Four former Russian soldiers who are now abroad told journalists about brutal practices within the Russian armed forces. Two men claim they saw soldiers executed on the spot for refusing orders.
Source: Bukvy
In the documentary “Zero Line: Inside Russia’s War,” the men also described in detail how they were tortured for refusing to take part in so-called “meat assaults.”
One of the speakers, Ilya, said he was drafted in May 2024. According to him, he was mobilized together with 78 other men at a recruitment center in the city of Perm. After arriving in Ukraine, most of the men were immediately sent to the front line, while he ended up at a command post.
The man says he witnessed a commander shooting four soldiers at point-blank range—one in Panteleimonivka and three in Novoazovsk in the occupied territory of Donetsk region—because they had fled the front line and refused to return.
“The saddest thing is that I knew them. I remember one of them shouting: ‘Don’t shoot, I’ll do anything!’ but he [the commander] still ‘took aim’ at them,” Ilya shared.
“Aiming” is usually carried out as punishment for refusing orders and serves as a means of intimidation for others who might be thinking of doing the same, the men told journalists.
Another Russian, Dmitry, told a similar story. He joined the Russian army in October 2022. According to him, he did not want to kill anyone, so he became a paramedic. In the 25th Brigade, the man saw his comrades executed on the order of commander Oleksiy Ksenofontov, who was awarded the Gold Star and the title “Hero of Russia.”
Dima also described seeing the bodies of 20 executed men who had arrived at his base the previous night. He was told that these men had been shot by a commander and that their bank cards had been taken by commanders.
The BBC documentary also mentions another former soldier who wished to remain anonymous—a senior staff officer who served in the Russian army for 17 years. He claims he spoke with a person who helped kill a group of high-ranking officers.
The man said he was part of an “elimination squad sent to destroy all survivors,” the former officer recalled.
Those who were not killed for refusing an assault were often tortured. Ilya showed a video from Telegram from his unit in Panteleimonivka in Donetsk region, in which three men were held in a pit, called “animals,” and dry grain was thrown into the pit as food.
Some men were “starved for several days” and electrocuted, Ilya says. He said he himself was tortured for refusing to take part in one of the assaults.
“They tied me to a tree, hit me several times with a baton, and put a gun to my head. I don’t know how to say this—they used me as a toilet. The commander told everyone: ‘We have a new toilet.’ I was tied up for half a day.”
After he was untied, Ilya attempted to take his own life.
The fourth protagonist of the film, Denys, says he was beaten and had his teeth knocked out after he refused to search for a missing drone. He was promoted despite saying he did not want to become an officer.
After the promotion, he did not send his men on a meat assault, for which he was arrested by military police and taken to an improvised prison in Zaitseve. There, he was tortured, including with electric shocks, every day for 72 days, the man said.
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