Tyumen Conscripts' Families Say Soldiers Tricked Into Signing Contracts

Relatives of conscript soldiers from Tyumen have stated that contracts were signed for their sons without consent. The conscripts learned about the change in status when slightly over 2 million rubles ($22,200) were deposited into their bank cards. According to the soldiers« parents, the unit»s leadership claims that Kirill, Lavrenty, and Umed themselves signed the document transferring them to contract service. But the young men say they did not do this.

Now the soldiers« parents and the soldiers themselves are trying to prove they did not sign the contracts. How did this happen and what is the status of the case? We tell the details.

«Kirill called me in tears.» A soldier«s mother»s story

20-year-old Kirill Ponomarev, 21-year-old Lavrenty Kuznetsov, and 18-year-old Umed Khamdamov left for service from Tyumen.

Kirill studied at college to become a transport logistician and worked at Ozon. His mother Lyubov Ponomareva describes her son as a kind and trusting guy.

«Even if he went to the movies and was delayed, he called me: »Mom, don«t worry, I»m already on my way.« He met me from work,» says Lyubov about her son.

On 15 November, Kirill left for his conscript service. The Tyumen native was assigned to a military unit in the settlement of Kashtak (Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai). He, Umed, and Lavrenty were placed in a military cooks« school. A few days later, Lyubov claims, a man contacted her and introduced himself as a lieutenant. The military officer asked her to provide Kirill»s details for transfer to another unit. The Tyumen woman insists that contract service was not mentioned in the conversation.

«He said it was necessary for transferring monetary allowance. But Kirill received that card from me at the conscription point in Tyumen,» recounts Lyubov.

On 26 December, Kirill called Lyubov and asked: «Mom, did you transfer money?» The soldier«s account had 10,800 rubles ($120).

«The next day Kirill called me all in tears. On his account he discovered 1 million 910 thousand rubles ($21,200). And he told me: »Mom, I didn«t sign anything.» Later at the bank they explained that the money came from the Ministry of Defense,« says the conscript»s mother.

«Mom, I didn»t sign a contract«

Lavrenty Kuznetsov was raised by his mother Tatyana Danilova. Before service, the young man studied at a construction technical school. In July, Lavrenty received his diploma, in October he came to the military commissariat, and there he was handed a summons.

Tatyana recalls that she too was called by a lieutenant who asked her to dictate her son«s details — his TIN and SNILS. And allegedly the military officer explained to her that Lavrenty himself wanted to transfer to another unit and the data was needed to »open a file.« The soldier»s mother insists the lieutenant said that to the new card «the conscript»s salary would come — 2,600 rubles ($29).«

«Then the lieutenant told me that in the new unit Lavrenty and Umed would photograph weapons, and Kirill would record everything on the computer. At the time it seemed interesting to me: »How so? The guys are training to be cooks, but will work as photographers?«» recalls Tatyana.

On 30 December, Lavrenty saw a new deposit in his account and called his mother.

«He saw over two million rubles ($22,200) in his account. I hadn»t heard my son cry in 20 years. He is crying and saying: «Mom, I didn»t sign a contract,«» says the conscript«s mother.

The situation with the contract is similar for the third Tyumen native — Umed Khamdamov. His father Ilkhom explains that his son completed 11 grades in Tajikistan and moved to Tyumen. When he came to register at the military commissariat, he was handed a summons. Umed has a poor understanding of Russian and could have misinterpreted the lieutenant«s words, Ilkhom believes.

«They gave him a piece of paper and said: write like this. And he wrote,» says the soldier«s father.

«We will supposedly conclude a contract. But we won»t sign it«

Lavrenty told his mother in detail about the conversation with the lieutenant. In a dialogue with her, he explained that on 21 November, recruiters came to the unit. All the Tyumen natives who were in the cooks« school were invited for a talk together. Lavrenty said that they were spoken to by Lieutenant Kirill N. — the same one who called the soldiers» parents.

«The lieutenant said that we should not sign a contract, not believe the recruiters. We started talking about how we are not planning to go on contract under any circumstances.

The conversation and documents with appeals are at the disposal of the editorial office.

After this, Lavrenty explained to his mother, the lieutenant allegedly proposed that the soldiers transfer to another unit. And said that at the new place of service, Lavrenty and Umed would have to photograph serial numbers of weapons, and Kirill — record the data on a computer. According to the soldier«s version, the lieutenant promised that the service would be easier. After that, the military officer suggested the conscripts write a report for transfer.

«He explained that we would write in the report that we will supposedly conclude a contract there [in the other unit]. But in fact we will not sign it. I wrote on a blank sheet like this: »I, Kuznetsov Valery Aleksandrovich, request a petition to higher command to transfer me from such-and-such military unit to such-and-such military unit for concluding a first contract for a period of one year.« We also wrote that there was no physical or psychological pressure on us. The sample indicated that it was agreed with parents and there would be no refusal,» explained Lavrenty.

Two days later, Lavrenty claims, he and his comrades called the lieutenant and asked to cancel the report. But he said: «You»ve ended up in the wrong place« — and hung up. Later Lavrenty ended up in the hospital, and recruiters came to the unit again.

«Then Kirill and Umed said that a major came to them and spent 40 minutes asking them to sign a contract. He showed them videos — of the military unit, how they serve there. And the major dragged along a contract soldier, and he said that everything was fine with him. They did not sign the contract and left,» explained Lavrenty.

After that, two junior sergeants came to our unit and told the Tyumen natives that there was an order for their transfer to another unit.

«They said they needed our military cards: the conscript»s salary would be transferred there. When they started to leave, I caught up with them at the exit and asked: «Can these reports be canceled?» They said no.

Lavrenty clarified that throughout the whole story, the military said: «You are not contract soldiers. You did not fill out a contract form.»

What is the status of the case now?

Lyubov and Tatyana traveled to Moscow; they filed complaints with the presidential administration, the Ministry of Defense (MoD), the Investigative Committee, the prosecutor«s office, and went to the »Military Social Center.« In the last organization, the Tyumen women were told that Lavrenty signed a contract on 10 December, Kirill — on 16 December.

«They specified that all contracts are stored in the Chita military commissariat. The Ministry of Defense said they are not responsible for annulling contracts,» says Lyubov.

Lyubov added that no one has seen a photo of the contract signed by the soldiers.

Umed«s father is in Chita and spoke with the unit commander.

«I went to the unit. The commander showed on his phone the document that was written — there was no signature there,» explained Ilkhom.

Tatyana and Lyubov plan to go to Chita at the end of January. They are trying to get the contracts canceled. On 20 December, say the soldiers« relatives, the Tyumen natives went to the Investigative Committee for the Chita Garrison and spoke with an investigator.

What does the lieutenant say?

We contacted Lieutenant Kirill N., who called the soldiers« parents and asked for their details.

«If they don»t want to serve where they were conscripted to, I suggested they transfer to our military unit. They wrote the reports themselves. I did not put any pressure on them at all. At the end of the report it says: «with subsequent conclusion of a contract for one year.» I was simply conducting recruitment. They wrote the reports, and I gave them to the department that handles this. What happened next, I don«t know,» recounted Kirill N.

The military officer clarified that the Tyumen natives will have to serve for a year and they will not be sent to the special military operation (SMO).

We sent a request to the Investigative Committee for the Chita Garrison; a response is awaited.

«They should have a copy of the contract in hand»

For comment, we turned to lawyer Pavel Rusnak.

«In my practice, there has been no case where payments from the Ministry of Defense were transferred without a signed contract. It is impossible. The young men are adults, serving in the army — nothing prevents them from reading what they sign. They should have a copy of the contract they signed in hand. If they did not sign a contract, then there are direct grounds to appeal to the military prosecutor»s office and file an application with the Ministry of Defense to conduct an investigation into this fact,« commented Pavel Rusnak, lawyer.

Our colleagues have written on a similar topic.

The editorial office of 74.RU was approached by a third group of soldiers« relatives with stories about being forced to sign a contract. Our Chelyabinsk colleagues met with them at the checkpoint of one of the Chebarkul units of the 90th Guards Tank Division; they all came from Chuvashia. According to the version of the parents and wives of the servicemen, immediately on the day of arrival at the garrison, conscripts were persuaded to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense, and in case of refusal were promised to be sent to serve in Russia»s border regions, from where they would «return as casualties.» The soldiers signed some document that, their relatives are convinced, was declared as a contract necessary for serving in the Chebarkul Garrison.