In particular, soldiers in Dagestan, the southern Russian province that suffered some of the heaviest casualties during the war in Ukraine, began to complain about military equipment received from Moscow.
“This is my assault group preparing for the task. We have to attack with it. With these construction helmets,” says one of the Dagestani soldiers in a video shared on social networks.
Fighters of the Dagestan assault group are dissatisfied with the equipment provided, they have to buy it at their own expense. They made an appeal, hoping that Russian officials would see it. pic.twitter.com/gHL1GJldAu
— Dmitry (@wartranslated) November 15, 2022
“Awakening!” he urges. “We have no equipment,” adds the second Russian soldier on the recording.
“We bought what we have, they (not the Russian army) didn’t give us anything,” he claims. The first soldier then states that he paid 9,500 rubles for the body armor he is wearing. “These armor plates cost 20 thousand rubles each. What should the soldiers wear?” he asks rhetorically.
“Look at these bulletproof vests. We are an assault group. We are working under mortar fire. You know where we are going, you know where you are sending us. “What the hell are you doing?”, two Dagestani soldiers continue their speech, showing helmets and body armor that they consider unfit for combat.
Dagestanis died on their heads in Ukraine without being bitten
“I call a spade a spade. I don’t want half the guys to stay on the battlefield and the rest go back to base. It would torment me while I am still in this world. For what? So you can steal more? I hope you will see this call, the person who will solve it,” says the first soldier.
“I wish everyone good health. We will be here until the end, ending the special military operation in Ukraine,” he concludes his address.
We remind you that since the end of April, Russian investigative journalists Meduza have shown that Dagestan is the Russian province that lost the most soldiers during the “special operation” ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the end of February.
A separate Meduza investigation in September found that Dagestan continues to record the highest casualties among Russian regions in absolute terms, but is overtaken by Tuva, Sergei Shoigu’s home region, when reporting the number of deaths among the region’s population.
Small-scale anti-mobilization protests broke out in both Dagestan and Tuva after Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization on September 21.
The video message released by the Dagestani soldiers comes in the context of a veritable wave of posts on Russian social media in which recruits complain about the equipment they receive, the training they attend or the conditions in which they are kept in barracks.
TV presenter Volodymyr Solovyov, who is considered to be President Putin’s favorite propagandist, filmed himself in his latest broadcast wearing a helmet, bringing more military equipment to the studio to show Russians how good the conscripts’ gear really is.
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