Several deserters from Putin’s war in Ukraine have been burned alive at one of Russia’s notorious ‘torture jails’, where so-called ‘refuseniks’ are regularly beaten
Russian deserters from the Ukraine war were burned alive in Vladimir Putin’s infamous “torture jail”.
Five so-called ‘refuseniks’ were killed as a fire ripped through the army jail where they were being held in Yakutsk, the world’s coldest city. Reports suggest seven more were injured.
The fire broke out at around 2am with seven people admitted to hospital, officials said, although the Russian defence ministry has not said what caused the fire. The notorious facility has been the target of numerous allegations of torture after footage from the grim prison was leaked in May.
At the time of the blaze the air temperature in Yakutsk was a bone-chilling -36C. Among those being held at the detention centre were war-wounded soldiers who, after medical treatment, refused to go back to Putin’s frontline in Ukraine.
“The fire broke out in a detention facility for servicemen who were absent without official leave from their military units,” said the military commissar in Russia’s largest region, Yakutia.
“Seven people were admitted to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and are now undergoing treatment. Five people died, and their identities are yet to be established.”
Captives at the jail were regularly beaten and banned from seeing family members. Some were refused access to toilets while inmates were forced to listen to high volume patriotic songs, according to the Free Yakutia Foundation.
It was claimed pro-Putin pop star Shaman’s song ‘I am Russian’ was played around the clock. Meanwhile leaked voice recordings have revealed the chilling scale of North Korean losses Ukraine, with “several hundred” troops reportedly killed or wounded on the frontline in Kursk.
The audio messages, allegedly intercepted by Ukraine’s Security Service, are between a nurse in a Russian hospital and her husband, who is fighting in Kharkiv. During the call, the woman makes reference to hundreds of injured or killed soldiers filling Moscow’s hospitals.
The woman says: “Yesterday there was a train with about 100 people. Today, 120 others, making 200. How many more are there? God only knows.” She then complains that the language barrier between North Korean troops and Russian medics causes further problems.
