The Interior Ministry’s Penza regional directorate issued a second statement after reports of mass detentions of men in the region. The agency again said that the videos showing the detentions “have nothing to do with being sent to the special military operation zone”.
“Stirring up this situation leads to a surge in crime and impunity. We also inform you that people spreading false information will be held liable in accordance with the law,” the Penza police said.
On June 18, Mediazona published a video filmed near one of Penza’s military enlistment offices. In the footage, women try to stop men from being taken away; according to the outlet, the men may have signed contracts under pressure.
The police released their first statement on June 19. At that point, the ministry confirmed it was indeed “assisting” in locating men who had received Russian citizenship but had not registered for military service. At the same time, it insisted that the detainees were not forced to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry.
Later, Mediazona spoke with a woman whose husband was on a bus with 17 other men. According to her, on June 16 he was detained by men in civilian clothes who got out of a Federal Bailiff Service vehicle at a bus stop in one of the region’s towns. The man, who did not even have his passport with him, was taken to bailiffs. She said they found no debts and then sent him by taxi to a military enlistment office.
The woman told the outlet that her husband had never served and had no intention of going to the front. Despite women’s attempts to stop the bus, the men were taken away from the enlistment office grounds during the night. On June 17, he called her from Rostov-on-Don, and the next day from occupied Mariupol.
The Russian Defense Ministry also responded. On June 19, its official Telegram channel reposted a message from the “War on Fakes” community, which described the reports of roundups as falsehoods and the detentions themselves as raids to identify people who had obtained Russian citizenship and failed to register for military service on time. Penza region military commissar Andrey Surkov told Mediazona that the published video had been staged.