Russian Court Admits Russian Soldiers Were in Occupied Donbas

Peskov called the information “probably a mistake.”

A Russian court has revealed information about food supplies to the Russian army deployed in eastern Ukraine. This is stated in the verdict of a district court in Rostov, reports “Radio Svoboda”. 

The court confirmed what official Moscow has always denied: the presence of Russian soldiers in occupied Donbas. The verdict of the Kirov District Court of Rostov-on-Don states that Russian military personnel were sent 1,300 tons of food from the Rostov Region once every two weeks. 

The verdict was handed down in November 2021 in a criminal corruption case, and its text has been published on the court’s website. 

A deputy regional manager for military catering at a local company was found guilty under the article on mediation in bribery. He was sentenced to 5.5 years in a penal colony for transferring 990,000 rubles from his superior to the head of the Southern Military District’s State Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision Center. 

The defense insisted that a lieutenant colonel from the Southern Military District demanded 90,000 rubles a month from his superior in exchange for not obstructing the supply work. Otherwise, the officer “promised to disrupt deliveries in the interests of Russian servicemen on combat duty in the “DPR” and “LPR.” 

The verdict notes that the deliveries took place in 2018 and 2019 at least. In autumn 2018, due to a delay in dispatching a convoy at sanitary control, food worth about 30 million rubles spoiled. 

The defendant said that a single truck trip cost suppliers 65,000–80,000 rubles. The high price was linked to the risk to the drivers’ lives. At the border they handed over their documents, removed license plates from the vehicles and drove across Ukrainian territory “under the protection of the receiving side.” 

Before dispatch, they were checked by a Russian man with the rank of major. The defendant insisted that he was a military officer, but the court established that this man had never served in the army. 

It is important to note that Russia has always denied the involvement of its servicemen in combat in eastern Ukraine and has claimed that Ukrainian forces there are opposed by a “people’s militia” made up of residents of Donbas, in which Russian citizens may take part only as volunteers. 

However, journalistic investigations, data from Ukrainian special services and law enforcement agencies have shown that the Russian army directly took part in combat in Donbas. This concerned not only artillery support, but also battles between Russian troops and the Ukrainian army. 

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to the data from the Russian court on food deliveries to the Russian army and called it “probably a mistake.” 

Dmitry Peskov
Press Secretary of the President of Russia

Well, it is probably a mistake by those who wrote this text. Because it is impossible. There were no armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of the self-proclaimed republics, and there are none. The armed forces of the Russian Federation are on the territory of the Russian Federation. Humanitarian aid is constantly being delivered, you know that. It is delivered to these republics. These republics are in desperate need of this aid. But there can be no talk of any deliveries like the ones you quoted. This is a mistake by those who drafted this document.