Twelve officers of the Krasnodar National Guard were ordered to go to Ukraine and fight there. But they said no. And today, defended by lawyer Mikhail Benyash, they challenged the dismissal received from Moscow in response to the refusal to obey orders. The story was first told by Meduza magazine, one of the few independent media outlets in Russia. And the motivation presented is impeccable: that there is no war against Kyiv, but a “special operation”, as Vladimir Putin himself defined it. So the order to go to war does not apply.
The lawsuit against Putin
Benyash says that on February 25, the Rosgwardia, or Russian National Guard, ordered them to go into Ukrainian territory while participating in an exercise in Crimea. When they refused, a disciplinary procedure was initiated, and on March 1, they received the letter of dismissal for insubordination. “In the event of an armed conflict or an emergency situation, the terms of the contract can be unilaterally modified for up to six months,” explains Benyash. “But here there is no armed conflict or war, only a ‘military special operation’. The law says nothing about it. If the Russian authorities themselves refuse to call it an armed conflict, then it is not a war and no orders can come. You can go as a volunteer but you can’t be forced, that’s the rationale. “And if it’s a war, who started it? Unfortunately, no one wants to answer that question.”
In an interview with Vladimir Sevrinovsky, the lawyer argues that the Russians refuse “en masse” to take part in Putin’s special operations. And now, thanks to this lawsuit, they will know that there is a legal basis for this. Many don’t move because they’re afraid of what might be said about them if the stories hit the media. They frighten them with accusations of treason. “I hear stories about garbage coming from Siberia to the North Caucasus,” says Benyash, “I received a total of 200 requests. But many come to me as representatives of a group. They come to me because people don’t want to kill or be killed. When they were hired, the rules of engagement were different. As for Rosgvardia, the conscripts did not receive any military training. These guys can’t fire surfacetoair missiles, they can’t carry tanks around. What would happen to them if they encountered a trained army?
Not killing is not a crime
Refusal to kill is not a crime, according to the lawyer: “It’s not a shame, it’s right. If someone refuses a kill order, they can count on our protection.” Then he reveals that he received pressure on his part: “Two weeks ago they broke down the door of my house. You should see what was in the house. It’s like whether a hippopotamus would have passed.’ And it doesn’t stop there. Repubblica, which today narrated the story of the Krasnodar National Guard, reports that Alexei Navalny’s team broadcast audio of an interview between Russian troops who may be intercepting in Ukraine And what testifies to the refusal of the Russian special forces in Irkutsk, Omsk and Novosibirsk to go into battle, who were also accused by their superiors of cowardice and treachery.
And yesterday the Office of Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed that South Ossetian soldiers refused to go to war with Russia against Ukraine. A few days ago, almost the entire personnel of one of the battalion’s combat groups (two motorized rifle companies and one mortar battery) of the 4th military base of the Russian Armed Forces (military unit 66431 Chinval, South Ossetia) refused to “take part in the military aggression against Ukraine.” Almost all residents of the region have a Russian passport. For Ossetia, Moscow wants a referendum on the annexation of the entire territory to Russia. It could take place as early as May or June.
Cover photo: Sergey Malgavko / Meduza
