A group of Russian soldiers have been threatened with treason charges after refusing an order to go to Syria.
About 20 servicemen were sent to the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, having been told only that they were destined for “a hot country with snakes”.
The group, formed from different units in Siberia, discovered their final destination after they arrived in the port earlier this month. An officer in civilian clothes issued a secret order for them to go to Latakia in Syria on the Mediterranean coast, saying that fighting “could not be excluded”.
It is believed that the Kremlin has sent at least 1,700 troops to help the ailing regime of President Assad. Many of the soldiers are based in the