Disturbing Footage Shows Russian Soldiers Firing on their Own Comrades

The footage is disturbing: at least seven Russian soldiers are walking across a field, apparently retreating. Then three other Russian soldiers open fire – not at the enemy, but at their own comrades. Those hit fall, nothing is known about the further outcome of the scene. (Trigger warning: Clicking on the link below will take you to the video showing the scene described.)

The video was shared on Twitter by the Russian activist group Activatica, with the note that the authenticity of the recordings could not be confirmed. The time and place of the incident are also unknown.

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The clip became known through its distribution on the “Newsweek” website. According to the American news magazine, the shooting soldiers are blocking troops who are supposed to prevent their own fighters from leaving the battlefield. The Ukrainian news agency Unian considers the video to be authentic.

Blocking troops are not a new phenomenon in the history of Soviet and Russian armed forces. In August 1918, nine months after the Bolsheviks seized power as a result of the October Revolution, Leon Trotsky, the founder of the Red Army and People’s Commissar of the Army, decided to station detachments behind unreliable regiments with the sole purpose of shooting at their own comrades , if they retreated or deserted without permission. These units (Russian name: заградительные отряды – sagraditelnye otrjady, blocking detachments) consisted of members of the Cheka secret police.

During the Second World War, on July 28, 1942, after a year of severe defeats and permanent retreat against the advancing Wehrmacht units, dictator Josef Stalin issued the notorious order number 227.

“It is necessary to eliminate the talk that we have the ability to retire endlessly, that we have much territory, that our country is large and rich, that there is a large population and that bread will always be in abundance” , wrote Stalin at the time. “Such talk is false and parasitic, it weakens us and benefits the enemy, if we don’t stop retreating we will be without bread, without fuel, without metal, without raw materials, without factories and plants, without railroads.” And he ends with the statement “Don’t step back!”.

Blocking units formed

The first part of the order provides for the structure of the blocking units: “Three to five well-armed units (up to 200 men) are to be set up in the army area, which are to be deployed directly behind unreliable divisions and have the task of protecting the divisions in front of them in the event of a disorderly retreat Divisions to shoot every fugitive and every coward and thus to support the honest fighter in the defense of his homeland.

The consequences were drastic – but effective. In the first three months of its existence, the blocking units reportedly executed around 1,000 men and sentenced 24,000 to the punitive battalions. These penal battalions were then sent to the most dangerous sections of the front – secured in the rear by blocking units armed with machine guns. Whether it was due to this brute force tactic is an open question – in any case, the Red Army managed to turn things around in the fall of 1942.

Brits are reporting as early as November 2022

It is well known that Russia’s dictator Vladimir Putin is caught up in thinking about Soviet history. He also placed the attack on the Ukraine in a historical line with the victory of the Soviet Union over Hitler’s armies.

So it was fitting that the British Ministry of Defense already in November 2022 reported that the Russian military had set up blockade units to prevent soldiers from retreating from the front. Back then, Russian generals had already demanded that deserters be shot at without warning. For the British secret service, this was proof of the indiscipline within the Russian army, which sends many convicts to the front.