Russia’s military judiciary has opened its first criminal case against a reservist who refused to fight in Ukraine, human rights lawyer Pavel Chekov revealed on Thursday.
The defendant responded to the commander who was questioning him, as the activist explained on the social network Telegram: “I will not go to any Ukraine, nor do I intend to shoot any Ukrainians.”
He is a native of Siberian Yakutia and the events took place in a barracks in Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Buryatia region in Russia.
Then, according to his testimony transmitted by the Effie Agency, the officers of the military unit threatened to retaliate and start an operation that led to his escape.
The fugitive, a sergeant, was mobilized on September 23 and removed from his military unit five days later.
A reservist, called up as part of the partial mobilization decree issued by President Vladimir Putin, may be sentenced to several years in prison.
Hundreds of thousands of Russians of military age have left Russia in recent weeks for fear of being sent to the front lines in Ukraine.
In addition, many volunteers and volunteers denounced the lack of equipment, poor conditions of its maintenance, as well as the lack of military training.
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