A woman from the southern Russian city of Voronezh who was facing a criminal prosecution for allegedly digging up and burning her dead husband’s body in a “Slavic ritual”, has agreed to enlist in the Russian army in exchange for having the charges against her dropped, local news outlet Moyo-Online reported on Monday.
The charges against Yelena Podobedova for desecrating a dead body were dropped in October after she signed a contract with the Russian Defence Ministry, Moyo-Online wrote.
According to investigators, Podobedova and her lover Sergey Polishchyuk, who was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison last month, dug up her husband’s body and burnt it in 2021.
Podobedova later claimed that she had carried out her late husband’s “last wish” to be cremated, though Polishchyuk said Podobedova had “begged” him to burn the body in a bonfire “according to ancient Slavic custom”.
Unlike Russian men, there is no mandatory requirement for Russian women to serve in the military, though they are permitted to enlist if they choose to do so. Former Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu said in 2023 that up to 1,100 women were fighting in Ukraine at the time, “one-third” of whom he said had won medals. However, by early this year, Shoigu said that a total of 37,500 women were serving in the Russian army.
In October, Vladimir Putin signed a law exempting defendants who sign up to fight in Ukraine from criminal liability, enabling suspects charged with felony offences, including murder, rape, and battery, to have their cases dismissed before they are even indicted.