Russian troops with ‘no fingers’ and hobbling on crutches are being kept in miserable conditions at a military camp in Siberia – before being shipped off to fight again in Ukraine
Video appears to show prisoners handcuffed at a Russian military camp
Shocking footage shows the inside of a brutal Russian ‘gulag’ where disabled and elderly troops are ‘chained up like slaves’ before Putin sends them off to the frontline.
It’s the first time the outside world has been seen behind the gates of the hellish military camp, which is packed with 1,000-plus men and located in the Yurga, Kemerovo region of Siberia. The freezing cold penal colony is where thousands of fighters are being processed before they are sent to fight, despite being located some 2,200 miles from the conflict zone in Ukraine.
Many are thought to be those who had previously refused to serve, or had sustained injuries earlier in the war. One source told the ASTRA independent media outlet that those held in the camp included people “without fingers”, elderly men, and soldiers “on crutches”, who are being kept in appalling conditions and regularly beaten.
Describing how the men are carted around like livestock, they said: “They will transport us under escort, like cattle. We have to insulate the wagons at our own expense, they said. Just like in 1945, they transported prisoners – just like that. No way out… Some already left in November. There was the first dispatch to Kursk, some have already been killed.”
A serviceman’s wife meanwhile said: “Last week, the military police beat up a young lad, five against one, thinking they’re tough”. Another source said: “A comrade from the unit was turned in. The military police took him, pepper-sprayed his face, and beat him.”
Some are held in tents, and while offenders are kept in a bunker and a concrete floor “without food or water”. A soldier said: “They put 30 people per 10 square metres [107 square feet] and let them go to the toilet once a day.… People pee into bottles, and sometimes under themselves.”
Another source said: “The Inquisition used to burn dissidents at the stake, and now they are taken to [the front]. That is why people are fleeing, because if it is like that in Russia, then [at the front] everything is completely [****ed up]. They tell us directly that we are [facing the end], and many of those from this unit are already [missing in action].”
One man had been sent away from the front due to a medical condition and had paperwork from doctors. But a colonel at the Yurga camp sent him to the training ground, where he had an epileptic fit and died.
Others have dropped as much as two stone while being starved in training. A wife said: “My husband lost 15 kilograms. They are fed once a day. You can’t say anything against them, because you automatically become [a target for attack]. I fear for his life. They are all beaten and battered there. They are not against serving [in the war], but as people. And they are treated there worse than dogs.”
A separate video shows soldiers on crutches being forced back to the frontline. Another clip reportedly shows handcuffed Russian soldiers, likely those who had refused to serve, being driven to one of the most dangerous parts of the frontline.
