By Olha Hembik | 2025-12-09

They are not police. They are not military. Yet far-right activists in Russia now film themselves storming apartments, seizing young men and delivering them to the front lines.

As desertions mount across the armed forces, these radical groups -- once fringe agitators -- have recast themselves as bounty hunters for a war that fewer and fewer soldiers want to fight.

One such episode appeared in October on the Telegram channel of the far-right Russian Community movement.

In the video, members of the group dragged a "deserter of the Russian armed forces" from his apartment. The organization claimed the man had spent about 18 months in hiding, according to ASTRA. Activists said his fellow service members had sought help to locate a "500," Russian slang for an absent without official leave (AWOL) soldier.

The detainee, identified as Pvt. Morozov, had signed a contract, served a year and gone on leave, then failed to return. After his capture, the group said he was handed back to his reconnaissance unit.

"Thanks, guys. You have our deepest gratitude. Now we're off to keep serving," one man said in the video while restraining him. The footage was later deleted from Russian Community's channel but remains accessible elsewhere.

Founded in 2020, Russian Community gained visibility after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, known in Russia as the "special military operation." The movement is notorious for anti-migrant raids and hard-line support for the war.

Desertions surge

Desertions inside the Russian military have accelerated sharply. Frontelligence Insight, a Ukrainian open-source intelligence project, estimated that at least 70,000 troops could desert this year -- about 10% of the force deployed in Ukraine. Some front-line units in Donetsk Region saw desertion rates climb nearly tenfold in early 2025.

Although Russia maintains what Frontelligence described as a "relatively effective system for tracking down and returning deserters," the sheer scale of absences is overwhelming it.

The trend is visible even far from the battlefield.

In Warsaw, restaurateur Shevket Yuzbashev recounted how his nephew fled to avoid being forced back into military service. The young man had been drafted in 2021 after studying economics at Taurida National University in Kyiv.

"He was drafted into the Russian army in 2021, right out of university," Yuzbashev told Kontur. His nephew served in Sevastopol, was discharged in March 2022 and then "fled through Belarus to Warsaw, and from there traveled to friends in the United States."

With Crimea effectively sealed to draft-age men, Yuzbashev said many see desertion as the only alternative to dying in what he called a "cannon fodder rank."

Routes of escape

Frontelligence Insight identified five main ways Russian troops go AWOL.

The most common is fleeing a base before deployment, avoiding the border and internal checkpoints altogether.

Military historian Mykhailo Zhirokhov said mobilized prisoners frequently choose this option.

"Often for these people signing a contract is also an opportunity to flee at the training stage in the training centers," Zhirokhov told Kontur.

Another widespread method -- the one used by Morozov -- is failing to return from leave, which Frontelligence noted allows a soldier to exit the war zone legally.

Additional tactics include slipping out of hospitals, using forged leave paperwork or bribery near the front and escaping directly from the battlefield. Despite the risk, fleeing combat positions was the most common method in 2025.

To support runaways, Ukraine's "I Want to Live" program developed a chatbot that guides Russian service members who fear being "caught and sent back to the front line."

Vladyslav Seleznyov, a war correspondent and former spokesperson for Ukraine's General Staff, said the initiative offered a rare path to survival.

"This is a good way to stay alive and return to your family and loved ones," Seleznyov told Kontur. He added that it gives Russian troops a chance to avoid involvement in war crimes, while Ukraine promises humane treatment consistent with international standards.

Frontelligence reported that Russian forces often subject recaptured AWOL soldiers to "physical torture, maiming, and both mock and real executions." Some executed men remain officially listed as deserters, leaving families unable to claim compensation.

State tolerates far-right role

As desertions spread, Russian military units and law enforcement have intensified searches at soldiers' last known addresses. They now receive help from Russian Community, which I Want to Live compared to "rear-area oprichniki," evoking Ivan the Terrible-era political enforcers.

I Want to Live noted that "the Russian Nazis . . . are in no rush to go to the front," yet videos of their raids -- from anti-migrant sweeps to the detention of AWOL soldiers -- circulate widely.

After the violent apprehension of a deserter in Penza, journalists from politica_media said in their October social media post that "in this story everything is barbaric."

One journalist added, "Obviously, this club of nationalists has no authority to arrest anyone. The things they're doing openly on camera are basically a crime. That means they're confident that in general the police and the government won't touch them."

I Want to Live argued that the Kremlin finds radical groups like Russian Community "very useful or are paid off directly by the [Federal Security Service] FSB," helping suppress dissent and conjure an internal enemy. The government, it said, "willingly shuts its eyes to the violence if it's channeled in the necessary . . . direction."

Frontelligence Insight warned that the willingness of tens of thousands of troops to desert despite torture and execution risks signals deeper fractures that could widen into a broader schism within Russia's armed forces.