Relatives of those mobilized told about the “buying” of soldiers by mercenaries

Relatives of those mobilized from Khakassia, Altai Krai, and Kemerovo Region recorded a video appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. They are asking to take away the soldiers from the first line of the front line in the direction of Bakhmut, where the soldiers were sent without training and command, Sibir.Realii reports.

The authors of the appeal, published on the YouTube channel “Workers’ Democracy”, said that in September 2022, those mobilized were sent to the Omsk training grounds. They had to be trained there, but the relatives claim that it was done formally – the soldiers were not taught to use weapons. In November, they were taken to the annexed Krym for a week’s training, and in March to the test site in Kerch, where they conducted a week’s assault training.

On April 5, those mobilized – 501 people – were taken to the territory controlled by Russia in the Luhansk region of Ukraine, where two mercenaries of PMC “Wagner” were engaged in their combat training. On April 10, the soldiers were delivered to the Donetsk region and handed over to a separate sabotage and assault brigade “Veterans”.

“According to the Veterans, our mobilized guys were bought by them for 25,000 rubles per head, so they have the right to send them wherever they want,” the relatives said in the appeal.

After April 19, groups of mobilized soldiers will be sent on combat missions – often on the contact line, without specific instructions, without communication and presence of the command of the military unit to which they were assigned. There they bear heavy losses. According to those who managed to contact their relatives, the fate of about 130 of the 501 people is known.

• Mobilization in Russia was announced in the fall of 2022. Initially, the authorities claimed that only citizens with military experience would be called up, but this turned out to be a lie. Mobilized Russians repeatedly complained about poor service conditions, lack of ammunition and violence from the command. Mass media have repeatedly reported on high losses in their units.