Russian soldiers held in basements following refusal to fight in Ukraine

A Russian soldier convicted of disobedience was among a group of recruits who accused their superiors of taking them to a basement in eastern Ukraine after they refused to fight, according to an independent Russian newspaper.

They were kept in basements under unhygienic conditions and inadequate diets.

The punishment of soldier Yevgeny Frolov in the far east town of Spassk-Dalny on June 13th occurred days after the release of a new video claiming to show how Russian soldiers in Ukraine were trapped due to their disobedience to go to the front line with insufficient equipment and support.

“We got stuck in this hole after we refused to go to the front line,” a man is heard outside the frame saying in the video, showing men in military uniforms, lying in a wet room as a basement with walls in the collapse.

There are no commanders to take us to the front line. No equipment, no evacuation teams, no radio. We were thrown into the forest as if we were”, the man adds to the video, which was released by the independent Russian channel Astra, on the telegram, July 8th.

Troops in the new video released by Astra were identified as members of the 60th Special Brigade of the Russian Infantry. This video is the latest evidence that more than dozens of such improvised content items were allegedly used to punish Russian soldiers who refused to fight in Ukraine.

Frolov, a soldier convicted of disobedience in a military court in Spasssk-Dalny, was among a group of recruits allegedly kept in similar basements in the village of Zaviane Bazhania, on Russia's territory controlled by the eastern region of Donetsk in Ukraine, according to Astra.

Free Europe Radio has not been able to confirm independently whether Frolov was held in that basement after refusing to fight in Ukraine, however, on the military court's website Spasssk-Dalny was reportedly convicted of disobedience.

He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, according to Astras, who cited relatives and his fellow fighters.

On July 15th, Frolov's listed lawyer has not answered the questions.

The lawyer for the rights of Russian soldiers, Yelena Popova, told Russian Radio Free Europe that the main reason soldiers are forced to stay in these prisons on the battlefield is that “forces to go back to front”.

A commander in a war zone does not need to imprison a person to convince him, but he has to force him there to go to the front to kill and kill. Therefore, he uses such barbarous methods,” said Popova, calling it the medieval “just “ ” this practice.

One of the Russian soldiers, who was allegedly imprisoned in a basement with Frolov in Zawitne Bazhannyia for disobedience to fight, filed a complaint with Russia's Detective Commission in November 2022.

He complained of wrong tactical and strategic estimates by the highest command, continuing lies against soldiers in lower rank, [and] insufficient medical and material support. ”

Maksim Grebenyuk, the lawyer who represented Nosov, told Russian Radio Free Europe in December that he had several Russian soldiers as clients who “were thrown into the basement, where they were kept in inhumane conditions without the formalisation of procedural documents, and no charges were filed against them. ”

Popova told the Russian Radio Service Free Europe that soldiers punished in that way often hesitate to wage legal warfare.

“They have been under stress for a long time, in conditions where the law doesn't function, and where only force and violence” works, she said.

Relatives of recruits in the basement video discovered last week told Astra they were unable to contact the soldiers after the video became public. / REL