Posted on 05/10/2015 1:19:05 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
Edited on 05/10/2015 3:24:51 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
MOSCOW/DONETSK (Reuters) - Some Russian soldiers are quitting the army because of the conflict in Ukraine, several soldiers and human rights activists have told Reuters. Their accounts call into question the Kremlin's continued assertions that no Russian soldiers have been sent to Ukraine, and that any Russians fighting alongside rebels there are volunteers.
Evidence for Russians fighting in Ukraine Russian army equipment found in the country, testimony from soldiers' families and from Ukrainians who say they were captured by Russian paratroopers is abundant. Associates of Boris Nemtsov, a prominent Kremlin critic killed in February, will soon publish a report which they say will contain new evidence of the Russian military presence in Ukraine.
Until now, however, it has been extremely rare to find Russian soldiers who have fought there and are willing to talk. It is even rarer to find soldiers who have quit the army. Five soldiers who recently quit, including two who said they left rather than serve in Ukraine, have told Reuters of their experiences.
One of the five, from Moscow, said he was sent on exercises in southern Russia last year but ended up going into Ukraine in an armored convoy.
"After we crossed the border, a lieutenant colonel said we could be sent to jail if we didn't fulfil orders. Some soldiers refused to stay there," said the soldier, who served with the elite Russian Kantemirovskaya tank division. He gave Reuters his full name but spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he feared reprisals.
He said he knew two soldiers who refused to stay. "They were taken somewhere. The lieutenant colonel said criminal cases were opened against them but in reality we called them afterwards they were at home. They just quit."
snip
"After we crossed the border, a lieutenant colonel said we could be sent to jail if we didn't fulfil orders. Some soldiers refused to stay there," said the soldier, who served with the elite Russian Kantemirovskaya tank division.
Sounds like the Russians didn’t learn their lesson in Afghanistan.
-->"Vladimir Putin's approval rating? Now at a whopping 86%"
Has Al Reuters talked to any US soldiers who have quit the US's now pro-gay military? (I think they could find more than five without trying too hard.)
Totally the same thing. Totally.
That’s interesting, he doesn’t look Muslim to me. The Russians only contract Muslims.
He might be a volonteer after all.
Might’ve signed-up in one of those government recruiting stations in Moscow, for all we know.
It is this way for a long time. Half of their losses are retreating troops shot by ‘non-nazi’ ‘national guard’ Oligarch’s militias.
Whataboutism is a term first used by The Economist in 2008 to describe a tactic that has been used primarily by the Russians and former Soviets in their dealings with the West. At times when criticisms were leveled at the Soviet Union, the response would be "What about X?"; an accusation of hypocrisy in which a somewhat similar incident ("X") from the Western world was brought up as a way of justifying the State's shortcomings. It represents a case of tu quoque.
Probably deployed directly by Shao Kahn. This guy is known as his right hand.
Very good point.
See also The Draft Dodgers of Ukraine
Deflect, deflect, deflect. You commies are funny.
I’m still offering to donate five dollars to FR for every post you’ve made criticizing Obama or his administration in the past three months.
How about it Hillary?
I'm teaching you a valuable lesson about capitalism, comrade.
Why is it surprising that a guy named “Paid_Russian_Troll” is so stupid he is still trying to attack the idea of Russian soldiers in Ukraine that has been proven since at least a year now? Shutup Russkie! Who are you trying to fool? Other Russian morons too drunk or too lazy to check non-Russian news?
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