AJ
Primosky Krai contract recruiters are making the news again in cases of 9 conscripts who were held on a train and forced to sign military contracts for the war in Ukraine prior to their arrival at their service locations.
Parents of conscripts from the Khakassia, Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions signed a collective complaint to the Prosecutor’s Office, which was obtained and viewed by Astra.
According to the reports, relatives were sending their sons to their locations in the Primosky Krai (military unit 21634 in Ussuriysk and military unit 16871 in Sibircevo), at which point two sergeants and an officer forced the conscripts to sign contracts using physical force and psychological blackmail.
Conscript Artem Shushakov was forced to do pushups and squats despite having a high fever, while Conscript Ivan Morozov signed a contract lying on the floor of the train with an arm held behind his back by one of the three men, and legs held by the other.
Those who refused to sign military contracts were not given water for the duration of the journey and were not allowed to leave the train carriage, according to the complaint.
Mother of Conscript Semen Sergeev claimed the men had said: “You’re not a man, you want your mother to take a helmet and a bulletproof vest, and you’re lying somewhere,” adding that Semen had been humiliated by the agitators.
According to Natalia, the staff of the military units also called the parents of some of the conscripts and forced them to persuade their sons to sign contracts, noting that around 150 were persuaded from the 500 passengers on the train, most of whom were conscripted in December.
Soldiers stated that the pressure on them had been exerted by Junior Lieutenant Artem Kharitonov.
“In fact, a system of moral suppression was established, including constant psychological pressure, shouting, threats, humiliation, conversations in a rude and obscene form, waking up at night during roll call, when we were deliberately awakened for pressure, conversations and ‘explanations’, depriving us of sleep; creating an atmosphere of constant fear for our health and safety,” the relatives stated in a complaint.
Parents demanded to hold both the sergeants and Lieutenant Kharkitonov accountable and to invalidate the contracts that were signed under pressure.
In addition to Artem Shushakov, Semen Sergeev and Ivan Morozov, the complaints were signed by the parents of six other conscripts, including Viktor Dementiev, Lev Isoyev, Kirill Pletnev, Umijon Avezov, Ruslanbek Baratdinov and Alexander Sarazhakov.
According to the reports, the document refers to the same Primosky unit 21634 where local lawyer Maxim Chihunov has claimed to be committing torture and rape of military personal, with extortion of money and threats of “nullification”.
Lieutenant Alexander Emelanov from the same military unit 16861 is known to have shot dead 19-year-old Conscript Artem Antonov, but the court subsequently discontinued the case against Emelyanov after he went to war.
Astra have also written about how employees of the same units lured marginalised individuals to war, falsely married them, received payments for themselves and tried to transfer them to stormtroopers so that they would die faster.
In April 2024, reports surfaced about 27 mobilised refusers from 16871 were locked up in unit 24776 in Ussuriysk, but after Astra’s first publications about the situations, the sending of military personnel to Ukraine was postponed for an indefinite period, but the conscripts’ relatives recorded a video appeal demanding to hold the command accountable.
Following Astra’s publication on January 21 that reported on the conscripts, the command of the Eastern Military District began an investigation of the military units, according to the Chelyabinsk edition of 74 RU, citing a representative from the Russian MoD.
“An investigation is being conducted by the command of the Eastern Military District on this matter. In the case of identifying violations of the law, the guilty persons will be held accountable,” the department commented.
Before this the municipal deputy Anastasia Borisova asked the military prosecutor’s office to very information about the coercion of two conscripts from Miass to sign contracts.
