Russian Soldiers Have Become More Likely to Receive Real Sentences as Punishment

From January through June 2024, Russian garrison courts sentenced 2,908 soldiers to real imprisonment, according to data from the Judicial Department. This is three and a half times more than in the first half of 2023, and the maximum since 2011 — the entire period for which data is available.

Almost half of those convicted under criminal articles of the military — 48% — received real sentences. This is a record share for the entire period of data publication. In previous years, less than a third of the convicted military personnel received real sentences. The total number of convicted military personnel has also become a record, Verstka noticed: in the first six months of 2024, more than six thousand military personnel received sentences, which is twice as much as in the first half of 2023.

327 servicemen were convicted for trafficking in narcotic, psychotropic and potent substances. This is twice as much as in the first half of last year.

The share of those convicted under drug-related articles among all convicted servicemen in the first six months of 2024 was 5.3%, that is, every twentieth sentence of garrison courts was related to drug trafficking. This roughly corresponds to the value in the pre-war years. In the last two years, this share was even higher: in the first six months of 2022 — 7.7%, in the first six months of 2023 — 5.9%.

The amount of material damage from servicemen crimes has increased significantly. In the first six months of 2024, garrison courts estimated the material damage caused by convicted military personnel at 22 billion rubles. This is 34 times more than in the first six months of 2023, and nine times more than in the whole of last year. Then the damage amounted to 2.5 billion.

Before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the material damage from servicemen crimes had never exceeded 1.8 billion rubles per year.