RUSSIA HEROES PAST: President Vladimir Putin lays flowers during a 2014 ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of the beginning of what Russians call the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany. Putin has repeatedly said that there are no Russian soldiers in Ukraine. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev Some soldiers say they have quit the army because of the war in Ukraine – even though Russia says it has no troops there. In Russian ranks, discontent over Ukraine BY MARIA TSVETKOVA SPECIAL REPORT 1 RUSSIA DISCONTENT IN THE RANKS MOSCOW/DONETSK, MAY 10, 2015 ome Russian soldiers are quitting the army because of the conflict in SUkraine, several soldiers and human rights activists have told Reuters. Their ac- counts call into question the Kremlin’s con- tinued assertions that no Russian soldiers have been sent to Ukraine, and that any Russians fighting alongside rebels there are volunteers. Evidence for Russians fighting in Ukraine – Russian army equipment found in the country, testimony from soldiers’ families and from Ukrainians who say they were captured by Russian paratroopers – is abundant. Associates of Boris Nemtsov, a prominent Kremlin critic killed in February, will soon publish a report which they say AMMUNITION: Spent cartridges at Donetsk airport. Two soldiers told Reuters they quit rather than will contain new evidence of the Russian risk being sent to Ukraine. REUTERS/BAZ RATNER military presence in Ukraine. Until now, however, it has been ex- tremely rare to find Russian soldiers who If our troops were officially He said he had been sent to fight in have fought there and are willing to talk. It there it would be a different story. Ukraine last summer and returned to is even rarer to find soldiers who have quit Russia in September when the first peace the army. Five soldiers who recently quit, Former tank soldier who says he quit over Ukraine talks took place. His crew operated a mod- including two who said they left rather ernised Russian T-72B3 tank, he said. than serve in Ukraine, have told Reuters of “(Back in Russia) we were lined up and their experiences. repeatedly denied that Moscow has sent told that everyone would get a daily allow- One of the five, from Moscow, said he any military forces to help rebels in eastern ance, extras for fighting and medals,” he was sent on exercises in southern Russia Ukraine, where clashes and casualties per- said. But he said that they did not get the last year but ended up going into Ukraine sist despite a ceasefire struck in February. extras they expected. “We decided to quit. in an armoured convoy. Putin’s spokesman has derided such allega- There were 14 of us.” “After we crossed the border, a lieutenant tions by NATO, Western governments and The names of nine soldiers who quit colonel said we could be sent to jail if we Kiev. Officials say that any Russian soldiers the Kantemirovskaya division are men- didn’t fulfil orders. Some soldiers refused to fighting in Ukraine are “volunteers,” help- tioned in an exchange of letters between stay there,” said the soldier, who served with ing the rebels of their own free will. Viktor Miskovets, the head of the human the elite Russian Kantemirovskaya tank di- The former Russian soldiers who spoke resources department of Russia’s Western vision. He gave Reuters his full name but to Reuters, as well as human rights activ- Military District, and Valentina Melnikova, spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he ists, said some soldiers were fearful of being who runs the Alliance of Soldiers’ Mothers feared reprisals. sent to Ukraine, were pressured into going, Committees, a group based in Moscow. He said he knew two soldiers who re- or disgruntled at the way they were treated In the letters, seen by Reuters, human fused to stay. “They were taken somewhere. after fighting there. rights workers asked Miskovets to approve The lieutenant colonel said criminal cases The former tank soldier from Moscow the soldiers’ resignations – which one sol- were opened against them but in reality – said he would not have gone to Ukraine dier told Reuters the military had been we called them afterwards – they were at voluntarily. “No, what for? That’s not our unwilling to do. The letters do not mention home. They just quit.” war. If our troops were officially there it service in Ukraine. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has would be a different story.” The soldiers left the service on Dec. 12, SPECIAL REPORT 2 RUSSIA DISCONTENT IN THE RANKS according to a letter signed by Miskovets. He and his deputy did not answer calls. A burial, but no closure Three soldiers from the list, contacted by Reuters, confirmed they had quit the service In October, the Russian military delivered a was killed by an exploding shell in Rostov. recently but declined to discuss Ukraine. headless corpse to relatives of Pavel Zhilin. “That’s not true,” Denisova said. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence Officials said Zhilin, a paratrooper from the Families of Russians killed in Ukraine declined to comment on soldiers quitting 331st airborne regiment of the 98th division, are usually awarded compensation of up the tank unit or being sent to Ukraine. had been killed during a training exercise in to 5 million roubles ($90,000), according Russia. to human rights workers. Most families FINANCIAL INCENTIVES The family was sceptical about the desperately need the money. According In Russia, all men aged between 18 and 27 military’s account. They first became to Denisova, Zhilin’s family were asked have to serve 12 months in the military. By suspicious last summer, when they saw by the military to fill in forms to claim law, these conscripts cannot be sent abroad. on television paratroopers from Zhilin’s compensation, but refused to do so. But according to human rights activists, company who had been captured by “We tried to explain that if it wasn’t our military officials have been promising con- Ukrainians. Russian President Vladimir Putin boy, who would you send us the money for?” scripts financial incentives to sign contracts suggested the soldiers lost their way and said Denisova. “We aren’t rich people. But that make them professional soldiers. The entered Ukraine by accident. we don’t want to trade our child.” officials then push the soldiers into going But when the family opened the coffin In November, the military buried the to Ukraine. and saw burned and mutilated remains, headless body in part of a graveyard in Sergei Krivenko, head of a rights group they were incredulous, said the soldier’s Kostroma reserved for war heroes. Denisova called “Citizen. Army. Rights” and a mem- godmother. Zhilin’s unit was based in said the body was buried without the ber of a human rights council created by Kostroma 300 km (190 miles) north-east of permission of relatives, who still reject the the Kremlin, has dealt with soldiers’ rights Moscow. She said the family didn’t believe military’s account. since the early 2000s. He said military either the military’s story, or that the corpse The graveyard attendant, Lyudmila commanders are trying to find more people was the body of Zhilin. Kurochkina, said of the young soldiers laid to who will go to Ukraine voluntarily, “but “I was there,” said godmother Elena rest there: “Those boys were brought from this is still ‘volunteers’ in quotation marks, Denisova. “It wasn’t him. I’m 100 percent Ukraine. Zhilin doesn’t have a name (on his because there is harsh pressure.” sure. It’s not his body. Not his.” grave) because the military buried him, not Krivenko said commanders take a car- The corpse’s feet were three shoe sizes his parents. His parents don’t want to believe rot-and-stick approach: They offer large fi- too small, she said. Zhilin’s parents declined their child is there.” nancial rewards to contract soldiers willing to comment. Alexei Besfamilny, the officer in charge to go to Ukraine. If soldiers refuse, they are The military insisted that the headless of the burial, declined to say how the young told to resign, he said. “You can’t criminally body was the 22-year-old paratrooper, that he man had died. “The subject is closed,” he prosecute someone for not following the had died in Rostov province and that he had said. “It’s classified.” order, because the order itself doesn’t exist not been in Ukraine, family members said. on paper. It’s only oral.” They said the military death certificate says he By Maria Tsvetkova Since 2012, contract soldiers’ pay has risen, said Krivenko, who travelled to Murmansk to meet soldiers, about 30 of whom told him they had been to Ukraine. “Now they receive 20, 30, 40,000 roubles a month depending on their rank. Some even RESTING PLACE: Three get 60,000 a month.” graves in Kostroma, 300 km The average wage in Russia is about northeast of Moscow. The 30,000 roubles ($580). army says the soldier in the Resignation is not an easy decision for grave with no name is Pavel the soldiers, Krivenko said: “Just like others Zhilin. His family reject that. Text continues on page 5 REUTERS/MARIA TSVETKOVA SPECIAL REPORT 3 RUSSIA DISCONTENT IN THE RANKS Changing control in eastern Ukraine Clashes between Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces largely died down aer the February peace plan and ceasefire; both sides withdrew heavy weapons. But fighting resumed in April, weapons reappeared in key battlegrounds, and the rebels expanded their territory. June 2014 Sept. 4, 2014 Feb. 14, 2015 Luhansk Luhansk Luhansk UKRAINE UKRAINE UKRAINE Separatists’ area of control Donetsk Donetsk Donetsk RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA Mariupol Rostov-on-Don Mariupol Rostov-on-Don Mariupol Rostov-on-Don KEY: Apr.