Russian servicemen at a military forum outside Moscow, Russia, 15 August 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
Approximately 100 Russian servicemen attempted to desert from a military base where they were being held in the city of Krasnodar in Russia’s North Caucasus late on Friday, Telegram channel Baza has reported.
The servicemen, who were in custody in a specially fenced off area having all previously made attempts to desert their units, broke through a security fence and stormed the Military Commandant’s office, according to Baza.
The men were unarmed and nobody was harmed in the incident, in which just seven soldiers ultimately managed to escape from the base, according to Baza, four of whom have already been caught. Three others remain at large, and police have blocked off the road leading to the military barracks and are reportedly inspecting vehicles.
A lawyer representing two of the 100 incarcerated soldiers being held at the base, who asked not to be named, told Telegram news channel Astra that the incident had occurred after it emerged that some other incarcerated servicemen had bribed the base’s commanders into allowing them to temporarily leave the base and had then failed to return as agreed.
“The guys rioted. How can you let some guys go just because they have money?” the wife of one serviceman told Astra, adding, “They stormed the office, demanding to know why they couldn’t have time off too.”
The lawyer said some of the men had been held at the site for more than six months, during which time they had been given no access to medical care.
“They live in tents, outdoors. They get fed. They have a regular outdoor toilet and a shower. They’re fenced in. They never leave the area. In the morning they have roll-call, and then again in the evening. That’s it. There are over 100 people doing nothing. They’re not doing military service. They’re not working,” he concluded.
