The footage is from a 2004 series called "Shtrafbat" literally translated as "Penal Military unit", In the Soviet Union, the systematic creation of penal military units started during the World War II, after Stalin's Order No. 227 (July 1942), which introduced severe punishments for unauthorized retreats.

Penal battalion service was very dangerous: the official view was that they were highly expendable and were to be used to reduce losses in regular units. They were used in attempts to break through particularly stubborn enemy defences with human wave attacks, reconnaissance to determine enemy strength, as rearguards during retreats and in conspicuous ways (eg, wearing dark, instead of snow camouflage, clothing) to attract enemy fire away from regular units.

Standard rates of conversion of imprisonment terms into penal battalion terms existed. Together with shtrafbats, Order 227 mentioned "barrier troops", which have led to a modern misconception that shtrafbats were rearguarded by barrier troops. Attempts to retreat were prevented by so-called anti-retreat detachments of the Soviet NKVD, using force.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425715/