By Julian Röpcke and Filipp Piatov
they plunder. you rape. they torture. And they sadistically torment Ukrainian prisoners of war before murdering them.
Russian troops are committing barbaric war crimes in Ukraine. And they are proud of what they do! Soldiers record their deeds in gruesome videos, as recently in the castration clip of a Far Eastern soldier.
In phone calls to their wives, they brag about raping Ukrainian women.
And the Russian Embassy in Britain? Clapping applause, publicly calling for “a humiliating death” for captured fighters of the Azov regiment.
For ex-oligarch and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky (59) it is clear: Barbarism is Putin’s will!
Khodorkovsky to BILD: “The sadism in the video could have been seen as an act of individual criminals, but the Russian embassy’s statement about the excruciating execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war – that’s state policy.”
But how did it come to this?
For the historian and professor at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder, Jan Behrends (52), the reasons lie in Russia’s history. “In Russia there is a cult of the Soviet Union and wartime violence, which Putin continues to fuel. In the meantime, the violent criminals from the army and the secret service rule the state – with Putin at the helm.” This has led to a general brutalization. Not only, but also in the ailing army of the huge country.
According to the historian, the war against Ukraine “radicalized Russia even further. Violence now plays a role similar to that played under Stalin.”
