Russian soldiers resigning: Mercenaries or actual soldiers?

Civilization: What a dreadful blot! I can’t make any impression upon it! The World: Oh, that’s Russia! (Life Magazine, 1890).

A comment was posted on another thread about the concept of Russian soldiers resigning. Other commenters suggested that these were the mercenaries, such as the Wagner Group. A search on the internet for “Russian soldiers resigning” brought up some old articles that mentioned actual soldiers resigning.

Newsweek reported Russian soldiers resigning in mass:

Haidai said on his Telegram channel that many Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine are writing letters of resignation and prematurely terminating their contracts.

“Half of the 200 military personnel serving in the 3rd Guards Special Operations Brigade have submitted letters of resignation or prematurely terminated their contracts after taking part in the war against Ukraine,” he wrote.

The governor noted, though, that “first-timers,” or Russian soldiers recently conscripted as part of Putin’s mobilization decree, “are ready to go into battle.”

Newsweek has more on this specific story. Global Security identifies the 3rd Guards Special Operations Brigade as one of the Spetsnaz brigades. Earlier this year, a former Russian officer told his story to CNN relaying his experiences at the beginning of Russia’s larger scale invasion. By Russian law, conscripts are not supposed to be deployed outside of Russia’s borders.

The Russian Military deployed them to Ukraine despite that law:

In Russia, Melnikova told CNN there were “many” cases of soldiers refusing to fight in Ukraine but declined to give details, citing legal and safety concerns.

Aleksei Tabalov, a human rights activist and director of an organization helping Russian conscripts, told CNN that he personally consulted two soldiers who resigned from the military.

“The same guys who refused to fight and turned to us, there were two of them, but from the brigade that they left, another 30 people refused to fight,” Tabalov told CNN.

Tabalov said that when filing for resignation, the soldiers cited that they did not agree to participate in a special operation against Ukraine when signing the contract.

Many conscripts submitted a resignation letter and were encouraged to submit reports. Russian soldiers have apparently been quitting, due to Ukraine, for years. Since Russia took over Crimea, reports came out that Russian military units were inside Ukraine, in contested areas, when they were not supposed to be there. Some of the Soldiers sent into Ukraine opted to quit.

From Reuters, in 2015:

One of the five, from Moscow, said he was sent on exercises in southern Russia last year but ended up going into Ukraine in an armored convoy.

“After we crossed the border, a lieutenant colonel said we could be sent to jail if we didn’t fulfil orders. Some soldiers refused to stay there,” said the soldier, who served with the elite Russian Kantemirovskaya tank division. He gave Reuters his full name but spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he feared reprisals.

He said he knew two soldiers who refused to stay. “They were taken somewhere. The lieutenant colonel said criminal cases were opened against them but in reality — we called them afterwards — they were at home. They just quit.”

Reuters has the rest of the article here. In many of the intercepts, there were accounts of commanders trying to persuade their Soldiers not to resign. They offered perks, like leave, being able to chill out at a rest and recreation area, even financial benefits. Some of those threatening to quit/resign were offered being stationed “in defense” instead of being at the front lines. The “quitting” or “resigning” appears to be a feature in the Russian Military.

Category: International Affairs, Russia