Russian troops from the 810 Marine Brigade, stationed on the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, allegedly paid bribes to avoid deployment to the Kursk region. It reports The Kyiv Post referring to a statement by the Ukrainian partisan movement Atesh on Telegram.
Marine Brigade 810, which is part of the Russian forces of the Black Sea Fleet, is based near Sevastopol in the southern Crimean peninsula.
According to the partisan movement, the brigade has had major problems with failing morale among its soldiers, who receive daily news of casualties at the front in the Kursk region, where intense fighting has been going on since Ukraine began an offensive in August.
“The brigade’s leadership tries to hide the death of these soldiers, but fails to do so,” the movement writes in the statement.
Bribing his superiors
Partisans claim that low morale among Russian troops has led some to offer bribes to their superiors in a desperate bid to remain in Crimea.
“Because of this situation, some commanders are demanding bribes to grant temporary reprieve from deployment,” Atesh further writes in the statement.
Atesh adds that those who managed to stay on the base by paying these bribes try to appear “active”.
“They are busy putting up camouflage barriers and moving equipment from one place to another.”
Neither Russia nor Ukraine have commented on the data.
Refuses to fight
The newspaper has previously reported that Russian soldiers were arrested by Russian military police after refusing to fight in Zaporizhzhya. It would be a suicide mission for the Russians to advance in the area, sources have told the newspaper.
Earlier this week, NATO confirmed that North Korean forces had been sent to Russia to fight against Ukraine. They are said to be already in place in the Russian border region of Kursk.
According to Ukraine’s intelligence service, it is about 12,000 troops.