Photograph of Russian soldier taped upside down to a tree in the freezing cold proves it - Putin's army is now a penal colony driven forward by terror

Daily Mail ^ | Jan 30 | By DAVID PATRIKARAKOS, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

[RandFan]

They've hung him upside down like a slab of meat. Stripped to his underwear. Arms bound tight with tape. Ankles lashed to a tree trunk in the open winter air. The second man, attached to a neighbouring tree, is at least taped upright.

A man screams at them in Russian. He stuffs a fistful of snow into one of the men's mouths. Both cringe in terror, whimpering protestations and pleas.

This is no medieval dungeon - it's the Russian army in Ukraine in the 21st century.

The men's 'crime'? Refusing to walk, yet again, into what they call 'the meat grinder': frontal assaults against dug-in Ukrainian machine guns and drones, where the life expectancy of a recruit is measured in minutes. The punishment was filmed not so much to shame the perpetrators - whose voices were digitally disguised - as to terrorise the rest of the conscripts. This is not merely sadism; there is a method to it.

The men are a warning pinned to a tree like a note: advance or hang. This is now the lot of the Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

Other videos that have surfaced tell the same story. Men are beaten with rifle butts for retreating, denied food and endlessly threatened with execution. In one case, a deserter is forced to dig his own grave before being 'reprieved' and sent back to the line in what is one of the most cruel forms of psychological torture. In another, a unit commander shoots over the heads of his own men to drive them out of a trench and into oncoming enemy fire.

[popdonnelly]

But its credibility is not as low as the Putin trolls on FR.

[Joe 6-pack]

Frederick the Great opined that soldiers should fear their own officers more than the enemy. I know these notions are generally repellant to those who serve or have served in the US military, but every now and then a news story will leak out about some extra-judicial punishment or hazing ritual.

Back in the day the US Cavalry was notorious for punishments that would be administered to soldiers that got out of line. Look up, "bucking and gagging," or, "riding the wooden horse." Sometimes soldiers will tale things into their own hands, and thus it will likely always be.

[popdonnelly]

Join the army and see Donbas upside down.

[CodeToad]

Gee, I thought the thousand other posted propaganda articles “proves it”.

[piroque]

bttt

[piroque]

bttt

[jroehl]

I did not go to the link provided. I don’t want all those ads sucking up my bandwidth.

[dforest]

Oh please. You can’t post stuff from the UK regarding Ukraine because it just isn’t usually very credible. Ukraine doesn’t treat their deserters nice either. They will kill them.

[RandFan]

You’re right it’s very biased generally

[chopperk]

Some of Putin’s Generals are opposed to his hegemony and they are being eliminated. His support had dwindled since he has become mentally affected.

[alternatives?]

Read Gulag by Applebaum.

[tlozo]

Russian soldiers were always treated very harshly in the military, whether in the days of the Soviet Union or now. Its why they in turn are brutal whether in the Chechen War or in Ukraine when dealing with the enemy or even civilians.

Russian soldiers have routinely tortured Ukrainian prisoners, they have executed them, chopped their ears and heads off. One surrendered Ukrainian soldier was castrated before being executed. There are no repercussions. Red Cross does not have free and unhindered access to detention centers where Ukrainian prisoners are held. Torture is common.

Dianov was captured by the Russian army. ​​​​The Ukrainian defence ministry shared the horrific images of Dianov on Twitter calling him one of the lucky ones to survive despite injuries on his face and arms. In contrast to an earlier image, the horrific recent picture shows a frail and emaciated Mykhailo Dianov. “This is how Russia ‘adheres’ to the Geneva Convention.

[Vermont Lt]

I think the article explains it pretty well. Walk to the front or die.

I especially found the story of how they execute people refusing to fight by sledge hammer. Such classy people.

Boy, that Donbas must be valuable ground.

[catnipman]

i guess these fools have never heard about fragging ...

[Allegra]

You rang?

[tlozo]

Russian army chiefs torturing and executing soldiers who refuse to fight in Ukraine, report says - Oct 30, 2025

Investigation lists 101 superiors accused of tactics such as using drones to ‘finish’ off retreating troops and sending soldiers on death missions

Russian commanders are executing or deliberately sending to their deaths soldiers who refuse to fight in Ukraine, according to a new investigation by the independent outlet Verstka, which paints a bleak picture of internal violence within the Russian army.

Drawing on testimonies from serving soldiers, relatives of the dead, leaked videos and official complaint records, Verstka said it had identified 101 Russian servicemen accused of murdering, torturing or fatally punishing their own comrades. The outlet said it had verified at least 150 deaths, though they said they believed the true tally to be far higher.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, reports of soldiers being killed by their own side and of so-called blocking units deployed to prevent retreats have circulated widely.

The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected allegations of indiscipline among Russian troops, insisting that such problems are instead rife within the Ukrainian army.

But Verstka’s report appears to be the most comprehensive to date, documenting a detailed catalogue of methods used to enforce obedience and terror within the ranks.

Verstka cited testimonies from soldiers who said commanders had appointed “execution shooters” to open fire on refusers and later dump their bodies in rivers or shallow graves, registering them as killed in action.

Other accounts describe commanders using drones and explosives to “finish off” wounded or retreating soldiers. In several cases, officers allegedly ordered drone operators to drop grenades on their own men, disguising the killings as battlefield strikes.

Verstka, an award-winning independent Russian news outlet now operating in exile and founded by some of the country’s most respected investigative journalists, also documented cases of soldiers being tortured to death.

Troops who disobeyed orders were reportedly thrown into pits covered with metal grates, doused with water and beaten for hours or even days. The investigation found that in some instances, they were forced to fight each other in what witnesses described as gladiator-style battles to the death.

One such case appeared in a video circulated in May 2025 by Ukrainian groups monitoring Russian forces. The footage shows two shirtless men in a pit as a voice off-camera says: “Commander Kama basically said whoever beats the other one to death gets out of the pit.”

The men begin to fight as the voice continues to taunt them – “Finish him off already, what are you waiting for?” – until one collapses motionless on the ground.

Verstka also linked several killings to financial extortion schemes in which commanders demanded payments from soldiers in exchange for avoiding suicide missions. Those who could not pay, or refused, were “zeroed” – the army’s slang for being eliminated.

The investigation also describes cases of troops being sent on suicide missions. It exposes cases where Russian troops were deliberately deployed as “mayachki”, or beacons - ordered to walk ahead of assault groups without equipment to draw enemy fire.

Initially, most reports of internal executions came from penal formations made up of tens of thousands of ex-convicts recruited from Russian prisons, but Verstka’s database shows the practice has spread to regular army units. The culture of impunity and the influx of former prisoners, the report says, have “normalised violence”.

Most of the identified perpetrators are mid-ranking officers in their 30s and 40s, many of them veterans of earlier Russian campaigns or transfers from penal battalions. Few, if any, have faced prosecution.

The outlet said it was able to obtain detailed biographical information: name, rank, age and unit, for more than 60 of the 101 alleged perpetrators. Despite the extensive evidence, almost none have been held accountable, Vertska said.

Verstka also said it had obtained official data showing that Russia’s main military prosecutor’s office received nearly 29,000 complaints from soldiers and families in the first half of 2025 alone, more than 12,000 of which related to punishment by their own superiors.

A source in the military prosecutor’s office told the outlet there was an informal ban on investigating cases against commanders serving in combat zones. “They say: ‘If we open this, it could harm operations.’ That means these officers have total impunity,” he said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/30/russian-army-chiefs-torturing-and-executing-soldiers-who-refuse-to-fight-in-ukraine-report-says

[aMorePerfectUnion]

You are posting intelligence service propaganda from the daily mail.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

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[lodi90]

The historical brutality and hazing culture of the Russian army is well documented outside of this incident. Ignore reality if you wish.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Same with Ukraine