Ukraine-Russia: Russia should protect captured Ukrainian soldiers from being ‘objects of public curiosity’

Russian authorities should stop broadcasting programs featuring images of and interviews with captured Ukrainian soldiers that expose them to public curiosity, a human rights organisation has warned.

Human Rights Watch said such treatment of prisoners of war, or POWs, violates protections under the Geneva Conventions intended to ensure dignified treatment of captured combatants on all sides.

Russian authorities should stop filming Ukrainian POWs and broadcasting their images, even if they are in situations of relative comfort,” said Aisling Reidy, senior legal adviser at Human Rights Watch. “The obligation under the Geneva Conventions is to protect POWs from being objects of public curiosity, as well as from intimidation or humiliation.”

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It said that on 2 and 4 April, several Russian television stations broadcast reports showing Ukrainian POWs in Russian custody in Sevastopol, including footage of Tatyana Moskalkova, high commissioner for human rights in the Russian Federation, alongside and interacting with the POWs. These reports appeared on the website of Channel One, the main Russian government television station in multiple places as well as the television programming of NTS, a television station in Russia-occupied Crimea. They were also shared on Facebook and Youtube. The purpose of the broadcasts appears to be to demonstrate that Russian authorities are treating POWs well.

A Ukrainian army soldier stands guard at the war damaged Irpinsky Lipky residential complex in Irpin, Ukraine.A Ukrainian army soldier stands guard at the war damaged Irpinsky Lipky residential complex in Irpin, Ukraine.
A Ukrainian army soldier stands guard at the war damaged Irpinsky Lipky residential complex in Irpin, Ukraine.
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Similarly, several videos posted in April to Zvezda, the news website of the Armed Services of the Russian Federation, show Ukrainian POWs variously praising their medical treatment, describing circumstances leading to their capture, and discussing their views about their military service. At least two of these videos appear to have been filmed in areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions occupied by Russia.

A March 26 report by the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine noted the existence of “a large number of videos” showing Ukrainian POWs being insulted and intimidated upon their capture. The mission also said that it had several videos showing “interrogations of POWs immediately after their capture,” carried out either by Russian armed forces or by members of armed groups affiliated with self-proclaimed “republics.” Some of the POWs appeared to have bruises, the UN mission has said.

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