Russia misleads about POW treatment while ignoring its abuse
Pro-Kremlin media claim that half of the Russian prisoners were tortured in Ukraine, a statement that misrepresents the situation. A UN report acknowledges incidents of mistreatment, but no torture was confirmed after prisoners were transported to detention facilities. Meanwhile, Russian media fail to report brutality against Ukrainians.
Russian media, citing UN findings, accuse Ukraine of torturing half of the captured Russian military personnel. This is a serious accusation, as torture of prisoners of war is recognized as a war crime. However, analysts emphasize that Russian reports contain significant distortions and misrepresentations.
The latest UN report noted instances of mistreatment of Russian prisoners, but these occurred only during transport from the front to detention facilities. Once in the camps, conditions were in line with international standards.
The Russian news agency Ria Novosti cited the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights report, which covered the period from March to August 2023. During this time, confidential interviews were conducted with 205 Russian prisoners of war held by Ukraine. About 104 of them, approximately half, claimed they were "mistreated, even tortured," including severe beatings, death threats, or electric shocks. However, the report clarified that these incidents only occurred during transport.
The UN mission had access to prisoner camps and found that the conditions of detention were consistent with international standards, according to the report.
Meanwhile, Russian media omitted this part of the report, focusing solely on the negative aspects of the treatment of prisoners in transit.
Every Ukrainian in Russian captivity is tortured. One even lost the ability to speak
A disproportionate level of violence is noted in the treatment of Ukrainian prisoners held in Russian camps. The same UN report analyzed the situation of 174 Ukrainians, of whom 169 experienced torture and brutality. They reported "severe beatings, electric shocks, sexual violence, suffocation, prolonged stress positions, forced excessive exercise, sleep deprivation," as well as mock executions and threats of violence. This is a blatant violation of human rights, and the scale of violence was much greater than that accused of Ukraine, yet this was omitted in Russian media.
A particularly severe case is that of a 22-year-old Ukrainian soldier, Yury Gulchuk, who lost the ability to speak due to torture experienced in Russian captivity. Russian disinformation blamed Ukrainian authorities for his condition, a claim debunked by the FakeHunter service, which confirmed that Russians captured Yury after the battle of Mariupol.
Yury Gulchuk was one of the defenders of Mariupol and was captured by the Russians following the city’s fall in April 2022. He was likely taken to a detention center in Taganrog, where—according to other inmates' accounts—he was brutally tortured by a Russian guard using a stun gun, according to sources.
In addition to the physical injuries, Ukrainian prisoners often reported being starved and deprived of proper medical care while in Russian captivity.
The UN assessed that torture against the Ukrainian side was a widespread practice during interrogations and at other stages of detention. The living conditions in Russian prisoner-of-war camps were extremely poor, which—according to the assessment—were intended to inflict long-term pain and suffering on the victims.
