Execution as a method of terror: why the Russian military imitates the practice of ISIS

The Russian military brutally executed a Ukrainian prisoner, cutting off his head with a knife. The video of the murder appeared on the Internet in the evening of April 11, and it began to be actively distributed by pro-Kremlin Telegram channels and public in social networks, writes obozrevatel.com.

Illustrative photo

On the same day, the Russian publication MILITARY Z published a photo of a head impaled, claiming that it was the "remains of a soldier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces." Find out the circumstances of the shooting of the video and photo, as well as establish a genuine connection between them, so far it has not been possible.

The Security Service of Ukraine has started an investigation into this war crime. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, emphasized that this case is "not a coincidence, not an episode."

"We are not going to forget anything and forgive the killers. Legal responsibility will be for everything. We need to defeat terror," the head of state said.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Security explains why these videos appear and what they testify to.

War crimes are commonplace for the Russian military

This is far from the first case of inhuman cruelty by Russian military and paramilitary formations that has become public knowledge. Ukrainian law enforcement officers, journalists and human rights defenders have been receiving evidence of the murders, torture and rape of civilian hostages and prisoners of war since 2014 — since the beginning of the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine, which led to the occupation of Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The first victim of the Russian aggression against Ukraine was Reshat Ametov, a Crimean Tatar who protested against the Russian occupation of the peninsula.

On March 3, he was abducted by militants of the Crimean self-defense paramilitary group headed by retired Russian army officer Yevgeny Skrypnyk. The killers gouged out Reshata Ametov's eyes, broke his ribs, and left numerous wounds and burns on his body.

The occupiers amputated the right hand of a soldier of the 24th battalion of territorial defense "Aidar" Vasiliy Pelish because of a tattoo with the Ukrainian coat of arms - the Trident.

Survivors of captivity have repeatedly testified that such torture as gouging out eyes or cutting off limbs was common practice for the Russian occupiers.

The full-scale Russian invasion that began on February 24, 2022 is accompanied by mass war crimes. In the occupied territories, the Russians interrogated, raped and killed both captured military and civilian hostages. Only in the Kharkiv region, after the expulsion of the Russian invaders, Ukrainian law enforcement officers found 25 prisons — specially equipped places for torture.

As of mid-March, Ukrainian law enforcement officers have documented more than 71 war criminals, in particular, more than 150 cases of sexual violence against women, children, and men. But the real number of rape victims is much higher: the documentation and investigation of this type of crime is difficult both because of the killing of some of the victims by the occupiers and because of the psychological trauma of the survivors.

Why do videos of executions and torture appear?

Not every crime is documented by Russians on their own by filming it on video. But it can be said that the practice is quite widespread.

In March, a video was published of the execution by the Russians of a prisoner of the Ukrainian military, Alexander Macievsky, whose last words were "Glory to Ukraine!".

In July 2022, two parts of a video of the torture and murder of a prisoner whose genitals were cut off with a clerical knife were leaked online. OSINT-investigators Bellingcat established that the crime was committed on the territory of a sanatorium in the Luhansk region by a native of the Republic of Tyva, Ochur-Suge Mongush, and other militants of the Kadyrov battalion of the Russian Guard "Akhmat".

The publication of bloody videos is carried out not only with the aim of lowering the morale of the Ukrainian military and demoralizing the civilian population.

Russia is provoking Ukrainian soldiers to make similar criminal concessions as revenge. Thus, it strives to reflect the desire of its military to surrender to Ukrainian captivity, to increase the degree of mutual hatred at the front (and with it the motivation of those who are forcibly mobilized), and to obtain at its disposal evidence of "Ukrainian atrocities", which can then be reproduced for propaganda purposes.

There are reasons to believe that the creation of such content is also an instrument of "binding blood" of the Russian armed forces. The camera encourages newcomers to commit atrocities. After this is done, these people understand that there is no "way back" for them, and desertion, surrendering prisoners, or other attempts to avoid participating in hostilities will result in inevitable retribution.

Telegram channel "DSHRG Rusych" accompanied the treasury video with the comment: "you will be surprised how many more such videos will be released."

This is another proof that torture and execution of prisoners is a systematic Russian practice.

The mentioned source is the official communication channel of the sabotage and intelligence assault group "Rusych". The founder and commander of this unit, Alexey Milchakov, does not hide his neo-Nazi views and is actually involved in the creation of bloody content. In 2011, Milchakov published on social networks a photo of the murder of a puppy, whose head he cut off. The Russian police even opened a criminal case on this fact.

But neither problems with the law nor frank propaganda of Nazism prevented Milchakov from serving in the elite part of the Russian Armed Forces — the 76th Airborne Division stationed in Pskov. In 2014, he went to Donbass as a "volunteer vacationer". Among the "feats" recorded by Mylchaks at that time was the execution of wounded Ukrainian soldiers who were ambushed in the Luhansk region on September 5, 2014, and the mockery of their bodies.

After his participation in the war in eastern Ukraine in 2014, Milchakov became a prominent media figure in Russia, a guest on television programs, and an activist of the so-called "Union of Volunteers of Donbass". He repeatedly met and took pictures with Russian politicians, for example, with the then assistant of Putin, Vladislav Surkov.

Conclusions

• The behavior of the Russian military is no different from the methods of ISIS terrorists.
• There are outright sadists in the ranks of the Russian army, the commanders know about their crimes, but Russian justice has not yet held anyone publicly accountable.
• Torture and executions by the occupiers of Ukrainian citizens are not isolated excesses, but a practice of genocidal war sanctioned at the highest level. Videos of torture and executions are used by Russian propaganda as part of informational and psychological operations.
• The crimes of Russian soldiers on a personal level are a continuation of the terrorist methods of war of the Russian command with rocket attacks on residential buildings and objects of critical infrastructure.
• The international community has every reason to recognize Russia as a terrorist state or a state sponsor of terrorism.
• Terrorist actions committed by the Russian state and its military are incompatible with the presence of the Russian Federation among the permanent members of the UN Security Council.
• Any initiative to "freeze" the conflict is a betrayal of millions of Ukrainians under occupation who remain alone with sadists and murderers.
• Only the defeat of the Russian Federation can stop terror and aggressive crimes. For this, Ukraine needs military assistance.

Read also on Newsky "The G7 countries will strengthen control over compliance with anti-Russian sanctions" and look at Boring Pence YouTube channel.

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