Russo-Ukrainian War Thread - Page 226

On September 20 2022 23:35 Ardias wrote:

The most important part at the moment is "refusal to serve". There are plenty of contract soldiers of units that are involved in combat, who refuse to fight on the front line (so called "500s"). They are in their right, because there is no war declared, hence, by Russian legislation, contract troopers aren't obliged to get into combat, and can refuse to do so, and conscripts can't be used outside Russian territory. And as much different people like to say that there are no working laws in Russia - there are, that's why they are changing the laws themselves.
New legislation, would make those 500s criminals for refusing to go into combat even if there is no "war" declared. These additions to the Criminal Code operate with terms "armed conflict" and "combat action", avoiding term "war" at all. These additions also increase punishment for desertion, and impose 2 new criminal articles - "Voluntarily surrender" and "Marauding".
Though terms "Mobilization", "Martial law" and "War time" are also legally introduced into Criminal Code.

Also, suddenly, LDPR plus Russian authorities of Kherson and Zaporozhie regions declared that referendums would be held from 23.09 to 27.09, so literally 3 days from now on.

Edit: Also Putin and, probably, Shoigu, should make statements this evening, probably regarding referendums and those amendmends to Criminal Code (these passed through the lower parliament either yesterday or today, then they should be verified by upper parliament and signed by president).

Edit2: it was also announced, that anyone, no matter the country of origin, who signed a contract with Russian army for a year, will recieve Russian citizenship quickly, if they are willing to.

On September 21 2022 00:00 Sent. wrote:
Introducing a special law to punish "voluntary surrenders" makes it look like desertions are considered a serious problem, something more than rare individual cases. I wonder how many Russians surrendered like that since february.

This also feels like a pointless action because I doubt they're planning to use those laws retroactively. The new "contractors" know they're going to war so the desertion rate should be much lower among them.

On September 21 2022 00:13 Ardias wrote:

First of all, "surrender" and "desertion" are separate articles. "Surrender" would mean surrendering to AFU troops, while "desertion" would be abandoning your unit/fleeing etc.

I'll elaborate about those "500s" from my previous post. There are soldiers, who are still part of a combat unit (let's say 200th Motor Rifle Brigade for example). Let's say 1500 contract soldiers from this brigade were ordered to go to Ukraine, but 500 refused. They are now sitting in PPD (place of permanent dislocation) of the brigade. Some had their contracts expired and left the army, but others did not. Now, they won't be punished retroactively for refusing to go to Ukraine in February. However, they could be given new order to move to Ukraine, and if there is state of martial law, mobilization or they are sitting in Ukraine (some refuse to fight even while being there) - now they would be charged with violation of criminal law.

On September 21 2022 00:17 JimmiC wrote:

I find it fascinating how there are certain rules Putin follows and others he just has the FBS throw people off of stuff. I also find the timing so interesting, he can make any rule he wants at anytime, why wait until now for this?

On September 21 2022 01:11 KwarK wrote:

That’d be some grade A bullshit if you signed up under one set of rules and they change the contract on you mid term. Can’t quit, can’t stick to the terms of the original contract, gotta go play hide and seek with drone/satellite guided munitions.

On September 21 2022 00:32 Ghanburighan wrote:


This is why I called it a psyops. Just doing it would lead to direct problems where they'd need to coerce at the individual level. If you do it at the state level you: a) hope to coerce all these men immediately through the threat of incarceration, b) send a message to the West that you're serious about not backing down.

Of course, if the bluff is called, all the same problems resurface.

On September 21 2022 03:42 Ghanburighan wrote:
Putin was supposed to give a speech with Shoigu hours ago and has gone missing. Anyone else waiting for swan lake to start playing?

On September 21 2022 03:53 Ardias wrote:

I've never signed a military contract, but the vast majority of civilian ones have a clause regarding rights and obligations of the parties (after underlining a specific ones) - "Other rights/other obligations according to the legislation of Russian Federation". So change of legislation may invoke new rights/obligations on you (not retroactively, of course, but from the moment legislation has kicked in).


I very much doubt that it's a bluff, at least regarding the legislation change and referendums being held. Legislation changes passed through State Duma (lower parliament) unanimously in the span of two days. This speed is unprecedented for Russian legislation, especially for such an important bill. Date of referendums is also very close, too close to postpone it again, as it was done before, when the date of referendums was couple of months in advance and each region told their own version. Now all four of them simultaneously went for 23.09. I doubt htey would be postponing this one.

Also, some Russian military tg channels are reporting that AFU are bringing every piece of their reserves to the front. In light of the information regarding referendums, we may see some major action in the next few days.


It's supposed to start soon, it's not the first time he is postponing this stuff (something like that was in May). I also think that those who are able to organize a swan lake are in the same boat with him on that one.