A Russian court has sentenced a 24-year-old soldier to five years in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, officials said on Thursday.
The press service of the courts of the Bashkortostan region in the Southern Urals states that the serviceman “did not want to participate in the special operation” and therefore did not enlist in May 2022.
The statement added that law enforcement found serviceman Marcel Kandrov in September.
Separately, the military court said it had sentenced Kandarov to five years in prison for evading military service during mobilization for more than a month.
At the end of September, Russia announced the mobilization of 300,000 people to support Russian troops in Ukraine.
The announcement triggered an exodus of men from Russia, many of whom fled to neighboring countries, including Armenia, Georgia and Kazakhstan.
Critics say many of the men drafted had no combat experience and little training before being sent to the front.
On the other hand, a military court in Moscow sentenced a soldier to five years and six months in prison for “beating” an officer during an argument between them, the official Russian news agency TASS reported on Wednesday.
And TASS added that the serviceman expressed “dissatisfaction” with the training of elements near Moscow.
As he spoke, the soldier blew smoke from his cigarette into the officer’s face, who retaliated by pushing him away, causing the soldier to punch the officer in the chest.
