Russian recruits sentenced to 3 years in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine

Moscow: Two Russian conscripts who refused to fight in Ukraine last year have been sentenced to three years in prison, Russia’s Kommersant daily reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the case.

Yury Degtyarev and Alexei Selivanov were among the first recruits to be detained for refusing service during mobilization. According to the investigation, both recruits caused significant harm to the interests of the service.

“Their conduct undermined military discipline and command authority and provide for up to ten years in prison for refusing to comply with an order as a member of a group with serious consequences,” an official familiar with the matter said.

The video of their demonstrative arrest during a lineup in front of their fellow soldiers at a military base in Belgorod was widely shared on social media in November last year.

One of the soldiers unsuccessfully appealed his sentence, Kommersant reported.

Russia’s military courts have issued convictions in more than half of the 708 criminal cases opened against conscripts, according to the independent news site Mediazona.

Russian lawmakers passed sweeping legislation introducing jail terms of up to 15 years for acts days ahead of Putin’s announcement of a “partial” mobilization in September last year.

In a televised address last year, Putin had warned Western nations supporting Ukraine that Moscow would defend itself with the might of all its vast arsenal if faced with a nuclear threat from the West.

“We are talking about partial mobilisation. That is, only citizens who are currently in the reserves and, above all, those who have served in the armed forces have military skills and relevant experience. Only they will be subject to conscription,” he had said in the speech.

“Conscripts will obligatorily go through additional military training based on the experience of the special military operation before departing to the units,” Putin said, according to an Associated Press news agency translation.

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