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Vladimir Putin and his troops show no mercy to the Ukrainians. As a video shows, this also applies to many of their own soldiers.
Moscow – Vladimir Putin’s system is geared towards unconditional obedience. Always and everywhere. And especially in the war in Ukraine. This is how the Kremlin chief has stayed in power for more than 20 years. And now he wants to make Kiev submissive again.
Putin leads and everyone has to follow. Anyone who does not go along with him or deviates will feel the consequences. The Russian prison camps are known and feared around the world. Not only since Kremlin critics Alexei Navalny died a few weeks ago in one of the facilities under circumstances that will probably never be fully clarified.
Is Putin locking soldiers in basements? At least 15 camps for conscientious objectors and the wounded
Appropriate facilities have also apparently been set up outside of Putin’s territory. For fighters who refuse to follow the military mission in Ukraine. Where their path leads is to be a video on the Telegram channel Astra show.
The footage was taken in an illegal Russian military cellar in Rassypnoye, which is located in the Russian-occupied region of Ukraine. On July 17, 2014, a Boeing 777 that had taken off from Amsterdam crashed near the town after being hit by a Russian anti-aircraft missile, killing all 298 people on board.
According to Astra, this cellar is one of many. The team has already found 15 such cellars or camps in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. They say that abandoned houses, a former colony or the cellar in the commander’s office are being used. Nine of the camps found are in the Luhansk region, five more in Donetsk and one in Kharkiv.
Video: ECHR condemns Russia for human rights violations in Crimea
Putin and the refusers in the Ukraine war: Military personnel apparently illegally held in basements
The media outlet has received the images exclusively. The images are said to show military personnel sitting and sleeping on boards or directly on the bare ground. Plastic bottles serve as their toilets, and lanterns provide the only light.
This cellar is located 15 kilometers from another camp for conscientious objectors. The military personnel are often transported back and forth between the two locations.
These cellars are illegal because, according to the law, soldiers may not be detained until the relevant incident has been recorded. But Putin’s troops do not bother with that. Such detention cells may not be located in cellars either.
Wounded people treated “like cattle”? Russian military blogger rages against Putin on Telegram
Another video, also picked up by Astra, was initially distributed by the Russian military blogger Yegor Guzenko, who is himself said to be involved in war crimes. On his Telegram channel “The Thirteenth” He complains about the military leadership, which also treats the wounded “like cattle”.
“This is how the guys in the Russian army live, hidden in the pigsty cage,” complains Guzenko, using the wrong tone several times in his remarks. He continues: “They sit in this damned basement. There are people without arms, broken, abandoned.”
Several of the video’s protagonists have had their limbs amputated. One man, for example, pushes up his military trousers to reveal a prosthetic leg.
Russian fighters apparently imprisoned: Military blogger wants to hold those responsible to account
According to Guzenko, the wounded must continue to fight because there are too few soldiers in the combat zone. He is therefore demanding that Putin declare mobilization and that those who have been fighting on the front lines for two years be allowed to go home. But the Kremlin chief is afraid of taking this step because people at home would then find out what is really happening.
The critical military blogger says he has brought the case to the attention of law enforcement agencies. He allegedly has the Veterans Association of the Northern Military District of Krasnodar on his side. Astra writes that there are no known cases of people being brought to justice who were involved in the detention of military personnel in illegal basements.
In the past, other videos were made public that allegedly showed imprisoned Russian fighters. They are also said to have refused to be deployed. Some of them were housed in a pit and, according to their own statements, had to spend the night there half-naked in the freezing cold. Others complained that they had to rescue wounded comrades on their own.
Putin and his prison camps: Now Guzenko could also be in the Kremlin’s sights
Apparently, this type of imprisonment does not only affect fighters for whom their lives are more important than Putin’s expansion of power towards the West. It also affects those who can no longer fight because they are missing arms or legs, as Guzenko points out. The wounded and those who refuse to fight are therefore treated equally.
Meanwhile, the blogger may have maneuvered himself into the Kremlin’s sights with his open criticism of the military leadership and Putin, whom he even calls “Grandpa.” Moscow’s ruler also takes action against followers who stand out by talking back. A prominent example is Igor Girkin.
The former military chief of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic has been in a penal camp for almost a year because he directly accused Putin of the failures in the Ukraine war and flirted with the idea of running as a rival candidate in the presidential election.
Not surprisingly, this did not please Putin twice. Girkin must now serve four years in prison following a verdict. It is currently questionable whether the ultra-nationalist will ever be released. (mg)
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