A group of men mobilized from Irkutsk recorded their third appeal to Vladimir Putin. They are assigned to a brigade from the DPR, and their commanders, according to the soldiers, send them in attack with no preparation and threaten with criminal prosecution for refusing to fight. The People of Baikal media reported this on February 27.
The letter from the soldiers was delivered to the People of Baikal office by their wives. The text was signed by soldiers of companies 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the second battalion of the 1439th regiment. They are assigned to the First Slavic Brigade of the DPR. The soldiers complain that they have received orders to go on the attack. According to them, if they refused, they would be prosecuted under the law of desertion.
"We will split you into groups of two and send you in an offense, from which you will not return," the men quoted the command's threats.
The soldiers claim that the DPR evacuation groups do not pick up seriously wounded and killed Russian soldiers because they are "afraid of losing their equipment."
In February 2023, the mobilized men from Irkutsk recorded two videos to Vladimir Putin asking to transfer them from the assault troops to support units. The regiment's deputy commander tried to explain to the command that "yesterday's drivers, welders, and furniture makers" do not have the skills of attack troopers. He was allegedly detained and his whereabouts are currently unknown.
According to the mobilized men, the command calls them "expendables" and tells them that they have to "go and die". The DPR commanders, the soldiers said, might shoot them for refusing to storm Avdeevka. According to the men, their only chance of returning home is to be wounded. There is no point in appealing to the local military prosecutor's office since the prosecutors are in collusion with the brigade.
On February 26, Igor Kobzev, governor of the Irkutsk Oblast, promised to transfer the mobilized men to another place of service.
