Relatives of military personnel with the special purpose unit (SOCh) designation from Yamal have been deprived of free legal support.
Governor of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Dmitry Artyukhov signed the corresponding law. According to the document, discovered The Insider reports that free legal support is terminated if a service member is convicted of leaving their unit without permission or desertion.
What does the law on free legal support change?
Formally, the law expands the range of free services for military personnel and their families: lawyers help restore inheritance deadlines, defend payments and benefits, and handle cases to declare SVU members missing or dead. However, upon receipt of information about a final sentence for AWOL or desertion, this assistance is immediately suspended.
AWOL status instead of missing in action
The practice of cutting aid to "inconvenient" military personnel is unfolding amid systemic problems with loss recognition and compensation. Previously, former State Duma deputy from the Tomsk region Vladimir Samokish publicly admittedthat the Ministry of Defense is increasingly assigning the status of missing in action to those who have left their unit without authorization.
Samokish recounted a case filed by the wife of a soldier who had been sent on a combat mission and had gone silent. A month later, the unit commander issued an order designating him as "absent without leave." The former deputy emphasized that such a designation immediately deprives the family of payments and allowances, adding that payment delays could indicate a shortage of funds within the military department for compensation, which can reach up to 13 million rubles for the dead.
Wanted for desertion and reduction of payments
According to an investigation by Important Stories, based on leaks from Ministry of Defense databases, at least 49 Russian soldiers were wanted for desertion and abandonment during the war in Ukraine. A significant number of them were later identified as killed, captured, or missing in action.
In addition to legal restrictions, regions continue to reduce financial obligations to combatants. For example, authorities in the Smolensk region previously cut payments for injuries and reduced compensation to the families of the deceased from 1 million to 700 rubles.
