Russian army has record desertions since the beginning of the war

Desertion of mobilized people from the Russian army has reached a record level. Most of them were registered in the Moscow region.

This is reported with reference to the UK Ministry of Defense on X (Twitter).

As noted in the report, according to the independent Russian media group Mediazona, in March 2024, Russian military courts convicted a record number of 684 Russian servicemen for desertion. The total number of cases since the "partial" mobilization in September 2022 is 7,400, with the largest number of cases registered in the Moscow region - 496.

According to British intelligence, many of the soldiers who were tracked down and handed over to a military court were sentenced to suspended sentences and returned to their units and the front line. At the same time, the number of asylum requests in Western countries from Russian citizens evading military service has reached a record high.

"Russian soldiers, including those forcibly recruited during the September 2022 partial mobilization, are required to remain in military service indefinitely, with little prospect of release," the British Ministry of Defense said.

Author – Anastasiya Glotova, 24/04/2024