Deputy alleges pressure on Urals conscripts to sign military contracts

Deputy Anastasia Borisova has asked the military prosecutor to verify information about the coercion of two conscripts from Miass into signing contracts. The soldiers« relatives claim they signed the documents under duress on a train heading to their place of service.

“For every refusal they made us do squats”

Relatives of 18-year-old Ivan Morozov and 20-year-old Semyon Sergeev approached the deputy from Miass. The young men were called up for service on December 5 and sent by train to Ussuriysk on the 8th. Ivan described what happened next in a video:

“Two individuals without military ranks, who did not introduce themselves, approached me. They were agitating for me to sign a contract, forcing me to sign, threatening my health both morally and physically. For every refusal they made me do squats, they twisted my arms. Unable to withstand the physical violence, I signed the contract lying on the floor.”

Semyon Sergeev said he was pressured more psychologically. The conscript had refused the contract at the assembly point in Kopeysk, but on the train they started trying to persuade him again. The young man at first promised to think about it.

“The next morning, during the general wake-up call, they woke me up asking: ‘Will you sign the contract?’ I refused, and they started to humiliate my personal dignity, saying things like: ‘You’re not a real man,’ ‘Do you want your mother to take a bulletproof vest, a helmet, and an assault rifle and go defend the homeland?’ Under such psychological pressure, I sat down to sign the contract,” he said.

Over the week-long journey, other conscripts also signed contracts on the train; according to some reports, more than a hundred did. Parents of nine young men from different regions sent collective appeals to the Main Military Prosecutor«s Office of the Russian Federation, from where the complaint was redirected to the military prosecutor»s office of the Eastern Military District.

Upon arriving at the unit, Ivan wrote a refusal to sign the contract, but the fate of that document is currently unclear.

“The fact of using violence makes such a contract legally void”

The relatives of the young men from Miass turned to the local deputy, and Anastasia Borisova sent a request to the military prosecutor«s office of the Eastern Military District. In her opinion, there was an abuse of official authority (Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and a violation of statutory rules of relations between military personnel (Article 335 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

“According to the applicants, two persons accompanying the train with the rank of ‘sergeant’ (their identities are to be established), using threats to life and health, as well as physical violence (physical exhaustion, arm-twisting), forced Morozov I.M. and Sergeev S.I. to sign a military service contract. Psychological pressure was also exerted, including through night-time wake-ups, obscene language, and intimidation. At the same time, the legal consequences and conditions of the contract were not explained. Article 32 of Federal Law No. 53-FZ of March 28, 1998 ‘On Military Duty and Military Service’ establishes the exclusive voluntariness of concluding a contract. The fact of using violence and threats to obtain a signature makes such a contract legally void, and the actions of officials criminally punishable,” the document states.

The deputy asked to conduct an investigation into the facts of violence and coercion to sign contracts concerning the soldiers, to suspend (annul) the processing of the contracts and return them to conscript status. She also requested consideration of initiating a criminal case against the guilty parties under the article on abuse of official authority with the use of violence.

“Any information about coercion to sign contracts requires an extremely serious and impartial check. By law, a contract is an expression of the citizen«s will. Situations in which this principle is violated are unacceptable,” says Anastasia Borisova. “In such cases, it is necessary to immediately involve supervisory bodies, in particular, the military prosecutor’s office, which will give a legal assessment of the actions of officials. We, as local representatives of the authorities, advocate that all processes within the conscription campaign and recruitment for service take place openly and strictly in accordance with the law. Any distortion of these processes harms society.”

The editorial office of 74.RU did not duplicate the request to the military prosecutor«s office of the Eastern Military District; they will publish the response when it is received by the deputy.