Triflemen

‘Everyone was kind of gobsmacked’

Khoroshev’s true military occupation specialty is “operator of radio interception and direction finding of radiotelephone transmissions”. It was stated in his military ID, but then overscored with a ballpoint pen and “rifleman” was written instead. Another page stated that Svyatoslav had attended reservist training in 2021, however, he was never there and could not be as he was ill with COVID-19 during the listed dates.

Based on these changes, the man was sent into a military unit. It turned out shortly afterwards that the same had happened to many of the mobilised men he met there. They were given military uniform and equipment and were sent to a training area in Gorelovo. Now they expect to be sent elsewhere for further service, possibly into the battlezone. Dozens of mobilised men from Khoroshev’s unit are now trying to challenge this decision.

“I should have never been conscripted due to ill health, I never served in the army,” says Viktor Botvich, Khoroshev’s comrade-in-arms. “It was stated in my military ID: category C, fit for limited military service. However, they overscored this and wrote that I was a rifleman. They also wrote that I had attended reservist training, which is not true.”

Botvich says he spoke to 32 mobilised men who had their military specialty falsified and had data on reservist training which they never attended added to their military IDs by the Kalininsky district draft office.

“It was written that all of us were commo men, cooks, radiotelephone transmission specialists, and so on, but now we are all riflemen,” Viktor says. “Many of us never held a rifle, including me. I have a list of soldiers from my military company and the one that is stationed nearby. 20% of us share the same problem, however, I believe that hundreds became victims of the Kalininsky district draft office.

Legal practitioners believe that this particular case is the order of the day now that draft offices are evaluated based on fulfilling their draft quotas.

“This is virtually a ticket quota system, its goal is to draft as many conscripts as fast as possible,” says Dmitry Zakhvatov, a lawyer. “Nobody cares if the draftees are at all able to draw their duty as a general rule. The draft officers were not ready for the mobilisation, so they started using methods that are in no way legal.”

Neither Khoroshev nor Botvich, as well as their comrades-in-arms, had even a trifling medical inspection, let alone a full-fledged medical physical evaluation board meeting. Although they demanded a health screening at the draft office, the men were told that they would have one upon arrival at the military unit. However, when they arrived, they found out that only draft offices and recruiting stations had physical evaluation boards.

“They were f*cking lying to us all the time! There are many men here with sever chronic heart diseases and other illnesses,” Botvich says. “We have a guy who needs to remove liquid from his knee joint surgically every two days. Two guys had seizures that looked like epileptic ones during training in the first couple of days we got here. I’m not a doctor, so I cannot diagnose epilepsy, but both were taken away by ambulance and we never heard from them anymore.”

‘Has a propensity for homosexual orgies’

The media have reported numerous cases of military ID cards being illegally modified. For instance, some people refusing to serve a mandatory term had notes reading “coward”, “liar” or “refuses to serve his duty before the motherland” in their military IDs. The Union of the Committees of Soldiers’ Mothers (UCSM), a human rights NGO, says one of the conscripts had the following written in his military ID: “has a propensity for homosexual orgies.” However, all those notes were made by certain officials, signed, and sealed. In this case, some unknown officer simply overscored some data and wrote something else.

“Any modifications or additions into military IDs may only be written with an indication of the editor’s position and name, as well as their signature and seal. This may only be made based on a respective decree or order,” Valentina Melnikova of UCSM says. “The regulations regarding military registration are very strict, violation of those is at least abuse of office, Article 286 of the Criminal Code.

Melnikova is certain that prosecutors should be involved in such situations, and the illegally mobilised should be ordered to return home. Melnikova also believes that the victims of the draft offices should go to court, asking for interim measures such as recalling them from military units for the duration of the legal proceedings.

“I’ve contacted all sorts of departments out there: I tried reporting my direct commanding officers, the governor, the district and municipal authorities, all sorts of MPs, and the prosecutor, too,” Viktor Botvich says. “All I received in response were fudges. The administration of the Kalininsky district sent my application to the local draft office. My legal representative went to court, asking to let me stay in the military unit for the duration of the proceeding. People from military procurator’s office visited us, too. They said they heard a lot about our Kalininsky draft office. The lads filed a mass petition regarding the total lawlessness that is going on there. I also added something on my own behalf. The FSB were also concerned about our case. However, here we’re like in a prison. People have no rights, and I’ve already accepted my fate, although my case is one of the most flagrant ones. Nobody cares anyway.”

Chances are that this case is but one out of many, it’s just that there have been no reports of similar cases as of yet. The Recruitment and Reserves Department of Russia’s Army General Staff oversees conscription and mobilisation in the country. This department organises briefing meetings for chief conscription officers from Russia’ regions every now and then, Melnikova says.

“Those are completely behind closed doors. Nobody is allowed inside, even military prosecutors,” she says. “No top military prosecutor has managed to take us there.”

So, it is unknown what kind of instructions they give out during those briefings.