Russian Commanders Systematically Torture Deserters in Ukraine War
In January, chilling footage emerged showing two Russian fighters accused of desertion taped to trees in freezing frontline conditions. One man was strapped upside down wearing only underwear, while another was forced to choke on snow as a superior officer screamed obscenities at him. These punishments represent just the surface of systematic abuse within Russian forces.
Extreme Punishments for Desertion
The punishments may appear extreme, but desertion accusations in Russia can lead to threats of rape, forced gladiator-style fights to the death between troops, and even execution with sledgehammers. In late August last year, commanders handcuffed soldier Ilya Gorkov and a comrade to a tree in eastern Ukraine for four days without food or water after they refused what they believed was a suicide mission involving planting a Russian flag on Ukrainian-held territory.
Gorkov managed to film his ordeal and send it to his mother, Oksana Krasnova, who immediately publicized the incident on social media and filed a complaint with Russia's human rights ombudsman, declaring: 'They are not animals!' Gorkov represents just one of thousands of soldiers tortured by commanders who use systematic abuse to coerce even gravely sick or wounded troops back to battlefields.
Widespread Desertion and Brutal Consequences
Since Moscow's full-scale invasion in February 2022, over 50,000 Russian soldiers have deserted, representing nearly 10 percent of all Russian troops in Ukraine according to a September 2025 UN report. More than 16,000 military personnel have faced prosecution for desertion-related offenses, with over 13,500 conscripts and contract soldiers convicted in 2024 alone.
Despite harsh consequences, many combat-weary soldiers consider extreme options to escape. According to intercepted messages provided to Ukraine's I Want To Live project, soldiers deliberately injure themselves to leave battlefields. One frontline soldier known as 'Viktor' reported morale has dropped so low that troops contemplate blowing themselves up with grenades to be hospitalized.
Barbaric Punishment Methods
Those brave enough to disobey orders risk being dumped into 'torture pits' covered with metal grates, doused with water, and beaten for days by ruthless officers. In footage showing soldiers tied to trees in biting cold, desperate pleas for mercy are ignored as commanders scream homophobic slurs and obscenities.
Such violence against allegedly mutinous troops has been commonplace since the war's outbreak, intensifying as Vladimir Putin's demand for fighting men persists. In 2022, former Wagner mercenary Yevgeny Nuzhin was beaten to death with a sledgehammer after defecting to Ukraine, with his execution filmed and circulated on Telegram. Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin coldly responded: 'A dog receives a dog's death.'
Expanding Recruitment Through Prisoners
After 2024 legislative amendments, convicts could have sentences commuted or prosecutions dropped for signing military contracts, expanding Putin's recruitment pool as manpower wanes. Since 2022, approximately 200,000 inmates have been recruited according to the UN. Investigative journalists at Verstka claim that by February 2025, over 750 people had been killed or severely injured by returning combatants.
Blocking Units and Internal Executions
Independent outlet Verstka recently uncovered blocking units stationed behind Russian lines to prevent retreats, with soldiers shot by their own side if they attempt to flee. Witnesses said commanders appointed 'execution shooters' to open fire on refusers, later dumping bodies in shallow graves or rivers and registering them as killed in action.
In some cases, officers allegedly used drones and explosives to 'finish off' wounded or retreating soldiers, ordering drone operators to drop grenades on comrades to disguise killings as battlefield strikes. Others who disobeyed orders were stripped naked and stuffed into pits. 'They're treating us like dogs. They held me in a pit for a week and a half,' one soldier wrote to his mother.
Gladiator Fights and Financial Extortion
A video circulated in May 2025 shows two shirtless men in a pit as an officer says: 'Commander Kama basically said whoever beats the other one to death gets out of the pit.' The men fight as the officer taunts them until one collapses motionless. Verstka verified at least 150 such deaths and identified 101 servicemen accused of murdering, torturing or fatally punishing fellow troops.
Witnesses claimed commanders also ran financial extortion schemes demanding payments from soldiers to avoid suicide missions. Those who couldn't or wouldn't pay are 'zeroed out' - a practice so common it has its own military nickname. Being 'zeroed out' can mean receiving lethal orders for perilous assaults where death is expected, or direct killing by fellow troops on battlefields.
Beating Wounded Soldiers Back to Frontlines
Last year, footage emerged showing Putin's uniformed officers beating wounded soldiers to force them back to frontlines. The video shows a military police officer beating a traumatized troop with a truncheon before tasing him with a stun gun in Russia's Tuva region. Victims faced verbal threats including being stripped and raped. One soldier had his spine broken according to social activist Vitaly Borodin.
Russian authorities only initiated investigations after footage went viral, though complaints of such brutality frequently go unnoticed. Gorkov, who filmed himself handcuffed to a tree, was only released thanks to a relative with security service connections. He hired a lawyer and refuses to return to his unit, saying doing so 'would be like signing my own death warrant.'
'People in wheelchairs are being sent to the front, without arms or legs,' Gorkov told The New York Times. 'I saw it all with my own eyes.' The Kremlin repeatedly denies allegations of indiscipline among Russian troops, insisting such problems are 'rife' within Ukrainian forces instead.
