"Ass fucker, ass fucker, ass fucker!" This call resounded in chorus last Friday evening across the premises of the central collection point for mobilized people in Kazan. Thousands of newly recruited soldiers taunted their officer, who had come to calm the angry crowd. Rusty machine guns, hunger, lack of water and firewood: catastrophic conditions in the military camp triggered the angry protests, local media reports unanimously.
The Telegram channels Sota and Astra published several video recordings showing the uprising of the mobilized soldiers. "Take off your badges," the angry crowd demanded of the man they dubbed Colonel.
"Where is the dry firewood?" someone asked the protesters. Another recruit urged the officer to at least provide washing machines. Then the mobilized would happily "sit in the mud every day from morning to night," someone scoffed.
The officer finally had to leave the field helplessly - under abuse and insults.
The following day, the Russian authorities announced that all the problems faced by the mobilized had been resolved. Major General Kirill Kulakov was there twice to talk to the mobilized, according to the official website of the government of the Republic of Tatarstan. The Deputy Prime Minister of Tatarstan, Rustam Nigmatullin, also traveled to the talks last Saturday morning.
"As it turned out, the problem with damp firewood arose because of the recent rains and sleet: the top rows of the wood piles got wet," authorities said of what happened at the military compound. "New dry firewood was brought to the collection point. In addition, starting Monday, fuel briquettes will be transported to the collection point, delivered at the Republic's expense." In addition, sockets for charging phones have been organized in separate tents. Those mobilized had complained that they didn't even have access to power outlets.
"At the moment, all the soldiers' problems have been solved, the demands have been withdrawn. The regiment continues to work according to the daily schedule and the battle coordination plan," the authorities said. So far, however, no independent source has been able to confirm whether the protests have actually broken up.
Just last week, mobilized soldiers mutinied in the Russian republic of Chuvashia. The most important reason for their displeasure: the lack of payments that had been promised to them. After their uprising, the recruits are said to have been given boots and sleeping bags - to calm them down for the time being. Read more about this here:
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