The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly depicted captured Russian soldiers in videos. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), this is a breach of international law.
Last Friday, the Ukrainian security services (SBU) filmed and released a video showing ten young Russian soldiers under the neon lights of a press room in kyiv.
Arrived blindfolded at the premises of the Ukrainian news agency Interfax, they had to watch videos showing bombings. “Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Cherniguiv, look at what your army is doing,” a Ukrainian officer can be heard telling them.
The young soldiers then declined their identity in front of the cameras and explained that they had volunteered to denounce the actions of Russia. Appearing to recite a text, they claimed to be treated well and asked Russians not to believe “the lies” of President Vladimir Putin.
contrary to the Geneva Convention
This is the second time in a week that the SBU has engaged in this type of staging.
Guarantor of the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) recalled that “prisoners of war and detained civilians must be treated with dignity and protected at all times against ill-treatment and exposure to public curiosity, including images circulating publicly on social media”.
Since the start of the invasion, the Ukrainian army has been communicating about the good treatment given to Russian prisoners, by allowing the mothers of Russian soldiers to pick up their children and by creating a website allowing them to know if their son has been killed. .
“Unlike Putin’s fascists, we Ukrainians do not wage war against mothers and their captured children,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
According to the Ukrainian general staff, 200 Russian prisoners of war have been captured since February 24. The Russian Defense Ministry, for its part, reports 572 Ukrainian prisoners of war. Figures that are difficult to verify, underlines the ICRC.
