February 5, 2015

Russian conscripts coerced into fighting

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KHARKIV – The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) stated that the NGO Soldiers’ Mothers of St. Petersburg “has reported a sharp increase in complaints from conscripts and their families who say that the young men are being forced to sign contracts purportedly in order to be sent ‘for exercises’ to the Rostov Oblast on the border with Donbas.” The rights group said: “Reports of such coercion are not new, but the increase coincides with the major escalation in overt Russian military involvement in eastern Ukraine over recent weeks. …Some say that persuasion is being used, others – threats. Conscripts from military unit No. 54096 in Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod region, allege that the commanders simply told them that they had been transferred to contract service. The father of another young conscript from the Leningrad Oblast was told that he needed to sign a contract that could later be broken. This was supposedly because he needed to be sent ‘for exercises’ and they weren’t allowed to send conscripts. …The organization fears that a repeat is likely of the events in August 2014 when several members of the 18th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, sent to Rostov on the Don from Dagestan were killed, probably in Ukraine. …There are constant reports suggesting that the families of soldiers killed are under enormous pressure to say nothing, not to mention physical attacks or forms of legal or other pressure on those who reveal details.” (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group)

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