Inside Putin's Torture Gulags: New Methods Targeting Deserters Revealed
Chilling new footage has emerged from within the Russian army, exposing horrific torture methods used against soldiers accused of desertion, as Vladimir Putin's war machine struggles to maintain manpower after nearly four years of brutal conflict in Ukraine. The video, which shows a half-naked man trapped inside a car tyre in the snow with his hands tied, is believed to depict a Russian soldier being punished by his commander for attempting to flee the frontline.
Deserters Face Brutal Punishment
In the disturbing footage, the sobbing soldier pleads with his commander, who rants accusations of desertion. This incident appears to represent just the tip of the iceberg in Russia's systematic approach to preventing soldiers from escaping a war that has claimed an estimated 1.2 million Russian casualties according to US-based think tank CSIS. With many young conscripts facing almost certain death at the frontlines, some attempt to escape to Ukrainian forces, risking a fate described as "almost worse than death" if captured by their own troops.
Ukrainian Prisoners Endure Systematic Torture
Meanwhile, Ukrainian soldiers and civilians captured by Russian forces face equally horrific conditions in what human rights groups describe as a network of over 300 detention facilities that have mushroomed across Russia since the invasion began. Torture has become standard practice rather than exception in these modern-day gulags, with survivors describing regular abuse including:
- Waterboarding and electric shock torture
- Being used as "human furniture"
- A method called "call to Putin" or "call to Lenin" involving Soviet-era phones attached to prisoners' bodies to administer electric shocks
Viktok Biletskyi, a soldier in the Ukrainian 406th Separate Artillery Brigade, recounted how his cellmate Danylo was subjected to particularly cruel treatment: "They put a gas mask on Danylo and electrocuted him to make him suffocate faster, but as soon as he started to lose consciousness, they took off the gas mask. They did not let him die: they wanted him to suffer."
Widespread Detention and Abuse
The United Nations has warned of "widespread and systematic" torture inflicted on Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia. Approximately 15,000 Ukrainian civilians are estimated to be detained in Russia since the war began, with nearly 2,000 held at formal detention centers. Evidence of torture facilities has also been uncovered in occupied Ukrainian territories, including:
- A restaurant basement in Snihurivka used to torture captives
- An office building in Kherson where 30 people were held for two months, with plastic ties for torture later discovered
As Russia's war of aggression continues to inflict death and destruction across Ukraine, with regular air strikes leaving civilians without heat, power, and water during winter months, the human cost continues to mount. Between 500,000 and 600,000 Ukrainian soldiers are believed to have been killed, wounded, or gone missing since February 2022.
The revelations about torture methods targeting both Russian deserters and Ukrainian prisoners underscore the extreme brutality characterizing this prolonged conflict, with no end in sight to the suffering inflicted on all sides.
