April 16, 2024

A Brick in AWOL


A Brick in AWOL
83rd Guards Air Assault Brigade's artillery exercise. 
  Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, Wikimedia Commons.

According to calculations by journalists at the independent outlet Mediazona, in March 2024 Russian military courts adjudicated 684 cases of unauthorized abandonment of military units. This translates to an average of 34 sentences per working day.

The surge in cases under Article 337 of the Criminal Code, which pertains to desertion, began in September 2022, following Russia's first mass mobilization for the war in Ukraine, in which approximately 300,000 reservists were called up for service, and subsequent regulations effectively made temporary contracts with the Ministry of Defense indefinite, preventing soldiers from leaving the army.

Since the beginning of 2024, military courts have received approximately 2,300 cases, and since the onset of mobilization, nearly 7,400 cases have been recorded. The majority of these cases are concentrated in the Moscow (496 cases), Sverdlovsk (258), and Orenburg (255) regions.

Military courts have opted for suspended sentences in most instances of unauthorized abandonment. Mediazona reported that this is often done to allow the convicted soldier to be immediately deployed for combat duty, as individuals are only dismissed from service if they receive a custodial sentence.

The Russian military currently faces a serious shortage of personnel, prompting efforts to recruit foreigners, and to reports of a new moblization, as reported by Russian pro-war bloggers and independent sources such as Verstka. According to Verstka journalists, the current shortage, coupled with the Russian army's ambition to capture the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, is expected to result in a mobilization effort in the coming months.

You Might Also Like

The Least of These
  • February 10, 2024

The Least of These

A paramilitary summer camp along the Volga gets the indoctrination started early.
The Women with the White Scarves
  • January 08, 2024

The Women with the White Scarves

Family members of drafted soldiers picketed solo in Moscow demanding the return of their loved ones from the war in Ukraine.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955