Russian army deserters face torture and forced returns to front

Russian courts have handled more than eight thousand cases against soldiers since the beginning of the war with Ukraine. In the second year of the war, 2023, the number of cases increased fivefold compared to 2022. According to the independent Russian internet portal Mediazona, around 700 verdicts are issued each month. Most cases concern leaving the military unit without permission (88 percent), less often refusal to carry out an order (six percent), and desertion (three percent).

In some cases, courts only impose suspended sentences for leaving the military unit without permission, which allows the Russian army to send the convicted soldiers back to the front, said Ivan Chuvilyaev from the Russian movement "Go through the Forest," which supports deserters. The DW interviewee claims that about 70 percent of those who sought help from this organization this year are contract soldiers.

- Each of them was practically forced to sign a contract in one way or another. There are fewer and fewer mobilized men because many of them have already died. Everyone wants to escape because they have only two options: die or stand trial - explains the human rights defender.

- Sometimes deserters hide in areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia - says Ivan Chuvilyaev. It is dangerous because if they are caught, they face torture and being sent back to the front. Torture is common and threatens soldiers also for drinking alcohol, arguing with superiors, and leaving the unit without permission.

- It also happens that those who do not want to fight are placed in the basements of abandoned buildings, such as schools or hospitals, and tortured there. After a month spent in such a "cell" under inhumane conditions, they agree to anything, regardless of what awaits them - explains Ivan Chuvilyaev.

Many of those who want to escape are wounded. Vladimir (full name known to DW) chose the easiest escape route: through a hospital in the occupied Ukrainian region of Donetsk. In 2022, he was drafted into the Russian army but refused to sign a contract.

In the two years of fighting, Vladimir was hospitalized several times due to injuries. Before returning to the front, he escaped. However, he was caught and tortured in a basement, which his relatives found out about in 2024. His wife recalls that her husband was eventually forced to sign a contract with the Russian army. He was then sent to an assault brigade in April and soon after died on the front.

On a Telegram channel about mobilized persons from the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic," another deserter tells his story.

- They took us to a room without beds and windows. HIV and hepatitis patients were lying on damp mattresses. We had to sleep on the floor - he writes. He adds that he was tortured with beatings and electroshocks. Those who agreed to join the assault brigade were promised suspended sentences.

On February 24, 2022, when Russia's invasion of Ukraine began, Mikhail (name changed) served as a conscript in the Russian army. - We were told nothing about it; it did not seem like a full invasion was about to happen. Everyone thought it would end quickly at that time - this young man told DW.

However, the Russian invasion encountered fierce resistance in Ukraine. In the summer of 2022, Mikhail decided to sign a contract with the army after six months of service. He says he liked the social security: a good salary, mortgage for military personnel, and other benefits.

Watching war films, he also mentally prepared for what could happen to him. - I thought I was ready for death, injuries, and other losses. But it quickly turned out that nothing could convey the scale of the horror in the war - he recounts.

Mikhail was initially directed to a brigade in Russia. There, he was promised that he would serve locally and not be sent to the front. - I imagined myself going to work in the morning and coming home in the evening.

In September 2023, he and his colleagues were unexpectedly transferred to a reconnaissance company, where they were told they would be sent "to carry out certain tasks." They were placed in a military vehicle and transported to the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine.

- The front near Kharkiv had not yet opened - recalls Mikhail, who laid mines until the spring and ultimately crossed the border into Ukraine in June. He was injured in an attack. In the hospital, he could continuously watch Russian television. - They said on it that everything was going well and that Ukrainian soldiers were surrendering en masse. Everyone in my room laughed at that nonsense - he adds.

Mikhail recalls that one of the men who stayed with him in the hospital regretted deciding to serve in the Russian army. However, the high salary—around 200,000 rubles (more than $2000)—attracted the 40-year-old father of two children.

Those from Mikhail's brigade who refused to follow orders were also tortured. They were placed in pits in the ground, forced to wear heavy clothes and equipment on their bodies for long periods, and weights or truck wheel rims were tied to their feet.

- Says Mikhail, another belief has now replaced faith in the Kremlin's promises of quickly capturing Kyiv. - Politicians will eventually sit down at the negotiating table and agree, but they will not be able to restore the lives of the fallen - he adds.

According to him, most soldiers still do not want to flee, especially if they have families. - When you are 40 years old, with children and a home, moving to another country is like death - he believes and notes that many soldiers are afraid they will never see their families again.

He himself has parents in Russia, but they accepted his decision to flee the army. Initially, they supported the war against Ukraine but changed their minds after he told them about the real conditions at the front.

Mikhail, who barely escaped death several times, recalls how he once walked away from his colleagues to smoke a cigarette, and at that moment, they were hit by a grenade. - Later, I had to collect their body parts into black plastic bags - he says.

This and other similar events led him to desert. He turned to the movement "Go through the Forest," which helped him escape from Russia. As he says, it was easier than he thought. Now Mikhail is planning for the future: - I want to go to Costa Rica and work in the IT industry.