Scammed, robbed, traumatised – life after war for Russian soldiers

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 30 August 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

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Summary

Russian soldiers were told that they would be the country's 'new elite' by President Putin. But many of them have reported being robbed and scammed out of the money that they earned fighting on the Ukrainian front lines. They also face mental health problems, and post-traumatic stress disorder after months or years at war, but suitable treatment is scarce and hard for them to find. BBC Russian's Sergei Goryashko has been looking into the soldiers who have been robbed and scammed, whilst Sofya Volyanova has spoken to the people in Russia attempting to treat soldiers for PTSD and depression. South Korea banned dog meat in the country last year, and the practice will be entirely phased out by 2027 ending a generations long practice. Hyunjung Kim of BBC Korean has been speaking to people affected by the ban and explains why it got put in place.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from The Fifth Floor, the show at the heart of global storytelling, with BBC journalists from all around the world. This is an EcoAudio certified production.

(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.
0:07.8	This is the fifth floor.
0:12.0	The fifth floor, you knowsons.
0:15.6	This is the fifth floor at Farnak Amidi Sobath. This is the fifth floor at the heart of global storytelling with BBC journalists from all around the world.
0:29.0	I'm your host, Faranak Amidi.
0:34.6	Hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers have fought in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion started in 2022.
0:42.8	For those that survive, soldiers do sometimes return home, either for holidays or because they are wounded.
0:50.5	Vladimir Putin promised that these men would receive a hero's welcome after returning from war.
0:57.5	But what is life actually like?
1:00.1	Today, I'm joined by two journalists from BBC Russian,
1:03.7	who have been looking into the reality of men returning to Russia from the war in Ukraine.
1:09.7	Sergei Goryashko and Sofia Volianova.
1:13.8	Welcome to the fifth floor.
1:15.8	Both of you.
1:16.6	Great being here.
1:17.8	Sergei, I'm going to start with you.
1:19.5	You wrote about Russian soldiers actually getting scammed after returning home.
1:25.1	Can you tell me more about it?
1:26.6	And how much do Russian soldiers actually get paid
1:30.1	that makes them targets like this? So we've examined dozens of different cases when Russian soldiers
1:38.2	returned from the front line just to have their annual leave or just permanently dismissed from the army,
1:45.1	how they were scammed,
	...

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