Captured Russian soldiers fear firing squad on return

RUSSIAN soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces have said they are “dead” if they return home, where they will be regarded as failures and killed.

The troops, who have been filmed in breach of the Geneva Convention, have begged not to be sent back to Russia, fearing they will be shot by their own side.

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv, a soldier from the 2nd Motor Rifle Division said: “In Russia, we are already considered dead. I was given the opportunity to call my parents and they told me that a funeral for me had already been arranged.

“If we are exchanged, then we will be shot by our own people.”

Ukraine has been using captured soldiers as part of its campaign to undermine the morale of the Russian army and also to show Russians that their military has bombed Russian-speaking cities and killed civilians since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion on Feb 24.

The Kremlin has banned descriptions of the invasion as a “war” and instead framed it as a “special operation” to save the pro-russian separatists in Ukraine from Nazis. It has also threatened to sentence anybody who criticises the war to 15 years in prison.

Part of the Ukrainian strategy has been to treat Russian soldiers with relative kindness to contrast how the Russian army’s officers treat their own men.

Most of the captives, many of whom claim they are conscripts, said that they had no idea they were going to war. This went against the Kremlin’s insistence,

‘In Russia, we are already considered dead … If we are exchanged, then we will be shot by our own people’

until Wednesday evening, that it had only deployed professional soldiers.

Yesterday, after sustained pressure, Russia’s defence ministry admitted that it had used conscripts in Ukraine.

While the tactic of filming demoralised Russian conscripts has been praised as effective, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the tactic broke the Geneva Convention.

“They must be treated with dignity, and not exposed to public curiosity – like circulating images on social media,” it said in a statement.