Gregory's Server1/ Reports suggest that Russian commanders are demanding a standard bribe of a month's salary – 100,000 rubles ($1,100) – to allow their men go on leave. Those without money or connections are spending months fighting on the front line without being rotated or rested. ⬇️
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4/ The mother of one of the men says that her son has been fighting "for eight months now, without rest, without a rotation. He was taken away at the end of September and we have not seen each other since. In December, after training, he was already in Ukraine, and, as he says, their regiment never leaves the front line." 5/ She says that "last time I didn't recognise him from the video [call], he's aged, he looks older than me, his mother! He could barely move his tongue. He came back from the hospital after being wounded near Avdiivka, he hadn't even served ten days there. What is this? Is there no one left to fight? According to him, the same people go on holiday - some of them have already been twice, but my son has never been. Why is it so? Corruption even in the army?" |
2/ The practice of commanders demanding bribes for leave has been reported previously. Interviews by Siberia.Reality (an offshoot of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty) suggest that it's widespread, and that Putin's promise of periodic leave is mostly being ignored.
Relatives of mobilised Russians complain that their men have not been allowed leave. In February 2023, Putin promised soldiers would get 14 days' leave every 6 months. In reality, men have gone as long as 10 months without leave.