When Defending Human Rights Is Not a Choice, but an Inevitability

Curious, and sometimes terrifying, paradoxes are emerging from the battlefields of this war.

The war correspondents and military volunteers who, until recently, were foaming at the mouth in support of the war, devoting practically all their time to fiery patriotic speeches and explaining how, following the will of Vladimir Vladimirovich, they would defeat the entire collective West, are gradually coming face to face with reality.

And suddenly, instead of the usual speeches about fighting the decadent West, they find themselves spending more and more time on entirely different questions. What is actually happening at the front? Why are Russian soldiers dying not only from enemy fire? Who is robbing them? Who is responsible for senseless losses? And most importantly, how could any of this happen in the very country they so passionately urged others to fight for?

A particularly revealing example is the volunteer Yevgeny Golman, a committed supporter of the war who has actively helped the Russian army.

Now, barely concealing his fury, he describes what is happening inside Russian military units.

“The Seventh Brigade is a meat grinder for Russians, fck. What the fck are you doing?”

Golman publicly accuses Lieutenant General Yevgeny Zhuravlyov, commander of the 29th Guards Combined Arms Army, of submitting false reports about the situation at the front to his superiors.

But even more horrifying are his accounts of what is happening in the 7th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, part of the 3rd Combined Arms Army, and in the volunteer units BARS-36 and BARS-31.

According to Golman, a soldier from the 7th Brigade approached him for help after being taken away from his unit with a bag over his head, allegedly to be “zeroed out” — in other words, killed by his own side.

“Fck, people have lost their minds over money. Fck, they’re getting rid of their own men, killing them.”

And according to Golman, this is far from an isolated incident.

He is particularly outraged by the case of a former commander in BARS-36, whom he accuses of stealing money, cheating soldiers and brutally mistreating his subordinates. Instead of being punished, the man was allegedly promoted and appointed commander of BARS-31.

“When people break their subordinates’ arms and legs, drain their bank cards, cheat them out of their payments, and then, just a little while later, become commanders — it’s f*cking unbelievable.”

“Who’s pushing them up the ranks? Where is military counterintelligence?” Golman demands.

And behind his outrage, one can almost hear a child’s bewilderment: how can this be? Is this really possible?

Yes, Yevgeny. It is possible. And not merely possible.

This is precisely how a system can operate when it has no independent courts, no free press, no genuine political competition and no public oversight. When reporting a commander may be more dangerous than the crime itself, and a military career depends not on obeying the law but on having the right connections.

It is revealing to watch what reality does to people who, until recently, were convinced that all they had to do was trust the supreme leadership, support its decisions, and everything would inevitably turn out right.

Only yesterday, they were explaining to others why they must endure, sacrifice and believe. Today, they themselves are demanding justice, asking where military counterintelligence is, why those responsible are not punished and who is protecting the commanders.

In effect, they are beginning to do the very work that the human rights defenders they once despised have been doing for years. Except that now they are not talking about some distant political prisoners or opposition activists, but about their own soldiers, who, according to the accounts they themselves relay, are being beaten, robbed and killed.

But perhaps the next step in this evolution will be even more revealing.

What will happen if Yevgeny Golman’s patience finally runs out? What if he refuses to stop asking uncomfortable questions, demanding accountability from commanders, defending soldiers’ rights and seeking punishment for those responsible?

It may well turn out that yesterday’s patriot, who helped the front and supported the war, will himself first be branded a “foreign agent”, then become a political prisoner. Or perhaps he will become yet another victim of the very lawlessness he is now trying to fight.

And then a truly remarkable paradox will emerge: a man who supported the system and its war for years will find himself forced to defend those he once urged everyone to support — against that very same system.

And that is when yesterday’s defender of the war will finally become a defender of human rights. Not out of conviction, not by choice, but because he will have been left with no other option.

Still, there are just a few words I would like to say to Yevgeny.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

You should never entrust your fate completely and irrevocably to anyone, not even your beloved and respected Vladimir Vladimirovich. Especially if you yourself have helped sustain a system in which human life is worth nothing and rights exist only for as long as those in power choose to recognize them.

Otherwise, one fine day, you may discover that it is already impossible to turn back.

And the bag intended for your “zeroing out” is already over your head.

Source: Telegram channel “Don’t Expect Good News” — https://t.me/ne_zhdi_novosti/7737