Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Russian soldiers and their relatives are being forced to pay monthly 'life support' fees – bribes to avoid being sent into deadly assaults – to corrupt commanders, according to the wife of one soldier. She says that men in his unit are beaten and threatened with execution. ⬇️

2/ The wife of Rodion Igorevich Shashnin says that her husband was mobilised into the 205th Motorised Rifle Brigade (military unit 74814) but was then "sold" to the 4th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade (military unit 40318) as a reconnaissance operator, without any documentation.

3/ According to her, he was forced to sign a contract to make him a professional soldier – and thus unable to benefit from demobilisation – along with many other men in the unit. Men were constantly beaten and threatened with being 'reset' (executed), and many deserted.

4/ She says: "We were simply paying for life — 30,000 rubles a month, plus extra if we lost equipment. My husband was a poultry farmer, and we could pay over 100,000 rubles for a bird. And why did my husband even become a contract soldier?"

5/ "They simply forced him to sign a contract because many are still listed as '500' [deserters] as of 2023. People simply fled this unit because they were constantly threatened with execution."

Shashin was wounded in August 2025 but was not evacuated for three days.

6/ When he was finally evacuated, his injury was listed as being domestic. His wife pressed for him to be treated, but he contacted her himself to say that he did not know where he was and he was refusing hospital treatment. She believes that he was speaking under duress.

7/ "I don't know where my husband is now," she says, "Plus, they forced him to rewrite his report, saying he just suffered a blunt force trauma, that he wasn't blown up, and that he doesn't need hospitalisation. Military unit 40318 forced him to do all this."

8/ She says that he was isolated and his combat veteran ID and bank card were confiscated. Shashlin was not officially listed as being on combat duty and was sent to an assault unit after his family refused to pay for lost equipment.

9/ At the same time, she says, the military have been ignoring her appeals for help. "People are filing over two thousand complaints, and there's no enforcement against this unit . They're taking matters into their own hands. ... It's as if my husband is a prisoner of war."

10/ "Who are we fighting against? When our own people are posing a threat to us. We're very tired. I haven't seen my daughter for three weeks because I'm trying to help my husband, who's in the Northern Military District. And I don't know where they've sent him now."

11/ She appeals to the authorities to "save my husband's life. The prosecutor's office constantly beats up the unit for every complaint, and then they beat up our soldiers. And who else can they turn to if not their relatives?"

12/ "My husband said that no one leaves this unit because they are witnesses. What are they doing, what are they up to? I beg you to find out." /end

Source:
t.me/ne_zhdi_novost…