Relatives of 31-year-old Dmitry S. from Omsk told the outlet Ostorozhno, Novosti that on August 8 he was sitting on a bench with a bottle of beer when several people in civilian clothes pulled up, twisted his arms, and drove him off in an unknown direction. Later, the man told his family he was at the Sirius 55 military contract recruitment point.
According to relatives, Dmitry was subjected to psychological pressure there and forced to sign a contract with the Defense Ministry. His sister said documents and bank cards were made for him, while his passport and military ID remained at home. Dmitry is married and officially employed, the relative said.
The family filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office, which suggested they gather additional documents and return, the outlet reported. No public comments from law enforcement agencies or the Defense Ministry on the incident have been made so far.
A similar case occurred in Omsk in July, activists from the Omsk Civil Resistance group reported. According to them, a man was detained at a bus stop while walking home from work in a state of mild alcohol intoxication. He was taken to a department where for nearly two days they tried to persuade him to sign a contract, using physical and psychological pressure. The man refused and was released after relatives reported his disappearance.
Detentions aimed at forcing people to go to war also occur in other regions. According to the project Idite Lesom, in the Penza region police organize raids with the participation of military enlistment office staff under the pretext of identifying draft dodgers and migrants, but “in practice they detain everyone indiscriminately,” hand out summonses, and under threats force them to sign contracts. Similar cases were recorded in Ulyanovsk: one man ended up in occupied Mariupol after being taken to a military commandant's office, another was forced to sign a contract despite losing an eye.
As Grigory Sverdlin, director of Idite Lesom, told the Financial Times, Russian authorities are finding it increasingly difficult to find people willing to go to war, so they are increasing pressure on potential contract soldiers. Janis Kluge, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, who studied documents from regional authorities, noted that among the methods used are street detentions, officials visiting people at home and work, and recruiting debtors, those on probation, and recently demobilized conscripts. “They know who has debts, who is under investigation, who recently lost their driver's license, and it is precisely these people they hunt for,” he said.