11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Plans to create military police force to end hazing and fight criminal activity in armed forces were cancelled by defense ministry ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 22584]

"Former defense minister and current first deputy prime minister, Sergey Ivanov, ordered parent committees to be embedded in the army and in drafting commissions. As of April 27, 2,661 parent committees have been active in the army and 81 in the drafting commissions. Although in 2006 President Putin ordered the Ministry of Defense to create a military police force to end hazing and fight criminal activity in the armed forces, the defense ministry this year cancelled plans to create this police force."

Document(s): Open document

20.09.2007 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

According to NGO "Union of Soldiers' Mothers" up to 3,000 Russian soldiers lose their lives in noncombat situations every year ("NGO Says Up To 3,000 Soldiers Die In Noncombat Deaths Every Year") [ID 21129]

Document(s): Open document

28.07.2005 - Source: Guardian

Around 3,000 conscripts die each year in "non-combat related" incidents in Russian army ("Young, patriotic and bullied to death") [#34555],  [ID 11772]

Document(s): Open document

11.07.2005 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

According to Russian army suicides, murders, accidents, and other non-combat deaths in the Russian military totaled 98 in June ("Russian Army Records 98 Non-Combat Deaths In June") [#33828],  [ID 11773]

Document(s): Open document

03.06.2005 - Source: Council of Europe - Parliamentary Assembly

Widespred forced labour; officers of the military units "lease" conscripts to private businesses ("Honouring of obligations and commitments by the Russian Federation [Doc. 10568]") [#32710],  [ID 11774]

"311. We were discouraged to learn about the existence of forced labour in the Russian army. Human rights NGOs even use the term 'slavery' to qualify a practice that seems to be widespread (hundreds of cases were mentioned). The commanders or officers of the military units "lease" conscripts to private businesses for various kinds of work or use them as a work force for the construction of their own dwellings. The Union of the Soldiers' Mothers Committee argues that such violations should be qualified and prosecuted under Article 127.2. of the Russian Federation Criminal Code – "Use of slave labour"176. According to the Committee, in Khabarovsk an officer who denounced such forced labour was sacked and placed in a mental hospital; in Volgograd, the officers filmed how the conscripts were taken out from the unit for usual work assignment.

312. The Ministry of Defence representatives denied the mass character of these abuses admitting that only one such instance had been reported in the city of Samara and that it had been properly investigated. We share the indignation expressed by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe in his recent report on Russia with regard to this "modern-day slavery"."

Document(s): Open document

03.06.2005 - Source: Council of Europe - Parliamentary Assembly

Chief Military Prosecutor: 109 servicemen committed suicide during the first half of 2004 ("Honouring of obligations and commitments by the Russian Federation [Doc. 10568]") [#32710],  [ID 11775]

"301. Chief Military Prosecutor Alexander Savenkov has reported that 25 conscripts died as a result of abuses associated with hazing during the first half of 2004. A total of 109 servicemen committed suicide during this period, an increase of 38% compared to the same period last year. Savenkov said that 60 of those conscripts who killed themselves had been "driven to suicide" by hazing. Accordingly, an 85 death toll in the armed forces outside military conflicts was reported as official statistics for the first six months of 2004173. Taking into account that these statistics reflect only those cases brought to the courts, the real scope of the problem is truly alarming. However, in the Ministry of Defence we were told that the Russian rate of suicides on 100,000 of population is much less than in some European countries.

302. The Military Prokuratura that is in charge of dealing with soldiers' complaints and investigating abuses in the armed forces also reported that 3,200 servicemen were convicted of hazing ('non-statutory relations') in the first nine months of 2004, including 400 officers. About 3,000 servicemen suffered from hazing and 31 died over the same period. In 2003 a total of 3,400 servicemen, including 500 officers, were convicted for hazing; 4,500 servicemen were recognised victims of the hazing ('non-statutory relations'), 38 died174.

303. The rise in the number of the reported ill-treatment cases is claimed by the Ministry of Defence and Military Prokuratura to be due to increased transparency in dealing with violations in the army. This resulted, according to the officials, in a significant decrease of the so-called latent crime in the army. In the list of measures for combating ill-treatment in the army Ministry of Defence officials mention gradual transformation into voluntary contract-based recruitment, cutting down of the service term to one year (instead of one and half), additional educational and awareness raising campaigns."

Document(s): Open document

28.07.2004 - Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Suicides in country's armed services increased by 38 percent during the first six months of 2004; 109 servicemen have died from suicide since the start of this year, of whom 60 were driven to suicide by their commanders ("Suicides Up 38 Percent In Russian Military") [#24329],  [ID 11776]

"Russia's military prosecutor-general yesterday said suicides in the country's armed services increased by nearly 40 percent during the first six months of this year, compared to the same period last year.

Chief Military Prosecutor Aleksandr Savenkov said 109 servicemen have died from suicide since the start of this year, which he said was a 38 percent increase from 2003.

Savenkov said 60 soldiers were driven to suicide by their commanders.

Savenkov said embezzlement is another growing problem in the military. While no figures are available for the total sum embezzled this year, the losses in the embezzlement cases that resulted in sentences this year amounted to over $17 million."

Document(s): Open document

26.02.2004 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Dagestan: Chechens who serve in the army reportedly discriminated against and abused because of their nationality ("Chechens shun Dagestan Draft Drive") [#19804],  [ID 11777]

Document(s): Open document

14.11.2003 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Report focused od inadequate nutrition and health care in the Russian armed forces ("To Serve without Health?") [#17561],  [ID 11778]

"Conscript soldiers in Russia performing their first year of compulsory military service are
routinely denied adequate food and access to medical care, in violation of their human
rights. As a result, many go hungry or develop serious health problems, including
pneumonia and festering sores, as minor health concerns remain untreated. In several
dramatic cases, this treatment has led to the death of conscripts or permanently damaged
their health.
Human Rights Watch documented cases of denial of adequate food and medical care to
first-year conscripts from more than fifty military units throughout Russia. Taken
together with long-standing reports by Russian nongovernmental organizations devoted
to conscripts’ rights, this research indicates that conscripts throughout Russia have
endured these privations for years. Their diet falls short of the Russian military’s
nutritional standard for soldiers, as it often lacks meat or green vegetables. The food
conscripts do receive is often of poor quality, rotten, or bug-infested. The abusive and
violent hazing of first-year conscripts that has made Russia’s military notorious extends
to the mess hall: senior conscripts prevent junior conscripts from eating enough food,
and forcibly confiscate younger conscripts’ most desirable food.
Internal army standards require careful monitoring of the health of conscripts and
adequate access to medical care. But in practice, monitoring mechanisms are often
simply ignored or are ineffective. The hazing system prevents many first-year conscripts
from seeking medical care for minor health problems, as they fear repercussions from
senior conscripts. In some cases senior soldiers harass and beat conscripts after they seek
medical care. In others, conscripts’ commanding officers and even doctors deny
conscripts’ requests for medical care. Conscripts who overcome these obstacles and seek
medical treatment at on-base sick bays often complain the care they receive is
substandard.1 Conscripts frequently fall ill with pneumonia repeatedly during their
service. For many others, infected small cuts become festering sores. These major health
problems are entirely preventable, if adequate and timely health care is provided.
(...)
Violent hazing continues in many on-base sickbays and in some military hospitals, where
senior soldiers beat or otherwise ill-treat first-years, or force them under threat of abuse
to perform a variety of humiliating chores. In at least one case, the victim committed
suicide after a night of particularly cruel treatment. The systematic nature of the hazing
signifies a widespread dereliction of the obligation of officers to protect conscripts
against ill-treatment. Violent hazing is a separate topic of Human Rights Watch research.
Although these problems have plagued Russia’s military for years, the government does
not appear to have taken any measures to address them. The Russian Ministry of
Defense and its Military Medical Commission refused to meet with Human Rights
Watch to discuss our findings. In a written response to Human Rights Watch’s request
for a meeting to gain information about soldiers’ diets, the Ministry of Defense flatly
denied harassment and hazing in canteens, acknowledging only that occasionally food
disappears as a result of a dereliction of duty by “individual officials.”"

Document(s): Open document

14.01.2003 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch: Conscripts are systematically undernourished; access to military doctors often denied ("World report 2003") [#10300],  [ID 11779]

"In many units, conscripts were systematically undernourished. Fed mainly on watery cabbage soup and porridge, many conscripts received meat, fresh vegetables, or fruit during their service only if sent by their families. Frequently, conscripts were given too little time to eat and could not finish meals. Few conscripts received adequate medical care in their units. Many had problems gaining access to military doctors, and care was often inadequate and not timely. Numerous conscripts told Human Rights Watch that fellow soldiers threatened them with abuse if they sought medical help. Conscripts being treated in sick bays and military hospitals were not spared from hazing."

Document(s): Open document

14.01.2003 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch: Conscripts are systematically undernourished; access to military doctors often denied ("World report 2003") [#10300],  [ID 11920]

"In many units, conscripts were systematically undernourished. Fed mainly on watery cabbage soup and porridge, many conscripts received meat, fresh vegetables, or fruit during their service only if sent by their families. Frequently, conscripts were given too little time to eat and could not finish meals. Few conscripts received adequate medical care in their units. Many had problems gaining access to military doctors, and care was often inadequate and not timely. Numerous conscripts told Human Rights Watch that fellow soldiers threatened them with abuse if they sought medical help. Conscripts being treated in sick bays and military hospitals were not spared from hazing."

Document(s): Open document

19.09.2000 - Source:

IWPR: Racism and violence in the Russian army ("IWPR: Racist Violence Plagues Russian Army, 19 September 2000") [ID 11781]

Vicious racist attacks have become an occupational hazard for army conscripts from the North Caucasus - who were once the most respected soldiers in the Russian forces

"Just a month after he was called up for service in the Russian army, Lieutenant Nartkal Tekuzhev was found hanging by the neck from the ceiling of his barrack-room. The military authorities returned a verdict of suicide "for reasons unknown".

But Tekuzhev's father - a retired factory worker from Kabardino-Balkaria who had lost both legs in an industrial accident - made the long trip across Russia to his son's base and demanded an investigation.

His journey was not in vain. The inquiry unearthed ugly truths about life at the military installation where recruits from North Caucasian backgrounds were mercilessly bullied by the older hands. Tekuzhev had attempted to stand up for his ethnic kin and was consequently murdered by men under his command.

A military tribunal later found two conscripts guilty of killing Tekuzhev, then arranging his body to make it look like suicide. Both were sentenced to long jail terms in military penal colonies.
But this reluctant display of military justice is the exception rather than the rule. Almost all conscripts from the North Caucasus report constant victimisation and hazing during their army service. Very few of these cases are investigated - even when the brutality leads to death or suicide.

Another recruit from Kabardino-Balkaria, who asked not to be named, was hospitalised after being severely beaten by fellow conscripts in a St Petersburg army base.

The man later told his father that all non-Russian recruits in the unit were regularly attacked, deprived of food and sleep and forced to carry out menial tasks. The officers, he claimed, ignored the racist bullying and even encouraged it. [...]
The victims of barrack-room hazing blame the war in Chechnya and the growing wave of Russian nationalism which has swept through the army in its wake. The war has sparked widespread hatred for all Caucasian nationalities and a bitter distrust of the Islamic faith."

Document(s): IWPR: Racist Violence Plagues Russian Army, 19 September 2000

2000 - Source:

Soldiers' Mothers: Most serious tortures in corps in the North-Caucasus region ("Soldiers' Mothers: War begins in the barracks, 2000") [ID 11780]

"Our monitoring has shown that torments are a common, widespread phenomenon in the Russian army. At first the new recruits are tortured by elder soldiers, officers and even commanders. Then the victims of these tortures themselves start to torture the others. In most cases, the perpetrators are never taken to court, especially when officers torture the soldiers. The judicial army system never defends the victim. It is the opposite, it favors this system of violence and humiliation.

Furthermore our monitoring has shown that especially army corps where torture is part of every day's life are fighting in Chechnya. The soldiers often see their only chance to escape from the violence in the barracks in fighting far away.

The most serious tortures are taking place in the North-Caucasus-region. From spring 1999 to September 2000 296 soldiers or their relatives addressed to us because of torture, slavery or gray labor, kidnapping, refusal of medical care or disappearances of soldiers."

Document(s): Soldiers' Mothers: War begins in the barracks, 2000

2000 - Source:

Soldiers' Mothers: Most serious tortures in corps in the North-Caucasus region ("Soldiers' Mothers: War begins in the barracks, Introduction") [ID 11780]

"Our monitoring has shown that torments are a common, widespread phenomenon in the Russian army. At first the new recruits are tortured by elder soldiers, officers and even commanders. Then the victims of these tortures themselves start to torture the others. In most cases, the perpetrators are never taken to court, especially when officers torture the soldiers. The judicial army system never defends the victim. It is the opposite, it favors this system of violence and humiliation.

Furthermore our monitoring has shown that especially army corps where torture is part of every day's life are fighting in Chechnya. The soldiers often see their only chance to escape from the violence in the barracks in fighting far away.

The most serious tortures are taking place in the North-Caucasus-region. From spring 1999 to September 2000 296 soldiers or their relatives addressed to us because of torture, slavery or gray labor, kidnapping, refusal of medical care or disappearances of soldiers."

Document(s): Soldiers' Mothers: War begins in the barracks, Introduction