CRUEL Russian commanders are demanding £30,000 bribes from their troops to spare them from the front line in Ukraine.
Video footage shows Russian soldier Denis Kolesnikov exposing a corrupt network of extortion in Vladimir Putin’s military.
The junior sergeant said: “Everyone has to pay the commanders. If someone doesn’t pay, they’re considered unnecessary, sent to the front, and reset.”
Reset is a euphemism for sending soldiers to their deaths.
“More than half of our unit were reset by the commanders, I personally saw several people killed”, Kolesnikov added.
The payments demanded of soldiers range from £10,000 up to £30,000, The Telegraph reports.
And once the first payments “run out”, commanders demand more.
Kolesnikov claims he was sent to the city of Rostov, in southern Russia, after handing over payments totalling £30,000 to his commander.
He then fled his unit to go to Moscow. His current whereabouts is unknown.
The footage is the latest in a series of corruption claims levied against the Russian military.
Olesia Horiainova, deputy head of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre (USCC), told the outlet the abuses are “widespread and systematic” within the Kremlin’s front line units.
“Russian military personnel are willing to pay money to avoid going to the front, indicating a serious problem with the motivation of the Russian army against the backdrop of the bloody tactics of the Russian command”, she said.
The USCC even noted cases of commanders pilfering equipment and forcing soldiers to purchase weapons with their own wages.
Putin is becoming increasingly desperate to plug the gap left from huge losses on the battlefield as the fourth anniversary of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine nears.
A new bombshell intelligence report claims 1,000 Kenyans were tricked into joining the Russian army after being offered false promises of jobs.
The report accuses Russian embassy officials of colluding with work recruitment agencies in the sick ploy.
The Russian Embassy in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, denied the allegations.
And it comes as some of the clearest new evidence of executions and torture, sanctioned by Putin’s bloodthirsty commanders, emerge.
Serving Russian major general Roman Demurchiev is accused of boasting about torturing and killing Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The 49-year-old is also alleged to have sent a photo of severed human ears to his wife.
His hacked archive boasting of war crimes covers the period 2022 to 2024 and was reportedly provided to reporters by a source in the Ukrainian military.
Sickening messages show Demurchiev telling a military intelligence officer: “I have a prisoner….I can give it to you.
“We just didn’t have time to torture him….But you have plenty of time.”
In 2023, Vladimir Putin awarded Demurchiev the rank of Major General.
Under the Geneva Conventions, the torture, execution or mutilation of prisoners of war constitute war crimes.
Demurchiev has not publicly commented on the allegations. Russia’s Defence Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
It comes as US-led peace talks between Ukraine and Russia have stalled.
