The Nalchik garrison court sentenced contract soldier Makhti Sozaev to seven years in prison. He was found guilty of leaving a military unit in the Ukrainian Donbass without permission.

According to investigators, Sozaev did not appear at the location of the 316th Military Prosecutor's Office in Donbass and left for Kabardino-Balkaria. He explained his disappearance by the need to restore his lost military ID.

Before enlisting in the RF Armed Forces, Sozaev was convicted twice for theft and robbery and five more times for drug trafficking. In November 2023, he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, but soon he was released with the aim of participating in the “SVO” and a possible amnesty.

With the start of the “special operation,” military personnel from the regions of the North Caucasian Federal District refused to participate in hostilities. Among others, these are 115 employees of the Russian Guard from Kabardino-Balkaria, 50 from Vladikavkaz, 300 from the self-proclaimed South Ossetia.