As scores of Russian men resort to increasingly desperate measures to dodge Vladimir Putin’s newly announced draft, soldiers on the battlefield are warning that morale there is not any better.
A man identified as a Russian soldier in Ukraine’s Kherson region can be heard venting to his partner back home about “fuck face” Putin and mocking the mobilization in audio released Tuesday by Ukrainian intelligence. The 4-minute clip, described as an intercepted phone call, was recorded a day after Putin signed new legislation imposing lengthy prison terms against any soldiers who refuse to fight.
“What are we gonna do?” says a woman in the recording who appears to be the soldier’s wife or girlfriend.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I don’t know. I need to get wounded,” he quickly responds before going on to tell her his morale at the moment is “complete shit.”
“Earlier there was a joke that you’d leave here only wounded or dead. Now it’s not a fucking joke,” he says.
He then goes on to inquire about “fuck face” Putin’s speech to the nation, which he said he had heard had included some supposedly “comforting words.”
As she tells him about Putin’s shock mobilization announcement, which she notes is ostensibly meant to bolster forces on the front, the man does not welcome the news. Instead, he says he’s sure troops on the ground will only get stiffed on payment since soon “half of Russia will be here” and the government won’t be able to pay what they’ve promised.
“Oh, yes, the partial mobilization. ‘Salaam’ everyone, fuck, tomorrow you’re off to war,” he says.
The woman appears to share his frustration, saying: “Well, Zhen, it’s just a shit show. They are just fucking [treating] you like meat, fuck.”
“And they still call us a disgrace,” he says. “As if we’re low lives and did everything ourselves and that’s why there’s mobilization. Everything is because of us, basically. The plan initially was a few days and that’s it, and here we are fucking almost 8 months later.”
“Fuck, if they don’t give me benefits and medals after all this bullshit, I’ll go against the country [and join] the fucking opposition.”
“If I get lucky I’ll get pneumonia and leave,” he says, adding that he will “pray for a wound” since the wounded “leave here with tears [of joy] in their eyes.”
The soldier’s comments came as defense officials took new measures to crack down on the exodus of Russian men literally fleeing the country, reportedly moving to set up a mobilization center on the border with Georgia to snatch up would-be deserters.
Meanwhile, some Russians have resorted to innovative new ways to try and escape: a 38-year-old Russian man was caught early Monday using a paddle board to try and enter Estonia via the Narva river, Estonian border authorities said. He was briefly detained and sent back to Russia.
Those who have been swept up in the desperate “partial mobilization” are also calling BS on the Kremlin’s assurances that all draftees will get proper training before being tossed onto the front.
“We were officially told that there would be no preparation before being sent to the war zone. The official commanders of the regiment confirmed this information. We are to be sent to Kherson on the 29th,” a newly drafted soldier said in a video published in Russian media Tuesday.
The man, identified by Mediazona as a Moscow resident named Sergei Surkov who was just called up over the weekend, said draftees had received no training whatsoever on “shooting” and “theory.”
They got “fuck all,” he said.
