Russian media skews UN report: Ignoring Ukrainian torture crisis

Pro-Kremlin media are alarmed that half of Russian prisoners were tortured in Ukraine. This is manipulation. A UN report points to incidents, but no torture was confirmed after transporting prisoners to detention facilities. Meanwhile, Russian media provide no information about brutality against Ukrainians.

Russian media, citing UN findings, accuse Ukraine of torturing half of the Russian military personnel who were captured. This is a serious accusation, considering that torture of prisoners of war is recognised as a war crime. However, as analysts emphasise, Russian publications have committed significant distortions and abuses.

The latest UN report noted instances of mistreatment of Russian prisoners. Still, these occurred only during transport from the front to assignment locations, and conditions in the camps aligned 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 highlighted that these cases only occurred during transport.

The UN mission had access to prisoner camps and found that the conditions of detention seemed to be in accordance with international standards, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Russian media omitted this part of the report and focused solely on the negative aspects of the treatment of prisoners in transit.

A disproportionate scale of violence is observed regarding the treatment of Ukrainian prisoners held in Russian camps. The same UN report analysed the situation of 174 Ukrainians, of whom 169 experienced torture and brutality. They mentioned "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 what was accused of Ukraine — which was omitted in Russian media.

A particularly drastic example is that of a 22-year-old Ukrainian soldier, Yury Gulchuk, who lost the ability to speak due to the torture experienced in Russian captivity. Russian disinformation blamed the Ukrainian authorities for this condition, which was debunked by the FakeHunter service, which established that Yury fell into Russian captivity after the battle of Mariupol.

Yury Gulchuk was one of the defenders of Mariupol and was captured by the Russians after the fall of this city in April 2022. He was most likely taken to a detention centre in Taganrog, where – according to the accounts of other inmates – he was particularly brutally tortured by a Russian guard, including with a stun gun, according to sources.

Besides the mentioned physical injuries, Ukrainian prisoners often admitted that they were starved and deprived of proper medical care in Russian captivity.

The UN assessed that torture against the Ukrainian side was a widespread practice both during interrogations and at other stages of detention. The living conditions in Russian prisoner-of-war camps were extremely poor, which – as assessed – aimed to cause victims long-term pain and suffering.