A Russian military officer had soldiers under his command tied to a tree overnight as punishment for refusing to fight on the front lines of the Ukraine war, a human rights activist group reported on Monday.
The Movement of Conscientious Objectors (DSO) group wrote in a Telegram post that the brother of one of the punished soldiers, along with the brothers’ wives, reported the details to DSO. According to the report, the tied-up soldier—identified as Gennady Kiskorov—was sent to fight in the illegitimately annexed Donetsk Oblast during a mobilization drive ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Donetsk Oblast was one of the first territories to see heavy fighting before Russia declared it had taken control of the region. In September last year, the Russian strongman announced Russia had annexed the oblast along with three other regions, though the move is largely unrecognized by the international community.
A destroyed Russian armored vehicle covered by snow is pictured on November 21, 2023, in Svyatohirsk town, Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A human rights group reported that Russian soldiers serving in the Donetsk region were tied to a tree for refusing to fight on the war’s front line.
Photo by ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images
According to the DSO’s account of the punishment that Kiskorov and the other men received, the soldiers were tied to a tree overnight to be subjected to “torture by cold and rain” for disobeying orders. They were reportedly not released or allowed inside until they agreed to fight on the front line.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email on Tuesday night for comment.
The independent Russian investigative site Important Stories wrote Kiskorov and his brother Semyon Kiskorov were mobilized from Novokuznetsk—a city in Siberia—and sent to serve in a motorized rifle battalion in Donetsk.
The brothers reportedly sent an application in late November that requested their military service be transferred to civilian work for the Russian government, but their request was denied by a deputy battalion commander.
For his refusal to fight in the war, Gennady Kiskorov was tied to a tree on the street until he relented to “to participate in hostilities,” the DSO wrote. Semyon Kiskorov said the same torture was applied to other military personnel, and he is said to have given video evidence of a soldier restrained to a tree to the DSO.
After one night, Gennady reportedly agreed to go to the front line. The DSO said the brothers’ wives reported the crime to the military prosecutor’s office, and a DSO representative notified various Russian military departments.
The incident was soon covered by local media outlets in Russia, which resulted in the commander of the Kiskorov brothers’ unit demanding they renounce their claims and write a letter saying Ukrainian troops tied Gennady to the tree, according to the DSO.
The captain also reportedly told Semyon to delete all messages on his phone about the incident, including the video he sent that showed a soldier tied to a tree. The DSO said Semyon, who was likely being pressured from the command, called his wife and instructed her to withdraw her statements about the crime.
His wife told the DSO that he has not contacted her since.
“We are very afraid for his life and health,” the human rights group wrote. “Everyone understands why a person makes such calls to his wife. He is at the mercy of people who tortured people because he is defenseless, and they demand that he say exactly this. But [Semyon’s wife] is not going to withdraw her statement.”
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