Soldiers Say Russia Leaving Bodies on Battlefield to Skip Family Payouts

Russian soldiers in Ukraine have said the defense ministry is abandoning the bodies of fighters killed on the battlefield so it doesn't have to pay compensation to families.

The Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty news site Sever.Realii spoke to the mother of Russian soldier Mikhail Cherkasov. She was told by his comrades that her son had beenkilled near Bakhmut on June 19, after two-and-a-half months in Ukraine.

On January 3, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree promising to pay 5 million rubles ($55,600) to the families of Russian soldiers killed in the war. Troops who are injured or experience trauma on the battlefield will receive 3 million rubles ($33,300), under legislation from March 2022.

However, Cherkasov's comrades told his mother, Polina Cherkasova, that the Russian defense ministry had left his body on the battlefield as it would not be "profitable" to bring him home.

She told the news outlet: "I don't ask for anything else: just bring me the body. But the platoon commander also said that he was sorry, sympathized, but that he would not send his guys for the body … because the fighting was still going on."

Cherkasova said the commander added: "Do you know how many dead bodies there are? It's terrible what's going on here. When we went on a mission, there were 20 corpses lying around."

Her son died after a drone strike blew off his legs, soldiers told his mother. "They helped him, put tourniquets on him, but Mishka didn't survive. I didn't believe them at first, but when they sent me money from his [payment] card, I realized it was true," she said.

When she attempted to get answers from local military authorities, she found they had no information on her son. He was not listed as dead or missing.

"In my heart, though, I hope that he is alive, but I myself know very well. He hasn't called me all this time and he would definitely call me somehow. At the front, he called me from the guys' phone, but promised that he would buy a phone and call me every day," Cherkasova added.

Newsweek has reached out to Russia's defense ministry for comment via email.

It's not the first time Russian troops have voiced frustration over failures to pay compensation.

A report by Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti, published in March with the headline "We didn't expect this," included interviews with injured soldiers who had not received the funds promised by the Russian president.

A week into the war, Putin said it was "our duty to support the families of our fallen and injured war comrades."

RIA Novosti's report said soldiers had complained to a human rights activist in Russia. "We've been taken advantage of," one was quoted as saying.

The report added that Russian fighters want authorities to deal with this problem "before it becomes widespread."

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