What it's like to be a conscript in the Russian military

Conscription has a long history in Russia.

Hundreds of thousands of young Russian men are drafted into the country's military every year, a practice carried over from the Soviet Union-era and the Tsarist systems before that.

Russia is set apart by a bullying culture that's generally more extreme and widespread than in other militaries around the world.

It's a particularly brutal experience for those deployed during wartime, including Afghanistan in the 1980s, Chechnya in the 1990s, and currently the east of Ukraine.

We pulled together pictures and information about what it's like to be a Russian conscript. Check it out in the slides below: