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Sota: Colonel General Lapin personally threatened retreating mobilized soldiers in Svatovo by putting a gun to their heads

The Insider

The commander of the Central grouping of the Russian Forces Center in Ukraine, Colonel General Alexander Lapin, personally held a gun to the heads of retreating mobilized soldiers in Svatovo and threatened to shoot them, Sota reports quoting the application of one of the mobilized Muscovites.

Sota writes that his name, draft card and the application itself are at the disposal of the editors. The application was penned by the wife of the mobilized soldier.

It says that the Muscovite was drafted on September 22, supplied with a rusty assault rifle and sent from the Belgorod region to Ukraine on October 7 without training.

“In the afternoon, we were caught under massive mortar fire. Our 2nd Platoon and 1st Platoon hid in the forest belt, the 5th and 6th Companies also hid in the forest belt. Over 4 people were killed and 3 wounded as a result of two hours of shelling. Also, after the shelling, the 5th and 6th Company ran to the school building, hiding in the basement. A comms company and a KamAZ truck loaded with ammunition and mines arrived. We ordered the comms company to hide in the wooded area. The second KamAZ, whose driver understood what was going on, quickly drove away.
In the evening, we came under fire. The commanders of the comms company ordered us to sit behind a hangar, and as a result of the two-hour attack, the second hangar was destroyed and a BMP without a crew was destroyed as well.
The next morning we came under heavy fire, which lasted more than four hours. The comms company scattered in panic during the shelling. As a result, more than 6 people were killed and more than 3 wounded.”

After this, the Muscovite and his comrades-in-arms retreated to Svatovo. The soldiers were not allowed into the town, so they waited for new orders and tried to find the headquarters. At some point, Lapin and his personal guards approached them. When the lieutenant colonel learned of the retreat, he put a gun to the head of the commander of the 5th Company, Lieutenant V., and ordered him to return to the frontline. “He also hurled insults at us (“traitors,” “deserters,” and a bunch of swear words),” Sota's source says.

After that, Lapin and a certain Colonel Rumyantsev went away leaving with the soldiers two patrolmen, who threatened to shoot them. When Rumyantsev returned, the soldiers asked him for food, to which he replied, “A scum like you should neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep.”


During the war, Lapin has been repeatedly mentioned in the Ministry of Defense bulletins. The colonel general is referred to as a military man who presents “state awards to servicemen who showed courage and heroism in the course of the special military operation.” For example, he decorated his son Denis Lapin, a lieutenant colonel who commanded the regiment that attacked Chernihiv and Sumy.