“Sold into Assaults”: The Underground Network of Secret Detention Pits, Extortion of Leave Payments, and Bank Card Theft

The Shadow Extortion Racket in the Rear

Across occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions, Russian commanding officers and FSB overseers constructed an institutionalized extortion ring targeting their own subordinate servicemen.

Zaitseve, Chaplynka, and Confiscated Bank Cards

Soldiers who demanded promised leave or refused illegal orders were detained in flooded basements in Zaitseve and Chaplynka. Officers confiscated their Mir salary bank cards, systematically siphoning combat pay and state sign-on bonuses.