June 26, 2024

Innocent Until Drafted


Innocent Until Drafted
Is the frontline better than prison? The Russian Life Files

On June 22, Kommersant revealed that suspects of crimes are being recruited into the military, in exchange for dropped charges and suspended investigations. The news outlet's investigation revealed that government employees from the FSB to the Federal Customs Service are being ordered to enlist defendants.

While Russia has been drafting convicts into the army and Wagner Group for some time, the conscription of suspects before trial and conviction is a new twist.

Kommersant wrote that healthy male crime suspects between 18 and 65 are being offered a military contract immediately after a case is opened against them. The men are promised that investigations against them will be terminated and that there will be allowances and benefits for their families, if they agree to enlist in Russia's War on Ukraine. Desertion and failure to comply with military orders lead to the reopening of cases and new criminal charges. The only suspects excepted from the recruitment effort are those accused of terrorism, treason, espionage, or pedophilia.

As such, the draft has moved from prisons and penal colonies to pre-trial detention centers. Unlike previous contracts with prisoners and the Wagner Group, which were done en masse, defendants are enlisted individually. By contrast, people under house arrest, bail, or probation are conscripted in the same way as ordinary citizens. 

According to Kommersant, high-ranking officials from the Ministries of the Interior and Emergency Situations, the Federal Customs Service, and the FSB have ordered government employees to send potential recruits to the military enlistment office. Bailiffs and investigators were instructed by their superiors to propose military contracts to all crime suspects who are in good physical condition and of age to join the army.

The recruitment of suspects could potentially contribute to an uptick in crime, as it is well documented that returning criminals who evaded a sentence by joining up have committed felonies upon returning from the front. What's more, the new measure makes innocent defendants vulnerable to police brutality and extortion.

 

 

You Might Also Like

  • February 10, 2024

"I Breathed a Sigh of Relief"

The war has increased cases of domestic abuse, yet in one instance things went in an entirely different direction.
Returning Home to Kill
  • April 29, 2024

Returning Home to Kill

More than 100 persons have been killed by returning Russian soldiers since the beginning of Russia's War on Ukraine.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955