**Russia’s veterans are coming home—and so is a wave of crime.**
With thousands of soldiers returning from Ukraine, reports of violent offenses are rising. Some are hardened by war; others were recruited directly from prisons under Wagner’s infamous scheme. Yet in Putin’s Russia, soldiers are untouchable icons—and wartime censorship laws silence those who dare to question them.
The Kremlin’s propaganda machine glorifies combat veterans, but the reality on the ground is far darker. How long can the gap between heroism and hardship be ignored?