In the Penza region, a man was kidnapped after going to the store in shorts and flip‑flops. He was handcuffed, beaten, and sent to war.
Alexander Stepanov, a 33‑year‑old native of the Penza region, lived in the village of Podgornoye. On August 16, he rented an apartment in Penza because he had gotten a job as a furniture maker, and his first shift was scheduled for August 20. However, on the evening of August 19, Stepanov went to the store, and at that very moment he was abducted by unknown men in civilian clothes, who put him in a car and took him, presumably, to the military enlistment office, where they beat him and forged his documents. Stepanov’s mother, Tamara, told ASTRA about this.
“On August 19, he went to the store in the evening. He was wearing flip-flops, shorts, and a T‑shirt. They just got out of the car, handcuffed him, and put him in the car. He was taken towards the Shuist district of Penza. He said they brought him to the military enlistment office. They beat him there until three in the morning. They tore his T‑shirt off and gave him a soldier’s undershirt in its place. They made new documents for him within 20 minutes: both a passport and a military ID. I have the original passport and military ID at home,” Tamara said.
According to her, Alexandr, along with two other unnamed young men who were also caught, were taken in a white Priora to Roshchino, Samara Region. It was only there that Stepanov was given a phone — the man called his mother.
On August 21, Stepanov told Tamara that he would be taken to Millerovo, Rostov Region. The next day, he said he was being taken to Donetsk, which is occupied by the Russian Federation, and he arrived there on Sunday, August 23. There, the man’s Russian SIM card was taken away. The last time he was in touch was on August 25.
“In Penza, they’re grabbing everyone indiscriminately. In Mokshan, people are coming from work — from the Nevsky Konfiter factory; one man was beaten up, he didn’t sign the contract, and he was thrown out somewhere, and another man was also grabbed, beaten, and had his arms broken. Come to Penza, you’ll see it at every turn… It’s just awful. I contacted local media — both newspapers and TV — and I was turned down everywhere: ‘Penzenskaya Pravda’ and ‘Komsomolskaya Pravda’ — they both turned me down,” the pensioner says.
Tamara claims that her son didn’t abuse alcohol, hadn’t been in prison, and completed his mandatory military service 15 years ago.
“There’s no reason. They just grab people off the street, that’s all,” says the mother of the abducted man.
Tamara Stepanova went to the Penza military prosecutor’s office and filed a complaint about the unlawful actions of the personnel involved in the contract recruitment process. She was told that an electronic response would be received within a month. On August 24, the woman went to see Vladimir Fomin, the Commissioner for the Protection of Human Rights in the Penza Region, and handed over all the photographs showing her son’s injuries. She also visited the office of Mikhail Lisin, a deputy from the party, but he was not available. The woman wrote an appeal to the office of Alexander Bastrykin, the Chairman of the Investigative Committee, and received a response stating that the appeal had been taken into consideration. There are no other answers.
Alexander Stepanov got a job with a 3/3 schedule to help his 63‑year‑old mother — her daughter died 4 years ago, and her husband died 2 years ago. Now the woman has problems with her legs and walks with a cane. The pensioner has no other relatives.
