Russian conscripts forced into Ukraine

(Vatican Radio) Their lives have just begun. But Russian conscripts are already send to dangerous drills in the southern Rostov region bordering war-torn eastern Ukraine. They are then duped into signing contracts to become professional soldiers, according to mothers and rights activists. Several of them have reportedly been send into Ukraine to fight alongside pro-Russian separatists. 

Listen to the report by Stefan Bos: 

Saturday's revelations came while thousands of Russian government supporters gathered in Moscow on Saturday to commemorate what they called "a fascist coup" in neighboring Ukraine, which eventually sparked the conflict.

Because only contract soldiers can be legally dispatched abroad many are reportedly pressured to extend their service for at least three years.
 
Private first-class Alexander told The Associated Press news agency that he fled Rostov with a friend in December to avoid being sent to Ukraine.

NO TALKING

The 20-year-old said commanders "didn't talk us anything." However, "other soldiers told us about it, primarily paratroopers who had been there," he said. "We wanted to refuse, but they said it was to late. They refused our refusal, so we had to go," he added.   

Moscow denies it is sending arms and troops into Ukraine. But Valentina Melnikova, head of the Committee of Soldiers Mothers has her doubts. "We receive messages from all over in which (soldiers) say that they're being sent again to Rostov for military exercises," she said.
  
"Those who have been there [to the Rostov region] before know that in actual fact it means Ukraine," Melnikova explained. Her group has a three-decade history of working to protect soldiers' rights.  

Families are desperate. Since the summer dozens of soldiers have been reported killed, deaths that activists attribute to the ongoing conflict across the border.

NEW CLASHES 

On Saturday, Ukraine's military and Russia backed separatists accused each other of launching attacks, killing at least one soldier and injuring 40 others over the past day, despite a ceasefire agreement. 

The conflict followed Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in response to the ouster of the Kremlin-friendly President Viktor Yanukovich. 

Ukrainians have commemorated the 120 people who were killed in the uprising against Yanukovich, known here as the Heavenly Hundred. But in Moscow thousands gathered Saturday to observe the first anniversary of what they called a fascist coup. 

Ousted President Yanukovich, who fled to Russia, used the opportunity to announce he was ready to return to Ukraine if the opportunity arose and that he wanted to help end the war. 

And he told Russian television: "God has left me alive, so it looks like I'm needed for something..."