Igor Zaytsev's blog

News article (in Russian) is here.

I should say in front, that there is some confusion on this matter. I’ve seen over reports that are slightly differ on the number and the facts. It is possible, these are two different and unrelated occurrences.

So, according to the article, 120 men from the small Russian republic of Kabardino-balkaria in Caucasus have abandoned their posts in Ukraine and returned to their base. As a result, they were discharged, and they have lost their benefits (subsidized mortgage etc.).

This came to public attention because of the lawsuit against the Russian Guards, filed by the deserters. They maintain that they have returned lawfully, and that they disobeyed no orders.

There are other articles, talking about 115 men from Russian Guards, who refused to leave to Ukraine. If those are indeed unrelated to the above, then we know about 235 Russian Guards servicemen from this relatively small Caucasian republic, who deserted or refused to be sent to the front.

I have to say, this reminds me of one of the messages in Strelkov’s Telegram channel, there he talks about this possibility. He said that as long as there is no declaration of war, contract soldiers have an easy option out. All they have to do, is to exit their contracts. But here we have some people who not only want to escape the war, but also to keep their government contracts. I guess, the number of servicemen who just quitted their job in Russian Guard or Armed Forces or other government agencies and organizations in order to keep themselves out of any danger, is in fact much higher than those who filed lawsuits.