A woman from the Irkutsk region stole her husband from a military registration and enlistment office, who was about to be sent to war.
54-year-old resident of the city Ust-Kut He was taken to the police station on the evening of September 20. According to the local police officer, the man had been drinking in someone else's apartment, and neighbors had complained about the noise.
As the wife of the detainee, with whom talked According to the "People of Baikal" project, her husband was held overnight at the police station. They took his phone, offered him vodka, and forced him to sign a statement declaring his intention to go to war. Several other people were detained with him.
On the morning of September 21st, they were all taken to the military registration and enlistment office, where they were offered another drink and given a stack of papers to sign. (You can't sign a military contract in Ust-Kut—only a preliminary agreement. After that, the men are taken to the regional assembly point near Irkutsk, where the contract is finalized.)
The detainees were closely monitored and even escorted to the restroom. And the woman who tried to pick up her husband was accused of "obstructing the signing of a contract with the Special Military Forces."
The controls were relaxed only after the man passed a medical examination and received permission to go for a smoke: his wife, who was on duty nearby, put him in a car, took him home, and hid him.
According to her, the local police officer had already come to the house several times and kept watch on her husband.
«We were told: «God forbid we see him on the street or somewhere else - he will still go to the North-Eastern Front«» — the woman told reporters.
His passport and phone were returned only after he filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office. The police officer himself left Ust-Kut, taking the men he had captured to sign contracts. Over the past two weeks, about 20 such men have been caught in Ust-Kut alone.
Residents of Ust-Kut also reported being forced to sign contracts in June and July: at that time, they attempted to send a disabled man and three people sentenced to suspended sentences to war.