‘They tried to break him, but they went too far’ Last year, a young Russian conscript was found hanged in the forest. The army says it was suicide — but his mother isn’t buying it.

In the spring of 2024, a 20-year-old Russian conscript named Kirill Poluyanov was found hanged in a forest near a military base outside the city of Ulan-Ude. Military police and investigators claim that he took his own life, but Kirill’s…