‘They tried to break him, but they went too far’ Last year, a young Russian conscript was found hanged in the forest. The army says it was suicide — but his mother isn't buying it.

‘They tried to break him, but they went too far’ Last year, a young Russian conscript was found hanged in the forest. The army says it was suicide — but his mother isn't buying it.

In the spring of 2024, a 20-year-old Russian conscript named Kirill Poluyanov was found hanged in a forest near a military base outside the city of Ulan-Ude. Military police and investigators claim that he took his own life, but Kirill’s mother, Anastasia Poluyanova, is convinced that her son was killed by his fellow soldiers. One of them told her that Kirill was brutally bullied and extorted by the other servicemen — and that hazing is widespre…