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The Kremlin’s policy of sending hundreds of thousands of Russian men, including many prisoners, to war in Ukraine with little to no training or equipment has had predictable effects back on the home front: numerous soldiers have committed violent crimes upon returning home, and the country reportedly has a critical shortage of psychologists trained to treat PTSD.

The Russian authorities have been reluctant to criticize these veterans, with Putin calling for them to become the country’s “new elite.” But according to inside sources, the Putin’s team is well aware of the risks the returnees pose and fears Russian society isn’t prepared to accept them.

  • @eran_morad
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    345 months ago

    I have no sympathy. Fuck russia.

    • cabbage
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      285 months ago

      These traumatized murderers and rapists might climb the ranks of Russian society and ensure that tomorrow’s Russia is as fucked as that of today. So in a way it’s everybody’s problem.

      “And then, things got worse.”

      • DarkThoughts
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        65 months ago

        Oh no. In the end we end up with a mobster in charge of Russia! 😱

      • @Eheran
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        25 months ago

        How are they supposed to climb the ranks all of the sudden?

        • cabbage
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          175 months ago

          Putin calling for them to become the country’s “new elite.”

          And there’s historical precedence for war veterans to come back and climb political ranks, especially in less democratic countries.

          It’s a lot of young men coming back from Ukraine. Some will create problems locally, as the article talks about. Others might fulfill Putin’s vision and make sure Russia will remain in the dark ages for even longer.

          If this war is remembered by Russians as patriotic, as is the preferred way for Russians and most other people to remember their historical atrocities, it seems likely that a future president will be a Ukraine war veteran. With everything that entails.

          • @rottingleaf
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            14 months ago

            If this war is remembered by Russians as patriotic,

            I don’t see how that would be possible. Even official propaganda tries to present it as the lesser of evils or something. Even half of the official propaganda doesn’t argue that this is one big fuck up on all levels.

            Maybe in 100 years.

      • @rottingleaf
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        14 months ago

        These traumatized murderers and rapists might climb the ranks of Russian society and ensure that tomorrow’s Russia is as fucked as that of today.

        This may actually be the other way around. Chechen wars’ veterans (mainly those who were abusing the civilians, FSB etc) were his pool of loyal people.

        And probably this war was intended to give him another such pool.

        The issue is - it went differently and most of the expertise and experts gained there are about actually fighting a war.

        So the change may actually be for the better once the dust settles, only I don’t even want to think what will be between end of war and then.

  • @[email protected]
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    285 months ago

    I’m actively helping my Ukranian employee and her family adapt to Canadian life. Things are gradually getting easier for them, but multiple times now I’ve witnessed her have extreme episodes of terror/panic over her former home reduced to rubble, her mother still in Ukraine, the stress of fleeing the war with her husband and two children, and now the looming threat of Ukranian embassies withholding passport renewals in an effort to bolster their numbers against the constant Russian advancement.

    I can’t say I’m particularly sympathetic that the child killers and rapists from the other side are having a difficult time assimilating back into their culture. I suppose I can exercise mild sympathy for young conscripts who never wanted it, though.

    • @rottingleaf
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      14 months ago

      It’s more about those

      child killers and rapists

      coming back into a society and either practicing their stuff there or becoming a burden for mental health professionals or both.

      The good part is that they will have lots of useful skills applicable, among other things, for changing governments, what Chechen Tiktok troops don’t have.

      This war is, well, the bleeding edge of modern warfare. It might look very old and nonsensical for people watching from the West, but people with knowledge and practical command of modern tactics will come back. They don’t need tanks and artillery as much as some Mavics and grenades.

      It’s going to be an interesting future, only I’d rather be far away and I likely won’t be.

  • cabbage
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    155 months ago

    Putins call for them to become the new elite kind of illuminates a fucked up aspect of societies where mental health support is lacking and war veterans are preferred for higher offices.

    Basically it benefits the types of people who can witness the horrors of war and come back somewhat unaffected/unscared from it. I’m sure there’s also compassionate people who manage to come back and work through their trauma, but it’s an uphill battle and one hell of a selection mechanism.

    Not only a reflection on contemporary Russia, I think it might have had a pretty solid impact on a lot of societies throughout history. No wonder compassionate leaders are historically few and far between.

    • @Eheran
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      85 months ago

      He needs more people for the front, he is not going to say anything bad about them.

  • @a9cx34udP4ZZ0
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    135 months ago

    has a critical shortage of psychologists trained to treat PTSD.

    Huh, a country whose entire persona is based on the idea that any man who needs any help with anything is weak and feeble has a shortage of folks trained in how to actually help men who need serious help. SHOCKING.

    • @rottingleaf
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      4 months ago

      that any man who needs any help with anything is weak and feeble

      It’s that mostly in American movies and such, a stereotype.

      The actual thing is the stigma on all mental problems in the ex-USSR. Most older people advised to see a psychologist, not even a psychiatrist about pills and serious diagnoses, will react with “I’m NORMAL” and “NO YOU”. With younger people it varies.

  • @[email protected]
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    105 months ago

    I have zero sympathy for Putin or his enablers. I have great sympathy for the rest of Russian society who’ll be left to pick up the pieces after draftees return home injured and traumatized. Almost no one asked for this. It’s too bad we couldn’t just send Putin & Co to an isolated location and let them do whatever they do without harming anyone else.

    • @SupraMario
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      45 months ago

      Naa a large portion of russians are for this war. It’s a minority that’s been against it.

      • @rottingleaf
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        -14 months ago

        You are surely Russian and know what you are talking about? Thought so.

        • @SupraMario
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          14 months ago

          Go away russian apologists.

          • @rottingleaf
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            04 months ago

            I live in Russia, so not an apologist. I can’t confirm what you said.

  • MushuChupacabra
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    85 months ago

    … and the country reportedly has a critical shortage of psychologists trained to treat PTSD.

    Unfortunately many of the psychologists who would be best suited for the daunting task, were already shipped out to be blown up by drones in Ukraine last year.

  • andrew_bidlaw
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    35 months ago

    That’s some poetry or even a lit trope in how the scarecrow of the 90s before him kept him in power only for him to work on returning this dark age in it’s full morbid grace after his inevitable demise. Reality’s dumber than fiction.

    • @rottingleaf
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      24 months ago

      Oh, yes. All those Afghan war and first Chechen war veterans forming gangs or (if disabled) asking for money on the streets.

      • andrew_bidlaw
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        14 months ago

        Corrupt army was also the main importer of guns and drugs into society, not unlike how wagnerites get caught with live ammo and grenades these days. Not to the same degree yet, but it’s just a question of time with how much fucks are given about them at all. Probably, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to buy a gun from them early before the system collapses once again.

        • @rottingleaf
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          4 months ago

          Probably, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to buy a gun from them early before the system collapses once again.

          I think it would be. Skill, received psychological ability for violence, specific common points over which combat veterans understand each other, - you can’t buy these things. What good is a gun without them?

          • andrew_bidlaw
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            14 months ago

            Truth bombs.

            I’m more afraid of D-tier civilian gopniks having them and me having none but entry level self-defense and hunting tools.

  • @[email protected]
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    35 months ago

    We already knew that Russia’s elite was braindead. It’s surprising that they took care of those returned from war, but it maybe another lie.

  • Aniki
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    -35 months ago

    @0x815 are you the opposite-analogy to @Yugthos, or what’s their name, posting exclusively propaganda for one side?