1/ Russian soldiers who have been injured in the war in Ukraine are finding that promised compensation money from the Russian government is not being paid due to military bureaucracy. "We are just meat with splinters for them," one soldier says. ⬇️ 
2/ Dozens of soldiers are complaining in Russian social media channels about the lack of payment for their injuries. A military lawyer, Maxim Grebenyuk, says he is receiving 20-30 requests for help each day from all categories of soldiers – contractors, volunteers and mobilised.
3/ Soldiers are supposed to receive a certificate of injury when they are treated in hospital, so that they can use it to support an application for compensation for a war injury, but this often doesn't happen.
4/ One soldier says that he has been in a wheelchair for 2 months after having both his legs broken, but still hasn't received his certificate. Grebenyuk says that those with head injuries are particularly neglected.
5/ "They were treated a little, they were given a saline solution and they were told to go to war again. They refuse, they ask for treatment first, and they are told: "No, you misunderstood something, the Motherland is in danger, go serve.""
6/ Unless a brain injury is diagnosed within 72 hours, the Russian government will not pay compensation. But in a catch-22 situation, it is very difficult to find a neurosurgeon or a neurologist at the front, and the army will not allow soldiers to go to the rear for treatment.
7/ Grebenyuk says that "the situation is that there are so many casualties, too many wounded.
8/ "As a result, they cannot evacuate even seriously wounded people, but here a person was just stunned, lost consciousness, vomited, got up, recovered, and that was it – let's get back in line and continue fighting.
9/ "[It's a matter of] military expediency, there are not enough people [at the front line]. Because he was [only] a bit shaken, no one will take him to the rear – that is the problem."
This has serious short-term consequences for injured soldiers, let alone for the long-term.
This has serious short-term consequences for injured soldiers, let alone for the long-term.
10/ One man from Vladivostok says that his commander "threatened me with a "wolf ticket" [blacklisting] if I didn't go back [to fight]." He wasn't given a certificate of injury by his local field hospital.
11/ "What field hospital was I in? According to the commander, I'm not concussed if I can stand on my feet. So what if I have auditory hallucinations, my legs become confused, I faint, and I cannot hear orders – there is no blood, is there?
12/ "The nearest [hospital] refused to issue anything: like you were not in our hospital, there was an auditory trauma, mental problems, but now it cannot be stated that the contusion occurred during the battle, during the war, that is.
13/ "Yeah, I was hit by mortar shells when I was a civilian. I returned, it turns out, to certain death, because sometimes I really don't know where I am, what is going on around me. My comrades shy away, try to stay away, treat me like a madman.
14/ And that's understandable, because I don't know what I will see tomorrow, what I will do."
Another soldier was injured by his own side due to a lack of communications. "The radios didn't work, there was virtually no communication.
Another soldier was injured by his own side due to a lack of communications. "The radios didn't work, there was virtually no communication.
15/ "It's funny, but we often found out whether we were "friendly" or "hostile" by shouting or by the armbands on our sleeve. They eventually took us for the AFU and hit us with a grenade launcher – leaving an armoured personnel carrier "in shreds", and they kept firing at us.
16/ "There was nowhere to retreat, and I was wounded. Several pieces of shrapnel hit both legs."
17/ The soldier says that at his local military registration and enlistment office, where he came to confirm his status as a veteran, he met other wounded veterans who had in some cases been waiting since May for their medical papers. They had received wounds but no compensation.
18/ Soldiers who do not get the necessary medical documents must go to court to establish that they received their injury during the "special military operation". However, Grebenyuk says, less than half of cases are successful.
19/ Many soldiers are also suffering from chronic diseases caused by the conditions in which they have been living and fighting. However, the Russian government won't compensate them at all, although it will provide treatment.
20/ In theory, soldiers should be paid 3 million rubles ($41,000) for severe injuries, with 5 million rubles ($68,500) plus insurance in the event of death. An additional 70,000 rubles ($959) is paid for minor injuries and 350,000 ($4,800) for serious injuries if insured.
21/ Some regions will also pay up to 1 million rubles in compensation ($13,700) from local budgets. In reality, though, many soldiers are clearly not being paid at all. /end
Source:
sibreal.org/a/ranenym-ne-p…
Source:
sibreal.org/a/ranenym-ne-p…
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