Sources: 🔹 verstka.media/chislo-zareg... 🔹 www.sibreal.org/a/epidemiya-...
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Sources: 🔹 verstka.media/chislo-zareg... 🔹 www.sibreal.org/a/epidemiya-...
26/ Although men with HIV and hepatitis are supposed to be discharged, in practice the Russian army is keeping them mobilised illegally. They say that they are told by commanders that if they or their relatives complain, they will be "zeroed out" (murdered). /end
25/ Exacerbating the situation, Russia has recruited tens of thousands of men from prisons, where HIV and hepatitis are rife. Few if any would have been tested before joining the army. Many are likely to have been sources of infection for others.
24/ Russia already has one of the worst HIV infection rates in the world – exceeding every other country outside sub-Saharan Africa – and it is estimated that at least 2.2% of the male population of mobilisation age may be infected with HIV.
23/ "What we end up with is that the supply of hanka is going on widely and, perhaps, is not interrupted at all due to the condition of the soldiers at the front."
22/ An epidemiologist comments that one of the most widely used frontline drugs is a homemade opoid called 'hanka'. He says: "[W]hen consuming hanka, blood is used in the syringe to reduce the toxic effect (shaking). All other existing problems are secondary."
21/ "If you ask questions about sterility, they reply that otherwise they would not be able to save ‘so many lives.’ They choose life, even with infection, over death." As Alexey's account indicates, drug use is a significant factor in the spread of disease among soldiers.
20/ "His arm was patched up in the medical unit right in the Special Military Operation zone. They operated around the clock, without sleep, at high speed — if there was any delay in the delivery of syringes and medicines, they didn't wait.
19/ "A couple of months later, he was seriously wounded and ended up losing his left arm. He had surgery and went home for treatment, where they found HIV. He is sure that it was because they ‘worked with such instruments,’ that is, unsterile ones.
18/ "One guy from my company admitted that he definitely left for the Special Military Operation without HIV; he had a job where they were tested every month for everything possible.
17/ "At the assembly point, the situation was such that literally every second person had either hepatitis or HIV.
16/ "They tell us that the reason is prostitutes, drugs and painkillers. But in fact, there is a shortage of everything – disposable syringes and sterile instruments (in hospitals).
15/ "Some people on the front line shared a syringe with an infected comrade to inject morphine, and the comrade didn't even know [he was infected]. There is a shortage of everything there – painkillers and syringes.
14/ "There are loads of people here with hepatitis C and HIV. Some are drug addicts who say they got infected while they were civilians or in prison, and came straight here from there.
13/ Another soldier, Alexey, says that in his unit "at least half of the soldiers are infected with HIV and hepatitis".
12/ "When I asked what kind of reusable disposable [syringe] this was, the nurse simply sent me away. She said: "Well, buy some for us, and then bring them here! You all need 200 syringes per day, where can I get them for you?!"
11/ "And they injected several soldiers at once from the same syringe – I think they either infected them that way or during the operation. It was such a mess there, no sterility at all – the tents and camp beds were all in the ground."
10/ A junior sergeant named Igor says that he's sure he was infected in a field hospital after being wounded near Bakhmut. "I was unconscious, and they operated on me live, as the nurses later said. But then they injected painkillers."
9/ While the journal does not explain in detail how the infections have happened, Russian soldiers say that drug abuse and a widespread shortage of syringes have led to many infections. There have been many reports of them having to rely on relatives to provide medical supplies.
8/ The journal warns against publicising the problem, as "reputational losses for the Ministry of Defence are possible in the event of the dissemination of relevant information by non-profit organizations and/or foreign agents."
7/ Soldiers are now among the best-paid people in Russia and have become the largest single group purchasing "commercial sexual contacts", adding to the risk of HIV spreading into the civilian population.
6/ The rate of infection is also reported to be increasing significantly in occupied regions of Ukraine, as well as border regions of Russia. This likely reflects the breakdown of medical services under Russian occupation, and infections passing between soldiers and civilians.
5/ More than 60% of newly mobilised contract soldiers were previously registered with AIDS centres before they joined the army. However, they were not identified because there is no coordination between the Ministries of Health and Defence. Some also presented false certificates.
4/ The journal reports that the main reason is that a large number of infected men were accepted for service without being tested for HIV, despite this being against the rules. bsky.app/profile/chri...
3/ The vast majority of infections have happened among contract servicemen (99.8% of the total), with 93.5% being regular soldiers and sailors (93.5%), and the rest comprised of officers (4.4%), warrant officers and midshipmen (1.8%), and cadets (0.1%).
2/ An article in the Russian Ministry of Defence's Military Medical Journal reports a huge increase in the number of soldiers with detected cases of HIV, and the likelihood of a much larger number of undetected cases.
1/ The Russian army has experienced a 20-fold increase in HIV cases compared to pre-war figures, according to Russian military doctors. Soldiers who have been infected with HIV and hepatitis C blame drug abuse and a widespread disregard for basic medical hygiene. ⬇️
Sources: 🔹 zebra-tv.ru/novosti/jizn... 🔹 www.vladimir-city.ru/news/main/12... 🔹 vlad.aif.ru/society/vo-v... 🔹 zebra-tv.ru/novosti/ekst...
17/ Cemetery wars have been a feature of Russian life for at least a decade, but the huge increase of burials resulting from the war Ukraine has prompted a major increase in the cemetery mafia's activities, as they seek to profit from the flood of new burials. /end
16/ Naumov announced on 27 May that he had "decided to dismiss the deputy head of the administration, Gleb Seregin, and the head of the housing and utilities department, Aleksey Shumnik, in connection with the current situation in the sphere of providing funeral services."
15/ Several members of the city administration were among those arrested, including Nikita Petrunin, former deputy director of the Central City Department of Criminal Investigation, and several other accomplices. They have been remanded in custody.
14/ At one point, a 'cemetery war' broke out during an ongoing funeral ceremony, in which a city employee was beaten up and a man, allegedly using a gas canister and an SUV, blocked the entrance to the cemetery for other funeral services.
13/ "In addition, citizens were misled about the real cost of the services provided by the municipal unitary enterprise (in terms of installing fences), for which the group members charged 39,000 rubles and up, while its actual market value was no more than 20,000 rubles."
12/ "In case of refusal... places were provided on newly formed plots located at a distance from the desired burial site."
11/ "When citizens applied for the allocation of a land plot, they were required to purchase a combination of funeral services from a municipal unitary enterprise, which included digging a grave and installing a fence...
10/ Among other things, they “created conditions that made it difficult for their competitors to perform similar services...”
9/ The Interior Ministry says that the perpetrators “under the guise of employees of municipal enterprises, which they were not, or were only formally on the staff,” scammed Vladimir residents by demanding payment for free plots in the municipal cemetery.
8/ …in the amount of more than 10 million rubles,” according to the the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Vladimir Region.
7/ Over the course of a year from May 2024 onwards, they are said to have "illegally organised more than 300 funerals, as a result of which citizens suffered material damage in the amount of at least 5 million rubles, and the municipal enterprise lost revenue…
6/ They are accused of having staged “ritual wars” at the city's Ulybyshevo cemetery, fighting with other funeral providers and driving them out of business to limit competition. They are said to have earned more than 5 million rubles ($62,000) from various scams.
5/ The arrest appears to be linked to law enforcement raids against alleged local members of the cemetery mafia on 23 May 2025. 10 people were arrested on suspicion of embezzlement from Vladimir's "Specialised Ritual Services Plant".
4/ Last Wednesday, FSB agents were reported to have broken down the door to Mayor Dmitry Naumov’s office and waited for him to show up for work. He has been arrested on charges of 'fraud on an especially large scale'.
3/ This has been done in conjunction with corrupt officials in local administrations, ranging from clerks to mayors. The latter have typically provided 'krysha' ('cover') to the cemetery mafia, protecting them from investigation in exchange for a share of the profits.
2/ Organised crime gangs have used violence and arson to drive legitimate funeral firms out of business and take over cemeteries and even entire hospitals, often fleecing relatives for things that are supposed to be free, such as burial plots. threadreaderapp.com/thread/18366...
1/ An alleged kingpin of Russia's infamous cemetery mafia has been arrested. The Mayor of Vladimir is suspected of links to organised crime groups that have taken over Russia's funeral business, which is enjoying a boom due to the Ukraine war. ⬇️
And replaced by someone who appears to be *even more corrupt*.
Sources: 🔹 t.me/rucriminalin... 🔹 t.me/rucriminalin...
11/ …who was involved in illegal dealings, flee Russia." (The reference to "the redistribution of the funeral market" likely concerns Russia's highly lucrative cemetery mafia, which is booming due to the war in Ukraine.) /end threadreaderapp.com/thread/18366...
10/ "He was implicated in the redistribution of the funeral market, in the case of journalist Ivan Golunov, who was framed for drug possession, and was suspected of having ties to the Taganka organised crime group and of helping lawyer Yaroslav Bogdanov,…
9/ According to VChK-OGPU, "Stepygin is a long-time friend of Komkov, which explains his appointment. In recent years, Stepygin has been involved in a number of scandals."
8/ "[Milyutin's] post has been taken by Albert Stepygin, who previously headed the Second Service of the FSB's Internal Security Directorate (which develops FSB Central Administration employees; it was previously headed by Alexei Komkov, the current head of the Fifth Service)."
7/ "The new head of the Fifth Service, Alexei Komkov, immediately launched an internal investigation into the misuse of funds by employees of the Fifth Service in Moldova."
6/ The channel reports: "Dmitry Milyutin is considered to be completely under the control of the former head of the Fifth Service, Sergey Beseda, who left his post in the summer of 2024."
5/ According to VChK-OGPU, Milyutin was responsible for covert activities, including interference campaigns, in Belarus, Moldova and the Baltic States. However, it appears that money that was meant to have been used in this campaign may have been stolen.
4/ The election was marred by overt and obvious Russian interference, including Russia paying to fly in Moldovan passport-holders to vote against Sandu. The FSB's Fifth Service is responsible for covert Russian activities in former Soviet republics.
3/ The election, which was held in two rounds concluding on 3 November 2024, was won by incumbent Maia Sandu, with a pro-Russian candidate winning 44.65% of the votes. bsky.app/profile/wart...
2/ The VChK-OGPU Telegram channel reports that Dmitry Milyutin, the deputy head of the Fifth Service of the FSB, has been removed "based on the results of an organisational inspection," but in reality for failing to rig the Moldovan presidential election in Russia's favour.
1/ As Moldova approaches a crucial parliamentary election, the Russian official responsible for election interference there has reportedly been sacked and replaced. An investigation is said to have been opened into the theft of funds designated for vote-rigging. ⬇️
25/ "And beyond 40 km no one guaranteed that ATACMS would not fly to you one day with a greeting. Tension is present everywhere in the Zone and in the borderlands." /end Source: t.me/vault8pro/52...
24/ "To sum it up. The drone revolution has made rear service in the Zone up to 40 km from the front line not as rosy as it is imagined by old warriors and militarists who have not been to the Special Military Operation.
23/ "And being a rear-line worker, you can catch the same FPV [while] taking the documentation for checking the bathhouse to the regiment commander for signature. Or simply, as we recently had here, delivering sushi to one of the bosses (no one was hurt, the EW jammer worked).
22/ "And, by the way, again about risks. Of course, at the front and in the near rear there is a higher chance of catching an FPV. But you are engaged in combat work, supplies and construction.
21/ "Therefore, from the point of view of a soldier, sergeant and warrant officer, it is better to serve in a regiment and deal with a familiar range of tasks, although you are closer to the front line and take risks more often.
20/ "You and your comrades are scattered on missions in the area of responsibility of the entire division. But the salary is the same, the vacation is the same. There are more calls for missions + you periodically work as a "fire brigade" in solving urgent issues.
19/ "The higher the level of a separate unit (for example, a divisional separate engineer-sapper battalion, an army engineer-sapper regiment), the more work and the wider the geography of application.
18/ "You are transferred to the division. Your rank is the same, the salary is the same. But you have document flow with 5 subordinate regiments and 5-6 separate units. And also correspondence with the army headquarters. That is, the work increases approximately 10 times.
17/ "3) The higher the headquarters you are transferred to, the more work, but the salary is the same. In the regiment, you work with the papers of your unit and have correspondence with the higher headquarters. And that's it.
16/ "— About the Internet: in the near rear, not everyone has it, because of the Ukrainians, in the middle rear, everyone has it and it is stable, in the far rear, not everyone has it because of the fight against the prohibited Internet.
15/ "You wash more often in the far rear if you built a bathhouse for YOUR troops. According to the regulations [you can wash] in the government bathhouse once a week.
14/ "— In terms of washing: in the near rear, 1-2 times a week due to the Ukrainians, sometimes less often (the closer to the front line, the more difficult), in the middle rear, it's normal, 2-3 times a week, in the far rear, 1-2 times a week due to the army.
13/ "Thus, if we compare everyday life, then: — In terms of food: in the near rear, the regulations are 80% ... due to the Ukrainians. In the middle rear, it's more or less [equal]. In the far rear, the regulations are 80% due to the army and military police.
12/ …and traffic police all around. Internet access in the rear is severely restricted: Starlink is banned in the rear, and there are constant raids by the military police and other agencies looking to score easy points by confiscating prohibited gadgets.
11/ "Simply put, if you are a rear serviceman at a training ground, then you live almost like in a penal colony – you can’t go anywhere without an order, you can’t cross the border into Russia, there are three layers of military police (regimental, divisional, army, district)…
10/ "Therefore, the availability of goods at marketplaces, household goods, and other benefits of civilisation in 2025 for the military somewhere at a training ground in the Zone is worse than in 2023-2024.
9/ "— The possibility of crossing the border of the Zone into peaceful Russia this year is limited to five cars per day.
8/ "Travel outside the base areas of military units is extremely limited, as it is in the permanent points of deployment in the peaceful part of the country.
7/ "— [Soldiers receive] Three meals a day based on standard rations. The possibility of walking to shops, as well as travelling by car, is severely restricted by the military police and is under close supervision.
6/ "— The frequency of aircraft-type kamikaze flights can reach 1-5 per day at a distance of up to 70 km from the front line. Strikes with HIMARS, operational-tactical and cruise missiles are rare. But if this happens, dozens or hundreds of people can become victims.
5/ "In the far rear (more than 40 km from the front line):
4/ "In addition to the threat of FPV [drones] in the rear, there is also the threat of strikes by HIMARS rockets and aircraft-type kamikaze drones. Although the frequency of strikes is lower than in the near rear, their power and lethality are higher.
3/ The author of the 'Vault No. 8' Telegram channel writes about the current situation in the distant rear, closer to the Russian border:
2/ Recent moves by the Russian military administration in occupied parts of Ukraine (known as "the Zone") have drastically reduced the freedom of Russian soldiers serving there, with infractions being punished by sending offenders into suicidal assaults. bsky.app/profile/chri...
1/ The constant threat of Ukrainian drone strikes and tougher restrictions imposed by the Russian army on troop movements in the rear now mean that Russian soldiers in occupied Ukraine live "almost like [in] a penal colony", according to a serving Russian soldier. ⬇️
Sources: 🔹 meduza.io/feature/2025... 🔹 t.me/akashevarova...
26/ "We need to get things working, provide ideological education, build all the structures, and it's time to stop being jealous that volunteers are doing better in some areas and start involving them in this work." /end
25/ "The authorities are not just breathing down our necks, they are lagging far behind in this regard, showering the poor with money and privileges, which is backfiring on the state.
24/ "Everything that is currently being done to inform and protect the rights of the population since the beginning of the Special Military Operation is the service of civil society.
23/ "People are illiterate in this regard, and they are also confused: a man went to the military registration office, mumbled something, was sent away, and went to consult fortune tellers, fake lawyers, swindlers, and the enemy.
22/ "An infantile authority that remains silent breeds an infantile society that does not want to follow the legal system but looks for easy shortcuts. So that someone else will do it for them.
21/ "Many do not even know the soldier's military unit and division. And those who know or have found out dump all the data into the public domain.
20/ "5. Families' reluctance to go to the authorities. 90% of those who contacted us about missing persons did not go to the military registration and enlistment office, did not obtain an extract from the order on the soldier's status, and did not submit DNA samples.
19/ "When signing a contract, [they should] immediately give the soldier a brochure on what to do if [something happens]...
18/ "In the FZO, in military units, in military registration and enlistment offices, in the MFC [Multifunctional Centre – local public service provider], in the SFR [Social Fund of Russia] – brochures on the procedure for each situation need to be distributed.
17/ "Civilian authorities could also help with this. But no one knows this procedure. There are no instructions.
16/ "The problem is not only in the military registration and enlistment offices and military units, where people are sent, they are not given an explanation of the procedure when a soldier's status changes to missing, captured or killed.
15/ "4. Lack of well-coordinated work by government agencies with the families of participants in the Special Military Operation.
14/ "The Ministry of Defence hotline operates completely separately, is extremely difficult to reach, and even if you do manage to get through, the percentage of assistance and reliable information you receive from them is close to zero.
13/ "The human rights ombudsman and military police consider the dead to be prisoners of war, while military units recognise soldiers in captivity based on deepfakes.
12/ "Also, the agencies do not delve into each individual story (it is not difficult to do, the main thing is desire and skill — the three of us can handle it).
11/ …and the absence of a unified database and integrated support system/service. On any given day, a soldier's family may receive 3-4 different statuses about him: ‘in service,’ ‘missing in action,’ ‘killed in action,’ ‘captured,’ ‘AWOL.’