We won’t march into Ukraine: Russian soldiers

Russian soldiers with the National Guard, often known as Vladimir Putin’s private army, have refused to fight in Ukraine, a human rights lawyer says.

Russian soldiers with the National Guard, often known as Vladimir Putin’s private army, have refused to fight in Ukraine, according to a human rights lawyer.

A dozen troops argued that their work contracts applied only to Russian territory and that there was no legal basis to deploy them to Ukraine, said Pavel Chikov, chairman of Agora, a Russia-based human rights group.

The soldiers were all from Krasnodar in southern Russia and had been deployed to Crimea for drills since February 6. About 350,000 soldiers serve in the ­National Guard. They were dismissed as a result but have filed a lawsuit for illegal dismissal, and are being represented by a lawyer in Krasnodar.

“The refusal to carry out the order was explained by the fighters of the Russian Guard as illegal,” Mr Chikov said in a post on Telegram.

“None of them had a foreign passport with them, nor any intention to leave the territory of Russia, while their direct official duties were limited to the territory of the Russian Federation.

“None of the plaintiffs was ­informed of a mission into the territory of Ukraine to participate in a special military operation, nor were they told about the tasks ­involved in this operation and, as a result, did not give their consent to it.”

Mr Chikov said the 12 soldiers, led by a Captain Farid Chitav, ­issued their refusal to travel to Ukraine on February 25, the day after the invasion.

The Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers of Russia, an advocacy group, raised concerns that conscripts were being forced to sign contracts at the border, a practice reportedly used by Russia in Ukraine in 2014. Conscripts can be sent to active duty only after signing a contract after three months of initial training.

In videos taken of Russian prisoners of war, soldiers complain that they were hoodwinked into fighting.

“Frankly speaking, they tricked us,” said one officer, in a clip filmed and published by his Ukrainian captors. “Everything we were told was a fake. I would tell my guys to leave Ukrainian territory. We’ve got families and children. I think 90 per cent of us would agree to go home.”

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has not been seen in public for two weeks, a highly unusual ­absence for one of Putin’s closest advisers who has a leading role in the military operation in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Mr Shoigu was too busy for public appearances after speculation in the Russian media that he could have health problems.

The Times