Young man on mandatory service kills himself in Russia’s Komi: ‘I decided to die in my own land without foreign blood on my hands’

Sergey Gridin, 20, a young man from Russia’s Komi republic undergoing mandatory conscription, has killed himself at a military base near Moscow, reported by Telegram channels and confirmed by his relatives to 7x7.

Gridin’s comrades-in-arms reportedly found him hanging dead on his belt on 10 February. 7x7 has a photo of Gridin’s alleged death note. His relatives have confirmed that the handwriting of the person who wrote the note is very similar to Gridin’s.

The note says the young man was “included into a rotation list of servicemen going to the Ukraine War”. It is also stated that Gridin asked his superior officers to let him stay where he was “since nobody of our company ever returned from there”, but this only resulted in his commander and sergeants “constantly pestering” the conscript with abuse.

“I cannot describe all the humiliation this scum used against me, but I can no longer live with it either. I have made a decision: I will die in my own land without foreign blood on my hands”.

Russia’s General Staff promised in October that men called-up for mandatory conscription in autumn (all young men between the ages of 18 and 27 must serve in the Russian Army for one year if they are physically and mentally fit; those are not the same as mobilised draftees) would not be used in the Ukraine War.