Published: Less than 10 min ago
The Russian soldier is absolutely furious at the inadequate equipment and substandard training.
The brawl ends with him punching the commander and blowing smoke in his face.
Now he risks 15 years in prison after videos from the riot went viral.
The soldier, later identified as Alexander Leshkov, takes out all his anger on Lt. Col. Denis Mazanov who comes out onto the training ground to listen to the group’s complaints.
Leshkov, in addition to poor equipment and inferior commanders, is unhappy that the shooting training does not take place on the shooting range – but against “invisible” targets on the practice field.
– Load two magazines in the tank training area and open fire on a make-believe enemy? “Infantry, fire at the imaginary enemy on the tank” and everyone else says “ra-ta-ta-ta”. How many times? How many times?
Saws everything and everyone
It is completely lacking for the mobilized soldier on the training ground outside Moscow.
In front of other soldiers filming with their mobile phones, he saws everything. Equipment, training, commanders, focus on training.
– Only once were we on the shooting range. The rest of the time we sat and hung out in the tank area, says Leshkov.
– I ask once more: why do we shoot at made-up targets? Where are the targets that get up and move? Why do we have gunnery training on the tank range?
He believes that the tasks that the soldiers have to perform during the training for the military deployment in Ukraine are meaningless.
Blows smoke in the face
In the viral video, the soldier says they do “imitations of shooting, imitations of training and imitations of military duties.”
The argument quickly escalates.
– You do not obey the commander-in-chief’s direct order to equip and train mobilized soldiers, says Leshkov.
Then he blows smoke from an e-cigarette in the officer’s face and pokes him in the chest.
– You shouldn’t have done that, says Lieutenant Colonel Denis Mazanov.
Leshkov has now been arrested on suspicion of insulting and violence against a superior and now risks 15 years in prison. He will now be in custody awaiting trial until January 2023.
According to Ostorozhno Novosti, Leshkov enlisted as a volunteer on October 3, writes The Moscow Times.
Big losses
The commotion is the latest in a series of brawls filmed and posted on social media in which Russian soldiers express anger, start riots and refuse to be sent to war because of poor conditions on and off the battlefield, writes The Moscow Times.
The Ukrainian military leadership stated in late October that the Russian army is suffering heavy losses due to inadequate basic training.
“Newly arrived Russian troops who are to carry out combat missions have not undergone appropriate training and lack practical knowledge regarding the use of common types of weapons. This leads to significant losses of enemy manpower,” it wrote according to Newsweek.