Russian soldiers serving in Ukraine are seeking ways to escape or desert the army, with one man, Oleg from Ufa, saying he thought he was signing up for a security-guard job at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant before discovering he had signed military paperwork. [1]
Oleg said he took a train from Moscow to a conscription office in Ryazan in December 2025 to secure the deal for a salary of 200,000 rubles ($2,660), but later said he signed the papers “in a hurry, without reading, without comprehending, and that was it.” [1]
He later deserted the army and fled Russia. Oleg also recalled being told by a drill sergeant, “You’re nobody now, you belong to the army,” and said an unknown officer dismissed his concerns with, “To hell with you, no one will find out [about the diagnosis] stop squealing.” [1]
The report says the Kremlin does not release data on how many soldiers have deserted or gone absent without official leave. It cites figures from Mediazona and the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights as evidence of large-scale Russian military desertion since 2022. [1]
Mediazona claimed last June that almost 21,000 Russian servicemen had been convicted for refusing to serve. In September 2025, the U.N. special rapporteur said at least 50,000 Russian soldiers had deserted since 2022. [1]
The report says at least 3,000 deserters, including Oleg, used help from Idite Lesom. That group has helped servicemen try to leave the army or get out of Russia, according to the report. [1]
