In Russia, conscripts are returning to the front after a period of time, many of whom have committed serious crimes and had a free ticket to get out of prison when they went to war, writes Reuters.
The main problem is that six months on the battlefield have not quenched the criminals’ thirst for violent revenge. One of the murderers who has ended up behind bars again after returning from the war is Azamat Iskaliyev, who stabbed his wife in 2021. She wanted a divorce. The 37-year-old murderer spent a third of his nine-year sentence in prison, before being pardoned to go to war in Ukraine. After returning to civilian life, Iskaliyev stabbed his ex-girlfriend more than 60 times in October 2024 after she rejected his advances. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison in July this year.
Iskaliyev’s case, which Reuters has pieced together from Saratov city court documents and local media reports, highlights the problem facing Russia when the war eventually ends and hundreds of thousands of soldiers, some of whom are pardoned prisoners, return home. Mark Galeotti, a British expert on Russia, said that by early 2025, more than 1.5 million Russian citizens will have fought in the war in Ukraine, and as more of them are demobilized, Russia will see a large number of people mentally affected by the violence of the war.
Three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters that this is also a headache for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. He sees the mass return of soldiers as a potential risk that needs to be addressed to avoid undermining public order and the political system he has created. One source said the aim is to avoid a situation similar to that after the end of the Afghan war, when former soldiers helped fuel the rise of organised crime in the already difficult 1990s.
Many of those who return will not be able to earn anywhere near the generous salaries they earned in the army,
and this will cause dissatisfaction. Army recruits from Moscow can receive as much as 65,000 dollars a year in Ukraine. In addition, a bonus payment of 24,000 dollars is also given upon signing a contract, which is already as much as the average annual salary in the Russian capital.
Neither the Kremlin, nor the Russian Defence Ministry, nor the Justice Ministry responded to Reuters’ request for comment. Iskaliyev could not be reached for comment either.
The challenges that come with returning soldiers are not unique to Russia. In the US, some of the Vietnam War veterans suffered from mental disorders caused by their experiences in the war. The main difference is the pardoning of convicted criminals and sending them to the front. Since 2022, Russia has sent 120,000-180,000 criminals to war. Currently, Russia has mainly returned convicts, those who were seriously injured or those who were considered too old to fight. Moscow has also changed the conditions, and now, like any conscript, criminals do not return home after six months, but stay to fight until the war ends.
In October 2024, the independent Russian media outlet Verstka estimated that almost 500 civilians had become victims of Ukrainian war veterans. Reuters has not been able to confirm this statistic. Russian authorities declared Verstka an agent of foreign influence in December 2023, citing allegations that the media outlet opposes Russian military operations in Ukraine and disseminates unreliable information about Russian policy. The outlet has denied this, stating that
it carefully checks the facts and publishes only what it is absolutely sure of.
Opinions are divided on comparing the situation with the 1990s, when those who fought there returned from Afghanistan. At that time, war survivors suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome, and some sought solace in alcohol and drugs, were unable to adapt to normal life and joined the ranks of criminals. A Russian citizen whose son was killed in Ukraine said that veterans of that war would avoid the problems of the 1990s because the state would help. One of the sources close to the Kremlin is inclined to agree with this – at that time the Soviet Union had also collapsed, and chaos reigned, while currently the political situation is in order, and the power structures are stronger.
Others, on the other hand, point out that Ukrainian war veterans will become an even bigger problem than the so-called “Afghantsy.” Mainly because a much larger number of seriously traumatized soldiers will return.
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