Friends and family members of Russian men came forward this week to denounce that their loved ones were recruited to fight in Ukraine while they were drunk. Some of the victims were allegedly so inebriated that they could not have given informed consent by any rational standard.
Radio Free Europe (RFE) noted on Thursday that Russia’s losses in Ukraine have finally begun to exceed its recruitment rate – a serious problem in a brutal war of attrition against the determined Ukrainians. Accusations have begun to arise that Russia is addressing the issue by tricking inebriated men into signing up for military service, in some cases preying on men who were blackout drunk and completely unaware of their surroundings.
One 36-year-old father of four reported awakening in what he believed to be a detox facility only to discover he was sitting in a military recruitment center and had supposedly signed enlistment papers while unconscious.
Others have reportedly been tricked into signing military contracts while inebriated by police and other government officials who told them they were signing various mundane bureaucratic documents, like permission to conduct a police search.
“Either they sign for him while he’s drunk — like, literally moving his hand for him or something — or they talk him into it. Then, once he’s sobered up, the recruiter says, ‘Look, you signed, that’s it. Now it’s either the enlistment office or prison. Come with me, or you’re going to jail,’” said Russian human rights activist Sergei Krivenko.
“The situation is becoming more and more sad every year. It has shifted away from the large cities and into villages, settlements, and rural areas. There, security forces — using police or Investigative Committee vans — drive around following lists compiled by local authorities, specifically tracking down people with alcohol addiction,” said military analyst Aleksei Alshansky.
Some Russian activists who spoke to RFE feared the military is just looking for “cannon fodder” to soak up Ukrainian bullets, so the drunks who get press-ganged into service are likely to have short lifespans on the battlefield. Russian field commanders have reportedly begun grumbling about the poor quality of the latest recruits.
Ukrainian commanders claim some of Russia’s low-quality recruits have been sent to die in pointless propaganda exercises, such as raising flags of “conquest” over Ukrainian villages to simulate Russian battlefield advances – only to be obliterated by Ukrainian drones the moment the cameras stopped rolling.
The Times of London reported in March that criminal gangs are making money by getting unsuspecting men drunk, handing them over for military service, and pocketing their recruitment bonuses, which can range as high as 2.5 million rubles ($31,000).
Another horror has been unleashed upon the Russian public as the military drags killers and rapists out of prison to fight on the front lines in Ukraine – and then sends them home to kill again. A Russian dissident group called Vyorstka estimated that at least 274 Russian civilians have been killed by former prisoners who were set free after fighting in Ukraine.
In late March, a Russian soldier claimed on video that a wave of old, physically unfit, and alcohol-addicted recruits has been stumbling into his unit with stories of having been press-ganged by “black recruiters” who stole their debit cards and cleaned out their bank accounts before shipping them off to the front.
“They f***ing recruited a bunch of cripples who can’t even f***ing walk on top of being mentally unwell,” the soldier fumed in his viral video.
“Russia is also accused of recruiting soldiers infected with HIV, hepatitis, and other diseases, who are reportedly deployed in segregated units and required to wear armbands identifying their illnesses,” the UK Telegraph reported.
The Telegraph noted that Russia is still luring “thousands of Africans to the front lines” and recruiting from other migrant groups, despite promises to halt the practice after complaints from foreign governments. Criminal gangs and “black recruiters” appear to be giving the Kremlin a bit of deniability, allowing it to claim that government officials are not deliberately pressing migrants into service.
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