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Discipline in the Russian army has never been a strong suit, but since the mass conscription of convicts began in the fall of 2022, the military has been unraveling at alarming speed. The longer the war goes on, the harder it becomes to impose order. In April 2025, a group of soldiers fled their battalion commander after he threatened to execute them. In May, the wife of a contract soldier who had deserted under similar threats said that he was forcibly returned to the front, beaten, then put into a penal unit. There are hundreds of such cases that are publicly known.
Russia’s military prosecutor’s office has received thousands of complaints about executions and beatings of service members, and the list is growing. Meanwhile, those returning from the frontlines are increasingly being prosecuted in new criminal cases. Drunken brawls have become more frequent. Corporal punishment is now a routine part of the “disciplinary process.” The Insider spoke with officers and enlisted men who served in Ukraine. They described how commanders are using increasingly harsh — and often futile — measures to maintain discipline.
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“There was zero coordination. My direct commander just didn’t show up — he lied that he had other tasks and vanished. We came under artillery fire, and I got hit with shrapnel. One piece struck my side, another hit my arm. I crawled into cover and started gnawing the shard out of my arm.”
“There were 100 of us during the combat prep stage. Only two survived. The mission was a death trap. Everything was mined, and there were no friendly forces there — though we were told they were in place and waiting for us. We just arrived, dug in, and were hit by drones. No one came to help. We tried calling for support over the radio, but they ignored us. I was literally stepping over the corpses of the same guys I trained with when we were moving in — and stepping over them again when I ran back."
“Our battalion commander was the only career officer. The rest were from other security agencies, with no real military background. But even that commander was a complete idiot. First off, he was a tank officer, not infantry. Second, he was drunk all the time — I never saw him sober. So yeah, he was a career officer — permanently drunk and utterly useless.”
When he refused to accept the post, the colonel responded: “You have no rights. You’re a slave — sit still and don’t ask questions”
“When soldiers were caught drunk, they were beaten — but it didn’t help. Only when they were sent to assaults or thrown into pits. Commanders drank too. There were times when the chief of staff got drunk and started firing his weapon randomly. Luckily, no one was killed.”
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