You Can Enter Donbass, But You Can't Leave

Problem 500.

I thought I’d share this post in a Z-channel and just leave it at that today.

Here:

Thousands of Russian volunteers who left for the Donbass in 2022 were denounced in the People's Republics as having left their units without permission (SOCH). Criminal cases are opened against them, they are put on the wanted list. "SOCh" have been fighting at the front for years, dying and losing their health, but for the state they are only defendants in criminal cases and in prosecutorial checks.

This problem has been going on for over a year and a half now. Many fighters are trying to solve it privately, without any fuss. We are helping them with this, but the scale of the problem is such that it is no longer possible to remain silent about it. We can help a few, but thousands have suffered from injustice.

The essence of the question. Even before the People’s Republics joined Russia, volunteers from the “mainland” fought in the ranks of the People’s Militia. Their legal status was questionable; often they were not even properly registered in their units and did not receive the necessary allowance. But people came for ideological reasons, which is why they tolerated such twists and turns of the bureaucracy.

From January 1, 2023, the People's Militia became part of the RF Armed Forces, and Russian volunteers were retroactively registered as... mobilized. Apparently, everyone who had at least once managed to fight in the People’s Militia was “mobilized.” The “mobilization” was carried out by the army corps of the NM DPR and the NM LPR, which in itself is absurd and illegal, because mobilization orders are drawn up by the military registration and enlistment offices at the place of registration. In some cases, people were registered as contract soldiers, but without signing a contract with the RF Ministry of Defense and taking an oath. A monstrous gag and arbitrariness, the only purpose of which is to create the appearance of legal grounds for the indefinite retention of volunteers who were originally headed over for limited periods of service.

As a result, people who had been fighting for a long time in other units, who had gone home after serious injuries or at the end of their service, unexpectedly learned that the investigative authorities of the People's Republics had opened criminal cases against them for leaving their unit without permission.

A fighter without an eye with one hand that doesn’t work, a fighter with shrapnel in his head—all of them have complaints from the authorities. The fighter served the designated term, resigned from his unit and is already a civilian - still registered as mobilized in complete contradiction with the current legislation.

Those who do not have the opportunity to competently defend themselves soon receive a suspended sentence and find themselves in [punitive] assault waves - among other fines. Some manage to organize a legal defense, and the cases against them are closed for lack of evidence of a crime.

We know of such cases, but they are rare. Several fighters we help are still under investigation. The process drags on for months because the military prosecutor's office and the investigation are overloaded.

We also know about an entire unit that, together with its commander, was registered as SOCH. Meanwhile, the unit is successfully fighting, holding its part of the front near Chasovoy Yar.

Ideological volunteers became victims of a legal conflict that arose when new regions became part of Russia. Some of them returned home. Many continue to serve in the Russian Armed Forces or in Redoubt units. Some remained disabled, while others have already died. But they all have the right to restore their good name and receive benefits due to SMO participants and rehabilitation in cases brought against them.

We call on Russian society: humanitarian workers, military officers, public opinion leaders who are aware of the problem and interested in resolving it, to speak out publicly about Problem-500 and, together with us, try to influence the situation in order to close this issue immediately for all the People’s Militia volunteers.

No further comment.