If you want to hide your crimes, blame it on someone else. This is exactly the kind of manipulative scheme that Russian propaganda uses to divert attention from its crimes. The other day, the press secretary of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs resorted to a similar method of manipulation, accusing the international community of ignoring “numerous facts” of the alleged execution of Russian prisoners and their abuse. About what the situation really is and where Sakharova is overreacting – further in the material.
False / Manipulation
So, the press secretary of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated the following (hereinafter in the original language): “For more than two years, since the beginning of the special military operation, information about the shocking cases of murders, tortures, humiliated to which the Russian soldiers who were captured in Ukraine are subjected, remains without proper attention and reactions from international human rights structures.
Despite the fact that the evidence of such criminals is more than enough, international officials always lack something. Sometimes they doubt the “reliability of the information provided”, then they talk about the need for “additional verification”, then other “unforeseen circumstances” arise…
“International officials” are indeed right and do not believe the word of Russian representatives, who have discredited themselves with factless accusations and manipulation, and often with outright lies about the situation with Russian prisoners of war. Therefore, these “officials”, and as a rule, they are representatives of various UN missions – which Sakharova also did not manipulatively say – carefully approach such sensitive issues.
Moreover – and this refutes Sakharova’s words and establishes her lie – investigations and monitoring of the situation of prisoners of war are carried out regularly.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission regularly monitors, investigates and publishes reports on the observance of human rights, including the issue of prisoners. These reports are published regularly. In their studies, UN experts usually cover time intervals of 3-4 months.
As an example, the mission report for May 26, 2024, which covers the period from December 1, 2023 to February 29, 2024. http://surl.li/uyksmm
This report, which is publicly available on the UN website and is available in three languages - English, Russian, Ukrainian (but who in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation reads such reports) contains information about the situation with Russian POWs. The document states the following: “During the reporting period, the Government of Ukraine continued to grant OHCHR full access to the official places of internment where Russian prisoners of war were held. OHCHR interviewed 44 Russian prisoners of war (all men) in places of internment in Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Although these Russian POWs have not made any claims of torture at these internment sites, they have provided credible accounts of torture and ill-treatment at transit sites following their immediate evacuation from the battlefield. Eight prisoners of war reported that they were held in unspecified basements of private buildings, most likely in the Kharkiv region, for periods ranging from a few days to a month and a half. Thirteen POWs reported that during interrogations they were beaten with fists and wooden hammers and batons, given electric shocks (using military field phones or other electrical devices) and subjected to mock executions, and in two cases threatened with sexual violence. In addition, seven Russian prisoners of war reported that they were beaten at checkpoints on the way from transit internment places to a civilian hospital in Kharkiv.
On February 15, 2024, OHCHR visited the newly established camp for prisoners of war “Zahid-2” in the Vinnytsia region, where the internment of Russian prisoners of war began at the end of November 2023. OHCHR pays tribute to the efforts of the Government of Ukraine to ensure the conditions of internment of prisoners of war in accordance with IHL, in particular the introduction of three-minute telephone conversations with families and plans to expand the opportunities for prisoners of war to work.
In August 2023, the Ukrainian authorities decided to create mixed medical commissions to examine sick and wounded Russian prisoners of war and make recommendations regarding their repatriation or treatment in a neutral country. A request for approval of the proposed composition of such a commission was sent to the Russian Federation. The Ukrainian authorities informed OHCHR that the Russian Federation did not provide a favorable response regarding the proposed composition of the mixed medical commission. The parties to the conflict should not unreasonably refuse to approve the appointment of neutral members of mixed medical commissions. It is not known whether the Russian Federation has taken any steps to create a mixed medical commission to examine sick and wounded Ukrainian prisoners of war.”
That is, the fact of investigating the situation by “international officials” is there! The fact of detection of certain violations is there! Accordingly, Sakharova’s words are untrue.
In addition to being untrue, they are also frankly manipulative, because the spokeswoman accuses “international officials” of inaction, while Russia itself neglects to help its prisoners – ignoring the request to create mixed medical commissions that would take care of the lives and health of Russian soldiers in captivity.
It should be noted that the Ukrainian side sent a protest to the Monitoring Mission and a request to provide specific facts that were allegedly discovered during the survey. Because in fact, the experts’ conclusions were based on the words of individual prisoners and no other sources. That is why the Ombudsman of Ukraine, Dmytro Lubinets, disagrees with the conclusions of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine regarding the violation of the rights of Russian prisoners of war by the Ukrainian side and demands evidence of the accusations made. http://surl.li/ikmrnk
And in contrast to “facts from words”, the same UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine in the same report recorded the execution of 32 Ukrainian prisoners of war by the occupiers from December 1, 2023 to February 29, 2024.
It is noted that these 32 executions were documented in 12 separate cases. This is significantly more than in any of the previous periods. The mission carried out independent verification in three of the mentioned cases.
So unlike the situation with the Russian prisoners, there are clear investigations and facts about the Ukrainian ones.
There is one more important point – the investigation, the investigation itself, and not the propaganda reports about the alleged murders of Russian prisoners and abuse of them, which Russia itself is conducting. Neither Sakharov nor other propagandists provide such information. That is, real investigations are not conducted. But it is better to blame “international officials”!
However, in contrast to the Russian Federation, such work is carried out systematically in Ukraine. The Russians killed more than 110 Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian prisons. During the capture, the occupiers killed 62 soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Yuriy Belousov, head of the Department for Combating Crimes Committed in Conditions of Armed Conflict, of the Prosecutor General’s Office, told about this in an interview with Ukrinform. http://surl.li/jhxwtr