Russian soldiers on strike: Anger in Chuvashia – Putin probably owes money

Created: 11/03/2022 12:31 p.m

By: Felix Durach

More than 100 Russian recruits laid down their arms at a military training ground and protested against the war effort.

They demand the promised payment.

Moscow - The Russian armed forces could now be severely weakened in terms of personnel in the Ukraine war.

According to reports, Russian units in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv have just under 20 percent of their planned troop strength.

This is another reason why the Russian army is increasingly being forced onto the defensive.

The British Ministry of Defense currently sees Russia no longer even capable of its own offensive efforts.

So Putin needs new soldiers, which is why he called for partial mobilization in September.

Russian recruits call for a strike - promised money was probably never paid

Russian recruits were also lured with high salaries and bonuses.

But to all appearances, some of these funds are not paid out at all.

Soldiers at the Ulyanovsk training camp in the Russian republic of Chuvashia have now laid down their arms and called for a strike.

“We are risking our own lives and going to certain death for your safety and peace.

Our government refuses to pay us the 195,000 rubles that President Vladimir Putin promised us," the Russian exile medium meduza.io

from a statement by the soldiers, which is available to the prisoner

.

Russian recruits listen to instructions during a military training session at a firing range.

(Iconic image) © Alexei Alexandrov/dpa

"We refuse to participate in the special operation and will seek justice until we receive the money promised to us by the government led by the President of the Russian Federation," the soldiers said.

According to the report, the strikers were more than 100 recruits from Chuvashia.

These are currently being prepared in Ulyanovsk for deployment in the Ukraine.

Russian soldiers confront their instructors - "Sure we were screwed"

The recruits were promised a monthly salary of 195,000 rubles (equivalent to 3,178 euros) as part of the Russian partial mobilization.

In addition, all soldiers should receive a one-time payment of 300,000 rubles (approx. 4,889 euros) just a few days after their recruitment.

According to their own statements, the striking recruits from Chuvashia received neither payment.

A video published by the Angry Chuvashia Telegram channel shows the strikers confronting their instructors with the allegations.

When asked about the one-time payment of 300,000 rubles, the trainer explains that it was just a proposal in the Russian State Duma.

However, this was rejected a short time later.

"It is clear that you want to tell us here that we were screwed," is the reaction of an angry recruit.

The soldiers also called out to the instructors to fight at the front themselves.

also read

Loss of power in the Kremlin?

Putin stands between the chairs

Russia with “aluminum cans” on the road in Ukraine?

Putin is apparently looking for a remedy in Belarus

According to the reports, the riot police and the Russian National Guard were then supposed to de-escalate the situation.

The Angry Chuvashia Telegram channel later reported that the recruits had “calmed down”.

The operators did not give any further details.

Russian partial mobilization is probably continuing in secret - despite the official end

According to Russian information, a total of 300,000 reservists were deployed in Ukraine as part of the partial mobilization announced by President Putin.

The soldiers are primarily intended to help hold the Russian front line and protect it from Ukrainian recaptures.

The Kremlin announced a few days ago that the mobilization has now been completed.

Further mobilizations are also not planned.

As the US think tank "Institute for the Study of War" (ISW) reports in its daily situation report, numerous Russian sources report further recruitment measures in the country.

Men in the cities of Tyumen and St. Petersburg received moving-in orders on October 31.

Apparently, Ukrainians are still being drafted into the occupied Ukrainian cities of Melitopol and Mariupol.

Ending Putin's partial mobilization by decree?

Kremlin spokesman refuses

Russian journalists have also learned that the Central Military District in Yekaterinburg will only stop the mobilization measures if Putin ends the partial mobilization by decree.

With a view to the reports on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made it clear that there would be no such decree from Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin: "We inform you: A decree is not necessary." The district military replacement offices had been informed by telegram and are now not allowed to recruit more reservists.

The Australian military expert Mick Ryan even sees the mobilization of more soldiers as a central pillar of the Russian strategy.

The partly thinned ranks of the Russian army should thus be filled up and prepared for further offensive operations in the future.

The former major general wrote this on Twitter.

Russia's partial mobilization complete - Kremlin still calls up 120,000 conscripts

Regardless of the partial mobilization, a new cycle of conscription began in Russia on November 1st.

As Defense Minister Shoigu explained, 120,000 conscripts were called up for service.

However, the head of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate of the Russian General Staff, Yevgeniy Burdinsky, stressed that conscripts should not take part in combat operations in Ukraine.

Operations in the illegally annexed areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Cherson and Zaporizhia were at least officially ruled out.

The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope

View photo gallery

Russia has always been able to carry out its semi-annual conscriptions for the last few decades without any major problems.

Should problems arise in the autumn, the ISW estimates that this would indicate a deteriorating state of the Russian military structure.