More than 100 men mobilized to the war in Ukraine from Russia's Chuvashia region have rebelled, demanding overdue salaries promised to them.
The Gulagu.ru rights center and Serditaya (Angry) Chuvashia group issued a video statement recorded on November 2 by the men in the military training center in the city of Ulyanovsk in which they say they "will fight for justice" until their overdue salaries are fully paid.
"Our state refuses to pay us 195,000 rubles ($3,150 per month) that was promised by our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin! Why should we then go and fight for the state, leaving our families without any support?" one of the men says in the video.
The commander of the training center answered the protesting recruits, saying no money was promised to them, adding that the law on the issue was just proposed and was currently under discussion.
Serditaya Chuvashia and some of the protesting men said online later in the day that the men started a riot but were "calmed down" by riot police and the National Guard.
The Kremlin's website late on November 3 announced that Putin signed a decree on a onetime payment to mobilized and contract workers. The amount of the payment will be 195,000 rubles.
Since Putin announced a partial mobilization to the war in Ukraine in late September, there have been dozens of videos by mobilized men complaining of a lack of food, clothes, equipment, and housing facilities.
Some mobilized men complained that they had never served in the military but were recruited anyway. Putin said that only Russians who served in the army and had combat experience would be mobilized.
In addition, local authorities in the Russian regions of Vladimir, Rostov, Samara, Buryatia, and Bashkortostan have forced students at local schools and universities to sew military uniforms for Russian soldiers.
Since the beginning of the partial mobilization, hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens have left the country, mostly for Kazakhstan, Georgia, Mongolia, and Turkey.