A Russian officer shot a 19-year-old conscript, Artem Antonov, for refusing to go to fight in Ukraine: this would be, according to the young man’s relatives, the reason that last October 21 pushed the officer to open fire in the Ilyinsky training camp of the 60th motorized rifle brigade in the Primorsky Territory, reports the magazine ‘Important Stories’ cited by Ukrinform . According to the investigation file, Antonov, originally from Tatarstan, was sent to reinforce motorized rifle units covering the border in Russia’s Kursk region.
During a lesson on how to handle weapons, the lieutenant – whose identity was not disclosed – removed the safety from his AK-12 assault rifle and fired a burst at the soldiers, killing the 19-year-old instantly. The soldier’s family claims that due to his refusal to sign the contract to be sent to the front, Antonov was repeatedly subjected to torture and abuse. The same young man had told his closest friends in a post published on social media – which was deleted immediately after his death – that he had been beaten with iron bars and put on duty for eight days straight. Relatives said they know the name of the lieutenant from the 394th Motorized Rifle Regiment who opened fire, but are afraid to make it public. Antonov “decided to sacrifice his life for his homeland,” we read in an obituary published on social media.