Russian Soldier Discusses Draft Dodging in Intercepted Call

Ukrainian military intelligence on Tuesday published audio of what it said was an intercepted phone call between a Russian soldier and another man who was going through the process of being recruited into the Russian military.

According to a translation by the Kyiv Post, the two men discussed the possibility of claiming custody of a child as a means to avoid conscription.

Laws for military service in Russia allows potential conscripts who are the "sole guardian or custodian of a minor" to be exempt from serving. The Kyiv Post wrote that the intercepted phone call shows recruits may be considering the "drastic measure" of leaving their spouses and claiming sole custody of their children to avoid fighting in Ukraine.

"You know what you need to do if your wife will sign up for it?" the man identified as a current soldier said, according to the Kyiv Post. "I'll tell you in a nutshell..."

"I've been told that before," the other man said. "Divorce my wife and keep the baby."

Elsewhere in the conversation, the two men talk about the harsh realities of fighting on the front lines of Ukraine. They also speculate that Kremlin authorities have not been accurately reporting the high number of casualties Russian President Vladimir Putin's military has suffered in the conflict.

The audio recording also included a moment in which one of the men expressed a desire to see a nuclear attack on Ukraine's capital.

"I wish the Russian forces would drop a nuclear bomb so there's a mushroom cloud over Kyiv," one of the men reportedly said.

Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence, which is part of the country's Ministry of Defense, did not provide details of when and where the phone call was recorded. The audio, which the department posted on its official Telegram channel, was the second instance in recent days of Ukraine's intelligence making public an alleged intercepted call.

On Sunday, Ukrainian military intelligence shared what it said was a conversation between a Russian soldier and his wife. In a Monday Kyiv Post story, the newspaper claimed that the wife told her husband that recruitment leaflets have been put "in every mailbox" in the community where she lives.

The husband responded by saying the Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries had been attempting to replenish its ranks due to heavy personnel losses.

"My acquaintance, who is now at Wagner, he's a driver, and he makes more than 15 trips a day [in a truck] completely filled with corpses," he said, according to the Kyiv Post.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment.