More than 100 draftees from Chuvashia launch protest at training center, claiming government hasn't issued promised payments

More than 100 draftees from Russia’s Chuvash Republic took part in a protest at a training center in the Ulyanov region on Wednesday to draw attention to the government’s alleged failure to issue the payments they were promised. The protesters’ message was shared by the prisoners' rights group Gulagu.net (No to the Gulag) and the Telegram channel Angry Chuvashia.

“Risking our own lives, we’re going into certain death for the sake of your security and peace. Our government is refusing to pay us the 195,000 rubles ($3,160) that President Vladimir Putin promised us! Why, then, should we go to war for this state, leaving our families without support?! We refuse to take part in the ‘special military operation’ and will seek justice until we’re paid the money that was promised to us by the government led by the President of the Russian Federation,” the soldiers said.

In an attached video, the draftees say they also haven’t received the 300,000 rubles ($4,864) they were promised at their military commissariats.

According to sources who spoke to the Telegram channels that shared the message, riot police and Russian National Guard officers were sent to the conscripts’ training center to quell the protest. Angry Chuvashia later reported that the draftees had been “calmed,” without giving further details.

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