I guess I'm kind of confused here. Isn't imprisonment just the punishment for refusing to serve? So if the government won't let them be imprisoned then what happens if they just refuse to serve anyways? It is Russia so I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is that they get shot but I haven't heard of that happening yet at least.

Pro carceral prison breaks let's gooooooo I love it the 21st century is so stupid but its about to be funny too.

Thanks for sharing. Every piece of information helps. BTW - I never get tired of mentioning this:

Mediazona (Russian: Медиазона) is a Russian independent media outlet which focuses on the law enforcement, judiciary and the penitentiary system in Russia. It was launched by Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova in 2014, after they served their sentence following the Pussy Riot trial.

The chutzpah! And apparently they're still operating from Russia, although their wikipedia page reads like that cannot be possible.

Ukraine is still running the 'I want to live hotline'. Give them a call for help.

Have they tried murdering their commanders?

The impression does not leave me that he would fight if the situation would be much in favour for Russia and the treatment at the front by the commanders way better. But perhaps I missed a critical sentence in the article.