Russian Army Desertions Are Surging, Court Records Indicate

Russian courts have received more cases of soldiers accused of leaving their units without permission so far in 2024 than were registered for all of 2023, according to independent Russian media.

Since the start of this year, Russian courts have gotten 5,204 cases of military personnel accused of abandoning their positions without authorization, Russian opposition outlet Mediazona reported on Monday. Throughout 2023, the courts logged 5,096 cases, according to the outlet.

Newsweek has reached out via email to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

Since the early months of the almost two-and-a-half-year-old war in Ukraine, there have been high reported rates of desertion and soldiers leaving their posts.

Ukraine is also known to have wrestled with desertion as the war continues with no end in sight. However, Russia's casualty-heavy tactics, seen in brutal relief in eastern Ukraine as Moscow slowly but steadily advances westward, have drawn particular attention to morale within the Russian military's ranks.

Indications of poor conditions for Russian soldiers in Ukraine have frequently surfaced.

In early April 2023, the U.K. government said Russia's high number of casualties on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine was tied to "pervasive alcohol abuse" among Moscow's deployed fighters.

The British Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that troops were being "forced to improvise filtration attempts, using stagnant puddles for daily water requirements."

The shortage of drinking water meant Russian forces were likely experiencing spikes in waterborne diseases and dehydration, not to mention low morale and their feelings about how well they can fight, the British ministry added. The Russian government did not respond to a Newsweek emailed request for comment.

In late April, Ukraine's military intelligence agency, or GUR, said desertion was particularly evident in the forces in Russia's southern military district, which covers southwestern Russian regions.

More than 18,000 Russian soldiers have "left the service in the combat units of the district without permission," the GUR said at the time. Most of these fighters were serving with Russia's 8th Combined Arms Army, long mired in bloody clashes in eastern Ukraine.

Private military companies, often referred to by the West as mercenary organizations, and "Storm-Z" units—which are described as penal military formations—have the highest levels of desertion, Russian independent outlet The Insider reported in late May. Moscow has relied on these fighters for some of the bloodiest fighting in the most intense areas of the front lines in Ukraine.

More than 10,000 Russian military personnel have been prosecuted for refusing to serve, including not complying with an order, going AWOL or deserting, since September 2022, Mediazona reported in mid-June. Russian authorities declared a partial mobilization of reservists in September 2022.

Former inmates, volunteers and mobilized personnel account for high percentages of Russian fighters killed in Ukraine, according to Mediazona's running count of confirmed losses.

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