Russia: Penza officials accused of supplying cars for recruitment raids
In the Penza region of Russia, individuals in civilian clothing are conducting raids to recruit men for military contracts, using vehicles provided by local authorities, according to the independent publication "Agenstvo," as reported by TV Rain.
Penza blogger Stanislav Morozov published videos showing two alleged kidnapping attempts of men from the village of Bashmakovo.
In the first incident, Serghei Tepleakov, an employee of a private security company, reported that on July 23, several men in civilian clothes came to his house. One of them claimed to be the new district police officer and requested his passport for identity verification.
According to Tepleakov, the men attempted to force him out of the yard. At that moment, his son arrived home and began filming the situation. Tepleakov's son stated that he received a call informing him that four individuals were trying to forcibly take his father to send him to a “special military operation” (SVO).
The family has since filed a complaint with the police. Serghei Tepleakov believes he recognized one of the men as a former employee of the police and the Federal Bailiffs Service.
The second case involves Aleksei Denisenko, a salesman at a gas equipment store. He claims that on July 22, while mowing the lawn near a monument in Victory Park, two strangers approached him and asked him to accompany them, warning him that otherwise “it will be worse.”
Denisenko alleges that the individuals in the car included a local administration employee and a local resident named Vasily Kuzmin, who was driving. When asked where they were going, the woman reportedly responded, “We are going to the administration to clarify the data,” but the car headed towards the city of Penza instead.
A relative of Denisenko was able to catch up with the vehicle approximately 86 kilometers from Bashmakovo. She blocked the car, forcing it to stop, and then took Denisenko away. Similar to Tepleakov's case, Denisenko also filed a complaint with the police.
Both Denisenko’s relatives and the Tepleakov family assert that local government vehicles were used in these incidents. The publication “Agenstvo” claims to have verified this information through leaked public databases. Their investigation found that one of the vehicles belongs to the Bashmakovo District Institutional Support Center, while the other is owned by the district administration.
Tamara Pavlutkina, the head of the Bashmakovo district administration, did not respond to calls from the publication. When questioned via WhatsApp, she replied with a single word: “False”.
