“They Aren’t Letting Us Go.” Russian Cadets Lured into Military Service with No Way Out

“We are held as hostages at the Budyonny Military Academy. I am one of the cadets who have to stay here against our will. I've submitted a request to drop out, but it's been ignored. They won't give us our documents back. They won't let us leave. That's how the system works. Please help us get out.” 

Yevgeny, a cadet at the Budyonny Military Academy of the Signal Corps, contacted the editorial (the name has been changed; documents confirming his identity are at the disposal of the reporters). He is not even 18 yet. He was admitted to the academy in the summer of 2025 and less than a month later wrote a report requesting his discharge.

“I changed my mind about studying here because what I saw is completely different from what we were told during the recruitment campaign,” Yevgeny explained to IStories. He says that he received a call from the enlistment office with an offer to join the academy while he was still in school. Yevgeny does not know why they chose him. While studying, he learned that commanders are asking the senior cadets to look for the potential applicants on Telegram chats.

At first, the academy ignored his request to be discharged. “They said I needed some time to adjust, even though I clearly and unambiguously expressed my desire to leave,” Yevgeny said. Then the cadet was told that his request could only be reviewed in the autumn.

After completing their first year, cadets have to sign a military service contract. Until then, they're considered conscripts: two days of study count as one day of compulsory service. If a cadet doesn't complete their term of service during the training period, then, when expelled, they will be sent to a military unit to serve the remainder of their term, in addition to being required to pay the whole sum spent on their training. Yevgeny became concerned that the processing of his report might be deliberately delayed until after he would sign the military contract, “and that would ultimately leave him with no choice.”

In the end, “with great difficulty”, he did manage to withdraw from the academy – just before the publication. According to him, he succeeded due to the constant pressure from his relatives and himself, as well as his health problems. Another one of his classmates, who had also tried to withdraw, escaped from the hospital where he had to undergo a checkup.   

Yevgeny says that there are “about twenty” of other cadets at the academy who have also submitted the requests to be discharged (but he didn't provide their names or contact information). 

IStories have examined the messages in various Telegram groups and chats confirming that many Russian cadets have expressed their desire to leave military universities after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but have been unable to do it. Even a pro-government war correspondent, Alexander Sladkov, has written about this on his Telegram channel: “Those who have just enrolled are writing numerous reports asking to be expelled and sent home. The academic council calls them up and tearfully asks them not to go. What kind of commanders are we trying to make out of these people?”

A first-year cadet at the Rosgvardiya (National Guard) Military Academy says he enrolled immediately after school and realized that he ended up in the “wrong place” after two months of studying. According to him, the prospect of serving in the army after graduating from a military university was no longer appealing to him: "They knocked the dream of serving in the National Guard out of me. They made it clear that in the army you do nothing but f*** around." His request to be discharged was rejected.

From the cadets' public chat rooms, it appears that it is now difficult to get expelled from a military university even if you fail your classes: “They will still give you a passing grade in all subjects.” 

Alexei Tabalov is the director of Conscript's School, a human rights organisation providing legal assistance to conscripts. According to him, military universities often significantly delay the expulsion process. "In this case, both the cadet himself and his family members should be as active as possible, as you can only leave and get away with it when you are in your first year, before they approve you for the second", Tabalov explains. ”They will be obliged to expel the trainee, but you will most likely have to pay the first year’s tuition cost."

The only way out is a criminal one

Contracts signed with military academy trainees would usually imply five years of service, but, according to the lawyers IStories talked to, the mobilization decree signed by Putin in September 2022 applies to them as well. Therefore, the cadets are now in the same trap all other Russian military personnel got into: their contracts are now essentially unlimited and cannot be terminated until the end of the mobilization. 

In June 2025, Conscript's School reported they were receiving an increasing number of complaints from the compulsorily-enlisted personnel that were forced to enroll in military academies, i.e. to sign military contracts (and therefore agree to be sent to war). “This scheme is beneficial to the Ministry of Defense: as a result, the soldier will remain having signed the contract in any case, even if they later change their mind about studying,” human rights advocates explain.

“A military academy is like a mousetrap at the moment: it snaps shut, and there's nothing you can do about it,” says Sergei Krivenko, Citizen. Army. Law. human rights group head.

“After the first year, you can only risk opting for unauthorized absence [which will be counted as evading the military service, a criminal offence – editorial]. Or try to be discharged on health grounds, which is practically impossible,” says Alexei Tabalov.

In the cadet public chats, several escape stories can be found. One participant mentioned a story of a cadet he had been sent to accompany at a hospital. “He just f***ing ran away.”

After the mobilization began, Russian authorities toughened the penalties for all military offenses, and the maximum sentence for unauthorized absence from the military is now 10 years in prison.