Poor equipment, lack of training, little preparation time – conditions in the Russian army would be appalling. More and more mobilized people do not want to endure the settlement. A wave of protests has erupted across the country in recent weeks.
At the beginning of October, a video of mobilized people in the Belgorod region surfaced. The men complained that they had been given old weapons and no food. They should also sleep outside in the cold. “For a week we lived in absolutely inhumane conditions. There is no material provision, no financial support – nothing,” the video reads. “No one needs us, we have no training,” shout the mobilized.
And also in Omsk the men had to sleep in the open air. According to a video, they waited several days for the promised tents.
Mass strikes in Ulyanovsk and Kazan
In early November, a group of mobilized workers went on strike at the training center in Ulyanovsk. The reason: Vladimir Putin’s (70) promised money was not paid out.
“Then why would we go to war for this state and leave our families without support?” ask the approximately 100 men from Chuvashia in a video call. And they make it clear: “We refuse to participate in the special military operation and will seek justice until we receive the money.”
Most recently, the soldiers protested in Kazan. They complained about the poor conditions in the training area, about their rusted machine guns, lack of water, food and firewood for heating.
Propagandist insults soldiers
The videos of it spread like wildfire on the internet. Putin’s main propagandist Vladimir Solovyov (59) also got wind of it. On Tuesday, in one of his programs, he shot the men sharply: “You say that your commander is not for you and that you are not well trained. But yourself – how did you prepare? What did you do at the firing range to get ready? to make for battle? Or do you think everyone owes you something? What do you owe the state? What do you owe your country?”
Solovyov also insults those who have already been sent to Ukraine, but do not want to fight there and do not follow the orders of war.
“I must say to those who pee their pants, run away from the front and then tell stories that please the enemy: yes, war is hard, it is painful and bitter. But you have your sacred duty! And if you are afraid, then run away and then tell everyone, you are betraying your comrades!” The propagandist is furious: «You are a traitor! you ran away You are a coward and a deserter!”
If you don’t like equipment, you have to buy it yourself
Solovyov even insults military blogger Anastasia Kashevarowa (34). In October, she sharply criticized the commanders, who she believes were responsible for the deaths of the mobilized Chelyabinsk soldiers, who died after only a few days of the war. “Some commanders should be shot on the spot,” she wrote on Telegram at the time. Apparently Solovyov did not like this criticism at all. “You’re a journalist, but you curse like a whore,” he shouts.
He calls the complaints of the relatives of the mobilized “crying” and says that Russia is at war with NATO. “It’s a difficult situation. You can call it the special military operation or whatever – that doesn’t change the fact.”
Solovyov is not the only one who reacts incomprehensibly to the complaints of the men. The governor of the Russian region of Orel, Andrei Klychkov, answered questions from residents in a live broadcast on Monday. Some were dissatisfied with the equipment. “We bought as much as possible with what we had. There was nothing else. Tens of millions of rubles were spent on this. If someone doesn’t like it, they can buy it themselves. You can’t please everyone,” Klychkov replied.