Two servicemen were convicted in Nalchik for failing to report for duty.
The military court in Nalchik sentenced Albert Duduyev and Albert Guzoev to imprisonment, finding both guilty of prolonged absence from their units.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on September 24, 2022, parts 2.1, 3.1, and 5 of Article 337 on the unauthorized abandonment of a unit or place of service during mobilization were introduced into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The amendments provide for imprisonment for up to 10 years. The tightening of legislation after the announcement of mobilization led to harsher sentences for absence from a military unit or desertion.
Vladimir Putin announced partial mobilization on September 21, 2022. On October 28 of the same year, the Minister of Defense reported to the president about its completion, but no corresponding decree followed. Lawyers concluded that a presidential decree is not needed to complete partial mobilization, the press secretary of Putin explained. At the same time, on December 12, 2023, a military court in Maykop emphasized in the sentence of a mobilized individual who left the unit in June 2023 that "partial mobilization has been declared in the Russian Federation, which was not completed at the time the crime was committed."
The Nalchik garrison military court sentenced two servicemen of the Ministry of Defense, Albert Duduyev and Albert Guzoev, to five years in a penal colony. Their cases were considered separately on the same day, the court's press service reported on its page on VKontakte.
Both were charged with unauthorized abandonment of a unit and failure to report for duty for more than one month, committed during mobilization (part 5 of Article 337 of the Criminal Code of Russia). This article provides for imprisonment from five to ten years.
According to the prosecution's version, Duduyev voluntarily left the military unit stationed in Chechnya on August 14, 2025. On July 27, 2026, he was found by a police officer in Baksan (Kabardino-Balkaria). During all this time – more than 11 months – he, as the court noted, "spent time at his discretion at his place of residence."
Guzoev did not report for duty at the military unit in the village of Troitskaya in the Sunzhensky district of Ingushetia at the appointed time on July 21, 2025. On March 2, 2026, police in Nalchik, during a document check, established that he was wanted and took him to the department. Thus, he was absent from service for about seven and a half months.
When sentencing, the court in both cases took into account the admission of guilt: each of the defendants, as stated in the reports, "recognized the illegality of his actions, truthfully described it, and expressed regret for what he had done." At the same time, the court noted that each of them committed a serious crime against military service, "negatively affecting the performance of daily combat training tasks."
The difference in the duration of evasion – almost a year for Duduyev compared to seven and a half months for Guzoev – did not affect the severity of the punishment; both were sentenced to five years in a general regime colony. The convicted were taken into custody in the courtroom and placed in a pre-trial detention center.
The court's reports only mention the surnames of the convicted; in the records of the Nalchik garrison military court, they are listed as Albert Duduyev and Albert Guzoev. The ages, military ranks, and places of residence of the convicted are not disclosed. The "Caucasian Knot" currently has no comments from the convicted or their lawyers regarding plans to appeal the sentences.
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that earlier the Nalchik garrison military court sentenced serviceman Yusup Edokov to six years in a penal colony for failing to report to his unit.