1/ A Russian forensic specialist was sent to Ukraine and made a tank platoon commander with no previous experience and little training. After being seriously injured and seeing many abuses perpetrated by officers, he deserted and has since told his story. ⬇️
2/ Vyacheslav Astakhov originally trained in criminology and joined the Russian police in the 2010s, but quit after four years after he "realised that the people there were rotten from top to bottom". This left him with serious financial problems, so he joined the Russian Army.
3/ He obtained a posting to the Arctic island of Novaya Zemlya, where soldiers can attract double pay becausxe of the difficult conditions. His remote posting was not immediately affected by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
4/ Astakhov's contract was due to expire in August 2022, but he was threatened with imprisonment if he did not sign a renewal. In September, he was promoted to an officer rank on account of his higher education and was sent for training at Mulino in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
5/ He was shocked by the chaos and disorganisation he witnessed, with newly mobilised men and volunteers being given no training before being sent to the front line. "No training or drills, a group arrived, they dressed them, shod them, and took them away, like a conveyor belt."
6/ Although he himself was reluctant to go to war, he observed how mobilised men who objected were treated as "cowards and "enemies of the people" for the command – they were sent by force straight to the front lines." He was arbitrarily made a tank platoon commander.
7/ Astakhov told his superiors that he had never dealt with tanks and was not ready for the responsibility. "They started feeding me lies, saying that I wasn't the only one and that they were going to send me to St. Petersburg for a month of training.
8/ "I still didn't sign the documents to accept the position and went to the leadership with a request to leave me with the training unit, since I don't know how to fight and am not ready. They also told me that they would train me, but all the positions in the unit were filled.
9/ The only thing they offered was a choice between a tank platoon commander and a motorised rifle platoon commander. With a heavy heart, I chose the tank platoon."
He was sent for training, but it was farcically inadequate and very badly managed.
He was sent for training, but it was farcically inadequate and very badly managed.
10/ "It was even more chaotic there: everyone was drinking, there was filth and rats. The training was superficial: they spent a couple of days explaining how to start the system in the tank, fired a couple of shots at targets, and fired automatic weapons.
11/ "When I returned to the unit, I said that we didn't understand what we were doing, and the leadership started to look at me askance, and their attitude changed immediately. They said that I would be taught everything there, at war.
12/ "I realized that it was impossible to come to an agreement on a human level, so I went to the Rostov prosecutor's office with a complaint that I was being sent to command without any knowledge of the technology.
13/ "The chief, a colonel, immediately started with attacks and threats — that I was a coward, a deserter, that I should be put in jail."
A sympathetic captain persuaded the colonel to let Astakhov stay at the training ground for more training and to help out with paperwork.
A sympathetic captain persuaded the colonel to let Astakhov stay at the training ground for more training and to help out with paperwork.
14/ He stayed there for a couple of weeks longer before being sent to Krasny Luch in Ukraine on 10 March 2023 and being assigned to the 8th tank company near Makiivka. A notoriously brutal commander with the callsign 'Viking' took over in May and conditions immediately worsened.
15/ "The entire company there were drunks, I was transferred to the commander's reinforcement with another platoon commander, to keep an eye on the drunks.
16/ "The leadership immediately said that I would be "responsible for the personnel", that they needed to "show that I was a commander", "make them obey by any means, not drink and not do nonsense". I was shocked, talked frankly with the guys, asked why they were drinking.
17/ "And they signed contracts for six months, thinking to serve and come back – some had loans, families, some wanted to finish building a house. But the contracts turned out to be indefinite, some had already served for nine months, some for a year.
18/ "And people could not stand it – they drank, because their psyche failed. Of course, I did not beat anyone or put moral pressure on anyone – I tried to solve everything humanely."
(Drug and alcohol abuse is endemic in the Russian army.)
(Drug and alcohol abuse is endemic in the Russian army.)
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19/ The soldiers lived at first in an abandoned stable but were kicked out into a nearby forest because of their constant drinking. They were told to "live there like dogs" in dugouts and shelters they had to construct themselves.
20/ "The leadership demanded that people be beaten, tied to trees and put in pits so that they would not drink. They said, “Otherwise we will send you and them to assaults with a one-way ticket.”"
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