In the Donetsk People’s Republic and related conflict areas, reports indicate that seven former prisoners from a military unit escaped, with three of them subsequently detained. The information comes from TASS in connection with law enforcement actions.
Sources describe that the escapees, who were soldiers from one of the units, fled the military unit in the Soledar region while still armed. According to a TASS interlocutor, three of the escapees were apprehended in the Bryanka district within the territory of the Luhansk People’s Republic.
Previously, Kommersant reported that a criminal case had been opened against eight mobilized individuals from the Kaliningrad region who left the war zone in the LPR armed with weapons. The case was forwarded to the Odintsovo garrison military court, with sentences under consideration that could reach more than 20 years in a strict regime colony.
On November 15, 2022, a group of soldiers was moved to the LPR and placed in a field camp as an inquiry by the Military Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee began. The accused claim they were hoping for training to better face the enemy, but instead they spent time building bunkers, gathering firewood, and procuring essentials. After receiving orders to place the company on the front line, they chose to flee. In the early hours of December 23, they left the temporary deployment point carrying service weapons without ammunition, bought civilian clothing, packed bags, and traveled to Podolsk by taxi, where they surrendered to police.
Earlier reports noted that a soldier who evaded mobilization in Kazakhstan received a prison sentence of six and a half years.