A must read.
““You can’t hide this information, secretly bury soldiers, secretly send people abroad to fight,” said Sergei Krivenko, a member of the Russian human rights group Memorial, who has been helping relatives of those killed in eastern Ukraine, as well as soldiers who are trying to resist being sent there. “What status do families of the wounded and dead have, what compensation and medical aid? Help from the government depends on this status.”
The “volunteer” service Putin referred to is often anything but, according to several rights advocates. They say soldiers have told them that they were pressured to sign documents to go on a “business trip” to eastern Ukraine or “volunteer” in other ways. Tumanov told his mother that his commanders offered a 400,000-rouble bonus to sign up to fight in Ukraine, then simply ordered them forward when volunteers weren’t forthcoming. Some captured Russian paratroopers recounted that they had gone on a supposed training mission in armoured carriers and only later realised they were in Ukraine.”They were never there: Russia’s silence for families of troops killed in Ukraine.
