Unit 31831 – Shame of the Russian army: electrocuted soldiers, humiliated and sent to death because they do not pay the “survival tax”
In the chaos of an increasingly bloody and lacking war, more and more evidence that the Russian army treats its own soldiers with a brutality who defies any military or human code. Unit 31831, part of the 54th motorized infantry regiment, currently on the Donetk front, has become a symbol of systematic cruelty and institutionalized abuse among Russian troops, writes The Sun.
Russian/photo soldiers: Archive
According to the testimonies that occur on Russian social networks – the only places where families can hope to find out something about their missing sons – the soldiers in this unit are subjected to degrading treatments and are forced to participate in suicidal missions, with a single selection criterion: they have money for bribe.
The commander of the unit, Major Petrosian Oganes, is accused of behavior of extreme violence. Soldiers who violate orders – including for minor deviations, such as alcohol consumption – are tied to the neck with ropes, stripped, tied to pillars, beaten with metal fans or locked in electrified cages. Some are left to sleep on the floor, in the cold, without food.
Russian soldiers punished/photo: vk
But the brutality does not stop here. Soldiers who do not pay 50,000 rubles (about 475 pounds) are sent to the most dangerous segments of the front – where the survival rate is almost zero. In the Russian military jargon, the phenomenon received a cynical term: “to be reset to zero” – an expression that masks the reality of informal executions or the intentional sending to safe death.
In parallel, the command also squeezes money from other “taxes”, such as 30,000 rubles for the purchase of perfumes for superior wives. Everything in an army that continues, at the official level, to present himself as a defender of the Fatherland and guarantor of the Russian honor.
Revolt campaign, worn on the VK platform by the Revils of the Soldiers
The revolt campaign, carried on the VK platform by the relatives of the soldiers, is gaining more visibility. Mothers and wives write desperate messages to Vladimir Putin, demanding the dismissal of the Major Oganes and “human” treatment for the military. “Our sons die like cockroaches under the sole,” says a woman. Others talk about “pure sadism” and denounces “betrayal from within”.
At the same time, numerous online posts suggest that families are not transparently informed about the fate of loved ones. On the VK platform frequently appears messages of the type: “My son disappeared. It is from Unit 31831, the 54th Regiment. He signed the contract in Persianovka. He entered the battle area on February 25th. He disappeared. If someone knows something, please answer.
Despite the internal problems, the official propaganda continues to present the army as effective and well organized. In the city of Volgograd, for example, the students of a local school (Gymnasium School No. 95) organized a fundraising campaign for unit 31831, posing in military uniforms and offering a letter of gratitude for the financial support.
But the festive image hides a sick system, in which corruption makes victims even before the Ukrainian bullet arrives in trenches. A report of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) estimated, in March, that the Russian army is 12 times more corrupt than the European average. In this context, it is not surprising that thousands of Russian soldiers disappeared without trace – the unofficial figures indicating between 50,000 and 100,000 “lost” on the front.
A case became emblematic is that of a young man known under the sign “Hottabici”, sent to the front on February 25 and disappeared immediately after. His parents are still posting messages, hoping that someone will give a hint.
The war carried by Russia in Ukraine is no longer just about occupation, propaganda or geopolitical hegemony. It is also about how a regime consumes their own people – transformed into cannon for a cause that, eventually, they do not understand.
