Military medic who refuses to fight stands trial in Pechenga
The Northern Fleet's investigative service in Pechenga, Murmansk region, has filed a case against Lieutenant Denis Vasilev after he refused to go to the frontline in Ukraine.
The military doctor faces up to three years in jail, human rights activist Pavel Chikov informs on his Telegram channel. The case was filed on the 20th of January. He is charged with having disobeyed orders.
Denis Vasilev graduated from the Russian academy of military medicine in 2022. From before, he was awarded a medal from the Ministry of Defense for his efforts to fight the coronavirus among servicemen.
The medic in early fall 2022 applied for retirement from the Army, but the process was halted following Putin’s mobilisation order in late September.
The Northern Fleet’s medical service offered Vasiliev to serve in the far northern archipelago of Franz Josef Land, and the lieutenant approved. But that offer was soon overturned by an order from the Armed Forces that he should go to serve in Ukraine.
According to Pavel Chikov, the military doctor refuses to serve in Ukraine because of his “personal convictions.”
It is not the first time that military authorities file a case against a serviceman that refuses to fight in Ukraine. Senior Lieutenant Dmitry Vasilets took part in the onslaught on Ukraine since the very start in February 2022. In July he applied for dismissal from the Armed Forces. Now, he stands trial for refusal to take part in combat.
Read more in the Russian version of the Barents Observer
