Drunk recruits, insubordinate soldiers and convicts are among hundreds of military and civilian offenders pressed into Russian penal units known as “Storm-Z” squads and sent to the frontlines in Ukraine this year. Few live to tell their tale.
- Criminals say they’re unhappy being criminals. - At least Russia’s criminal population isn’t dominated by ethnic minorities. - At least Russia’s criminal population isn’t dominated by ethnic minorities. - I wonder if that’s entirely true. I strongly suspect they’re overrepresented. Historically the Soviets deported a lot of non-Russian minorities to penal colonies. Same thing now, where a lot of Ukrainians are being deported to the far east. - Russians are also quite frequently virulently racist. People from the Caucusus, central-Asia, etc. Anti-semitism too. - Of course, now they’re disproportionately sending those minorities to die in Ukraine, so there’s that. - Historically the Soviets deported a lot of non-Russian minorities to penal colonies. - They did do that to a number of Axis powers fascists, because they were fascists. - The first deportations of ethnic minorities started in the 1920s. - ??? The rise of fascism to serious prominence, and the existence of ‘Axis’ powers, predates World War II, try World War I for example. - They weren’t deporting axis power fascists in the 1920s. They were primarily deporting peasants who resisted collectivisation. They weren’t ‘axis power fascists’. Even Stalin didn’t use that excuse. 
 
 
 
 
- The Russian “justice” system has a conviction rate of 99.3%. It’s safe to say they’re giving large swathes of completely innocent people the death penalty here - people who are someone’s father, child, or friend. - Is that the system you see as exemplary for the west? Are these the Russian family values I’m always hearing so much about? - It’s at a similar level as Japan. - I’m generalizing here, but Asian cultures don’t like being wrong so it’s far more common for a case to never go to trial than for it to go to trial and end up with an acquittal. 
 
 




