Russian commanders face war crimes charges for soldier executions
The Russian Investigative Committee is conducting a criminal investigation against the 6th Motorized Rifle Brigade commanders, the Astra portal confirms. Investigators accuse them of "torturing their own units" as well as "mass murders." The victims were reportedly several Russian soldiers who refused to follow orders.
The independent Russian channel Astra reports on the issue. Journalists obtained the decision to initiate a criminal case against the commanders. Earlier, the case was covered by the Ukrainian portal Suspilne, a public broadcaster in Ukraine.
Executions for refusing to obey orders
According to Astra, the case against the commanders of the 6th Motorized Rifle Division was initiated in March 2024 by the main Investigative Committee of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic.
"This military formation was established in 2022 and consists mainly of mobilized individuals. Its command is accused of torturing their own troops as well as mass murders," it reads.
The first killing of Russian soldiers allegedly occurred on July 4, 2023, in the village of Bakhmutsk in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Early in the morning, a military vehicle was leaving the occupied town of Popasna in the Luhansk region. There were nine Russian soldiers inside it. Only two of them were armed. The vehicle headed towards the front line in the village of Bakhmutsk in the Donetsk region. Another vehicle drove ahead, carrying three men in uniforms. Around 7 AM, both vehicles stopped near a private house.
Seven unarmed soldiers were forced to go down to the basement. As soon as they entered, five grenades were thrown into the room. One of the soldiers went to check if all his "comrades" were dead. He finished off the survivors with a pistol. Seven shots were fired. To cover up the crime, the men's bodies and the vehicle were burned.
It turned out that the reason for the executions was the soldiers' complaints about "unbearable service conditions."
Torture and a basement without food and water
In the spring of 2023, soldiers of the 6th Division units began to complain about service conditions and mistreatment. Some of them posted a recording online. They said they had been turned into "cannon fodder."
The soldiers complained that they could not wash or shop. They were forced to fight with defective and incomplete equipment. They added that their wounded comrades on the front line were abandoned to fend for themselves.
According to a resolution from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation published by Astra, in May 2023, when the complaints began to surface, the commander of the 6th Division, Marat Ospanov, ordered his subordinates "to detain military personnel who violated military discipline and refused to obey orders, as well as committed other crimes."
Commander Ospanov also assigned two of his deputies to the role of executioners: 44-year-old Colonel Stanislav Ivanisov and 41-year-old Colonel Yevgeny Malyshko.
The first detentions of disobedient soldiers began in May 2023. "In total, there are 19 Russian soldiers who were victims in the case. They were all detained at various times and for various periods in basements in the town of Popasna in the Luhansk region under conditions lacking toilets, hygiene maintenance, sleeping places, and accessories, with restrictions on water and food consumption." Out of the 19 soldiers, 11 survived and reported the matter to the military prosecutor's office.
Ospanov was dismissed and arrested. In total, seven people have been charged in the criminal case. According to Astra, all are accused of abuse of power, unlawful deprivation of liberty, and the murder of two or more people.
