Putin Ally Demands 'Traitors and Deserters' Be Shot as Russia Retreats

Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov (pictured with V. Putin) has demanded that the death penalty be reinstated in Russia for "traitors" and soldiers who retreat from battle in Ukraine.

Solovyov, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, made the remarks during his radio show Full Contact (Polny Contakt) on Thursday, shortly after Russia announced its withdrawal from the key Ukrainian city of Kherson.

He floated bringing back the death penalty for those suspected of wartime sabotage, and for Russian soldiers who retreat in Ukraine.

"I believe that we should reject the moratorium on the death penalty and introduce articles allowing the execution of traitors and their accomplices, terrorists and their accomplices, sponsors, and financiers, including shooting deserters who abandoned the combat order and betrayed their comrades," he said.

In 1996, Russia imposed a moratorium on the death penalty pending its membership into the Council of Europe.

Russia was suspended from the body the day after Putin launched a full scale invasion against Ukraine, and on September 16, it ceased to be party to the European Convention on Human Rights.

"Brutal discipline, personal responsibility of those making the decisions, iron will in carrying out the orders," Solovyov added. "A clear understanding of the consequences and the responsibility that comes with making decisions."

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also backed the death penalty being reinstated in Russia last week, after four students opposed to the Ukraine war sabotaged railways in the country.

Four Russian and foreign students, aged between 17 and 18, were arrested in the city of Ufa, the capital and largest city of the Republic of Bashkortostan in western Russia. They are accused of organizing a terrorist act, state-run news outlet Kommersant reported, citing a press release from a district court.

According to court papers, the teenagers attempted at least five times to damage railway electrical equipment in protest against the conflict.

The students reportedly hoped to destabilize the work of the Bashkortostan authorities amid the war.

Medvedev called the defendants "monsters" and said that during World War II "saboteurs" were shot. "There was only one verdict for such scoundrels - execution without trial or investigation. Right at the crime scene," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

"We can overcome the moratorium on the death penalty, if necessary, within the framework of the current Constitution," Medvedev continued. "It's a matter of choosing the means to protect the interests of our people, the state and society."

"If you are a traitor who committed a crime during wartime, you have no... right to protect your life," he warned.

There have been multiple reports in recent days of both mobilized Russian soldiers and their officers fleeing from the front line in Ukraine.

The mother of a mobilized soldier, Elena Solodovnikova, told Siberia.Realii this month that her son and four other men from the Pervomaisky district of the Tomsk region retreated and have been hiding in a forest.

Meanwhile, a Russian soldier told independent news outlet Verstka this week that he survived shelling by Ukrainian forces near Makiivka in the Luhansk region, and that his unit's commanders fled from the front line on November 2 while his entire battalion was ordered to dig trenches and hold defensive positions.

And in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, dozens of mobilized Russian soldiers who have refused to fight in Ukraine are being locked up and threatened with execution, family members have said.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign ministry for comment.

Source: Newsweek, Staff, November 11, 2022

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