The 138th Motorized Rifle Brigade RF, which will soon be sent to Eastern Ukraine, is made up largely of St. Petersburg conscripts (70%).
Conscription began when the division suffered substantial losses in the fighting in Ukraine last summer.
Ukrainian security officials already know the whereabouts of the brigade and its future route.
Grani.ru talked with Alexander Peredruk, press secretary of the St. Petersburg Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers, who announced that the organization had received complaints about conscripts actually being forced to sign contracts for military deployment to Ukraine.
“The parents told us that authorities gathered about 70-80 young men in an auditorium, insulted them and didn’t let them go until they’d agreed to sign the contract.” said the activist.
Peredruk added that, in the last two months, the committee had received five appeals from parents – the first in December, the following between January 8-11. In addition, information about the conscription was reported anonymously to the hotline of the organization.