1/ Soldiers of the Russian 55th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade say that their unit is a "conveyor belt" of robbery, torture and death. Commanders are said to systematically extort soldiers before sending them to die in assaults, even making them pay to carry weapons. ⬇️ 
2/ An unnamed soldier who says he has served with the brigade (military unit 55115) since December 2024 has recorded a video appealing to the Russian authorities. He asks them to investigate the personal finances of officers who he says are involved in extortion.
3/ The soldier says that he and his comrades are forced to transfer funds to platoon commanders with the call signs "Physicist" and "Charon", as well as company commander Andrei "Gerych" Gerasimov. Those who refused to pay were "eliminated".
4/ "The fact is," he says, "this unit is a conveyor belt: they brought men in, robbed, sent away, killed, brought in others. And so on constantly."
5/ He cites the example of another man, callsign 'Orion', who was forced to pay 500,000 rubles ($6,450) ostensibly to buy drones for the unit. After 'Orion' was wounded and lay "dying with a torn leg and hand", his comrades asked to use a drone to bring him water and medicine.
6/ According to the soldier, the company commander Andrei Gerasimov refused, saying there were no drones. (The implication is that the half-million rubles were stolen.) Permission was also refused to evacuate the wounded man. "They tell you ... crawl out yourself."
7/ The soldier says that he is likely to be murdered soon to ensure his silence. "Since December last year, I have seen enough. Each time they brought them in, killed the next ones. Nothing changes.
8/ "Me and those who are with me now will most likely no longer be alive in the near future, since we are inconvenient. We know a lot, we have seen a lot."
9/ Other soldiers have independently reported very similar abuses. On 3 June, two men deserted from the brigade and recorded a video complaint. They name themselves as 29-year-old Denis Prostakov (right) and a soldier with the call sign 'Historian' (left).
10/ Prostakov and 'Historian' describe their commanders systematically robbing and beating each batch of men arriving in the unit, before they are wiped out in 'meat assaults'.
"In fact, if a company goes on a combat mission, 10% return, and they all return as 300s [wounded]."
"In fact, if a company goes on a combat mission, 10% return, and they all return as 300s [wounded]."
11/ "That is, the rest are 200s [dead]. This happens every two months: a new draft comes, they squeeze as much money out of them as possible, send them on a combat mission, and there, roughly speaking, they die."
12/ "The brigade is being reset to zero. That is, every two months the composition of the brigade is renewed simply because the personnel is being disposed of, roughly speaking. They are being disposed of in a brazen manner. Before that, the savings of the personnel are emptied."
13/ They name platoon commander Stepan Kashcheev, call sign "Kuzya", and Sergeant Major Daniil as two of the extortionists. According to the soldiers, the pair demand "payoffs" for literally everything – from the opportunity to eat to the minimum household needs.
14/ They say that soldiers' own weapons are confiscated and only returned on payment of a large bribe: "The commanders themselves steal automatic rifles from soldiers. Then for a large sum, say 100-150 thousand rubles [$1,290-1,900], they return these weapons."
15/ Physical abuse is said to be routine. "We saw the real faces of the commanders, what they do to the soldiers, they don’t give a shit. They break their arms, beat them every day. There are no doctors, no one provides any medical care."
16/ One soldier who deserted was caught, tied to a tree and beaten. The soldiers say that the commanders now plan to "zero" (execute) him. Another man was punished with such a severe beating that they "simply broke his arms and legs, he can't walk."
17/ "And this is the day before a combat mission. That is, he is sent from there to his death, roughly speaking."
Anyone who deserts is sent to the front line "only to be zeroed out there, roughly speaking, under stories about how order is being restored."
Anyone who deserts is sent to the front line "only to be zeroed out there, roughly speaking, under stories about how order is being restored."
18/ "In reality, there is complete lawlessness. We do not eat, we do not sleep. They train us in an incomprehensible way. Endless extortion of money, endless."
19/ The men say that they cannot wash themselves, eat only once every three days, and are only allowed to sleep for a couple of hours a night. According to 'Historian', commanders openly say they have no interest in the men's welfare.
20/ The brigade's massive casualties mean that only those who experience major injuries and are hospitalised survive for any length of time. Anyone who is not crippled or dead is denied leave and sent into fresh assaults, even if wounded.
21/ (A video from January 2025 shows wounded soldiers from the brigade appealing for help, saying that they were being denied medical treatment and facing constant extortion.)
https://x.com/PStyle0ne1/status/1881057496057397645
22/ "Those who had such wounds that were not fatal, not mutilations, roughly speaking, are not given leave at all. They do not give transfers either. They are sent from the unit to assault companies. They just point a finger at you.
23/ "That's it, the comrade is leaving for the assault company."
24/ 'Historian' says that the brigade's huge casualties are accompanied by an acute shortage of manpower, with only 16 men to a platoon, "six of whom are, roughly speaking, very old people who can’t even hold an assault rifle, ...
25/ "...a person there, he is over 60 years old, they give him an assault rifle which he cannot hold."
(This corroborates recent reports about the increasing age of new recruits, with men in their 60s or even 70s joining the army.)
(This corroborates recent reports about the increasing age of new recruits, with men in their 60s or even 70s joining the army.)
https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1941507865929543730
26/ He complains that "I did not sign a contract to be a powerless slave here, to simply die at the whim of the commander, simply giving him all my money". The constant degradation means that "the personnel are demoralised, they cannot carry out a combat mission."
27/ 'Historian' also says that the commanders take no account of the men's specialisms, transferring "sappers, grenade launchers, scouts" into assault squads, heedlessly wasting their specialist training.
28/ He acknowledges frankly that by deserting "I committed suicide ... Because if I am caught, roughly speaking, then I will no longer be alive. It is 100%. It is not like if you leave, then that's it. There is a reset [execution] here."
29/ 'Historian' says that as a patriot he considers it his duty to report the situation in the brigade. "I am not going to die thoughtlessly like this ... but I will convey [my view]. I believe that I have an obligation." He and Prostakov planned to try to sneak back into Russia.
30/ The 55th Brigade's problems go back years, to the start of the war in Ukraine. As far back as October 2022, relatives were complaining that their men were being killed in large numbers, lacked food and water, and had little equipment.
https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1595396554155823112
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
