<\/p>\n
With fleeing the country out of reach for many, some Russian deserters have turned to a new tactic to avoid being sent back to the war in Ukraine \u2014 getting locked up. Their lawyers have the unusual task of making sure their clients face charges that result in real prison sentences, since probation could mean being sent straight back to the front. The independent outlet iStories<\/a> learned how Russian soldiers deliberately go AWOL to trigger criminal prosecution. Meduza shares an abridged translation of the outlet\u2019s reporting.<\/p>\n All names in this story have been changed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n When the judge read out the guilty verdict, Vladimir let out a shout of joy: he\u2019d been sentenced to several years in prison. \u201cBetter that than ending up under a bush somewhere in Ukraine,\u201d his lawyer said. They embraced.<\/p>\n Back home, Vladimir\u2019s family celebrated, too. \u201cIt felt like a huge weight had lifted,\u201d said his wife, Yelena. \u201cOur youngest is just a year old \u2014 at least he\u2019ll get to know his father. And now I know my husband is in prison, the doors will open one day, and he\u2019ll walk out a free man.\u201d<\/p>\n Meduza has condemned Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine from the very start, and we are committed to reporting objectively on a war we firmly oppose. Join Meduza in its mission to challenge the Kremlin\u2019s censorship with the truth.\u00a0Donate today<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Vladimir was born in Luhansk. In 2018, his family left for Russia to escape the shelling, Yelena said. They all got Russian passports. In the fall of 2022, just after mobilization was announced, Vladimir received a draft notice.<\/p>\n He believed that anyone who didn\u2019t report to the enlistment office would be taken anyway \u2014 just like in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk \u201cpeople\u2019s republics\u201d in the earliest days of the war. He also thought that mobilized men wouldn\u2019t be sent into dangerous zones and that he\u2019d be home soon. So, he went to war.<\/p>\n \u201cI suggested all kinds of options \u2014 leaving the country, even going to prison,\u201d Yelena recalled. \u201cBut he was naive, stubborn, still holding onto hope that there would be some kind of discharge. He kept saying, \u2018I was mobilized, so I have at least a chance to be demobilized.\u2019\u201d But after a few months in an assault unit, Vladimir realized \u2014 as Yelena put it \u2014 that \u201cthe only way out was in a body bag.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018People simply didn\u2019t know how else to save themselves\u2019 Meduza journalist Lilia Yapparova reports on how Russian soldiers and civilians buy their way out of going to war<\/a>\u2018People simply didn\u2019t know how else to save themselves\u2019 Meduza journalist Lilia Yapparova reports on how Russian soldiers and civilians buy their way out of going to war<\/a><\/p>\n Two years later, Vladimir was wounded in the leg and sent home on medical leave. \u201cHe came up to me and said, \u2018That\u2019s it. Let\u2019s go to prison.\u2019 So I got in touch with a lawyer,\u201d Yelena recalled. Vladimir never returned to his unit.<\/p>\n Before turning himself in, Vladimir planned to let his leg heal \u2014 but he didn\u2019t have time. He was detained on the street, taken to the train station, and put on a train to St. Petersburg along with new recruits. From there, they were meant to be sent to the front. \u201cThat\u2019s it, my friend \u2014 you\u2019re going to the assault unit,\u201d someone told him. \u201cThere were all these happy contract soldiers around bragging about how much [money]<\/a> they\u2019d been given in different regions,\u201d Yelena recalled.<\/p>\n From the train, Vladimir managed to call his wife. \u201cI told him, \u2018Hide your documents and run the moment you get to the station.\u2019 And that\u2019s exactly what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n Vladimir hid out in an apartment belonging to friends in St. Petersburg. He needed to stay off the radar for a few days \u2014 long enough to be declared AWOL and for prosecutors to open a criminal case, Yelena explained. Under Russian law, criminal liability begins 48 hours after failing to report for duty. After that, Vladimir met with the lawyer, and together they submitted a voluntary confession.<\/p>\n The investigation lasted three months. \u201cThe whole time, we were terrified they\u2019d take him [back to the front],\u201d Yelena said. They were especially afraid he\u2019d get probation. According to Yelena, several people they knew had been sent back to the front after receiving it. \u201cWe had a lot of mitigating factors, even some state awards. The lawyer kept saying, the main thing is: don\u2019t get probation.\u201d<\/p>\n So when Vladimir was finally sentenced to prison time, the family felt nothing but relief. \u201cOur family no longer belongs to the Defense Ministry,\u201d Yelena said.<\/p>\n According to<\/a> an iStories investigation, at least 49,000 Russian soldiers have deserted since the start of the full-scale invasion.<\/p>\n Deserting directly from the front lines is both difficult and dangerous. In July 2024, Russia officially legalized<\/a> the use of so-called pits where soldiers accused of misconduct or refusing to fight are held. These are essentially improvised field prisons, where detainees can be beaten, humiliated, or worse. For this reason, most soldiers who choose to desert do so while on leave or recovering from injuries, according to the conscientious objection advocacy group Call to Conscience.<\/p>\n Few deserters have the means to flee the country, a lawyer who works with soldiers explained. Many lack money or an international passport. And leaving often means reaching out to human rights groups for help \u2014 something not everyone can do. \u201cAnd then what do you even do [once you\u2019ve left]?\u201d the lawyer added. \u201cIt\u2019s terrifying.\u201d So, most deserters remain in Russia, hiding from the authorities: avoiding bank cards, leaving major cities, and staying away from their registered addresses. Some even go<\/a> off-grid in the woods.<\/p>\n This pattern is confirmed by Get Lost, an organization that\u2019s helped 1,973 service members escape the front since the war began. Fewer than 800 of them have left the country, according to the group\u2019s spokesperson, Ivan Chuvilyaev. Most have stayed.<\/p>\n Yelena and her partner, Vladimir, were among those who once considered fleeing. \u201cI really wanted to go to Georgia \u2014 I even convinced him,\u201d Yelena said. \u201cBut when Georgia started to shift [toward a pro-Russian stance]\u2026 I got scared.\u201d<\/p>\n While extraditions of Russian army deserters from neighboring countries remain rare, they do happen. In April 2025, for example, Azerbaijan extradited<\/a> Sotim Savlatov, a Russian soldier accused of desertion. There have also been reports of Russian soldiers and activists being kidnapped in Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Armenia.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing to Europe would be incredibly hard with three kids,\u201d Yelena continued. \u201cI don\u2019t think we could\u2019ve managed it. And even if we did, there\u2019s no guarantee we\u2019d be granted asylum. We could\u2019ve sent him alone, but he said he wouldn\u2019t leave without us.\u201d<\/p>\n Between the enemy and a pit One Russian soldier talks about life on the front lines in Ukraine<\/a>Between the enemy and a pit One Russian soldier talks about life on the front lines in Ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n Vladimir\u2019s decision to turn himself in and serve time rather than flee isn\u2019t unusual. Since spring 2024, Call to Conscience has seen a steady rise in the number of deserters seeking help with turning themselves in and navigating the legal consequences.<\/p>\n During the fall and winter of 2023\u20132024, the organization received about one such request per month. By May 2024, that number had jumped to an average of 10 per month \u2014 and it\u2019s continued at that pace ever since.<\/p>\n For a soldier who chooses prison over returning to war, the path is fraught with danger. Even though criminal proceedings can be initiated as soon as 48 hours after a soldier leaves their post, in practice, commanders are often slow to report desertions to law enforcement. Their priority is keeping boots on the front lines \u2014 not punishing those who leave, as one military lawyer explained. Initially at least, commanders try to locate deserters and bring them back.<\/p>\n According to the lawyer, a soldier must often fight hard just to make it to trial. Even after surrendering, many are pressured \u2014 or forcibly compelled \u2014 to return to the battlefield. By late 2024, Sibir.Realii<\/a> reported that at least 150 criminal cases under Article 337 of the Russian Criminal Code (which covers unauthorized absence from military service) had been suspended during court proceedings after the defendants agreed to go back to war.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to fight to be imprisoned,\u201d another lawyer told iStories. \u201cUntil now, I\u2019d never had people come to me asking to make sure their case was officially classified as criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n How getting out of the Russian army became all but impossible \u2014 even for soldiers severely disabled in combat<\/a>How getting out of the Russian army became all but impossible \u2014 even for soldiers severely disabled in combat<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With fleeing the country out of reach for many, some Russian deserters have turned to a new tactic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2000,299,657,7888,7883,7886,7875,7868,7880,7870,7881,7887,7876,7864,7871,7865,7873,7874,7866,7869,7867,7885,7879,7872,7884,7882,7878,7877],"class_list":{"0":"post-195669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-ukraine","11":"tag-7888","12":"tag-7883","13":"tag-7886","14":"tag-7875","15":"tag-7868","16":"tag-7880","17":"tag-7870","18":"tag-7881","19":"tag-7887","20":"tag-7876","21":"tag-7864","22":"tag-7871","23":"tag-7865","24":"tag-7873","25":"tag-7874","26":"tag-7866","27":"tag-7869","28":"tag-7867","29":"tag-7885","30":"tag-7879","31":"tag-7872","32":"tag-7884","33":"tag-7882","34":"tag-7878","35":"tag-7877"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114707037336564100","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u2018You have to fight to be imprisoned\u2019<\/p>\n