Russian soldiers bring their guns home from the front and open fire on the people.
Russian soldiers are removing weapons from the combat zone; Dozens of soldiers have already been tried for mishandling weapons.
Font: VyorstkaRussian Telegram channel
Details: Since the beginning of the large-scale war in February 2022, at least 42 servicemen in Russia have been brought before the courts for appropriation, storage, transportation and possession of weapons, ammunition and explosive devices (articles 222 and 222.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Vyorstka has discovered this by studying the foundations of all Russian garrison military courts.
Judging by the published verdicts, Russian soldiers bring home firearms found at the front or keep unused cartridges and grenades. They take them to military units, hide them in armored vests, backpacks and sleeping bags, then take them to a secret place and when they go home on vacation, they take these weapons with them.
At least 18 soldiers who returned from the war have already been sentenced. Two dozen more are awaiting a court decision.
One soldier was sent to prison for 2.5 years. During the inspection at the checkpoint of the Crimean bridge, which he used to go home, 4 hand grenades, 5 bullets and a smoke grenade were found in his backpack. The soldier told investigators that he was carrying explosive devices “for personal safety.”
The rest of the servicemen were fined several tens of thousands of rubles and received suspended terms. Weapons were sometimes found during inspections at checkpoints, Road Patrol Service posts and train stations.
For example, when searching a soldier from Kursk, who was returning home through the Crimea, an employee of the State Road Safety Inspectorate found a Val rifle, a Makarov pistol and 300 rounds of ammunition in his backpack.
In the Samara Oblast, employees of the Highway Patrol Service found a Makarov pistol and two loaded magazines in the car of a Chelyabinsk soldier, in which he was returning home from the war.
At a train station in Voronezh Oblast, an F-1 hand grenade was seized from a soldier after scanning his backpack with an X-ray. Later, he told investigators that he wanted to use the grenade for fishing.
Those who manage to bring weapons home keep them in their apartments and country houses.
In Reutov (Moscow Oblast), two friends returning from the war delivered magazines loaded with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a Dragunov rifle to the owner of their rented apartment. He took the ammunition and, a few days later, called the police.
In Bryansk, another soldier took a fragmentation grenade from the front, took it to the service department and put it on a shelf in the corridor. The same day, he had a fight with his wife. The policemen, who arrived at the scene, saw the grenade and called the bomb disposal experts.
One of the convicts got drunk and started firing his pistol in a public place. He found a Makarov pistol with cartridges and an RGD-5 grenade under the seat of a combat vehicle that returned to the unit after the battle. He stored the find in the ground, and three weeks after that, he dug up a gun, took it for a walk, and began shooting into the air near a grocery store. The court assigned him compulsory jobs.
Several servicemen who took combat ammunition from the front managed to avoid criminal responsibility: their cases were closed. They convinced the court that they came to their senses and made amends by giving public lectures in their military units on responsibility for illegal possession of weapons and donating 5-10 thousand rubles to help children.
In August 2022, in Smolensk Oblast, four armed men, one of them a contract soldier, attacked Ukrainian refugees at a temporary accommodation point. The same month, in Rostov-on-Don, a military officer shot a taxi driver with a Makarov pistol while the two were discussing politics.
In December in Petrozavodsk, another soldier killed his wife with a pistol, Vyorstka emphasized.
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