Journalists of the Schemes project received access to correspondence from sources in the Ukrainian military of Russian Major General Roman Demurchiev. In it, he complains about the state of affairs in the Russian army, the higher command, and the special services, and also shares photos and videos of torture and murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Putin awarded the rank of Major General to Demurchiev in 2023, and the following year, according to correspondence, he was appointed deputy commander of the 20th Army of the Russian Federation.
"Fuck, they appointed the deputy commander. The commander is a fucking idiot, an asshole, heʼs afraid for himself. He sent all the deputies — us, to the frontline, bastard," says Demurchiev in one of the voiceovers.
Currently, the 49-year-old native of Kazan, in his capacity as deputy commander of the 20th Combined Arms Army as part of the "West" group of the Russian Armed Forces, helps lead the troops subordinate to the army, which are stationed, in particular, in the Lyman direction in Ukraine.
Criticism of the Russian army
In May 2024, the Russian boasts in his messages about his level of awareness of internal processes in the Russian army. Judging by the mass of correspondence, he does indeed know a lot about the Russian military establishment from the inside and often characterizes it negatively.
"There are only suckers around, but everyone gets orders. I want to get out of this finished war as soon as possible. Liars, fuckers, and cowards," Demurchiev told an interlocutor, signed as "Grek". Journalists determined that this was an FSB military counterintelligence officer named Roman.
Demurchiev complains that he has no pleasure in war, calling the Marines and the paratroopers "cock offices".
This is how he assesses the Russian special services: "Our FSB is a fucking office. What the hell is it even doing for protection? They can only monitor who is doing what. Bastards, Iʼm so angry on them."
And this is what he said about intelligence: "The other GRU commanders are mice, theyʼre fucked up."
Roman Demurchiev also criticizes other commanders, including the commander of the Airborne Forces Mikhail Teplinsky, the commander of the 810th Marine Brigade Oleg Vlasov, and Colonel General Andrey Serdyukov, who became the chief of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Joint Staff in 2023.
Torture and murder of Ukrainian prisoners
A separate topic in the Russian generalʼs correspondence is the torture and murder of Ukrainian prisoners. In particular, journalists recorded mentions of the murder of a serviceman captured in the Zaporizhia region.
"A prisoner was taken yesterday at Novoprokopivka and Verbove, some kind of boorish ʼUkropʼ, about 30 years old, with a radio station, a commander of a group, a campaign, an assault. Well, he spoke reluctantly, and well, his fucking soldiers come in the trench," the general wrote to the Efes newspaper "Grek". Due to a lack of information, they were unable to identify the Ukrainian soldier.
Schemes also found a video from a Russian thermal imaging copter, filmed in December 2024 in the Makiivka area. The footage shows Ukrainian fighters who surrendered and stand with their hands raised. At the same time, the Russian military decided to "finish" them off with sapper shovels.
In subsequent correspondence, Demurchiev praises the fighters for such actions and reports this to his command, emphasizing that the prisoners were executed.
Schemes identified the unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine whose captured soldiers were killed by Russian soldiers. They confirmed the fact of the massacre of the prisoners and added: according to their intelligence, these were soldiers of the "Black Mamba" unit of the 252nd Motorized Rifle Regiment, part of the 3rd Motorized Rifle Division of the 20th Army of Russia.
Roman Demurchiev also regularly brags about cases of torture of Ukrainian prisoners in his correspondence. In particular, he sent photos of severed human ears hanging on a string to both his army comrades and his wife.
СХЕМИ / Радіо свобода
The general also offered captured soldiers as "gifts": "I have a prisoner, I can give him to you. He is sitting there, damn, in a pit. What should I do with him — eliminate him or give him to you?" Demurchiev asked "Grek".
After some thought, "Grek" agrees to take the prisoner along with the interrogation protocol, but Demurchiev clarifies: "But we didnʼt have time to just torture him, so the information is not accurate, but 90% true. But you have time, damn it, you can connect various tools that force a person to tell the truth."
Thanks to the prisonerʼs photo in the chats, Schemes managed to identify him — he is a 42-year-old volunteer from Zaporizhzhia. The soldier spent more than a year and a half in captivity — in particular, he was held in a pre-trial detention center in Altai. In the summer of 2025, he was exchanged and returned home.
Schemes called Demurchiev personally. After he heard the first question about alleged war crimes by his servicemen, the Russian general hung up. He did not answer further calls and blocked the ability to call him.
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