“Semen Karmanova was mobilized to the Russian army from the colony, where he served his sentence for theft, and the contract, according to relatives, semen signed under pressure. This story again draws attention to the practice of recruiting people with mental diagnoses to participate in the war against Ukraine”, – WRITE: www.radiosvoboda.org
The military enlistment office reported that Karmanov had died due to injury. He was buried in a closed coffin. Other circumstances of death are unknown to relatives.
Semen Karmanov was 27 years old. He was taken to the army in 2023 from the colony, where he served the term due to theft. Karmanov was supposed to be released in April 2024, but in the fall of 2023 he signed a contract.
Karmanov’s mother Svetlana said that her son did not learn to read due to the diagnosis. She suggested that Samen was forced to sign the contract using his credibility. “He could not read it (document), and these cops used it from the zone! The disabled – and the horseradish with him, ”Svetlana said.
According to Sister Semen Anastasia, his brother told her that he had been put pressure in the colony. “I realized that he thought that if he did not agree, he would have to serve more sentence in the same area,” she said.
This is not the first Russian with intelligence, mobilized to the ranks of the Russian army to participate in the war against Ukraine. In March 2025, the Paralympic from the Russian Omsk Oleksandr Rabotnitsky was killed with such a diagnosis.
Another Russian, 22-year-old Alexei Vakhrushev with a diagnosis of “mental retardation of VIII species” was recruited under threats “to plant for 10 years for theft”.