Residents of Russia’s Penza region say people in plainclothes are trying to abduct men and force them into military service

Meduza reports that residents of Russia's Penza region are being targeted by plainclothes individuals connected to local authorities in forced conscription attempts. In one incident, a private security worker named Sergei Teplyakov was approached by two men claiming to be police who tried to drag him away by force. In another case, a gas equipment store employee named Alexei Denisenko was seized and put into a car heading toward authorities—but his relative intercepted the vehicle and rescued him. According to Meduza, residents have formed informal defense groups to resist these roundups, though authorities have threatened group members with military service for documenting the forced recruitment campaign.

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