"I " activist: Russians go into debt to buy their way out of the front line

Ivan Chuvilayev of the organisation Idite Lesom ("Go Through the Woods"), which has spent nearly four years advising Russian men on avoiding conscription or deserting, tells Die Welt how Russia's military recruitment machine works. He says many soldiers are debtors who are harassed until they agree to go to the front to pay off what they owe. "These people are ready to die just to get a little money that will free them from the debt trap," he says. The organisation has helped hundreds of Russians leave the army.

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