1/ In an unusual alternative to the usual 'appeal to the Tsar' videos, two Russian soldiers have published a pair of rap videos in which they explain why they deserted from their unit and accuse their allegedly drunken commander 'Prokop' of deliberately killing his own men. ⬇️
2/ The two men – former convicts named Vyacheslav Trutnev and Dmitry Ostrovsky – deserted from the 132nd brigade, 109th regiment, 3rd company after they say their commander, whose callsign is 'Prokop', ordered them to advance across a minefield at night.
3/ In their first rap video, titled 'No, Comrade Commander', the men say:
"You're not just behind our backs,
you're somewhere in the basement.
Hid your ass while we were dying.
We open our eyes, seeing the sky from the trench.
No food and water, thanks to 'Prokop'.
"You're not just behind our backs,
you're somewhere in the basement.
Hid your ass while we were dying.
We open our eyes, seeing the sky from the trench.
No food and water, thanks to 'Prokop'.
4/ "You send the hungry, cold ones to the slaughter in droves,
reporting to the cunt on the radio.
You test your luck at the cost of our lives,
drunk with the battalion commander,
you cut out the task.
reporting to the cunt on the radio.
You test your luck at the cost of our lives,
drunk with the battalion commander,
you cut out the task.
5/ "The boys die, spilling their blood.
The boys are killed by the fucked up orders.
To fuck up more of our own and to make sure.
It seems that this is the entire task of the 109th regiment.
Brigade 132, first battalion."
The boys are killed by the fucked up orders.
To fuck up more of our own and to make sure.
It seems that this is the entire task of the 109th regiment.
Brigade 132, first battalion."
6/ Trutnev asks: "Tell me why they're doing this kind of battle tactics. Bringing corpses through a minefield at night? Guys risking their lives to fulfil all orders, and you're chasing them away with the phrase ‘Go, faggot’ ...
7/ "We hope you breathe your last from cirrhosis of the liver. Rats, alkies, paranoiacs, creeps. Fucking description of a command squad. You gotta think about who it's for. It's who and how. I'm sitting here wondering who the enemy really is.
8/ "Sorry we didn't want to go to slaughter and become just more meat for 109, we chose life. And to go home without following a death order. Motherfuckers!"
9/ Their second rap, published last week, reflects on the 2000 Russian crime movie 'Brother 2' and its catchphrase, "Strength is in truth", which is spoken by the movie's protagonist. Ironically, the Russian Ministry of Defence has adopted the same slogan in its war propaganda. 
10/ Trutnev and Ostrovsky ask why "in our time, telling the truth has become more expensive?" and why "in our honest and great Russia, the truth is in power among the security forces?". Trutnev explains their complaints in the form of a rap titled 'Truth':
11/ "You’re bragging about how I fucked up and left.
You found a deserter and a coward in me.
We’ll laugh about this in the end, but now, fuck, let’s sort it out.
You found a deserter and a coward in me.
We’ll laugh about this in the end, but now, fuck, let’s sort it out.
12/ "I dug my own trenches, bitch, with my bare hands,
and from fear of dying I washed my face with tears.
Falling in places, I got up again.
Where I was, you wouldn’t have gotten there.
and from fear of dying I washed my face with tears.
Falling in places, I got up again.
Where I was, you wouldn’t have gotten there.
13/ "A friend was killed by a mortar right before my eyes,
because of a stupid order from a moron commander.
And it was hard to pull guys out under bullets,
not to sit and sign, sorting through papers.
because of a stupid order from a moron commander.
And it was hard to pull guys out under bullets,
not to sit and sign, sorting through papers.
14/ "I carried out all the orders where everyone was dying,
but when he told the truth, we, bitch, became cowards.
You threatened my mother and what the hell was going on,
but now it’s clear who of us is afraid of the truth.
but when he told the truth, we, bitch, became cowards.
You threatened my mother and what the hell was going on,
but now it’s clear who of us is afraid of the truth.
15/ "Yes, we left, but not because we chickened out,
we just sent drunk Prokop to hell together.
And the 109th regiment, and all the lying scum,
thanks to that we’re alive now.
we just sent drunk Prokop to hell together.
And the 109th regiment, and all the lying scum,
thanks to that we’re alive now.
16/ "But for now I’m standing straight and looking at the clouds,
I remember how I smiled, having walked around the fence.
I’m waiting for the FSB’s judgment day.
And I ask for my mother’s health, I pray to God.
I remember how I smiled, having walked around the fence.
I’m waiting for the FSB’s judgment day.
And I ask for my mother’s health, I pray to God.
17/ "For my mother, for my father, for my daughter, for my wife — I’ll come — and I’ll fuck you up.
And I’ll carve these words on a pedestal for morons:
'The weak cannot speak from a position of strength.'"
And I’ll carve these words on a pedestal for morons:
'The weak cannot speak from a position of strength.'"
18/ Trutnev and Ostrovsky have previously said that they were recruited from prison colonies:
"We served our sentences in the colonies, and there they started tightening the screws and driving people to war."
"We served our sentences in the colonies, and there they started tightening the screws and driving people to war."
19/ "They gave us the illusion of choice: for example, you are due for parole in a year and a half or two years, supposedly why do you need parole when you can fight for a year in the Special Military Operation, get money and come back clean.
20/ "And if not, then you won’t see any parole, they might even add on more for desertion, and in general, the punishment cell is your home until the end of your term.
21/ They were told they would be treated like regular soldiers, but instead found themselves guarded by Stalin-style 'blocking detachments' with orders to shoot them if they retreated:
"When we came here, we were guarded everywhere."
"When we came here, we were guarded everywhere."
22/ "Barrier detachments, they treated us like cattle. Stupid missions, from which it is impossible to return, and if we had not taken such a step [as desertion], we would not have recorded anything at all. The orders were like this... Stupid meat, they laid people down."
23/ The men also say they received no pay for four months and had received no compensation except for their recruitment allowance. "Maybe someone will come to their senses and will not come here, because there is nothing to do here, our own people are cheating here."
24/ They recorded their first videos while still in their front line positions, after receiving suicidal orders from a commander they accused of being drunk.
"Not only will we have to go there at night, and there are mines, sand and other crap there."
"Not only will we have to go there at night, and there are mines, sand and other crap there."
25/ "Three groups have already left [for] there, we are the fourth, the other three are not in touch. So we are fucked in any case, we will not come back.
26/ I don't know what to do with our command of the 109th regiment, with our company commander 'Prokop', who gives us orders while drunk and will lead us to the birds [drones]."
27/ In a subsequent video, Trutnev and Ostrovsky are seen in civilian clothes saying they had "run out of patience with their [Prokop and battalion commander Glyba's] boundless orders." They say their commander killed two of their colleagues for refusing an order.
28/ "This same "Prokop" showered two of our comrades with "drops" [probably mortar strikes] for refusing to carry out their task – to move forward through a minefield – the guys were severely killed. Their call signs were 'Bosyak' and 'Grim'."
29/ "The last straw was that the company commander got in touch with us in an inadequate state, either he was drunk or something, and he and 'Glyba' gave us the order to move on. There was no point in this, because it was a one-way ticket.
30/ "We laid down our arms, decided to retreat, found a civilian. We are not cowards, not deserters, but we cannot advance further under such leadership. ...
31/ "Now we have found shelter, we have been fed, sheltered, clothed. We have bypassed the barrier detachments, thank God. We hope that [people] will help us."
32/ The current whereabouts of the two men, who are apparently still on the run somewhere in occupied territory, is unknown. Ostrovsky's mother Irina says that 10 soldiers from the same unit have gone missing, and 'Prokop' has even been threatening their relatives.
33/ Irina says that unknown individuals hacked her son's VKontakte account and began extorting money from his relatives (the editorial staff has the corresponding screenshots).
34/ ASTRA reports that Trutnev and Ostrovsky "suspect their commanders of hacking their VK pages, while Dmitry's mother believes that it was 'someone not from our country.'"
35/ The men are upset about this, not surprisingly. "We sat in the trenches, unwashed, unshaven, hungry, carrying out our tasks," they say.
36/ "We walked under bullets, fuck, lay under mortars, did not eat, did not sleep, while they did not fulfill their contractual tasks, did not pay a penny, and now they are still trying to harm us, suck money out of our relatives. I think this is fucking bullshit." /end
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