Desertion drama: Soldiers flee Siberian base via taxi
Ten people escaped from a military unit in the village of Kochenyevo in the Novosibirsk region, reported the head of the district, Yevgeny Antipov. According to him, they left the unit by taxi. Some of the escapees had previously been detained for desertion.
Many of the reports presented by Russian media or authorities are elements of propaganda. Such reports are part of the information war conducted by the Russian Federation.
The soldiers fled on the evening of 12 November, and most of them are residents of the Krasnodar region, according to a source. The source stated that six soldiers headed to the Kemerovo region. Among them were individuals who had previously left military units in Russia without permission.
Unit for deserters
In total, about 30 people from the Central Military District were assigned to the military unit in Kochenyevo. They had previously deserted from military units for various reasons. They were supposed to be sent to the front in Ukraine.
According to the Baza channel, five escapees have already been apprehended by the police, and the remaining have been placed on the wanted list. Frightened residents of Kochenyevo were assured that the escapees were not armed.
They don't want to go to war
According to Mediazona's calculations, from January to July, Russian military courts handled 5,204 cases of unauthorised absence from service. This number exceeds those for the entire year of 2023, during which courts received 5,096 similar cases.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, over 10,000 Russians have been involved in criminal cases concerning refusal of service. These statistics also include military personnel accused of disobedience and deserters. By mid-June, 8,594 of them had already been sentenced.
Dozens of verdicts daily
Russian courts are working tirelessly. About 800 indictments are being processed monthly, and roughly 40 applications are being processed daily.
The judges typically impose suspended sentences, which allows the command to send the convicted to the front in Ukraine. There are 100 garrisons and 9 district and maritime military courts in Russia.
Every unauthorised departure from a unit is considered a crime committed during the mobilisation period. Penalties resulting from the above and other "military" articles were intensified simultaneously with the announcement of the mass draft of Russians for the war.
