Dozens Of Russian Soldiers Who Refused To Participate In The War Were Locked In A Basement Near Mariupol

Mostly soldiers from Yakutia, Buryatia and Transbaikal Territory end up there.

In the occupied settlement of Melekino near Mariupol, a basement has been discovered where Russian servicemen who refused to fight with Ukraine are being held. Sources Astra reported that the place is located on an abandoned construction site: soldiers from Yakutia, Buryatia and Transbaikal Territory are mostly trapped there. One survivor of the confinement noted that military personnel live in cramped and unsanitary conditions for months. "Darkness, gloom, no air, damp, cardboard, pallets, bottles. I talked to people and they told me that they have been sitting there for eight months or even a year. Refuseniks, SOChins (those who left the unit unauthorized - editor's note), deserters, non-deserters - all of them are put there," he emphasized.

According to him, among those locked in the basement there are those who are officially considered missing, and sometimes relatives of these military men are lied to that they are busy on the front line. The publication's interlocutor added that one can get out of there either through a combat mission, "either the 300th or the 200th" - that is, wounded or dead. Another military officer from Buryatia said that the count of those held goes into the dozens. "Once there were 98 of us in the basement at the same time. We took turns sleeping, of course. One, call sign "Kuzya", couldn't stand it, he was taken away by ambulance," he said. A third serviceman said that the prisoners are taken out to wash once a month: "They are kept like cattle or worse... Many have not even passed the military medical commission yet, despite the fact that someone has been here for six months, someone for a year, and one has been here for the second year. There are mentally unhealthy people, with schizophrenia, with other deviations.

The basement where the "refuseniks" are kept is 300 meters away from the sanatorium where tourists rest. The village of Melekino is located on the shore of the Sea of Azov - 20 kilometers from Mariupol - and has been under the control of the Russian army since 2022.

All the interlocutors of the publication who passed through the basement served in the 37th brigade. In February 2022, it took part in the offensive against Kiev, and then took part in assault operations, including the battle for Ugledar. Before the war, the military unit of the 37th Brigade in the Buryatian town of Kyakhta was nicknamed the "polygon of death" because of frequent deaths among its personnel.

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