A lawyer has claimed that Vladimir Putin’s Russian soldiers have been REFUSING to fight as they have uncovered a loophole to avoid extreme punishment.
Mikhail Benyash, a lawyer who has been advising Russian soldiers has said that “hundreds and hundreds” of soldiers had been in touch with his team for advice on how they could avoid being sent to fight.
Under Russian military rules, troops who refuse to fight in Ukraine can face dismissal but cannot be prosecuted, said Benyash.
Among them were 12 national guardsmen from Russia’s southern city of Krasnodar who were fired after refusing to go to Ukraine.
“Commanders try to threaten their soldiers with prison time if they dissent, but we tell the soldiers that they can simply say no,” Benyash said, adding that he was not aware of any criminal cases against soldiers who refused to fight.
“There are no legal grounds to start a criminal case if a soldier refuses to fight while on Russian territory.”
Many soldiers, therefore, have chosen to be fired or transferred rather than going into “the meat grinder”, he said.
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