Rash of Russian Soldiers Paying Bribes to Exit Kremlin Army, Intel Says

En masse, Russian service members are paying exorbitant bribes to get out of military service and the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, according to a Telegram post by Kyiv’s Intelligence officials.

The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine (HUR) on Thursday, August 1, said Russian soldiers trying to get out of their military duty is evidenced by the sharp increase in registered criminal cases related to bribery in the Russian armed forces.

The HUR said that in the first 5 months of 2024, the number of criminal cases for illegal discharge from service due to supposed health reasons and the granting of illegal leave has tripled in the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces.

“Almost half of such cases involve occupiers from Russia’s 8th Combined Arms Army. Another 36 percent involve the 58th Combined Arms Army, whose commander was arrested this spring on suspicion of corruption,” reports the HUR press service.

According to the HUR, over a hundred cases have been made against Russian officials of military units in the Southern Military District, involving bribery for granting leave from the combat zone.

The HUR believes that the documentation of these incidents in the form of criminal cases may indicate an increasing level of demoralization among the occupying forces and, for the Kremlin, a worrisome trend of Moscow's soldiers fleeing the Russian army by any means possible.

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In April of this year, Moscow’s Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was detained on suspicion of accepting a bribe, reported Russian state media TASS

Shoigu’s deputy was sent to a pre-trial detention center for two months. He was suspected of accepting a bribe of at least 1 million rubles ($11,650).

The court ruled that Shoigu’s deputy received the bribe during contracting and subcontracting work for the Russian Ministry of Defense’s requirements.

After the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ivanov was placed in charge of a project to supposedly restore occupied Mariupol, which sustained extensive damage inflicted by the Russian Armed Forces.