WSJ: Russian forces ordered to torture Ukrainian prisoners of war after full-scale invasion

In the early days of Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian prison administrations were ordered to torture captured Ukrainian soldiers.

This is reported by the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, citing three former employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia (FPSR).

The newspaper writes that at the beginning of the invasion, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region Igor Potapenko

told the agency’s elite unit — presumably the FSVP special forces — “to be cruel and not to spare the prisoners”. He noted that violence against Ukrainian prisoners would not be limited, and body cameras from the uniforms of security officers, which could record torture, would be removed.

In addition, at that time, rotation was introduced for the FPSR employees who were supposed to monitor the prisoners. It was assumed that the formed teams would stay in one prison for no more than a month. Other units throughout Russia — from Buryatia, Moscow, Pskov, and other regions — received similar instructions.

As a result, the FPSR special unit controlled the prison staff on the ground. The instructions that Potapenko gave in March 2022 became a carte blanche for violence. This marked the beginning of almost three years of merciless and brutal torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian holds, writes WSJ. Guards beat prisoners with electric shocks on the genitals, severely beat them and denied them medical treatment in order to provoke amputations. The systematic torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war was confirmed by the United Nations.

The newspaperʼs publication is based on the words of three former Russian prison workers. Two of them are from the special forces of the Federal Security Service, one is a prison doctor. They entered the witness protection program after giving testimony to investigators of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The security forces said that they resigned from the prison service before they were forced to torture Ukrainian prisoners, but maintained contact with colleagues in the prison system. WSJ notes that the Russiansʼ stories are supported by documents obtained, interviews with Ukrainian prisoners and the testimony of a person who helped them escape.

According to the WSJ, the FPSR special forces do not work in specific prisons on a permanent basis. They function as a “Praetorian Guard”

that is called in to suppress riots, conduct searches, and deal with the most dangerous prisoners. When dealing with Ukrainian prisoners of war, these special forces acted in coordination with local jailers, controlling their actions. One former security official admitted that after the full-scale invasion, the abuse of Ukrainians reached a “new level” — the Russians were convinced that their leadership approved of the violence.

While on duty, Russian prison guards wore balaclavas at all times. This, along with monthly rotations, was supposed to ensure that prisoners would not be able to recognize their guards. The Russians wanted to use torture to break the will of Ukrainians to fight: they would extract confessions of “war crimes” or important information, because after torture it was more difficult for prisoners to resist.

According to former FPSR employees, Russians used stun guns so often, especially in showers, that the batteries discharged too quickly.

A doctor who worked in the FPSR system in the Voronezh region said that guards beat Ukrainian prisoners until the rubber batons broke. When the batons became unusable, guards used insulated boiler pipes. Prisoners were beaten in the same place every day, preventing their wounds from healing. As a result, infections developed, blood poisoning occurred, and muscles began to rot. One of the prisoners died of sepsis

, claims a former FPSR employee.

Ukrainian Pavlo Afisov, who was captured in Mariupol in the early months of the full-scale invasion, became one of the first Ukrainian prisoners taken to Russia. He was released from captivity in October 2024. During his imprisonment, he was constantly transferred from one colony to another.

According to Afisov, the most brutal beatings occurred during his transfer to new prisons. When he was brought to the Tver region, the Russians took him to a medical room and ordered him to undress. They repeatedly shocked him with an electric shock while he shaved his head and beard. After that, the Russians forced the man to shout “Glory to Russia! Glory to the special forces!” and then to walk naked to the other end of the room and sing the anthems of Russia and the USSR. When Afisov replied that he did not know the words, the guards beat him again with batons and fists. After his return from captivity, Afisov was afraid to sleep for several days — he thought that it was all just a dream and that when he woke up, he would find himself in a Russian prison again.

Another Ukrainian prisoner of war Andriy Yehorov learned after his release that he had five broken vertebrae. He recalled how in the Bryansk region Russian prison guards forced him to run a hundred meters down a corridor, holding a mattress over his head. Guards lined up on either side and beat the prisoners in the ribs. When they reached the end of the corridor, the prisoners had to do push-ups and squats, and the guards beat them every time they lifted.

“They were enjoying it, laughing among themselves while we screamed in pain,” Yehorov recalls.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitrii Peskov said that Russian and Ukrainian ombudsmen, who deal with issues related to the treatment of prisoners, are in contact and that exchanges are ongoing. He said that the accusations of harsh conditions in Russian prisons are “unfounded”. Neither Russia’s human rights commission nor the Russian presidential human rights commission responded to a request for comment from the WSJ.

• According to the UN, more than 95% of Ukrainian servicemen released from Russian captivity were tortured or suffered the consequences of other violations of International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Conventions.

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