Russia Troops Apologize for Scathing Video to Putin, Blame 'Mental Fatigue'

Members of a Russian military unit in Ukraine recently released a video addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which they list several grievances about their experience serving in the 17-month war.

However, the soldiers soon reversed course in a second video, stating their previous complaints were not valid and were made because of "mental fatigue."

WarTranslated, an independent media project that translates materials about the war into English, shared both of the videos—which could not be independently verified by Newsweek—on Twitter on Wednesday. In the first clip, one of the troops speaks to Putin while reading from notes he's holding.

He said they were members of the Russian military's 96th Regiment and had been mobilized from Russia's Udmurtia region. Among the complaints he laid out were that the "majority" of the unit had been serving in Ukraine since December without receiving any leave time. He also said they had not been paid the promised amount of money for their services, as well as that they had not been given a sufficient amount of water or clothing.

"The command...forces us to buy equipment with our own money," he added, per WarTranslated. "Parcels from relatives either never arrive or get opened."

The soldier who spoke on behalf of the group also said they had answered the call to duty but their commander officers are "preventing us from fulfilling our duty with quality."

WarTranslated wrote that "a few moments later, they removed the video and recorded an 'apology.'"

In the second video, the men's faces are visible after they wore gaiter-style masks in the first clip. A soldier in the newer video—it's not clear if he's the same man who delivered the earlier message—recanted the prior claims.

"That video was filmed due to mental fatigue due to being in the SMO [special military operation] zone without rest," he said. "We're supplied fully, so we have no assertion against the command."

Some Twitters users suggested in the comments section for WarTranslated's post that the troops were coerced by their commanding officers to record the apology, though no explanation other than "mental fatigue" was offered by the troops for their change in messaging.

Newsweek reached out to Russia's Ministry of Defense via email for comment.

In recent weeks, WarTranslated has also posted examples of Russian military personnel denouncing their commanding officers or refusing to follow orders.

This month, the account shared a video of Russian troops announcing they would not carry out "senseless and suicidal orders," which came after a video from a week earlier of men saying they would not return to what they called the "meat grinder" of the front lines.