Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ An 18-year-old Russian has become the youngest person confirmed to have died fighting for the Russians in Ukraine. His death, only two and a half months after signing up, followed the Russian government's decision in 2023 to let teenagers go to war straight from school. ⬇️

2/ The BBC's Russian Service reports on the death of Stanislav Silchenkov, who died on 17 November at Synkivka in the Kharkiv region, north-east of Kupiansk. According to his mother he had signed a contract to join the Russian forces only 10 weeks previously, on 5 September.

3/ Synkivka has been the scene of heavy fighting in recent weeks. Russia has repeatedly attempted unsuccessfully to break Ukrainian lines with infantry and armoured assaults.

https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1740391385797406956

4/ Silchenkov was born on 20 May 2005 and was buried in the village of Nizhnyaya Gedeonovka on 16 December. He graduated from Smolensk school No. 24 earlier this year before entering the Smolensk Regional Technological Academy. He dropped out to join the military instead.

5/ It would not have been possible for Silchenkov to have signed up to fight before April 2023, when the Russian State Duma changed the law on military service. Previously, contract soldiers had to have graduated from a technical school or to have been conscripted for 3 months.

6/ Silchenkov's death illustrates a number of things. First, it confirms again that newly enlisted Russian soldiers often have a low life expectancy on the front line – an analysis of reported fatalities last year suggested an average of only 4.5 months of service before dying.

7/ (See the thread below for details).

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1704892340744212739

8/ Second, it illustrates the practical consequences of Russia's weakening of the requirements for service in the face of huge losses of manpower. Since the war began, Russia has progressively expanded its base of recruitment.

9/ The maximum age for conscription has been raised to 30 years, progressively larger numbers of men have been deemed eligible for mobilisation, and the requirements for the young have been weakened, as Silchenkov's enlistment shows.

10/ Russia has effectively established a pipeline from schools to the trenches. This has gone alongside a systematic programme to instruct children as young as kindergarten age in martial values and military skills.

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1669048564742250504

11/ Third, a photo of Silchenkov (presumably released by his family) shows him wearing a neo-Nazi symbol, the sonnenrad or 'black sun' – an ancient European symbol that has been appropriated by far-right extremists.

12/ Russian soldiers have been seen wearing the sonnenrad before; for instance, it's part of the insignia of the Rusich mercenary group. It's not clear which unit or group Silchenkov was fighting with, or whether the sonnenrad represents his unit or his own affiliations.

13/ However, it highlights the irony that the Russian forces fighting ostensibly to 'denazify' Ukraine include many who are themselves neo-Nazis and far-right extremists. /end

Sources:
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🔹 t.me/bbcrussian/586…
severreal.org/a/na-voyne-v-u…
kommersant.ru/doc/6441492