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Wounded Russian Soldiers Returned to Front Without Proper Treatment – Agentstvo

Yevgeny Yepanchintsev/TASS

A number of injured Russian soldiers are being sent back to the frontlines in Ukraine without permission from the military medical commission, the Agentstvo investigative outlet reported Thursday.

The presidential Human Rights Council is investigating cases in which servicemen didn’t receive proper medical treatment before being sent back into battle, council member Olga Demicheva told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency on Tuesday.

“We learned about a situation when soldiers who received high-tech medical care and with recommendations for rehabilitation were immediately sent to the front instead of rehabilitation,” Demicheva said.

Valentina Melnikova, the secretary of Russia's Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, also confirmed to Agentstvo that some soldiers were not receiving proper rehabilitation.  

Russia has faced heavy casualties since invading Ukraine last February, and soldiers injured in battle are entitled to state benefits including financial compensation.

Over 10,700 Russian soldiers have been killed in the nearly 11 months since Moscow invaded Ukraine, according to a tally of confirmed military deaths kept by the BBC Russian Service and independent media outlet Mediazona. 

Last September, Russia officially admitted to just 5,937 military deaths in Ukraine, while Western estimates put the figure at about 100,000. 

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