MOSCOW – Russian conscripts are coming under growing pressure to sign up as professional soldiers and fear they might dispatched to fight alongside separatists in Ukraine, rights activists said Monday.Activists sounded the alarm after a new spike in complaints from recruits doing compulsory military service and their families, that come amid fresh fighting in eastern Ukraine and a breakdown in peace efforts to end the nine-month conflict.Activists and family members fear that once the conscripts become professional soldiers, they could be trained and sent to eastern Ukraine where fighting has killed more than 5,000 since April.Ella Polyakova, head of the …read more
Source: AsiaOne
