A Russian IT worker joined the army to ‘benefit society’ and was promised a job operating drones. Now he’s missing in Ukraine, and his wife believes his commanders stole his money.
A Russian IT worker joined the army to ‘benefit society’ and was promised a job operating drones. Now he’s missing in Ukraine, and his wife believes his commanders stole his money.
An IT specialist from Chelyabinsk signed a contract with Russia’s Defense Ministry that promised him service in the drone forces. Instead, he ended up in what’s known as a “meat grinder regiment.” He was sent on an assault and went missing, his wife told the independent Russian investigative outlet iStories.
Nikolai and Irina (names changed) had been together for 20 years and raised two children. The family didn’t need money: Nikolai developed software for government agencies at a large IT company.
In the summer of 2026, Nikolai decided to go to war to “benefit society.” “When the special military operation started in the country, a lot of our friends left for abroad. We kind of looked down on that. I can’t explain it now. But still, we had a question: who’s going to defend the country then? Defend its interests?” Irina told journalists.
An appendix to the contract specified that Nikolai would serve as a drone operator and undergo training for that role. Instead, he was sent to military unit No. 95378 in the Samara region, home to the 1437th Motorized Rifle Regiment, where he spent several months. He received no training or weapons instruction at all, doing “housekeeping work” and serving as a “company clerk” instead.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has been actively recruiting Russians, including students, into the drone forces since late 2025. Recruiters promise high salaries, one-year contracts, and service far from the front line, but in reality, the contracts are open-ended, and recruiters cannot guarantee any special conditions of service.
In conversations with his wife, Nikolai said that his unit practiced extortion and harshly punished discipline violations: putting offenders in a pit or sending them on assaults.
In September, Nikolai called his wife and said he was being sent on a combat mission:
One day he called from someone else’s phone number and said he was being sent on a combat mission and wanted to say goodbye. At first I didn’t understand anything. I said, how is that possible? Were you even trained for anything? What mission are you being sent on? He said he didn’t know, and to be honest, he started crying. Then the call cut off.
Soon after, his wife received a notice from command that Nikolai had gone missing on September 28 “while performing tasks during the special military operation.” What exactly happened to him on the combat mission remains unknown.
Irina found a notification from the online marketplace Ozon in her husband’s email showing that Nikolai, while at the front, had bought five laptops for 120,000 rubles. She believes someone among his commanders stole about one and a half million rubles from his bank card. On social media, she found complaints about commanders from relatives of other servicemen who served in the same unit.
The 1437th Regiment, where Nikolai served, is part of the 15th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade. Its unofficial name is the “Black Hussars.” Before Russia’s full-scale war with Ukraine, it was the only “peacekeeping” brigade in the Russian army. Its soldiers carried out missions in Georgia and Nagorno-Karabakh and likely took part in the annexation of Crimea.
In the war against Ukraine, the brigade took part in the occupation of the Kyiv region. Brigade servicemen are suspected of torturing and killing civilians. The unit itself also practices torture and extrajudicial killings, the independent Russian news outlet Verstka reported.
The 1437th Regiment is commanded by Colonel Vladimir Teslo, 31, iStories found. In 2024, Vladimir Putin awarded him the title Hero of Russia “for the totality of heroic acts and personal courage.”
“On the one hand, the regiment commander is a Hero of Russia. On the other, that same commander sees his soldiers as walking wallets. First he empties their bank accounts, then he gets rid of the soldiers themselves. I want people to know about this Teslo. He may be a hero for one thing, but he’s a murderer for another. I don’t know what will come of speaking out. It’s too early to tell. These are deranged men with guns,” Irina told journalists.
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