A Russian non-commissioned officer is said to have been Ukrainian city of Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast by a colonel with a highly controversial disciplinary measure. This is evident from a Report of the Russian media project “Sibir.Realii” which was published on August 30th.
According to reports, the 37-year-old Russian soldier been chained to a tree for five days straight. Using a mobile phone that was reportedly given to the man from Novosibirsk by another comrade, the chained man is said to have finally made an emergency call.
“Help! I’ve been chained up for five days. They beat us and threaten to kill us,” the 37-year-old is said to have initially written to his wife and a friend via message. The soldier reported further abuse, it continues. According to “Sibir.Realii”, the woman finally contacted the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB and “received a Complaint about beatings, torture and death threats”but has not received a response to date. Later, a journalist from “Sibir.Realii” is said to have had contact with the soldier.
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The report has not yet been independently verified. “Sibir.Realii” decided not to publish the author’s name because otherwise the media project would face “criminal prosecution under the law on combating undesirable organizations in Russia,” the report says.
The 37-year-old is said to a mobilized man from Novosibirsk “Sibir.Realii” reports, citing a telephone conversation that the Russian soldier secretly had with one of the journalists. The sergeant also sent photos that supposedly show himself chained to a tree. The pictures were taken by comrades.
Russian soldier apparently at the front due to administrative error
The man was since 26 August on the orders of his commander, he was chained to a tree near the small town of Avdiivka. As early as 2022, the Novosibirsk man was mobilized and sent to the front in the Luhansk region, where he survived “fierce attacks.”
You will die in the attack or we will shoot you and write you off as a battle casualty.
Superior to the Russian soldier (Source: “Sibir.Realii”)
In July 2024, the Russian was allowed to return to his homeland. However, due to a bureaucratic error, he was listed as a deserter and was sent back to Ukraine by the Russian authorities, the report says. “It turned out that my old regiment was disbanded, I was assigned to a new unit and was on the wanted list,” said the soldier.
When he arrived at the base near Avdiivka, the Novosibirsk resident was “horrified by the conditions there.” “The commando is walking around drunk, insulting soldiers and treats us newbies like shit“, the report says. When the 37-year-old “initially politely” appealed to his colonel to treat him better, the colonel ordered him to be chained up. Whether the soldier is still chained to the tree and what his current condition is has not yet been revealed in the report (as of September 4).
Chaining trees as a breeding measure apparently “normal”
According to the report, the wife of another mobilized soldier from the same regiment confirmed the questionable conditions and disciplinary measures on site. “Such practices are normal there”said the relative.
Soldiers are often more afraid of their own commanders than of the enemy.
Military blogger “ChrisO_wiki”
“You beat a person, put him on a chain and throw him into a pit. Then you threaten to kill him and writes off his death as a combat death.The woman complains: “People are really being killed. No public prosecutor can help.”
Military blogger: “Brutality has a long tradition”
According to military blogger and author “ChrisO_wiki”, the military disciplinary actionwhich also referred to as “birch hug” is an “illegal form of punishment”. The military blogger commented on the report of “Sibir.Realii” last Monday via X with the words: “Soldiers are often more afraid of their own commanders than of the enemy.”
However, “brutality in the Russian army has a long tradition that goes back to the Tsarist era.” According to this, “Prophylactic beatings” by superiors are still commonplace todaysays the military blogger. During the Tsarist era, officers viewed their soldiers as “a kind of cattle” who could be used for any work and who needed “little rest, food or clothing”. “Since then, not much seems to have changed,” the military blogger sums up the latest report on “Sibir.Realii”.
