In just two years, participants in the war have committed more than 2.000 criminal offenses.

Over the past two years, Russian courts have handed down more than 2,500 criminal sentences to participants in the war in Ukraine. 2/3 of them were mitigated due to the "participation of the defendants in the special military operation." A study by Novaya Gazeta Europe.

Since the beginning of the war, at least 2,605 former combatants have been prosecuted. Of these, 1,130 committed crimes "in civilian life", the rest - against military service. In most cases, this is an unauthorized abandonment of a military unit. At the same time, in 2023, the number of sentences to war veterans increased by 7 times, and the number of violent crimes against life and health committed by them increased by 13 times.

Former combatants are much more likely than other defendants to receive fines and suspended sentences for their crimes, despite the fact that "participation in the special military operation" is not included in the list of mitigating circumstances enshrined in law. At the same time, the majority of those convicted of unauthorized abandonment of the military unit received real terms of imprisonment.

At the end of March, Putin signed a law exempting from criminal liability conscripts, mobilized and contract soldiers who entered military service during mobilization or martial law after receiving a state award or dismissal.

@freerussia_report