The law enforcers have opened a criminal case following the suicide of conscript Sergei Gridin from Pechora. He died after his refusal to go on a tour with the rest of his unit to Ukraine. His sisters reported his death to the 7x7 media on February 16.
About the criminal case first informed the "Komi is Ж" telegram channel. The information was later confirmed by two sisters of the deceased Sergei Gridin. There is no official confirmation yet.
According to the telegram channel, Gridin died in a military unit in the Moscow region on February 10. Before his death, he was allegedly physically abused. According to his relatives, his body had bruises, but they were not indicated in the death certificate. Neither was listed Gridin’s suicide note (the 7x7 media has a copy of it). Speaking to the 7x7 media, the sisters confirmed that the handwriting on the note is similar to Gridin's.
In the note, he says that he has "made a decision to die on his native land without blood on his hands.” He also claims that he was severely abused after refusing to go to Ukraine. According to the note, he was ordered to go on a tour to Ukraine, and he says no one from his unit has returned from there. He had also told his relatives about going to Ukraine speaking on the phone but then turned it into a joke.
In February 2019, 19-year-old conscript Stepan Tsymbal died at a training camp near Voronezh. He was found dead with a plastic bag on his head and hands tied with duct tape. The investigation concluded that he had committed suicide. In April 2022, the court sentenced an officer involved in the incident to 6 years in prison. The court made the Ministry of Defense pay 1.5 million rubles ($20,000) in compensation to the conscript’s mother.
