Roman Pashayev, a 19-year-old conscript who was drafted in May 2026 in Yershov, Saratov region, was sent to Boguchar in Voronezh Region to military unit 54708, where in August he was forced to sign a “special contract.” His mother told ASTRA about this. After that, she went to her son’s unit. According to her, two transfers were received to her son’s bank card — for 195,000 rubles and for 2 million. The family returned the first transfer immediately.
“On August 23, we were allowed to meet with our son. They gave us a receipt that there was no contract, and our son was not going. It turned out that this paper was invalid. To return the second transfer, we had to make the banking details in our region, in the Saratov region. While we were driving home, my son called me: “Mom, what is a special contract? We were forced to sign it,”” the mother said.
She clarified that her son talked about the pressure, after which he became laconic.
“There was pressure on him. He remembered how he was beaten with a stick at the training ground in July. He became afraid. My legs are shaking… He was afraid that they would start beating him again, and he signed it. Then the sergeant just beat him with a shovel handle. On the head, on the arms, between the legs, on the calves. My son couldn’t bend his legs for a week. I couldn’t explain what happened. He just came up, beat me up, and left. The son wrote two reports. They don’t accept it. They make excuses like that. I wrote to Bastrykin, to the prosecutor’s office, but they didn’t call us anywhere.”
Mother has been in Boguchar for the second time in a week.
“My son is telling me now: “What are you still doing in Boguchar?” “I want to terminate this contract, son,” I say. And he said to me, “Mom, everyone tells me it won’t work. Go home. What will be, will be…”. The prosecutor’s office told me, “What evidence do you have that he was forced?””
According to the mother, her son was offered to become one of those who agitate other conscripts to sign contracts.
“They told him: either you go as an agitator like us, or you go to the front line. The agitator told him: “If I get pulled, you’re coming with me.” I’m afraid they’ll take him to the war and he’ll die. He had seen nothing in this life. It will be cannon fodder. I know that… Our nephew recently died. We couldn’t come to say goodbye to the zinc coffin. The mine exploded.”
