Posted on 01/26/2015 1:29:57 PM PST by Greetings_Puny_Humans
Russian-Backed Separatist Commander Givi Tortures Ukrainian POWs 16:07 (GMT)
An extremely graphic video was uploaded January 22 to YouTube showing Givi, commander of the Somalia Battalion of the Russian-backed separatist forces of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republics" (DNR).
Givi, a commander who has been popularized in hundreds of Russian state TV broadcasts and "Novorossiya" YouTube channels, is shown beating, threatening and screaming at Ukrainian POWs evidently arrested after the fall of the Donetsk Airport to separatists on January 21.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-gJ46pVLMo
Open News Room's Donie O'Sullivan noted that bald man seen in the line-up of POWs and clearly at 4.12 in the video is Col. Oleg Mitsaka, captured during the battle for Donetsk airport, according to news reports. Throughout the video, we can see Russian state and pro-Kremlin TV crews filming the interrogation of the POWs, which as Dunja Mijatovic, OSCE's Representative for Media Freedom has declared an unethical journalistic practice.
Yevgeny Poddubny, special correspondent for Rossiya-24 TV, is visible in the video; we have seen him many times before in footage from the Donetsk Airport.
Most of the first 10 minutes appears to take place at the separatist's stronghold in the streets by an apartment building across from the airport.
Givi asks the POWs if they recognize him and they say "yes."
All of the POWs say they were drafted, not volunteers, and come from Zhitimir, Vinnitsa and Chernihiv and other regions. At 1:48, Givi asks for a knife, cuts off the chevron of the Ukrainian soldier and then forces him to eat it.
Givi tells the men, shaking from cold, that they are lucky to be alive. By 3:04, we can see the men bruised and bloody, and clearly they have been beaten. The POWs are repeatedly asked why they came to "the separatists' land" and shelled on the city.
Givi takes a knife and cuts off the chevrons of the POWs, and forces them to eat them.
Mitsaka, described as "the main Cyborg," as the soldiers defending the airport were known, has the rank of colonel. Givi points to the city of Donetsk and says to Mitsaka "You have done this," regarding the shelling of the city and grabbing his head forcefully says that a 6-week old baby was left an orphan after shelling of the apartment building in the background, and demands that Matsaka look him in the eyes.
Givi threatens to organize reprisals in Zhitomir in retaliation for what he believes has been perpetrated by the Ukrainian forces in Donetsk.
The POWs are blindfolded and pushed into a van. Mitsaka is asked how much is salary is per month, and he says "10,000 hyrvnias" (US $640).
Viktor Babenko, a soldier said they were given orders to pick up wounded but when they came to the airport they found they had to be in an offensive against the airport.
Givi notes that from Babenko's crew, 3 were killed and 2 were taken prisoner and 5 surrendered. Asked if he understood what Ukrainian forces had done in Donetsk, Babenko answered in Ukrainian that the knew, and Givi said he would "let him stay alive for that" and trade him for a separatist POW. Babenko was then forced to tell his story to LifeNews, and said that he thought he was just picking up wounded men but found himself in battle.
Babenko is then forced to make an appeal to other Ukrainians not to serve in the army and refuse to join up.
At 8:40, the separatists unload at least three dead soldiers. At 8:58 we can glimpse the lettering on the armored jeep, and it appears to be "PR" in Russian, which would match with "LDPR," or the ill-named ultranationalist "Liberal Democratic Party of Russia" headed by the notorious Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who has repeatedly bragged about giving jeeps to the Russian-backed separatist army.
Givi-LDPR.jpg
Later, a total of six dead soldiers are shown, evidently killed in battle at the airport, at least one with the top of his head blown off.
At 9:52, a soldier says 81st Brigade, 90th battalion a newly-formed unit. A separatist demands to know if he is from Right Sector, and he denies it, and says their brigade was just formed December 22 and they were sent to Konstantinovka.
The POWs are then taken into the city of Donetsk and paraded around and angry townspeople shout at them about how they have suffered from shelling, and have been forced to live in their basements.
At 14:02, a woman appears with a broom and beats a POW. She and others continue to beat the prisoners and are even held back by the separatists. Several throw eggs at the prisoners.
Givi-Broom.jpg
There is something of a contrived feeling to these women attackers, as quite a few other women on the street are just standing silently with worried expressions on their faces. So there is a possibility they were incited or even "stage-managed" by Russian TV.
At the end, Col. Mitsaka is once again slapped around by a militant, and forced to speak to Russia's Channel 1. But he refuses to speak, and finally says he has nothing to say.
The link is a live-blog, so scroll down and look for this particular story. Pictures are available at the link of the events described. The youtube video is posted here on FR.
it’s amazing to me that they would want this to become public
perhaps westerners are not the intended audience... or more disturbingly, maybe we are...
Russians are still the evil empire
Indeed they are.
Evil.
But what's referenced in the video and the narrative about it is quite tame.
I'm sure what DIDN'T make the video is more severe. As would be treatment of POW's/Insurgents universally in that part of the world.
Dehumanization in war is standard fare.
(do I have to . . ./sarc)
“it’s amazing to me that they would want this to become public”
Why? They know NOTHING will happen to them. 1) They probably won’t lose the war because of Russia’s support and Obama’s complete lack of leadership, 2) If they do lose, they can always slip back into Russia and never be tried.
Nothing will happen to them and they know it. And we in the U.S. are doing exactly nothing about it.
Prayers up for these poor prisoners and for all of the Ukrainian people.
Don’t tell Paul Craig Roberts. He thinks the Russians are heroic in their fight against US imperialism. /sarcasm
I think Germany has supplied Ukraine with a lot of surplus military uniforms and the like. Ukraine has undergone a transformation in the country as it left the Soviet bloc and strived to go to the West. More and more of military appartus was basically gutted as Ukraine never prepared for it to have to fight against Russia. The peace accords that Ukraine signed with Russia in 1994 assurred them of safety. look at the safety that it has brought, none.
These are war crimes. I predict Givi will be dead within a year.
One possibility is that this is something that was purchased by a private individual and donated to the Ukrainians. This could have been a Ukrainian in Ukraine or any one supportive of the Ukrainians across the world. The Ukrainians have had to cobble up a military in a hurry, as the last one had been gutted. Most of the volunteer battalions are relying solely on donated gear or picking stuff up from the battle field.
It’s tame by Russkie standards. There are pictures of people with chopped off heads, or with their bodies burned up. But, rarely do we ever have them video taping their treatment of prisoners. Usually they just find the bodies in the rivers or in the woods.
By the way, one observation, but unrelated to your post. The volunteer battalions, who are the worst off in terms of weapons and gear, have also been the most devastating and useful against the Russians. At the beginning of the conflict, the conscripts in the Ukrainian army (at least some of them) were quick to drop their weapons and run for it. Since that time, patriotism has overtaken the entire country, but still goes to show the superiority of volunteer armies over draftees.
My good Russian friend translated that video. I think it’s important for non-Russuan speakers such as ourselves, understand what is teally going on. The separatists territories are being blown to smithereens by the Ukrainian army. Very sad situation. Here are my friends’s comments:
Very tame torture thing. And he (seperatist interrogator)actually talks to them, says to the colonel “How long have you been serving? 20 years? look around! you did this. Do you wanna see inside? we have a 1.5 month baby left without mother and father! Look me in the eyes! where are you from again? Zhitomir? Well, i promise you, everything you’ve done here on my land i’ll do in Zhitomir! how much do you get for this? Bind his eyes, before my nerves have given in”
Then he talks to then asks “Have you seen what you are doing to the city?” The guy says “Yes, now i’ve seen it” Givi says :” I’m letting you live so that you can tell others, we’ll exchange you for one of our guys”
The wounded guy then says that their command told them to go to the airport and get smth (300 he says, i dont know what it means), and when they got to the airport, it turned out they were send for an attack, that their command simply deceived them. He said it’s because whenever they were sent for an attack they all refused, so command used this different tactic. Then he says he isn’t gonna serve again, says it would have been better if they had just put him in prison for desertion. (of course he could have said it simply out of fear, but he seemed sincere)
You know, i think if they showed more pictures of dead soldiers like this they’d be fewer wars cos people would just refuse to do this shit! It’s unfair to the prisoners cos they are just cannon meat...but the real culprits are unattainable, so people leash out on whomever they can reach.... Poor soldiers :( BTW, that woman there says “don’t act like them, don’t let yourself turn into them” to the guy who i think said they should be shot.The crowd is saying things like “What are you killing us for? Boys, what are you doing!” and then “May Poroshenko’s hands fall off dry” Then the POWs are shown bombed building etc. Then people who are beating that guy are saying they should be hanged on the square.
And then i read the comments here under the article and see people saying “Russia is evil”....Ok then...
This video without subs is misleading. Actually my mom was angry when she heard how ukranian POWs got medical treatment and all that, she said they should all be killed, while my dad answered to that that they are drafted by force, what can they do.
The "separatists" are shooting from apartment blocks with little old ladies living 1 or 2 floors down. I've seen videos of this. Don't trust your Russian friend, especially when he says "he actually talks to him," like what, like a friend? He was beating them and forcing them to eat their insignias. Most Russians still have slave mentality from Soviet times with very low IQs (the result of 5 generations of the best and brightest being killed, with the really stupid people with clear signs of psycopathic behavior being raised to prominence), and the Russkies are using the same tactics as the Palestinians:
"Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine are taking cover in civilians' apartments during government-backed air strikes, officials and residents said, as Moscow lashed out at the Ukrainian military for committing "crimes" against its people in the east."
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/civilians-forced-to-act-as-human-shields-by-separatists-ukrainian-officials-say/501410.html
The idea that the Ukrainians are bombing these areas for no reason is stupid. They're the ones who have to pay to rebuild everything when they take the land back. The Russkies are happy to leave everything in ruins just like in their own country.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.