More Russian soldiers refuse to fight in Ukraine

Prepared to face consequences, many Russian troops are disobeying their officers and are not willing to go to Ukraine.

Soldiers of an elite Russian army brigade, who saw bitter combat with the Ukrainian forces in February end when the war began, did not show willingness to prepare for a second deployment in early April out of fear, The Guardian reports.

“It was soon evident that many soldiers did not want to go to Ukraine. The commanders were initially angry over our refusal, but they came to terms with it later as they could not do much,” says Dmitri, a member of the unit, who did not wish to reveal his real name.

“I want to return home alive,” says the soldier of a unit that was stationed in Russia’s far east during peacetime and first entered Ukraine from Belarus when the war started.

Dmitri and eight others told their officers that they did not want to rejoin the invasion. He was then transferred to Belgorod, a Russian city close to the border with Ukraine. “I have served for five years and my contract ends in June. I will serve my remaining time and then I am out of here,” he says. “I have nothing to be ashamed of. We aren’t officially in a state of war, so they could not force me to go,” he adds.

Dmitri’s refusal to fight highlights some of the military difficulties the Russian army has faced due to Kremlin’s political decision not to formally declare war on Ukraine and preferring instead to describe the invasion as a ‘special military operation’.

According to rules, Russian troops, who refuse to fight in Ukraine, can face dismissal but cannot be prosecuted, says Mikhail Benyash, a lawyer, who has been advising soldiers who choose that option.

Benyash says hundreds of soldiers have been seeking advice from him. Some of them include 12 national guardsmen from Russia’s southern city of Krasnodar, who were dismissed after refusing to go to Ukraine, says the lawyer.