Photo: AP

“Cargo 200” to Sevastopol, “Cargo 200” to Kerch, “Cargo 200” to Kirov district... Such messages have been regularly appearing in Crimean publics almost from the very beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. How do the inhabitants of the occupied peninsula get to the war? How many of them die at the front every month? And why are these actions considered a war crime against the civilian population?

At least 35 Crimeans were killed last month on the front line because they participated in hostilities on the side of the Russian army. Such conclusions were made by the experts of the “Tribunal. Crimean Episode” project. They noted that a significant number of obituaries concern the soldiers of the 810th Marine Brigade from Sevastopol, which was sent in August to close the breakthrough of the Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region.

However, August does not differ much from other months in terms of the number of funeral notices sent to Crimea. For example, in May of this year, there were 33 obituaries, and in November of last year - 40. These figures are clearly underestimated, because later, during the unveiling of monuments and memorial plaques, more and more names of local residents who went to war as part of the Russian army and returned in "plastic bags" are revealed. The Representative Office of the President of Ukraine in the ARC believes that at least 904 soldiers have been buried on the peninsula since the start of the full-scale invasion, 719 of whom were Ukrainian citizens.

The question of how these residents of the occupied territory ended up in the ranks of the Russian army remains important. In their analysis of the past month, the Crimean Episode experts note that at least half of those killed had signed contracts with the Russian army. However, there were also 2 cases of Crimeans participating in the actions of private military companies and 2 verified cases of mobilized residents of the occupied territory participating in the fighting. At the same time, the authors do not exclude that the number of mobilized people may be higher, since 14 obituaries for August do not provide details on how the deceased turned out to be a participant in the military conflict on the side of the Russian army.

As for the high percentage of “contract soldiers” from Crimea, the total propaganda of service in the Russian army plays a significant role in this. Recruiters regularly come to high school students' classes and offer to sign a contract immediately after exams. Outdoor advertising is filled with offers to join the ranks of the Russian military. Such calls are heard from loudspeakers at public transportation stops. And motivational videos are shown on television, where Russian soldiers discuss what is better to get after the “SVO” - an apartment in Podil or a land plot in Odesa.  

Against the backdrop of rising unemployment, significant inflation, the three-year absence of a holiday season, and other “successes” of managing the occupied territory, such propaganda, coupled with promises of high payments and, more recently, land plots, is working. However, according to prisoners of war, signing a contract with the Russian army is not always a voluntary decision.  

The testimony of a prisoner of war from Yevpatoria that he was called up for mobilization is illustrative.  He received a draft notice and reported to the military enlistment office, and there he was convinced to sign a contract as a volunteer. “Because you're going to serve anyway, but at least you'll be paid more.” Thus, the occupation authorities demonstrate a high percentage of “volunteers” and conceal the extent to which “partially mobilized” people are used in the war.

With such tricks, the number of mobilized Crimeans who have already been killed on the front line does not look very significant. The joint project of the BBC and Media Zone believes that at least 59 mobilized Crimeans and Sevastopol residents have been killed in the war since the “partial mobilization”. However, the authors of the project also emphasize that the figures are the result of an analysis of open sources of information. It is noteworthy that the total number of people killed, ascertained from obituaries, is half the number of inheritance cases, which, if used skillfully, show the dynamics of war losses.

Refat Chubarov, the head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, is also convinced that the numbers are much higher. About a thousand people connected to  Crimea in one way or another were killed in the Russian war against Ukraine as part of the Russian army. However, these are only established cases, the real number of dead Crimeans is much higher, said Refat Chubarov. “I know about some burials that took place in the Crimean Tatar community. They buried Crimean Tatars who could not find a way, could not avoid mobilization and were killed. The dead were brought to Crimea and buried. I was told that in such cases there are practically no people, only relatives come,” the politician noted.

The Russian authorities have every reason to conceal the number of casualties, especially among the residents of the occupied territories. The International Criminal Court in The Hague has already recognized the illegal deportation of children, strikes on civilian objects and excessive incidental harm to civilians as war crimes. Forcing citizens living in the occupied territory to serve in the armed forces of the occupying country is also considered a war crime under international law. This is spelled out in the Rome Statute.

Of course, total propaganda of contract service or the creation of economic conditions for no alternative recruitment into the Russian army will be difficult to prove in The Hague as direct coercion. However, there is also criminal liability for evading conscription or mobilization in Crimea, under which hundreds of peninsula residents have already been convicted. There is also the blocking of driver's licenses, property and accounts. And this is also coercion, which is almost beyond doubt and will not be difficult to prove. So who knows, perhaps the new arrest warrants will include the names of those Russian military officers involved in the mobilization of Crimean residents.

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