The former commander of the 155th Brigade, from which many soldiers deserted to Sochi, has been taken into custody.

This was reported by hromadske citing a source.

Now, Ryumshin will be held in custody with the option of posting a bail of 90 million hryvnias.

As noted the day before by Radio Liberty, the lawyers plan to involve monitoring missions from Poland and France in the hearings, as these countries participated in the training of the 155th brigade.

Earlier, the State Bureau of Investigation detained the former commander of the brigade to announce his suspicion under part 4 of Article 426 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

In particular, according to the SBI, the ex-commander added unmotivated men to the list of soldiers who would be sent for military training in France, despite warnings and prohibitions regarding them.

Law enforcement officials place the blame for the mass desertions in the brigade on its former commander. According to the investigation, the command staff of the military unit reported to him, but he failed to inform the pre-trial investigation authorities, contrary to the law.

Recently, Ryumshin claimed that he does not acknowledge his guilt.

Situation with the 155th Brigade

In early January, journalist Yuriy Butusov stated that 1,700 servicemen from the 155th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Anna of Kyiv deserted even before the unit fired its first shot.

The journalist describes the formation of the brigade as "a complete organizational chaos in virtually all components." According to him, since March, when the brigade was formed, a certain number of soldiers have been deserting monthly. By October, when the brigade left for training in France, there were already 935 desertions. In France itself, another 50 brigade members also deserted.

The SBI noted that the investigation "is examining the facts presented in the media," having opened criminal cases under articles concerning desertion and abuse of power or official authority by military officials.

Subsequently, President Volodymyr Zelensky took control of the situation regarding the desertions and mass exit of soldiers from the 155th brigade. The commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Mykhailo Drapaty, described the situation with the mass desertions in the 155th brigade as challenging, although he stated that these were not mass cases.