"A Call to Putin" with no limits on brutality: sexual torture as Russia's systematic weapon in war

Journals at The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reached these conclusions based on an investigation built on testimonies from Ukrainian prosecutors, UN investigators, and interviews with former captives of Russian camps.

According to data from the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, testimonies from hundreds of victims have been recorded. In the 310 cases of sexual violence by Russian forces documented by the UN, the vast majority of victims—280 people—are men (cases of violence against 26 women and 4 underage girls were also recorded).

The results of UN surveys demonstrate catastrophic scales of ill-treatment in Russian captivity:

·         100% of released Ukrainian prisoners of war reported being subjected to torture or ill-treatment.

·         Over 70% of former captives confirmed that torture included elements of sexual violence.

·         Ukrainian investigators identified at least 9 large camps and prisons on the territory of the RF where such methods are systematically applied (in 7 of them, the detention regime is characterized as particularly brutal).

Torture victims describe beatings and genital mutilation, gang rapes using improvised objects (bottles, sticks), as well as electric shock torture.

• ·         Serhii Boichuk (serviceman): Was held in captivity for over two years. According to him, guards tortured him using bottles and sticks, as well as threatening him with a knife. "They wanted to break me psychologically completely," Boichuk said.

• ·         Oleksiy Sivak (42 years old, civilian from Kherson): Was detained by the occupation authorities for hanging a Ukrainian flag. In prison, wires from an old field telephone were attached to his genitals and current was run through them. The guards cynically call this method a "call to Putin." Currently, Sivak heads a support group for about 200 Ukrainian men who survived similar abuse.

• ·         Halyna Tyshchenko (63 years old): Was raped at gunpoint in her own home, after which in freezing temperatures she was forced to walk naked down the street.

The WSJ investigation emphasizes that the brutality is not an initiative of individual rank-and-file guards, but is of a sanctioned nature. According to former employees of the Russian penal system, the management of one of the key detention centers in Saint Petersburg directly stated to staff that regarding Ukrainian captives there are "no limits on the use of violence."

Former international prosecutor David Schwendiman, who investigated war crimes in Bosnia, noted:

"Given such scale and repeatability of patterns, no one in high command can claim they didn't know what was happening—even if they didn't give direct written orders."

The Kremlin and the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) of the RF refused to provide comments upon journalists' request.