Russian POWs Describe Torture In Russia And Return To Front After Exchange

Russian prisoners of war, who were recaptured, described the abuse and interrogations they endured in Russia following their initial capture.

They shared their stories in an episode on the YouTube channel of the “I Want to Live” project.

For example, one of the soldiers said that he was interrogated with a blowtorch connected to a gas cylinder and that his money was taken from him. He also added that he was treated better in Ukrainian captivity than he was in his home country.

In addition, several Russian soldiers said that, despite promises, they were not allowed to return to their families and were sent back to the front lines.

After the exchange, the Russians are first taken to military unit 61899 in the settlement Mosrentgen, near Moscow. There, they are held under the guard of conscripts in locked barracks for approximately two weeks. During this time, they are interrogated by representatives of the FSB, the prosecutor’s office, the Investigative Committee, and other law enforcement agencies.

“We were told that everything would be fine; we were heading to the 27th Brigade in the village of Mosrentgen, where we’d stay for a couple of weeks, and then representatives from our unit would pick us up. When I arrived in the village of Mosrentgen, I was surprised by where I had ended up; they kept us like monkeys in a locked room,” said one of the prisoners of war.

His unit never came to pick him up, so the soldier was sent to a screening center for mentally unfit personnel, where he was promised that, at most, he would be sent to the rear “to dig trenches.” After undergoing an examination by a psychiatrist, the soldier was taken to occupied Donetsk and then to the front lines, where he was captured again.