Many Russian soldiers would rather do time than die at the front, but the military is increasingly hauling them back to the war anyway

As of May 2025, more than 28,000 Russians had been convicted of going AWOL.

People are fleeing because they don’t want to fight.

In late June 2026, authorities in the Belgorod region declared 13 people wanted after they fled almost simultaneously.

Those who go AWOL — known colloquially as sochintsy, after “SOCh,” the Russian abbreviation for unauthorized absence from one’s unit — are often caught, and during the roundups even their relatives can be put at risk.

One possible scenario is prison time, which at least secures the soldier’s discharge from service.

In recent years, however, authorities have generally tried to send detainees back to the war.

What follows is an account of how events can unfold when a mobilized or contract soldier goes AWOL, and of what such soldiers can do to avoid being returned to service. ...