Russian conscripts forced to Kursk amid defiance and desperation
Russians do not want to defend Kursk. According to private correspondence published online, hundreds of conscripts have been forcibly transported to territories occupied by Ukrainians in the Kursk region. They only discovered their destination upon arrival.
Several hundred resisting Russian conscripts were forcibly put on a plane and transported from St. Petersburg to Kursk. According to independent ASTRA Press, the soldiers have already been armed and will soon be sent to the front.
These are likely the same individuals taken the day before from the military village of Kamenka near St. Petersburg, where the 138th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade is stationed. At least 500 men who refused to fight were held there.
Sick, old, and infirm
Meanwhile, criminal cases have already been initiated against some refusing to leave the unit; an investigation is underway, and others are awaiting a military commission. Among those detained are men with health, physical, and mental problems: "They took a man with category D, a man around 70 years old who can barely walk, and another man without an eye..."
Forced despatch to Kursk
Relatives of conscripts sent to Kursk told ASTRA Press that on Tuesday around 22:00 GMT, they received messages from the detained men. The conscripts reported that they were suddenly called to the formation and then, without any explanation, were put into KAMAZ lorries and taken under guard to a military airport.
The first "batch" – about 300 people – was sent in an unknown direction. The second group – about 150 people – landed 6 kilometres from Kursk in the morning at a military training ground. "They took them, caught them like a package, despatched them and took them away," say their wives and mothers.
The women fear that their loved ones "will be thrown to the front lines as cannon fodder."
In the morning, my son wrote that they are now dressing them, giving them a machine gun, and they will most likely go to fight, says one of the interlocutors, whose mobilised son is under psychiatric care after participating in the war.
