Russia forcibly recruits soldiers from occupied territories – the world

This spring is the highest rate of military recruitment in Russia in the last 14 years. At the end of March, Russian president Vladimir Putin issued a decree that orders a recruitment of 160,000 men aged 18 to 30. Their one-year-old service began 10. April.

The Ministry of Defense of Russia claims that the latest cycle of mobilization, which is conducted twice a year – in spring and autumn – has nothing to do with war against Ukraine.

However, men from Ukrainian regions of Donetska, Luganska, Zaporizhia and Herson, which Russia occupied, also refer to the service.

According to Ukrainian Eastern Group for Human Rights (EHRG), at least 300 people from occupied territories have been recruited to the Russian Army in the fall of 2024. years, including about 200 from Zaporizh and Herson, and 100 from Luganska and Donetska.

A little choice in occupied territories

« If they’re forcibly mobilizing me, I’ll kill myself, » said Oleksium (21) *. He lives in part of Zaporizh, who occupied Russia and wants to stay with his family. « Wherever I go, I would have to start my life again, » he says.

Although he now has a Russian passport, so far he managed to avoid recruitment. But, since last fall, Russian occupation authorities demand from men to apply for the army, says Oleksi.

Without Russian papers it is almost impossible to find a job or study at the university, explains. Although he has not heard of cases of forced recruitment, he says that the prophetic men volunteered voluntarily for service in the Russian army and signed contracts.

Another man, a 28-year-old occupier of the occupied village in the Lugan region, similarly describes the situation. He has not yet accepted the Russian passport and says that the occupying authorities make life difficult for people like him.

For example, the SIM card cards cannot be purchased without Russian paper, because the telecommunications system is under Russian control. This is confirmed by human rights activists.

Pressure to complete the Mobilization Plan

Those joining the army are first sent to Russia on training – usually in the southern regions of Rostov and Krasnodar, but also in the near Saint Petersburg or Moscow. Some are also sent to illegally an annexed Ukrainian Peninsula Crimea.

According to Pavle Lisjan, Ukrainian Human Rights Activator and the Head of Institute for Strategic Research and Security, Russian Army did not raise the barracks in occupied territories for security reasons.

« After training, many recruits are sent to the front after signing a contract with the Russian army, » says Lisjanski. « That decision is sometimes voluntary, but often under pressure, due to lack of other options. »

Only a rare avoid sending to the front, mainly with the help of connections or myths, and are arranged near Moscow or St. Petersburg. According to Lisjan, only a group of fifteen men did it last year.

The reason is that the Russian army has pressure to complete the mobilization plan. « They try to make the lack of regular soldiers for men who have already served military deadline, » he says.

Suspicious circumstances

One such case is described on the telegram channel and focuses on mobilization in the so-called People’s Republic of Donetsk. Thus a man from the occupied part of Donets was sent to Krasnodar’s area for military service and he was told that after the training will be sent to the front.

« Commander told him everything was already signed in his behalf, » said Dw Author of the Channel on Telegram Mihail *. The man addressed the Russian military prosecutor’s office for help, but his destiny is unknown, Mihail says.

They are not subject to military obligation only those who accepted the Russian passport and have more than 18 years old. All who completed the military term in the so-called « People’s Republics Donetsk and Lugansk », before February 2022, were mandatory. And the beginning of the Russian invasion.

According to Mihail, this includes former members of the separatist paravoyance, which have existed since 2014. until 2022. years, which are now sent to Russia for military service.

In addition, men of recruiting ages from these areas are invited in military offices for registration for military service. « But I can’t say that in which it’s scope, » says Mihail.

Penalties for conscience objection

It is practically impossible to refuse service in the Russian army, says Olha Sripnjuk, director of the Crimean Human Rights Group.

Russia began illegally to recruit men in 2015. years – first in Crimea, and then in other occupied parts of Ukraine, she says. « Before invasion in February 2022, about six thousand people with Crimea were recruited every year, from the Russian annexes of this peninsula 2014. Years. We do not have the correct data, but the numbers are probably increased, » adds scripting. « Adds scripting.

The rejection of a military service in Russia may result in a prison sent to two years. According to human rights organizations, at least 583 criminal proceedings have been launched in Crimea.

However, according to the Russian online magazine, who is critical of the Kremlin, none of the defendants received a prison sentence in the first half of 2024. years old. Year: they received parole, and the other monetary ones.

Forced recruitment is a war crime

However, these penalties do not release anyone from serving in the Russian army, says Skripnjuk, emphasizing that recruitment in occupied territories is violated international humanitarian law, which is a war crime.

Russia since 2022. Forcibly recruits Ukrainians living in occupied territories and often abuses them as « living shields, » she says. « We are known to us in which unarmed men are salty on the front in front of the regular army, which was the first to come under the opposing force. This was practiced in 2022. »

According to the Criminal Human Rights Group, Russia has arranged during the invasion of Ukraine in the fighting numerous recruits with an annexed crime. Skripnjuk says that from 2022. at least 1,873 members of Russian units with Crimea were killed, while 116 criminal inhabitants were trapped by the Ukrainian army.