Dozens of Russian draftees were reportedly rounded up in the middle of the night on Russian territory and driven across the border to Ukraine’s Luhansk region, where they say they were locked in an old factory and “sold” like cattle to the notorious Wagner Group.
That’s according to a new report from Astra, which spoke with family members and reviewed text and audio messages from some of the men. All in all, more than 100 draftees were allegedly scooped up in the bizarre bait and switch.
The troops were reportedly told they would be going to the Rostov region for training to serve in territorial defenses, but were instead packed into vehicles and dumped in a railway car repair plant in Stakhanov last week.
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“They’re already herding us around at gunpoint, that’s it, the turning of the screws has started. Representatives of Wagner arrived with weapons, there are about 30 of them,” one of the soldiers was quoted telling his family by phone.
He went on to warn that “people with weapons” were about to take the draftees’ phones away.
Some of the draftees were forced to sign contracts with Wagner, but told they would be forming their own private military group called the “Wolves,” according to the report.
“We don’t have a choice. Those who said ‘no’ – they’ve already been taken away and I don’t know what is happening to them now. Wagner arrived. You see, they don’t give a fuck, they’ll kill us and dump us in the field and that’s it,” another soldier reportedly told relatives.
Bizarrely, the former president of the Russian-backed “republic” of South Ossetia allegedly arrived to help break the resistance of those who refused to sign contracts. Widely circulated video purportedly shows Anatoly Bibilov cursing out the dissenters.
“You need to think with your fucking heads, guys! … We will not disgrace those who remain on the battlefield! We will win this fucking war! And what will you have to be proud of? What will you say? How will you justify yourselves? … Who will protect the country?” reportedly Bibilov said, calling one soldier who spoke up a “coward” before challenging him to fight.
Fifty seven out of 170 draftees agreed to sign contracts with Wagner and then left the plant, Astra reports, while 113 stood their ground and were subsequently transported elsewhere in Ukraine’s Luhansk region. Their phones were reportedly confiscated and family members have no idea what happened to them.
