Former SMO participant escapes from labour slavery in Kalmykia

After leaving the combat zone, a participant in the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine, found himself at the railway station in Rostov-on-Don without money and agreed to an offer to work in a farm in Kalmykia, but ended up in labour slavery. He tried to escape twice, the second attempt was successful, the "Alternativa" movement has reported.

His sister contacted the "Lisa Alert" search organization and the above movement. "The main difficulty in such cases is that it is impossible to publish the data of active militaries. And we couldn't verify for sure that Mikhail is no longer a military because of bureaucratic subtleties," the "Alternativa" has reported in its Telegram channel.

Mikhail contacted his sister on January 1, stating that after leaving the combat zone, he and his colleagues celebrated this event in the bathhouse. He woke up in Rostov-on-Don, alone and without money; he couldn't remember what had happened with him. At the railway station he was offered to earn a ticket home, to which Mikhail agreed and ended up in labour slavery in Kalmykia. There, he looked after the cattle, but received no money and could not contact his family. One day he tried to escape, but the farm owner found him and brought him back. Fortunately, after working for almost two months, Mikhail finally managed to escape on January 1.

The "Alternativa" movement has noted that former militaries "may be vulnerable to recruiters for a number of reasons, including post-traumatic stress disorders." "The best option would be if someone close to the man meets him so that he can immediately get home," the movement has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has also reported that a court in Volgograd sentenced three members of a grouping that used to kidnap people and sell them into labour slavery to farmers in the Astrakhan Region and Kalmykia for long terms.