About 500 Russian troops refused to fight and returned to Kabardino-Balkaria

The Russian opposition edition of "Mediazone" writes about it, Censor.NET reports.

We are talking about Rosguard soldiers. They were supposed to guard the streets of the captured cities, but instead found themselves at the forefront and refused to fight.

The Kabardino-Balkarian Rosguard decided to leave Ukraine at the very beginning of the full-scale invasion. They were stormed in Kharkiv. The occupiers were dissatisfied with this, as well as with the fact that they were not provided with adequate weapons and transport.

"We had AK, PKK, DSR, ammunition for each and three grenades. We had a branch of AGS, respectively, had their own weapons. The hardest thing we had - armored personnel carriers," - told reporters one of them.

Also, according to the fighters, they did not have the appropriate training. In Russia, they were taught to guard objects, not to storm cities and villages.

The leadership threatened the Rosguardians with a tribunal, but this did not stop them. On February 28, they were already in the Belgorod region, and on March 4 they went back to Kabardino-Balkaria. The Rosguardians claim that the leadership knew about their return. But they were still charged with a serious disciplinary violation.

During March and early April, all those who returned from Kharkiv were released. At least 140 of the 500 Rosguardians have filed lawsuits for reinstatement. They insist that they did not refuse to fight, but only asked the command to provide them with everything they needed.

Most of them refused to be reinstated. At the same time, Ukraine is never directly mentioned in court decisions: it is called "the place of performance of official duties."

This is not the only case, but the most widespread. Soldiers from Krasnodar, Pskov, Vladikavkaz, Khakassia, and the occupied Crimea also refused to fight and returned to Russia. They did the same to all of them - they fired them.

“We wandered through the fields for several days.” In the first days of the invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of Russian Guards refused to fight and returned — and are now appealing their dismissal in court

Media zone: https://zona.media/article/2022/06/08/ili-smrt
Pavel Vasiliev
June 8, 2022, 11:21
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Illustration: Anya Leonova / Media zone
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In the confusion of the first days of the invasion, the Russian army suffered heavy losses. Near Kiev and Kharkov, almost before everyone else, there were parts of the Rosgvardiya, which according to the plan were supposed to be engaged in “protecting streets and intersections” in the captured cities, and not storming them. Many fighters refused to continue fighting and returned, soon they were fired. In order to restore the picture of those days and figure out what is happening with these servicemen now, Mediazona studied lawsuits related to dismissals in courts across the country and talked with the military and National guardsmen in several regions. That’s the main thing we understood:

in the first days of the war, the soldiers of the Regardie were on the front line, although according to the plan they had to go at the end and be engaged in “guarding streets and intersections” of the captured cities;
they were not ready to storm Kiev and Kharkov — the columns came under fire and suffered significant losses;
as a result, many decided not to fight further and returned back, this happened at least with fighters from Krasnodar, Khakassia, Kabardino-Balkaria and North Ossetia;
most of all — about 500 people — returned to Kabardino-Balkaria, although they were threatened with the status of “war criminals”;
already in Russia, a general of the Russian Guard met with the fighters, who assured them that “no one considers them refuseniks, no one considers you deserters”;
but after returning, protocols were drawn up for all of them for committing a “gross disciplinary offense” and dismissed from the service;
according to this scheme, “refuseniks” are fired all over the country;
some are appealing the dismissal in court — most of the lawsuits were filed in Kabardino-Balkaria (about 140) and North Ossetia (about 40);
so far, the courts have refused everyone, while Ukraine is referred to in decisions exclusively as a “place of performance of an official task.”

“All those who cross the border in the opposite direction will be considered war criminals,” — this is how Lieutenant Colonel Zaur Ikaev addressed his subordinates at the formation. Ikaev is the chief of staff of the 3723 unit located in Kabardino—Balkaria, which belongs to the troops of the National Guard of Russia.

The conversation took place on February 28, the fifth day of the war, in the north of the Kharkiv region. Several hundred soldiers of the Russian Guard from this unit were on the line — they decided to leave Ukraine, where they had already spent four days.

On the very first day of the invasion of Ukraine, the National guardsmen, who were not prepared for intensive military operations, were, in fact, thrown into the assault of Kharkov. The fighters told Mediazone that according to the plan, units of the Ministry of Defense were supposed to go in the first echelon, and the Rosgvardiya — in the fifth echelon: its turn came at a time when the territory was already “cleared” from Ukrainian forces. “Then we stop by and take the object under protection — the administration, the SBU, the police — so that they are not beaten back. That was the plan,” explains one of the fighters.

But things didn’t go according to plan. The Russian Guards say that for unclear reasons they entered the territory of Ukraine earlier than the formations of the armed forces. According to the fighters, they mostly moved not on armored vehicles, but on trucks covered with tarpaulins, while the weapons issued to them were not intended for attacks on settlements defended by the Ukrainian military.

“We had AK, PKK, SVD, ammunition for each and three grenades. We had a branch of the AGS, respectively, they had their own weapons. The hardest thing we had was armored personnel carriers,” says one of the National guardsmen who found themselves near Kharkov.

“We’re just not designed for these tasks,” says another.

They claim that they have never received appropriate training. So, at the exercises “Zaslon-2022” in the Kursk region, from where a part was transferred to Ukraine, classes were held with them on storming the building, for example, when detaining a gang. “The riot police enter the building, comb it, and we surround it, put up a cordon, do not let anyone through, so that no one enters, no one leaves,” the fighter explains. — [In fact, these are classes] for the protection of public order, state facilities. But not by storming a city or village.”

Near Kharkov, the National guardsmen came under fire and, confused due to the lack of coordination and clear command, decided to return back to the Russian border a couple of days later.

Communicating with his subordinates after that, Lieutenant Colonel Ikaev warned: if they go to Russia, weapons will be taken away from them at the border, and all those who return will certainly fall under the inspection of the military prosecutor’s office. “So that everyone understands that everyone who crosses the border will be war criminals,” he repeated his threats. — A decree of the President of the Russian Federation is being issued about this, maybe even issued already. So that everyone understands and appreciates it all for themselves. I’m not saying this in order to keep someone here and so on. I’m just saying to let you know.”

Already on February 28, the employees who did not want to continue participating in the battles were in Zhuravlevka, a border village in the Belgorod region. Then they arrived in Zorino, a temporary deployment point in the Kursk region. There they surrendered their weapons and on March 4 went to their native part, to the Kabardian village of Zvezdny.

The employees insist that this was done with the consent of the management and no one held them. Later in court, the commanders will say that all these days they persuaded the fighters to return back, but they refused to participate “in the performance of official tasks” and voluntarily left the temporary deployment point.

Two generals came to Zorino to sort out the situation, the fighters say; one of them assured them at the formation that they were not in danger of persecution.

About 500 fighters returned to Zvezdny. Despite all the assurances, the National guardsmen recall, protocols were drawn up against them for a gross disciplinary offense. As a result, during March and at the beginning of April, about 500 servicemen were dismissed — all those who returned from near Kharkov.

This is not the only known case of mass refusal of the military or National Guard officers to participate in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine, but the most numerous. In addition to fighters from Kabardino-Balkaria, it is known about a significant number of refuseniks from Krasnodar, Pskov, Vladikavkaz, Khakassia and Crimea. They did the same to everyone — they were dismissed from the service.

I think you’re missing the point. The numbers aren’t the news, the news is that Russia has 2 options: General Mobilisation or see its forces just walking away from the battlefield.

Currently, Russian soldiers are entirely free to refuse to fight Ukrainians because Putin’s own legislation gives them a loophole.

Until there’s a general mobilisation and Putin stops legislating against any official recognition of this being a war, the law is totally on their side.

That’s why it is newsworthy. How Russia deals with this could either massively escalate the conflict, or give it a way to scale down operations.

The Ukrainian equivalent is demonstrably much larger, but far less relevant.

Consider what would happen if you add the 18+ male population that left the country; if half of them can be said to have avoided the draft, that’s potentially over 500,000 men refusing to fight.

Add maybe 20,000 already in the fight who’ve surrendered, gone AWOL or are threatening to disobey orders.

Conclusion? Ukraine still has at least 10 million people who MIGHT choose to fight if they’re cornered. So even a net 500k loss is significant but doesn’t fundamentally affect the options.

And that’s assuming that none of the men who did leave right at the start of the war, or just happened to be abroad when it kicked off (like one of my colleagues who was on a contract in the in the Middle East when war broke out) are preparing to go back far better prepared than they otherwise would’ve been.

A couple of cars with Ukes in them, and a Luton van (moving van) set off from one of the regional cities here, and the van contained:.. Tinned food, MREs, medicines, clothes, first aid kits, USB power packs, boots, body armour, drones and GoPros.

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