deserter

"It is better for them to pay not to fight than to come here and run away, tripping us up. It doesn't bother me much. If they came here, they'd just scarper… they're deserters."

These units are often sent in to battle as the “first wave” and a number of Russian deserters have told the BBC that “troublemakers” who object to the war have been used as “cannon fodder”.

But the labor minister, Kim Moon-soo, said not only might that violate national and international law, but it would result in more deserters.

French investigating magistrates collected evidence from Syrian regime deserters and prison survivors as they built the case.

The numbers of known deserters may be small compared to Russia’s overall troop strength, but they are an indicator of morale.