Russia’s soldiers bringing wartime violence back home

[Pelican Press 0]

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Russia’s soldiers bringing wartime ********* back home

“I’m a veteran of the special military operation, I’m going to ***** you!” were the words Irina heard as she was attacked by a man in Artyom, in Russia’s far east.

She had been returning from a night out when the man kicked her and beat her with his crutch. The force of the strike was so strong that it broke the crutch.

When the police arrived, the man showed them a document proving he had been in Ukraine and claimed that because of his service “nothing will happen to him”.

The ******* on Irina is just one of many reported to have been committed by soldiers returning from Ukraine.

Verstka, an independent Russian website, estimates that at least 242 Russians have been ******* by soldiers returning from Ukraine. Another 227 have been seriously injured.

Like the man who beat Irina, many of the attackers have previous ********* convictions and were released from prison specifically to join Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The BBC estimates that the Wagner mercenary group recruited more than 48,000 prisoners to ****** in Ukraine. When Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was ******* in a plane ****** last year, Russia’s defence ministry took over recruitment in prisons.

These cases have severely impacted Russian society, says sociologist Igor Eidman.

“This is a very serious problem, and it can potentially get worse. All the traditional ideas of good and evil are being turned upside down,” he told the BBC.

“People who have committed heinous ******* – murderers, rapists, cannibals and paedophiles – they not only avoid punishment by going to war, the unprecedented bit is that they are being hailed as heroes.”

There are numerous reasons why Russian soldiers lucky enough to return from the war would think they are above the law.

Official media call them “heroes,” and President Vladimir ****** has dubbed them Russia’s new “elite”. Those recruited into the army from prisons either had their convictions removed or they were pardoned.

It is not unheard of for released convicts return from the war in Ukraine, reoffend and then escape punishment for a second time by going back to the front.

This makes some police officers despair. “Four years ago, I put him away for seven years,” policeman Grigory told the Novaya Gazeta website.

“And here he is in front of me again, saying: ‘You won’t be able to do anything, officer. Now’s our time, the time of those who are shedding blood in the special military operation.'”

Russian courts have routinely used participation in the war against Ukraine as a reason to issue milder sentences.

But many cases don’t even reach court. Moscow has introduced a new law against “discrediting the Russian armed forces,” which has made some victims of ******* by veterans afraid to report them.

Olga Romanova, the head of prisoner rights NGO Russia Behind Bars, says a sense of impunity is driving up ****** rates.

“The main consequence is the gap between ****** and punishment in the public mind. If you commit a ******, it is far from certain that you are going to be punished,” she tells the BBC.

In 2023, the number of serious ******* registered in Russia rose by almost 10%, and in the first half of this year the number of military personnel convicted of ******* more than doubled compared to the same ******* a year before.

Sociologist Anna Kuleshova argues that ********* is becoming more acceptable in Russian society, especially because ********** can now escape punishment by going to war.

“There is a tendency to legalise *********. The idea that ********* is a kind of norm will probably spread – ********* at school, domestic *********, ********* in relationships and as a way to resolve conflicts.

“This is facilitated by the militarisation of society, the turn to conservatism and the romanticisation of war. Violent ******* committed within the country are being atoned by the ********* of war.”

Igor Eidman, Olga Romanova and Anna Kuleshova all spoke to the BBC from outside Russia.

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