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More than 20 mobilized men from the Republic of Mordovia have escaped from a Russian military training facility in Ulyanovsk, reported media project 7x7 citing Sergei Naumov, a lawyer from Saransk. A sick soldier with cancer was among those who had escaped, but he eventually returned to the unit. A duty officer of the Ulyanovsk region’s military commissariat responded to The Insider’s call by saying that they “have no information about the unauthorized abandonment of the training center by the mobilized.”
According to Naumov, the mobilized men did not return to the training center after their leave for National Unity Day (celebrated in Russia on November 4). It is supposed that a serviceman with cancer could have been returned to the unit. Naumov did not specify how and why the ill soldier was trained at the center. 7x7’s source also did not report where the other runaways are. Russian law enforcement may initiate criminal proceedings against the servicemen, noted Naumov.
The publication specified that representatives from the Administration of the Head of the Republic of Mordovia regularly visit the unit in Ulyanovsk.
At the beginning of November, over 100 mobilized men from the Republic of Chuvashia stationed at the same facility complained about the absence of the payments promised by Vladimir Putin (195 thousand roubles – approximately $3200). After the strike, almost all of them were allowed to go home for two days. They also demanded that the head of the republic Oleg Nikolaev immediately give them 400 million rubles ($6.6 million) promised for the war, with the funds to be distributed equally among the mobilized. After the demand, Nikolaev promised to pay them 50 thousand rubles ($820) as a lump sum and forbade relatives from sending alcohol to the draftees in parcels.
After the announcement of “partial” mobilization in Russia, videos in which the draftees complain about the poor attitude of their command, as well as the lack of uniforms and payments promised by Vladimir Putin, were posted on social networks. Soldiers have said they do not want to go to war with rusty weapons from the 1970s and without proper training. For example, in one of the videos, more than 10 mobilized men from Bataysk complain that they are going to be sent to the front after two days of training, adding that their command ignored their complaints. Like other servicemen in similar clips, they are indignant that they have to buy food rations at their own expense. The sister of one mobilized soldier, who posted a video of her complaints on social networks, was fined 30,000 roubles (close to $500) for “discrediting” the Russian army.