European Politics > Lofven Out; Neo-Nazis in Ukraine (2); Catalan Separatists Pardoned

 Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven ousted in no-confidence vote

Justin, does that make you a bit nervous?

Li-Lian Ahlskog Hou, 

CNN, and Reuters

Updated 11:02 AM ET, Mon June 21, 2021

Sweden's parliament backed a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Stefan Löfven on Monday, making him the first Swedish premier to be ousted by a motion put forth by opposition lawmakers.

The Social Democrat leader has a week to resign and hand the speaker the job of finding a new government, or call a snap election.

The nationalist Sweden Democrats had seized the chance to call the vote after the formerly communist Left Party withdrew support for the center-left government over a plan to ease rent controls for new-build apartments.

Löfven's party was in a minority coalition with the Green Party and relied on support in parliament from two smaller center-right parties -- the Centre Party and the Liberals -- and the Left Party.

Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Akesson told parliament the government was harmful and historically weak, adding: "It should never have come into power."

The no-confidence motion, which required 175 votes in the 349-seat parliament to pass, was supported by 181 lawmakers.

Speaking in parliament on Monday, Löfven said Sweden was now in a "difficult political situation," adding that as the Left Party had united with the "right-wing conservative parties" to back the no-confidence vote, it was a "temporary majority that was created."

"It is a group of parties only aiming to vote out the government, but which have differing views on the issues and lack the will and ability to present an alternative to the government," Löfven said, adding that he would hold discussions with other parties and decide whether to resign or call snap elections within a week.

The Left Party blamed Lofven for triggering the crisis.

"It is not the Left Party that has given up on the Social Democrat government, it is the Social Democrat government that has given up on the Left Party and the Swedish people," Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar said.

With parliament deadlocked, it is not clear to whom the speaker might turn to form a new government if Lofven resigns. Opinion polls suggest the center-left and center-right blocs are evenly balanced, so a snap election might not bring clarity either.

Dadgostar said that even though her party had voted against Lofven, it would never help "a right-wing nationalist government" take power.

A new government -- or a caretaker administration -- would sit only until a parliamentary election scheduled for September next year.

80 years after Nazi invasion of USSR, Ukraine's main opposition party asks Kiev to finally clamp down on neo-Nazi organizations

22 Jun, 2021 11:54

FILE PHOTO. Participants of the "March of embroidery" in Kiev. The action is carried out by nationalists and is timed to the anniversary of the creation of the SS division "Galicia" during the Second World War, Ukrain. © RIA

On the 80th anniversary of the start of Operation Barbarossa, the German-led WW2 military invasion of the Soviet Union, Ukraine's leading opposition party has demanded that authorities in Kiev finally ban neo-Nazi organizations.

In a statement published on its website on Tuesday, the Opposition Platform - For Life party also asked the Ukrainian government to stop "rewriting history."

Back in April, Ukrainian nationalists held a march in the center of Kiev to mark the anniversary of the creation of the SS Galicia during World War II. The SS division was made up predominantly of Ukrainian volunteers who took up arms for Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union, and who mainly fought against local partisans. The unit was almost wiped out in the 1944 Battle of Lvov–Sandomierz, and later saw action in Slovakia and Austria. In 1945, it rebranded as the Ukrainian National Army and lasted until the end of the war in May that year.

The march in Kiev was condemned by officials from Russia, Germany, and Israel, amongst others.

At the time, Opposition Platform asked the government for a "tough reaction," noting that the traditional WWII Victory Day parade was banned, due to Covid-19 restrictions, but the SS Galicia parade wasn't.

"On this Day of Mourning and Remembrance of Victims of War, we do not expect fake lamentations from the authorities," the Opposition Platform statement explains. "We demand prohibition and persecution for all neo-Nazi organizations, an end to the glorification of Nazi collaborators and an end to the rewriting of history. An end to the policy of ethnic and cultural discrimination."

In Ukraine, as well as in Russia and other former Soviet states, June 22 is considered a Memorial Day. On this date in 1941, a coalition led by Nazi Germany began attacking the Soviet Union, in a five-month-long offensive that saw millions of Soviet citizens killed. By the end of the Second World War, in 1945, the country had lost an estimated 27 million people.

The Germans were joined in the invasion by their Italian, Hungarian, Slovak, Finnish and Romanian allies.

"The crimes of the Nazis cost the world tens of millions of lives and broken lives. Ukraine lost one out of every five inhabitants," the statement adds.

"The Nazi tumor was cut from the body of humanity. It seemed to everyone to be forever. Never again will we hear nonsense about the superiority of certain nations over others," it continues. "[However], the metastases remained."

Opposition Platform - For Life is Ukraine's largest opposition party. In recent months, the country's authorities have cracked down on the faction, which draws much of its support from Russian speakers in the east and south of the country and has advocated a less confrontational approach to Moscow than the one pursued by authorities in Kiev since the Maidan.

In May, the party's leader Viktor Medvedchuk was charged with "high treason" and stands accused of handing over classified information to Moscow. Prosecutors also say he has colluded with the Russian government to steal natural resources from Crimea. He denies all charges, calling them politically motivated. He is currently under house arrest.

Soviets worked with West to bring down Nazi legacy – but now NATO expansion risks tearing Europe apart once again, Putin says

22 Jun, 2021 08:49

FILE PHOTO. Russian President Vladimir Putin © Sputnik / Aleksey Nikolskyi

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that a new arms race is underway in Europe, driven by instability and tension, while insisting his country stands ready to rebuild friendly relations with nations across the continent.

Writing in Hamburg’s Die Zeit newspaper on Tuesday, Putin emphasized the role the Soviets played in liberating European nations from Nazi occupation. The president paid tribute to the soldiers of the Red Army, “who not only defended the independence and dignity of our homeland, but also saved Europe and the world from enslavement.”

He went on to add that the defeat of the Third Reich was also down to “our allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, participants in the Resistance movement, and German anti-fascists who brought our common victory closer.”

Putin said the end of the Cold War should have been “a common victory for Europe,” but that tensions across the continent had needlessly resurged. The president blamed NATO for this state of affairs, arguing that the US-led military bloc was a “relic” of Cold War-era confrontation. Its expansion eastwards, despite assurances to the contrary, had fueled distrust and tension on the continent, he said.

Relations between Moscow and NATO initially thawed after the fall of the USSR, with both sides even signing a declaration maintaining they did “not consider each other as adversaries.”

However, Russia insists it was given a commitment that the bloc would not look to extend its reach towards the country’s borders, which was broken in 2004 when NATO underwent the single largest expansion in its history, admitting the Baltic nations and a number of former Eastern Bloc states. The move was cited as a strategic threat by Putin in a speech marking the reabsorption of Crimea in 2014.

“Moreover,” Putin wrote on Tuesday, “many countries were put before the artificial choice of being either with the collective West or with Russia.” The president cited events in Ukraine in 2014 as an example “of the consequences that this aggressive policy has led to.” There, he said, “the EU actively supported the unconstitutional armed coup in Ukraine.”

“The whole system of European security has now degraded significantly,” he warned. “Tensions are rising and the risks of a new arms race are becoming real. We are missing out on the tremendous opportunities that cooperation offers – all the more important now that we are all facing common challenges, such as the pandemic and its dire social and economic consequences.”

Putin reiterated that “Russia is in favor of restoring a comprehensive partnership with the rest of Europe” and again proposed the idea of a “common space for cooperation and security from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.”

In April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov extended an invitation to EU nations to sign up to a Moscow-backed plan to form a ‘Great Eurasian Partnership’ that would be open to all states across the two continents. This would be driven by the values of unification and inclusivity, he said.

In his appeal to German readers on Tuesday, Putin said, “The world is a dynamic place, facing new challenges and threats. We simply cannot afford to carry the burden of past misunderstandings, hard feelings, conflicts, and mistakes.”

He added that “our common and indisputable goal is to ensure security on the continent without dividing lines, a common space for equitable cooperation, and inclusive development for the prosperity of Europe and the world as a whole.”

Nine Catalan pro-independence leaders formally pardoned by Spain

over failed 2017 independence bid

22 Jun, 2021 14:59

FILE PHOTO. Barcelona, Spain. © Reuters / Jon Nazca; (inset) Oriol Junqueras, Raul Romeva, Joaquim Forn, Jordi Sanchez, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull, Jordi Cuixart, Carme Forcadell, Dolors Bassa, Carles Mundo, Santi Vila and Meritxel Borras at the Supreme Court in Madrid. © AFP / EMILIO NARANJO

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s office has announced that pardons for nine jailed Catalan separatist leaders, who’d been handed sentences ranging from nine to 13 years behind bars, have been approved by Spain's cabinet.

In a tweet published on his official account, Sanchez said the nine had received partial pardons, commuting their prison sentences but upholding their disqualification from holding office.

The move is aimed at putting Spain on the path to reconciliation as the country’s “government works for understanding, not for confrontation,” Sanchez said, adding that he hoped all sides could now “concentrate on improving the lives of our people” as the nation emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pardons had been rumored in recent weeks and were revealed on Monday, ahead of their final sign-off, with Sanchez justifying them by saying that “confrontation doesn’t serve to solve any problem.”

It’s not clear exactly when the jailed separatists will be released from prison – the authorities have simply said they would work quickly to finish the administrative steps required to secure their freedom.

The nine separatists were jailed for sedition by Spain’s Supreme Court in October 2019, with several others fleeing abroad to avoid prosecution, including Catalonia’s former president Carles Puigdemont, who was recently granted political asylum in Morocco.

Pro-separatist figures have dismissed the reconciliation attempt as a political stunt, claiming that, if Sanchez was serious about moving forward, his government would have granted full amnesty to all who were involved in the 2017 independent effort, allowing those abroad to return to the region.

The division within Spain and the prosecution of the separatists came after Catalonian officials attempted to hold an unauthorized referendum in 2017, as part of their bid to secure independence from Madrid, sparking charges of sedition from the Spanish authorities.

Nearly 80 Children Kidnapped in Cameroon’s English-Speaking Separatist Region

Always the children paying the price for man's madness

Anti-government protesters in Bamenda © Reuters

Dozens of people, most of them children, have been kidnapped from a school in the city of Bamenda in Cameroon’s northwestern Anglophone region, which is struggling with a separatist insurgency.

Armed men kidnapped 78 students from a Presbyterian school in the Nkwen village, Northwest Region Governor Deben Tchoffo said.

A video uploaded to social media showed the kidnapped children and the alleged kidnappers, calling themselves “Amba boys” in reference to the breakaway Ambazonia state that the separatists have been trying to create. The footage could not be immediately verified, but parents have reportedly been reacting to images of their children on social media, according to AP.

Earlier, a military source told Reuters that the school principal has been kidnapped along with the students.

“In total, 81 people were kidnapped including the principal. They were taken to the bush,” the source said.

The separatists, who are protesting against President Paul Biya’s French-speaking government, have imposed strict curfews, shuttered schools, and killed government soldiers and policemen in guerilla raids.

The conflict between the insurgents and government security forces intensified last year after a government crackdown on peaceful protesters. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people, with many fleeing Bamenda for the calmer Francophone regions.

In July, a video showing government soldiers shooting women and children sparked outrage and accusations that the Cameroon government – a close ally of the US in Africa – was carrying out arbitrary executions of anyone believed to be supporting the Boko Haram terrorist group.

In an October presidential election, opposition candidate Maurice Kamto declared victory against Biya, who has ruled since 1982, but Biya’s ruling party dismissed claims of defeat and accused Kamto of breaking the law. Reuters reported that the opposing candidate did not provide evidence to back up claims that he won.

A government spokesperson said it was keeping track of developments surrounding the kidnapping, but provided no other details.

Cameroon is about 70% Christian and about 18% Muslim with a number of people practicing traditional religions. Cameroon has Nigeria on one side, Central African Republic and Congo on the other side, all of which are war-torn countries.

God's Plan, Psychotic Break, or Demonic Possession

Richard Bain knew killing was wrong, but was

following God's plan, defence psychiatrist says

Murder trial for 2012 Parti Québécois rally shooting

hears accused may have bipolar disorder

Richard Bain has told the jury he has no memory of the night of the shooting, and no recollection of shouting "The English are waking up" as he was led away in handcuffs. (Radio-Canada)

Jaela Bernstien CBC Journalist

Quebec, Canada - On the night of the shooting, Richard Bain understood that killing was wrong, but that didn't stop him because he believed he was carrying out a mission for God, a psychiatrist for the defence told the court. 

"Even if he knew that killing is wrong. For him, this notion did not apply, because God was asking him to do something," said psychiatrist Dr. Marie-Frédérique Allard, who was called to testify by Bain's defence.

Allard believes that "it is more likely than not" that Bain was psychotic the night of the deadly shooting and that he thought he had been sent to protect the anglophones and kill the separatists. 

The psychiatrist told the jury it's her opinion that Bain was suffering from a delusion.

Bain is accused of first-degree murder in the Sept. 4, 2012 election-night shooting that left Denis Blanchette dead and another man, Dave Courage, seriously injured.  They were shot outside Montreal's Metropolis nightclub around midnight, while the Parti Québécois celebrated its election victory inside.

The defence is arguing that Bain is not criminally responsible for the shooting because of a mental disorder.

The prosecution contends the shooting was premeditated and motivated by the fact that Bain could not vote that day. 

Allard said both of the times that she saw Bain not long after his arrest in 2012, he was clearly in a psychotic state.

During one session on Nov. 9, 2012, Bain was afraid of being recorded, so he refused to answer Allard's questions out loud, and instead wrote down his responses.


Richard Bain is accused of shooting and killing Denis Blanchette, a lighting technician who was working at Montreal's Metropolis concert hall. (Facebook)

Allard read from her report in court, repeating what Bain told her: "The plan was to kill as many separatists as I could."

The Parti Quebecois was formed for the specific purpose of separating Quebec from Canada. So far, they have not been very successful.

"If inside, if Madame [Pauline] Marois could be seen, I could've killed her," Bain told Allard during their meeting.

Pauline Marois was the leader of the Parti Quebecois at the time.

Allard told the jury Bain said his mission was cut short because, "Jesus Christ stopped it."

After his arrest,  when Bain was in the backseat of a police cruiser, Brassard said he heard him say: "Your security was not good. My gun jammed. Grace of god, the gun jammed."

Based on testimony from colleagues, friends and family, Allard said it's evident that Bain always a law-abiding person in the past, with no violent history. 

She told the jury Bain told her that he took medication hours before the shooting to give him the "guts" to carry out his mission.

Allard said she also believes it's likely that Bain suffers from bipolar disorder.


Possible overdose of medication

Earlier in the trial, Bain told the court he took a handful of anti-depressants around 7 p.m., roughly five hours before the shooting.

Wow, a handful of antidepressants; I can't imagine what that would do to you. I wonder how many he took earlier in the day or the day before?


Psychiatrist Dr. Marie-Frédérique Allard (far right) was called to testify on Monday by defence lawyer Alan Guttman (far left). (Radio-Canada)

The following morning, a police interrogation video shows a sleepy Bain in custody telling police he's confused and doesn't understand why he's there.

    Bain's first interview with police

Based on what she observed in that video, Allard said Bain "looks like someone who was intoxicated, or who is coming down from some substance." 

She said she does not believe he was faking the symptoms, and cited a toxicological analysis of Bain's blood the day after the shooting.

The court heard that the report mentions the presence of two antidepressants: Effexor and Trazodone.

While Allard said she believes Bain was showing signs of an overdose, she did not link his actions the night of the shooting to the medication he had taken.

"I don't think the thing he did was the result of intoxication," Allard testified.

In earlier testimony, Bain told the court he believed he took an anti-depressant called Cymbalta the night of the shooting, but he later added that it could have accidentally taken Effexor instead.

Allard is expected to continue her testimony for a third day on Friday.

Who knows exactly what went on in Bain's mind for him to do such a thing? But when I read stories where people say that God told them to do this or that, I usually suspect demonic influence. Demons can put thoughts into our heads as if they were coming from God. People with drug problems and or severe mental health problems are very susceptible to that. 

It might well have been the work of Jesus Christ, or more likely an angel, to jam his gun and prevent more deaths. It's the kind of thing He has done many, many times. 

I don't know what you think of demonic possession or demonic influence, but Jesus dealt with a lot of demons in His brief 3 year ministerial walk on earth. If they existed then, they surely exist now, otherwise, where have they gone?

I had an interesting vision once where I could see a map of Europe and western Asia. This was not too long after the collapse of communism. I could see something moving on the map; it was as though the map was covered in little black ants or bugs and they were all fleeing southward from the old USSR countries. I knew the bugs represented demons and God was showing me that they were deserting the old communist countries and moving into the Middle East, the 'stans, and North Africa, all Islamic countries. Interesting huh?

Putin Says War With Ukraine Unlikely

Good luck Mr Poroshenko, the Russians are Coming!

If this doesn't mean an invasion is imminent, I will be astonished.

Vladimir Putin laid a wreath on Monday at a ceremony for
Russia's Defenders of the Fatherland Day

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has said war with neighbouring Ukraine is "unlikely", in an interview for Russian television.

Mr Putin also stressed his support for the recent Minsk ceasefire deal as the best way to stabilise eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine says Russian troops have been fighting in Ukraine. Mr Putin repeated denials that this was the case.

Earlier, Ukraine's military said rebel shelling had prevented them withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line.

In his interview - his first extended comments since the ceasefire deal was agreed on 12 February - Mr Putin was asked if there was a real threat of war, given the situation in eastern Ukraine.

"I think that such an apocalyptic scenario is unlikely and I hope this will never happen," he said.

Mr Putin said that if the Minsk agreement was implemented, eastern Ukraine would "gradually stabilise".

"Europe is just as interested in that as Russia. No-one wants conflict on the edge of Europe, especially armed conflict," he said.

Heavy weapons to withdraw, if they can just stop shooting at each other.

Analysis: Sarah Rainsford, BBC News, Moscow
This was a confident Vladimir Putin, fielding soft questions on the Ukraine conflict with ease, even smiles. Russia's president said that in his eyes, the way to peace in Ukraine is clear - the deal struck in Minsk has to be implemented.

He underlined that the agreement had been backed by the UN Security Council - and that matters to Moscow. He was also keen to point out that it devolves more power to eastern parts of Ukraine, currently controlled by Russian-backed rebels.

As for Russia invading Ukraine, President Putin once again shrugged off evidence that he's deployed troops to help the rebels. He said Kiev was claiming that to hide its humiliation at being defeated by former miners and tractor drivers.

He was just as scathing on the issue of Crimea, which Russia annexed last year, advising Ukraine's president to concentrate on saving his country's collapsing economy, instead of vowing to take back that land.

Major destruction in Debaltseve  before withdrawal

The Russian leader also said the Minsk deal had become an "international legal document" following UN Security Council approval of a Russian-drafted resolution endorsing it.

Last week the deal looked in danger of collapsing when rebels captured the strategically important transport hub of Debaltseve.

Both sides have two weeks under the terms of the Minsk deal to pull artillery and tanks out of striking distance, and both agreed at the weekend to begin withdrawing heavy weapons shortly.

But on Monday, the Ukrainian military said rebels had not stopped firing and that it was therefore unable to withdraw heavy weapons.

The rebels, however, were not expected to begin their pullback until after Russia's Defenders of the Fatherland Day, that they were observing on Monday.

The BBC's Paul Adams reports from the self-declared People's Republic of Donetsk that rebels there said they were experiencing less intense fighting than before, with less use of heavy weapons by the Ukrainian army.

But he adds that soldiers and an appreciative crowd were in defiant mood as they listened to a little girl deliver a rousing speech to mark the holiday, calling down God's judgement on the government in Kiev.

Minsk agreement: Key points

Ceasefire from 00:01 on 15 February (22:01 GMT 14 February)
Heavy weapons to be withdrawn within two weeks
All prisoners to be released; amnesty for fighters
Withdrawal of all foreign troops and weapons from Ukrainian territory, disarmament of all illegal groups
Lifting of government restrictions on rebel-held areas
Constitutional reform to enable decentralisation for rebel regions by the end of 2015
Ukraine to control border with Russia if conditions met by the end of 2015

Fighting began in eastern Ukraine in April, a month after Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula.

Nearly 5,700 people have died and at least 1.25 million have fled their homes since the conflict began early last year.

The Ukrainian government, Western leaders and Nato say there is clear evidence that Russia is helping the rebels with heavy weapons and soldiers.

Independent experts echo that accusation while Moscow denies it, insisting that any Russians serving with the rebels are "volunteers".

We just reported on those 'volunteers'.

Russian Conscripts Bullied into Signing Contracts Sending Them to Ukraine

Russia has denied it is sending arms and troops to support the separatists
in Ukraine, but dozens of soldiers have been reported killed during drills
 in the Rostov region of southern Russia

When Alexander was due to finish his year of mandatory military service in October, his commander told him he had no choice: He had to sign a contract to extend his stay in the army and head to southern Russia for troop exercises.

The 20-year-old knew that meant he might end up fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Other soldiers he talked to had been sent there.

His commanders "didn't talk about it, but other soldiers told us about it, primarily paratroopers who had been there," Alexander said in an interview with The Associated Press, which is not using his surname for his safety.

The former private first class ended his military service earlier this month. He avoided being sent to Ukraine — although not without first being threatened with prison for desertion.

Human rights complaints

Human rights groups have received dozens of complaints in the past month alone from Russian conscripts like Alexander who say they have been strong-armed or duped into signing contracts with the military to become professional soldiers, after which they were sent to participate in drills in the southern Rostov region.

"We receive messages from all over in which (soldiers) say that they're being sent again to Rostov for military exercises," said Valentina Melnikova, head of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, a group with a three-decade history of working to protect soldiers' rights.

"Those who have been there (to the Rostov region) before know that in actual fact it means Ukraine."

People lay candles and flowers at memorials to victims of the Maidan uprising
one year ago on Maidan square, the day before a march in which several
European  heads of state are scheduled to participate on Feb. 21, 2015, in Kyiv.

Because only contract soldiers can legally be dispatched abroad, worries are spreading among families that inexperienced young conscripts could be sent to fight in eastern Ukraine.

While Russia has denied it is sending arms and troops to support the separatists, since the summer dozens of soldiers have been reported killed by explosions during drills in the Rostov region — deaths that rights groups actually attribute to the conflict over the border in Ukraine. Weapons appear to flow freely across the frontier, and one group of Russian paratroopers was even captured in August, 50 kilometres  inside the war zone.

Russian protesters dressed as Cossacks mark one year since Yanukovich ousted

So far, the Russian government has been able to keep a tight lid on information about any soldiers in eastern Ukraine through a shroud of official denials, harassment of independent reporters who cover the deaths, and carrot-and-stick pressure on the families of those killed. But rising concerns among families with young sons could pose a risk for President Vladimir Putin.

Russia's secrecy about the soldiers' deaths has an important precedent: During the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the government released little information about those killed in the conflict. When the true numbers of casualties became known, the intervention turned unpopular.

Carnage left in the Donetsk region after last weekends fighting

No numbers on soldiers killed

More than 5,600 people have been killed since April in the fighting between Ukrainian troops and the rebels. It is unclear how many Russian soldiers have died in the conflict, as the Defence Ministry has rejected rights groups' requests on the number of soldiers killed on duty in 2014. But the rising casualty count among Russian soldiers specifically could prove decisive in Putin's thinking as he comes under pressure to prevent an expansion of the conflict that might put more Russians in the line of fire.

At least 1,500 Russian troops and military hardware entered Ukraine
over the weekend as fighting, which killed nine Ukrainian soldiers
and wounded dozens of others

"This is a conflict that reaches pretty deep into the psyche of the Russian people. It's not a foreign conflict. ... It's something very close to home," said Dmitri Trenin, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment in Moscow. "This is something that's at the back of a lot of people's minds, and in particular, people with sons of draft age are worried.

"Military conquest, in my view, would not be supported by the Russian people, and I think everyone knows it," he added.

In October, Alexander was preparing to return to his hometown of Inta, a city of 30,000 people that skirts the Arctic Circle, when he and a dozen other recruits were told to report immediately to their base outside of Moscow.

"They told us: You have to go on a trip," he said as he wolfed down a full tray of food at the local McDonald's. "At first there wasn't any talk about a contract, but later they said that in order to go on the trip we would have to sign a contract, because we can't go as conscripts."

Toilet paper rolls with the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin printed on them
stand for sale at an outdoor kiosk on Feb. 21 in Kyiv. Both the Ukrainian and
western governments accuse Putin of actively supporting the current violence
in eastern Ukraine by allowing troops and heavy weapons to pass from Russia
across the border to pro-Russian separatists

'We had to go'

Russia requires almost all young men to serve in the army for one year at age 18, although many find ways to defer or avoid it. Those who want to have careers in the army can become professional soldiers by signing contracts for two or three years.

Alexander and his best friend in the unit both have pregnant girlfriends and had no intention of extending their army service. But they were told that they had already agreed to the trip, and that they couldn't back out.

"We wanted to refuse," he said. "But they refused our refusal, and we had to go."

Adelya Kamelatdinova's 19-year-old son was serving as a recruit in the army in July when he sent her a text message saying he was being sent to military exercises in Rostov. Then in August, he disappeared for weeks — only to resurface in September and tell her had been stationed in the Ukrainian region of Luhansk, in a village about 80 kilometres from the Russian border.

When she went to the local recruitment office to complain with another mother whose son had been hospitalized with a concussion, nobody listened: "They told us that our sons were participating in exercises and there aren't any soldiers in Ukraine; that it was a fantasy we thought up."

Kamelatdinova, who asked that her son's name not be used for fear of retribution, said he had not signed a contract but that he had been forced to sign a statement in which he agreed to cross the Ukrainian border.