34-year-old Arthur Sarkisyan from Moscow has been in the basement in Zaitsevo in the territory of the Russian-occupied Luhansk region of Ukraine since May 28. He ended up there for leaving the location of his 15th motorized rifle regiment, where newly appointed officers extorted money from soldiers to avoid sending them into battle. This was reported by Sarkisyan’s wife, Olga, to ASTRA.
“He calls me at 6 in the morning from an unknown number and says that he ran away from his commanders because they were supposed to kill him that night. He had a change of command and they started extorting money from the guys – beating them. My husband was severely beaten because he didn’t give money. Five people beat him up, he has a scar on his chin,” said Sarkisyan’s wife.
According to Olga, her husband was conscripted in October 2022, he was seconded to military unit 31134 and immediately sent to the territory of Ukraine. On January 24, 2023, he got into the combat zone and participated in his first assault. Since the beginning of his service until May 2024, he received two wounds – the first in Bahmut on May 15, 2023 – a shrapnel wound to the right thigh, the second wound on January 13, 2023 – two fragments in the leg. In addition, Sarkisyan has an ulcer. “When there was a medical board, everyone passed it. Even people with the Ilizarov apparatus (external apparatus for fusing shattered bones – Ed.) are sent to the front,” says Olga.
She claims that since November 1, 2023, her husband stopped receiving his salary. Olga appealed to the military prosecutor’s office and the president’s administration. Officers explained that there was a “confusion with documents” that they couldn’t resolve for six months, but eventually some money was paid, although not all – Sarkisyan did not receive combat pay – there should be a surcharge of around 300,000 rubles, Olga says.
In early March 2024, Arthur called his wife and reported that the commanders in his platoon had changed and now the new officers were demanding money from all the soldiers to avoid sending them into battle.
“They started asking him for money. They asked for 20,000 rubles, I transferred it. The platoon commanders asked for this money to not send the guys into battle. This ended with guys stepping on grenades and someone losing a leg. They asked for 300,000 or they would kill them, or, as they say, “zero them out,” Olga says.
She provided screenshots of correspondence from one of the soldiers in the same platoon where her husband serves.
After that, the beatings and threats to “zero them out” began. Because of this, Sarkisyan decided to escape, taking weapons and grenades with him. On March 25, he managed to reach the military commandant’s office, where he was detained, after which he was sent without his belongings to the basement for refuseniks in Zaitsevo. Since then, he has not been in touch.
