Ivan "Walkie" Petunin's (27 of age) death-note
[...]
There was no other way.
To act according to conscience and protest against this hell = to be tortured in prison.
To go to war = to kill and die.
Doing nothing is a no go. Today they will append new territories that "voted" at gunpoint for joining Russia, and in a few days an all out war will begin. And everyone will go to the front. They take everyone without hesitation now, including those with mental illnesses and worse than mine. [...] The dark time has come, and I hope you will manage to outlive it. Remember always that I love you.
[...] Keep the memory of me. Only name is left after a man, and I won't taint mine with blood.
You can post this letter if you want.
I want people to remember that I lived according to conscience and died for my principles.
[...]
Thousands (actually hundreds of thousands) of men 18 to 50 years old are subject to mobilization in Russia.
Without proper preparation or equipment, they end up dead only a couple of weeks after being drafted.
So far, international intelligence reports the losses of about 90,000 in Russian Army (counting in both dead and badly injured - "irrecoverably lost").
So what do you do if you are a Russian
who, knowing that the chances of your untimely demise are extremely high if you do agree to "serve the Motherland" as cannon fodder in the armed forces, considering your alternatives?
There had been news about shootings in military enlistment offices, quite numerous, actually, the latest dating late September at the time of writing.
More than once there were attempts to burn enlistment offices, resulting in little or no damage, yet the attackers managed to burn the documents sometimes. It is hard to say if the attacks had any effect at all since the documents probably had digital copies stored elsewhere.
On October 15th, a shooting took place on a shooting range in Bielgorod, resulting in 11 casualties and 15 wounded.
The bottom line: there is a way to die not even making it to the front. And, if the regular army has suffered massive losses, what kind of success can an army of fresh inexperienced conscripts achieve?
As a way to avoid mobilization and senseless deaths that it would invariably entail, a whole Russian republic organized an armed resistance, also voicing out an intention to leave Russian Federation: "Not our war".
Consider that anything that does not go in line with the official state-backed propaganda narrative qualifies as "fake" that "discredits the RF Army" and is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. 15 years to anyone who dares to speak openly about the true losses of Russia in war, questioning the reasons and goals of war, or, god forbid, condemning it.
Your neighbors, teachers, or pupils—even the closest relatives—will drop a dime on you if you show a sign of support for Ukraine.
Remind me, how much a Russian citizen got for murdering and dismembering a trans person in St.Petersburg? One year and ten months.
The city thus earned the new name, by the way - source.
The message is clear: in Russia, you are basically seven times worse than a violent murderer if you dare defy the gov-t. Fifteen years is a tiny social suicide, too.
Should I even mention that convicts get freed, acquitted, and awarded for volunteering to loot, kill, and rape Ukrainians in this aggressive war.
I can imagine Russian intelligents (whoever still resides in there) being shocked and paralyzed with such a state of affairs; horrified to the core.
Yet, what can they do?
Kill themselves, literally? Is there no other way indeed?