Putin is afraid of veterans. More took part in the war in Ukraine than in Afghanistan

The Russian authorities, including Vladimir Putin himself, are afraid of returning to the country of veterans of war with Ukraine, among which there are many dangerous criminals. There are also concerns about the repeat from the situation after the war in Afghanistan, and even from the divergence of the political situation in Russia, “Reuters reports on Tuesday.

Referring to people similar to the Kremlin and Western experts, the agency writes that returning to the country hundreds of thousands of soldiers, including convicted criminals, who were canceled in exchange for pursuing to the army, after the event of a war against Ukraine may become a source of serious social problems in Russia.

Putin is afraid of such mass returns Also because he believes that they can become conflict and destabilize the political order he built – believes the three interlocutors of Reuters.

Russia has experienced a wave of violence and social unrest after the return of soldiers from Afghanistan, which intensified the scale of chaos and crime in the 1990s. This time demobilization may prove to be an even more serious bomb with delayed ignition, because – as the British expert Mark Galeotti lists – until the beginning of 2025 Over 1.5 million Russians participated in the war against Ukraine.

Considering that there are many more soldiers who took part in the fighting in Ukraine than veterans of the nine -year war of the USSR in Afghanistan, there is a risk that Russia awaits a period of serious unrest – says Galeotti, Russian expert and author of the report on the problems of demobilization of Russian soldiers prepared for the center of the Global Initiative against Cross -Border Organized Crime.

According to the data of the Russian penitentiary services, the war against Ukraine has been sent from 2022 between 120,000. and 180 thousand convicted criminals, which – as Reuters emphasizes – distinguishes this war from other Russian invasion.

The agency cites the example of Azamata Italijew, who after passing one third of the sentence for murdering his wife was pardoned and sent to the front for six months. After returning from the war, Retalijew killed his ex -girlfriend because she rejected his courtship.

After the event of the war, criminals, as well as frustrated and disturbed people, will return to the country. Others will become disappointed with worse earnings in civilian. The pay of the recruit from Moscow is the equivalent of 65,000 a year. dollars, and the bonus itself for dragging into the army is an equivalent of 24 thousand. USD, which is almost as much as the average annual salary in the Russian capital – says Reuters.

According to the poviat, the independent Russian online magazine, whose publisher is based in Prague, at least 242 people were murdered in Russia by soldiers returning from the front, and another 227 people were injured.

According to the sources of the Reuters similar to the Kremlin, Putin has already ordered to work on social programs that would “develop” veterans, called by the Russian dictator “warriors” and “a real elite”.

Some of these programs are to involve former soldiers in activities in local authorities or social organizations.

Gregory Feifer, author of the book about the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan, assessed in an interview with the agency that the war against Ukraine became a much more bloody conflict than the Afghan operation, where about 15,000 were killed. Russians. Therefore – according to Feifer – the return of soldiers from the Ukrainian front threatens the importance of greater social unrest than a wave of violence from the 90s (PAP)

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