All Russian men between the ages of 18 and 27 are forced to serve in their murderous armed forces. The Kremlin has long promised military reform but has refused to abandon conscription. Every year, thousands avoid service by bribing officials, faking medical ailments, or - for the most desperate and destitute - simply going on the lam, the Transitions Online reported.
During Russia's latest draft, in spring 2006, the army inducted 124,550 new recruits. The Defense Ministry officially reported 17,000 draft-dodgers; human-rights groups like Soldiers' Mothers say the average annual figure is as high as 40,000.
A 2004 report by Human Rights Watch documented the routine abuse conscripts endure under a system known as **dedovshchina,** or the "rule of the grandfathers." Older conscripts force younger recruits into a year-long system of servitude, forcing them to polish boots and procure food and alcohol, and punishing them violently for any infractions, real or imagined.
The hazing tradition creates an endless cycle of violence, as recruits who suffered abuses in their first year avenge themselves on the next generation of conscripts.
In 2005 the Defense Ministry recorded 16 conscript deaths due to hazing incidents and 276 suicides, in which rights groups say hazing is often a factor. The conscript abuse is also a leading cause of desertion.
Overall, the Defense Ministry estimates that between 500 to 1,000 recruits die from non-combat-related causes each year. Rights group say the actual number is as high as 3,000.
Fear of hazing and of combat in the Russian dirty war in Chechnya causes so many young men to evade the draft or desert that Russia's police are being pressed into service to round up conscripts, often using questionable tactics.
"The police can plant drugs or bullets in [young men's'] pockets and then offer them a choice between the army and prison. I would suggest sewing up big pockets," said Yelena Filonova, a St. Petersburg-based lawyer. "When arrested, they are not allowed to call home and their families may not know for months what happened to them, and of course do not have a chance to protest."
For Maria Sysoeva, killing a pig was a small price to pay to keep her grandson Aleksander out of Chechnya.
A retiree in her 70s with a pension of just 10,000 rubles a month, she could not afford to pay a conventional bribe. So she killed her only piglet and presented it as a gift to the one of the officers at the Leningrad Military District. Her generosity paid off - Aleksander was sent to a base near his hometown of St. Petersburg.
"I wish I could save him from this hell of a service, but I do not have the money," Sysoeva said. "At least they sent him to a safer place."
Such "gifts" are a practical necessity in a system where military officials routinely ignore the rights of draftees. Therogue Russia's "constitution`" guarantees conscientious objectors the right to alternative service, but this right is almost never respected.
Mothers of draftees often complain that the officers at military commissions laugh in their faces when they ask about their sons' rights. They also say recruiters refuse to provide a list of illnesses that qualify one for an exemption and that military doctors regularly ignore severe illnesses during official examinations.
"Some of the mothers who come to us say they would have been happy to bribe but they do not have this kind of money," Polyakova of Soldiers' Mothers said.
Even top military officials admit that they are filling the armed forces with unfit soldiers. According to Puzanov, only about 10 percent of recruits satisfy the standard physical-fitness requirements.
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