Contract soldier from Sochi sentenced for leaving military unit

Alexander Chechel, a contract soldier from Sochi, was sentenced to 6.5 years of imprisonment in a penal colony for leaving his military unit twice.

Alexander Chechel signed a contract on May 1, 2022, and he was immediately sent to Ukraine. Later, the man returned to his military unit’s permanent deployment point, but escaped on June 14. Until November 29, Alexander Chechel lived in Ulyanovsk, Anapa, Penza, and Sochi, and then returned to the military service. On February 9, the man left his military unit again. On June 17, Alexander Chechel was detained at an airport in Sochi. He worked as a salesman at that time. In court, the accused man pleaded guilty, the “Kavkaz.Realii”* reports.

The Sochi Garrison Court considered as mitigating circumstances Alexander Chechel’s participation in the special military operation in Ukraine and his “achievements in sports,” as well as a positive reference from his military unit.

The “Caucasian Knot” has also reported that in October, in Makhachkala, a military court sentenced two military men to 5 and 5.5 years of imprisonment for being absent from their military units for more than a month. In Nalchik, a court decided to sentence a military man to a year of imprisonment for his three-week absence from duty, and the Astrakhan Garrison Court pronounced a suspended sentence to a contract soldier who failed to show up for medical treatment at a sanatorium.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.