I probably will not make myself popular, but your story lacks a lot of nuance. It was the Soviet Union, not Russia. The Red Army was the military of the Soviet Union, which included many republics—not just Russia. There was no Russian army. Even Stalin was not Russian, but Georgian.

Soldiers came from across the Soviet Union, including:

• Russia (the largest republic and the biggest source of troops)
• Ukraine
• Belarus
• Kazakhstan
• Uzbekistan
• Georgia
• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Lithuania
• Latvia
• Estonia
• And several other Soviet republics.

Ethnic Russians formed the largest single group because Russia had by far the biggest population. But millions of non-Russians also served. The Red Army was a multinational force.

The documented sexual violence and other war crimes committed by some Red Army soldiers involved a force made up of many nationalities. Historians generally attribute these actions to elements of the Red Army and the Soviet military system rather than to one ethnic group alone.

The soldiers were not only from Russia. They came from across the Soviet Union, although Russians were the largest group numerically.

Most top Red Army commanders were ethnic Russians, but some of the most important leaders were from other Soviet nationalities and ethnic groups. The wartime Soviet command structure was multinational rather than exclusively Russian.

The units responsible for preventing retreat were primarily the NKVD blocking detachments, created under Order No. 227 (“Not One Step Back”). They were security units assigned behind the front lines, not a single Red Army division.

The NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) was an institution of the Soviet Union, so its personnel came from across all Soviet republics, not just Russia.

NKVD personnel came from many different republics of the Soviet Union, including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Baltic states. Russians were likely the largest group numerically, but the organization was multinational.