In the first three months of the year, more deserters appeared before Russian military courts than in the whole of last year, but the judges give them conditional terms to send them to the front in Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain.

From January to the first week of May, Russian military courts registered 1,053 cases of voluntary desertion by servicemen, which is significantly more than the 1,001 cases documented for the entire previous year, Mediazona reports.

The crime of “Abandoning a military unit or a place of military service” is one of the 22 articles of the section on crimes against military service of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Most sentences for voluntary desertion are conditional, and judges often indicate in their rulings that the accused is spared prison time to facilitate his redeployment to the army.

The mobilization decree, which Vladimir Putin signed on September 21, 2022, categorically prohibits the release of convicted soldiers from service with a postponement of the execution of the sentence. This means that they continue to remain in military service.

Probation is not good news for deserters

Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday that the Russian military had tried to discipline its ranks during operations in Ukraine, but their problems were likely to worsen after the forced mobilization of reservists in October 2022.

According to the courts, most of those guilty of absenteeism without permission are now sentenced conditionally, that is, they can be redeployed to the “military special operation”.

“Russia’s efforts to improve discipline are focused on making examples of non-payers and fostering patriotic fervor, rather than addressing the root causes of soldiers’ disillusionment,” British military analysts note.