Russian Soldiers Are Being Shot at if They Abandon Positions, Wives Claim

Russian men drafted to fight in Ukraine as part of President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilization decree are being shot at if they attempt to abandon their positions on the front line, their wives have claimed.

The claims were made by wives of mobilized Russian soldiers who reportedly threatened to go to the front line in Ukraine to bring their husbands back home after an operation left a number wounded.

A video published on the Telegram channel of media outlet Verstka showed one woman telling military officials to return their husbands or they'll "tear them apart."

The women went to a military unit in the town of Valuyki in Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine, on November 9, demanding answers.

The women, from Russia's Voronezh, Kursk and Belgorod regions, said the men had come under attack in Makiivka, a city in Ukraine's Donetsk region. They said many men were wounded and demanded their husbands be returned home to Russia, or they would go to Ukraine themselves to bring them back.

Latvia-based Russian-language news outlet Meduza reported Friday that the men have since been returned to their military unit in Russia.

Some of the women said that Russian soldiers fired at the mobilized men if they retreated from their positions.

The British Ministry of Defence assessed on November 4 that the Russian army is likely threatening to shoot deserters who are unwilling to fight "due to low morale."

The UK defense ministry said in its daily assessment of the conflict that Russian forces have likely started deploying "barrier troops" or "blocking units" to deal with their own retreating soldiers.

Mobilized soldiers have no food and drink water from a river, one woman claimed in an interview with independent news outlet Siren.

"[They] have never received the humanitarian aid that was sent to them. There is no commander, they were simply abandoned," she claimed.

Another wife of a mobilized Russian soldier claimed that although the men have one machine gun each there are only about 100 rounds of ammunition for 20 to 30 people.

On Thursday, Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov demanded that the death penalty be reinstated in Russia for "traitors" and soldiers who retreat from battle in Ukraine.

Solovyov, an ally of Putin, made the remarks during his radio show Full Contact (Polny Contakt) shortly after Russia announced its withdrawal from the key Ukrainian city of Kherson.

"I believe that we should reject the moratorium on the death penalty and introduce articles allowing the execution of traitors and their accomplices, terrorists and their accomplices, sponsors, and financiers, including shooting deserters," he said.

In 1996, Russia imposed a moratorium on the death penalty pending its membership of the Council of Europe.

Russia was suspended from the body the day after Putin launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, and on September 16, it ceased to be party to the European Convention on Human Rights.

According to recent media reports, both mobilized Russian soldiers and their officers are fleeing from combat in Ukraine.

Independent news outlet Verstka cited a Russian soldier on November 7 who said that his unit's commanders had fled from the front line near Makiivka on November 2. In contrast his battalion was ordered to dig trenches and hold defensive positions.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign ministry for comment.