Relatives Hit by Wall of Silence in Search for Russian Conscripts Missing in Kursk

As the armored formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) burst into the Kursk region on Aug. 6, social media from both sides was soon filled with reports of conscript Russian soldiers armed only with personal weapons being killed, wounded or captured. For their parents and other relatives there was no official system to find out the fate of their loved ones.

The independent news site “iStories” spoke with a representative of an unnamed non-governmental human rights organization (NGHRO) that is being swamped with appeals for help from relatives desperately searching for news of those missing or assistance to prevent conscripts from being sent to the combat zone.

According to the NGHRO spokesperson they receive three main categories of request for help.

Help wanted – category one

The first group is from those who have lost contact with their sons who know that they were previously sent to serve in the Kursk region, particularly in areas where fighting has been reported such as the town of Sudzha. They have tried to find out through official Russian military or civil authorities or by contacting comrades of the missing. There is no hotline they can turn to, and their sons’ units are scattered and on the move.

Even when they have a formal number to ring, if it’s not been cut off or unanswered, the parents are invariably told there is no information. The iStories source says the same thing happened at the start of the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Conscripts disappeared from the radar for the first two or three months.

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Help wanted – category two

The second category involves those conscripts who are known to have been evacuated from the border area in advance of the Ukrainian offensive or after withdrawing from active fighting. A number of relatives confirmed Wednesday’s Kyiv Post report that these conscripts were being forced to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense in readiness for being returned to the front line.

Despite what President Vladimir Putin has said about conscripts not being sent to the battlefield, human rights activists say that the legislation covering conscription allows recruits to be sent to perform any tasks, including actual fighting, if war, martial law or a counter-terrorist operation (CTO) is declared, as it has been in Kursk. The same laws governing the CTO put the military under command of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) which puts another firewall between the relatives and knowing the fate of their sons.

Their parents say the recruit’s identity documents have been confiscated and if they “voluntarily” sign a contract they will receive “combat pay” of up to 4,500 rubles ($50) a day but, if they decline, they would be declared “500,” the military code for a deserter and would still be sent into combat.

Help wanted – category three

The third category of requests is from those whose sons have been warned they will be sent to the Kursk region from elsewhere. This appears to include many of those who were called up in the latest draft and joined a unit in June or July and haven’t even completed the legally mandated minimum four months of training.

Here, of course, it is extremely important for families to unite and prepare general appeals in order to publicize this problem and influence the sending. For some, the question of hospitalization can be raised separately if the person was drafted illegally. The family can request a military medical commission and thereby remove him from the threat. There are individual cases in which a person can be saved.

The NGHRO spokesperson said they are being overwhelmed with requests for help by both adult contracted soldiers as well as conscripts but estimates that around 80 percent of those currently received are from parents of conscripts. The source says this is nothing new, they have been struggling with the same issues for two-and-a-half years.

He says that he no longer has any illusions. Russia’s laws that govern military service, in general, and conscription in particular are being adjusted or ignored for the greater good of the “special military operation.”

As recent reports show the manpower situation in Moscow’s forces is such that even those who were granted conscientious, psychological and even medical exemptions are now being swept up and sent to fight in support of the Kremlin’s latest military crisis – Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region.