The video of the soldier scolding the department head went viral on social media in Russia last autumn. The expletives hurled from the man who had been mobilized to fight in the war in Ukraine. But it wasn’t the mobilization itself that the man was furious about, the video shows. What provoked him most was the lack of training and the poor equipment that the soldiers were given before leaving the military camp outside Moscow. – Why don’t we get the army’s bulletproof vests instead of this Chinese shit, says the man in the video. He also claims that the shooting training they receive is only “symbolic”. Pushing and accusing The man accuses his military leaders of sabotaging the order from the country’s commander-in-chief, and says that the entire staff should be arrested. The mobilized soldier believes that representatives from the military prosecution should come to the scene together with the country’s military leadership to see what is going on. The man blows cigarette smoke in the officer’s face, who reacts by pushing the soldier. He responds by pushing back. – You shouldn’t do this, warns the officer in the video. Prison for refusing to go to war Last autumn, the Russian Ministry of Defense released another video to show what happens to mobilized soldiers who refuse to go to war in Ukraine. The circumstances surrounding the recording are not known. The video shows a squad lined up, and that one of the soldiers is asked to come forward. In the background, the military police are ready with a car. They arrest the man, bend him forward and take him to the car where he is locked in. Then the same thing happens to another soldier. It is unclear what happened next to the two. Yesterday, the AFP news agency reported that a 24-year-old professional soldier was sentenced to five years in prison for refusing to participate in the war in Ukraine. – Chaotic mobilization Lieutenant-Colonel and researcher at the Norwegian Defense Academy, Geir Hågen Karlsen, says that there is great dissatisfaction with the way the mobilization was carried out in Russia. – The mobilization was chaotic. Those who were called in received poor training and the equipment was often very inadequate. Therefore, it is not so surprising that something like this happens, he says, and refers to the video from the camp outside Moscow. SIGNAL: Lieutenant colonel and researcher at the Norwegian Defense Academy, Geir Hågen Karlsen, believes that the Russian authorities will scare others from reacting in the same way as the soldier in the video. Photo: Even Bjøringsøy Johnsen / news Karlsen points out that it is not often that dissatisfaction comes across as clearly as in this video. Russia is a very authoritarian society where much is suppressed due to pure fear. – It is clear that this soldier was very frustrated and cursed, says the lieutenant colonel. Five and a half years According to several Russian media, the soldier from the video was yesterday sentenced to a severe sentence in a military court in Moscow. He is said to have received five and a half years in a prison camp with what is called a strict regime. This means that the prisoners are closely controlled and that there are very detailed rules about what they can and cannot do. – The mobilized soldier received a severe punishment to prevent something similar from happening again. The authorities will scare others from reacting in the same way, says Lieutenant Colonel Karlsen.
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