the loss of an estimated quarter of its deployed military hardware, a senior Pentagon official said in April. Desertions and insubordination among soldiers, Interior Ministry troops and members of the National Guard are compounding the problem.
The desertions place Russian authorities in a bind over how to punish those who refuse to serve without drawing more attention to the issue, defense experts said. The Russian military is short on manpower and seeking recruits to help turn the tide in Ukraine.
Penalties have so far been largely limited to formal dismissals from service. Because Russia hasn’t declared war on Ukraine, there also are few legal grounds for criminal charges against those who refuse to serve abroad, according to a lawyer and former military prosecutor’s assistant who is defending soldiers fired for insubordination.
“So many people don’t want to fight,” said Mikhail Benyash, a Russian lawyer representing a dozen members of the National Guard, a domestic military force that quashes protests in Russia. Mr. Benyash is assisting soldiers appealing their dismissals after they refused orders to enter Ukraine in February, according to National Guard documents. Members of the guard were sent into Ukraine to patrol streets and suppress dissent in occupied areas.
Government officials in Moscow didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Russian soldier Albert Sakhibgareev, 24 years old, was ordered to Russia’s Belgorod Region on Feb. 8 for military exercises, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
I wish all Russian troops would break ranks over their Ukraine orders.
Those are UKRAINIAN soldiers.
Yeah but......heh
Don’t believe propaganda, like this:
Russians Accused of Raping and Killing a 1-Year-Old Child, Says Ukraine official
May 20, 2022
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/russians-accused-raping-killing-one-105735773.html
Because it can turn out to be just bullshit lies and propaganda, eagerly retransmitted as factual by the MSM.
(Sort of like 1917 MSM stories all over American about “German Huns” bayoneting Belgian babies for fun.)
Ukraine Official Fired Over Handling of Russian Sexual Assault Claims
5/31/22
A Ukrainian official has been relieved of her duties over her handling of reports detailing sexual assault allegations made against Russians in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, removed Lyudmila Denisova, the parliament’s commissioner for human rights, from her post, according to Ukrainska Pravda. No new appointment has been made to fill the role.
The move to dismiss Denisova came after outrage about the wording used in public reports about alleged sexual assaults committed by Russians, as well as the alleged dissemination in those reports of unverified information. Despite accusations from Ukraine, the Kremlin has repeatedly denied that Russian soldiers have committed war crimes or sexual assaults during the invasion.
Last week, Ukrainian media outlets and journalists signed an open letter in which they requested that reports concerning rape and sexual assault be “published with caution,” particularly when involving children, according to an English translation of the letter.
The open letter also stated that “it is important to understand that sexual crimes during war are an instrument of genocide, an instrument of waging war without rules, but they cannot serve as illustrative material to inflame the emotions of the audience.”
The letter from the journalists indicated how reports from Denisova went into great detail about the alleged rape of children, some as young as 6 months old, by Russians.
The letter also criticized Denisova for including details of cases that the journalists said were unverified and asked her to “check the facts before publication” and “disclose only information for which there is sufficient evidence.”
The letter went on to say that the information put out by Denisova’s office is regarded as factual by the media, and is then used in articles and in speeches by public figures.
According to the online Ukrinform news platform, one member of the Ukrainian parliament, Pavlo Frolov, provided a number of reasons why Denisova was removed, including “the numerous details of ‘unnatural sexual offenses’ and child sexual abuses in the occupied territories, which were unsupported by evidence and only harmed Ukraine.”
You have to just ignore all this stuff.
If you can interpret satellite imagery, you can believe that. If both sides agree that something is so, then it probably is.
But if either side says something and it is not confirmed by the other, then it’s just people filing copy by deadline so their editor doesn’t rage.
Keep relying on Ukrainian fake intel and keep being owned.
Lots of owning is coming.
If too may do, they will institute orders to shoot deserters and those who run from the enemy, like in WWII.
Sounds like our woke millitary in the next war.
What, no showers?! I quit.
100s? Really? 100s? lol
That’s like .004% of the total number of troops in UKR.
Shove it where the sun doesn’t shine Neocon!
That's what the title says, but among the 144 comments are those that say these soldiers are complaining of not having enough weaponry.
Note that video ends with a patriotic chant by all.
It may be true but the real story seems to be that the Russian troops, inept as they may be, slowly but persistently keep bashing cities, plodding into and overtaking villages, generally holding what they have subdued.
I’m reminded of the observation of a British general late in WW II who, when advised that the Red Army was a bunch of drunks fueled by vodka, observed that they kept losing battle after battle, all the way from Stalingrad to the German border.
All of the UAF mutiny videos (there are now more than a dozen”) end with “Slava Ukrainu,” which is the same as saying, “God Bless America” in our context.
That is, they are affirming they are patriotic Ukrainians, but won’t follow stupid and suicidal orders from officers they have never met who are not near the battle.
The others are saying something else.
Pooty Poot looks like he about to vomit up his last meal. Must be from his cancer meds.
“Glory to Ukraine” = “God Bless America” at the end of the many Ukrainian mutiny videos. “We are still patriots but we refuse to follow stupidly suicidal orders.”
I could post many of the mutiny videos here, I’m sure you’ve seen them.
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