{"id":566511,"date":"2025-11-13T00:21:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T00:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/566511\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T00:21:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T00:21:17","slug":"to-force-deserters-back-to-war-russias-military-is-torturing-their-families-meduza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/566511\/","title":{"rendered":"To force deserters back to war, Russia\u2019s military is torturing their families \u2014 Meduza"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Russian army has swelled since Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of\u00a0Ukraine in\u00a0February 2022. Months into the war, Russia conducted a\u00a0\u201cpartial mobilization\u201d for several chaotic weeks, drafting as\u00a0many as\u00a0300,000 additional personnel. In\u00a0late October 2022, the Defense Ministry announced that \u201cconscription of\u00a0citizens in\u00a0the reserve\u201d had stopped, and it\u00a0was back to\u00a0business as\u00a0usual. Exactly three years later, the federal government passed legislation<\/a> allowing the state to\u00a0call up\u00a0reservists to\u00a0protect \u201ccritical infrastructure\u201d during special drills \u2014 just the latest reminder that Russia\u2019s armed forces remain badly in\u00a0need of\u00a0more men.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0new investigation<\/a> by\u00a0People of\u00a0Baikal reveals another tactic the Russian military has employed to\u00a0stem personnel losses: torturing the friends and family of\u00a0deserters. Journalists reporting from the Transbaikal region spoke to\u00a0Olga Vtorushina, the mother of\u00a0a\u00a024-year-old man named Pavel. <\/p>\n

On\u00a0November 2, 2025, masked men kidnapped her son, drove him outside of\u00a0town, and tortured him with a\u00a0stun gun, demanding that he\u00a0help them locate his cousin Pyotr, who\u2019d recently failed to\u00a0return to\u00a0his unit.\u00a0The men who abducted and tortured Pavel wore camouflage uniforms and masks, but Olga said she\u2019d seen them around town and had recognized one as\u00a0a\u00a0member of\u00a0the local military police. She told journalists that the men beat her son and shocked him repeatedly with a\u00a0stun gun until he\u00a0passed out several times. Pavel wasn\u2019t released until he\u00a0telephoned Pyotr and lured him to\u00a0a\u00a0meeting where he\u00a0was later apprehended. <\/p>\n

Pyotr had been captured before while serving in\u00a0Ukraine. Olga says he\u00a0was traded back to\u00a0Russia in\u00a0a\u00a0POW exchange and was shocked to\u00a0learn that he\u00a0was expected to\u00a0return to\u00a0combat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meduza has condemned Russia\u2019s invasion of\u00a0Ukraine from the very start, and we\u00a0are committed to\u00a0reporting objectively on\u00a0a\u00a0war we\u00a0firmly oppose. Join Meduza in\u00a0its mission to\u00a0challenge the Kremlin\u2019s censorship with the truth.\u00a0Donate today<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

People of\u00a0Baikal also interviewed the mother of\u00a0a\u00a025-year-old contract soldier who deserted his unit when the military ordered him back to\u00a0duty after he\u00a0sustained a\u00a0head injury. He\u00a0escaped to\u00a0his hometown and spent several months in\u00a0hiding. To\u00a0find the missing soldier, masked men tracked down his father and tortured him with a\u00a0stun\u00a0gun. They also beat his friend. The soldier\u2019s mother told journalists that the assailants were not military police but a\u00a0search group from her son\u2019s military base. Her son is\u00a0now in\u00a0the army\u2019s custody.<\/p>\n

On\u00a0August 19, 2025, military police officers tracked down 36-year-old Viktor at\u00a0his friend\u2019s home. They tased him, broke his nose, stuffed him in\u00a0the trunk of\u00a0a\u00a0car, and drove him 300 miles away. Viktor had failed to\u00a0return to\u00a0his unit on\u00a0time, staying at\u00a0home to\u00a0assist his wife, who was expecting their third child any\u00a0day. She gave birth a\u00a0week later. Viktor\u2019s mother told People of\u00a0Baikal that the men who took her son are the same ones who tortured Pavel on\u00a0November 2.<\/p>\n

Similar raids have been reported in\u00a0towns throughout the Transbaikal region. In\u00a0Ushmun, for example, masked men were spotted patrolling the streets. According to\u00a0a\u00a0local newspaper, these were military police officers. Authorities in\u00a0Trubachevo and Novoshirokinsky confirmed to\u00a0People of\u00a0Baikal by\u00a0phone that locals had been subjected to\u00a0\u201cmeasures of\u00a0force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cover photo: Evgeny Epanchintsev \/ TASS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Russian army has swelled since Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of\u00a0Ukraine in\u00a0February 2022. Months into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[332,7888,7883,7886,7875,7868,7880,7870,7881,7887,7876,7864,7871,7865,7873,7874,7866,7869,7867,7885,7879,7872,7884,7882,7878,7877],"class_list":{"0":"post-566511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-russia","9":"tag-7888","10":"tag-7883","11":"tag-7886","12":"tag-7875","13":"tag-7868","14":"tag-7880","15":"tag-7870","16":"tag-7881","17":"tag-7887","18":"tag-7876","19":"tag-7864","20":"tag-7871","21":"tag-7865","22":"tag-7873","23":"tag-7874","24":"tag-7866","25":"tag-7869","26":"tag-7867","27":"tag-7885","28":"tag-7879","29":"tag-7872","30":"tag-7884","31":"tag-7882","32":"tag-7878","33":"tag-7877"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115539534466154372","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566511","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=566511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}