Warning: This story contains references to suicide and self harm, which some may find distressing.Oleg, a 24-year-old who grew up in the western Russian city of Ufa, thought he was signing up to work as a security guard at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the occupied part of southeastern Ukraine.To secure the job, with a salary of 200,000 rubles ($2,660), he took a train in December from Moscow to a conscription office in the city of Ryazan, 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast.He knew the job was being arranged through the army, but did not imagine having to serve on the frontlines.He arrived at the office on a gloomy evening, sleepy and with a splitting headache.And he then signed away his civilian life “in a hurry, without reading, without comprehending, and that was it”, he told Al Jazeera.The officer who handed him the contract at 11pm had asked Oleg to sign an “appendix” that turned out to be an agreement to become a drone pilot, he said.Oleg withheld his last name and current location for security reasons, as he has since deserted the army and fled Russia.The Kremlin does not release data on the number of soldiers who have deserted or gone absent with …
