Over the last year and a half, I reported from eight countries across four continents, including more than a year interviewing 18 deserters of the Russian military, for my story “The Deserter.” Together, their experiences gave me a vivid picture of the Russian war operation, its corruption, its chaos and its brutality. The deserters also gave me a window into how they found themselves fighting in the first place and why they then took the extreme measure to flee. My story focuses on one deserter named Ivan and his wife, Anna — pseudonyms we used for their protection.
For Ivan, a kid from nowhere, the military was an honorable path. It held the promise of adventure, defense of the homeland and brotherhood. The reality, however, was very different.
Here is what we can learn about the Russian military and its soldiers from Ivan and Anna, as well as from my conversations with military experts, other deserters and human rights organizations.
At first, soldiers didn’t realize they were being sent to war. Then they couldn’t refuse.
Almost 200,000 Russian service members were stationed at the border with Ukraine for weeks before the invasion in 2022. They had been told this was just an exercise, yet they had been handed weapons, medical kits and gear.
After the first few months of the invasion, stories trickled home from the front lines, and volunteers began to dry up. The authorities began an enlistment drive, promising that combatants of the S.V.O., the so-called special military operation, would be considered veterans under Russian law, entitled to a host of lucrative long-term benefits. Recruiters promised cash bonuses for “heroic deeds.”
Officers in Russia faced a different kind of pressure to deploy, including public shaming and threats of violence. Once they arrived behind “the ribbon,” as the front was called, there were additional dangers to refusing orders. They had all heard rumors about the pits, basements where officers were held against their will for refusing to fight. There was a bulletin board, which soldiers called the Wall of Shame, at the center of Ivan’s base, displaying the portraits of these men.
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