One of the Russian soldiers who refused to fight in Ukraine told The Insider how he and other soldiers were kept in the basement, beaten, threatened to shoot their knees, were not allowed to drink or eat for more than a day, were not allowed to use the toilet, and were forced to go to the front. As a result, he agreed to go to the front line, where he was wounded and then was able to return to Russia. Now he intends to file a complaint about torture with the Investigative Committee.
According to the serviceman, he and others were brought to Bryanka, where they were first spoken to by a psychologist and then by Colonel Nechiporenko. He offered them to go to the front or to a pre-trial detention center. “We all said that we were in a pre-trial detention center. We thought that he was scaring us, and then we were gathered, 11 people, and taken away. We asked: “where?”, We were told: “to Rostov,” and in the end we arrived at the basement, ”said the military man.
“We were brought to the Ural, there were two people with weapons, a closed tent. We did not see where we were going, and the guards were sitting. We arrived there, disembarked, lined us up and began to take everything – piercing, cutting. Then they asked: “Do you have money? They won’t feed you here, they buy everything themselves here.” We answered: “Yes, there is,” and bought ourselves something to eat. As a result, after two hours they said: “Go down to the basement,” we went down, they closed all the doors. We sat on the floor for six hours in this basement. They knocked, but they did not pay attention. Six hours passed, we were taken out and told: “Pack your things, you will go.” In the evening, in confusion, they say to us: “Sit down, everything will be explained to you there.” As a result, we were brought to an unknown forest at eleven in the evening. We asked: “Where did we come?”, We were told: “This is the 57th brigade,” the source told The Insider.
In the forest, the political officer spoke to them again, and they again refused to go to the front, the source said. After that, they were again loaded into the Ural and taken in an unknown direction:
“We arrived, and they told us:“ There will be a complete ass with you now. As a result, five people agree [to go to the front], and six of us were taken somewhere not far from this place to some kind of forest, one by one they were dropped off from the Ural, our hands were tied and our eyes were sealed with adhesive tape. We climbed out of the Ural one by one, they tied us up, and then we climbed back in. So everyone was tied up and taken to some incomprehensible place. We do not see where, we are blindfolded. We were dropped off, put against the wall, the laces were removed, the belts were removed, all personal belongings were taken away. As a result, they put three people in rooms one meter by one meter, where we sat for twenty-seven hours with our eyes and hands tied, no water, no going to the toilet, nothing. After that, our hands and eyes were untied. About an hour passed, some types in masks come in and say: “Will you go to the front or not?” Four of us agree, there are two of us left, we did not agree and said that we would not go. As a result, ten minutes later they dragged us both out, started beating us and threatened to shoot us in the knees. After that, we agreed."
According to the military, they beat me mainly on the legs and lower back, so that there were no visible bruises. The people who beat them were wearing balaclavas. “There were three of them, two were beating, one was loading a gun. Then he jerked the shutter, put it on his knee, to which I say: “Guys, tie it up. Everything, we agree,” — said the source.
Shortly after being sent to the front, The Insider's interlocutor was hospitalized with a shell shock, after which he ended up in Russia.
The fact that the Russian military, who refused to fight in Ukraine, is being held in custody in Bryanka, Luhansk region, beaten and forced to return to the front, became known on July 26. Several military men who managed to get out of prison at once told The Insider that the fighters of the Wagner PMC and representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense — Colonel Nechiporenko and Lieutenant Colonel Tumanov — are “breaking” people. The Russian military leadership denied any involvement in what is happening in Bryanka, stating that the contract soldiers are being held by the Luhansk military. At least 130 people were kept in the "special center", people were taken back to the front and new "refuseniks" were brought in. The Insider published information about 17 of them.
The Insider obtained an archive of complaints to the Russian military prosecutor's office, which reflects the real situation that developed during the war in Ukraine. The Insider and Bellingcat were able to independently verify the authenticity of the emails in this archive. As can be seen from the appeals, conscripts are thrown into the combat zone by deceit or coercion, soldiers are not provided with normal food and medical care, contract soldiers deliberately violate all the rules and regulations of the charter in order to be removed from service, and parents cannot receive any information about their prisoners or killed children. From the same complaints of Russian citizens, one can learn about the looting and atrocities of Russian soldiers.