– Ukrainian prisoners are shot, and Putin's opponents are imprisoned in inhumane conditions and tortured in Russia. The prison system has not changed much since Stalin's times, says oppositionist Ilya Yashin. Recently he was exchanged for spies and murderers in the employ of the Russian services.
On the front in eastern Ukraine, such crimes occur every few days: Ukrainian soldiers surrender, and a moment later the Russians shoot them.
– After we took them prisoner, the commander contacted his superiors. He was told that he had no time to take care of the prisoners. And he was ordered to shoot them. And our group did it, testifies the Russian prisoner.
The Ukrainian authorities say there are 93 such documented cases. Nothing is known about many of them.
– This is an army of mercenaries who kill for money. They have no ideology, they don't care about any “Russian peace”, about our lands, as Putin says. They only have money in their heads and want to be important. They get a rifle in their hands and become masters of life and death – comments Ilya Yashin, a Russian oppositionist.
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Ilya Yashin was sentenced by the Putin regime to eight and a half years in prison for telling the truth, including about Russian crimes in Bucha. He spent over two years behind bars. He was released two months ago along with American journalist Evan Gershkovitch and many other political prisoners. In return, the West had to release a group of Putin spies and paid assassins.
– The prison system that exists in Russia has practically not changed since the times of Stalin's gulag. It was a shocking discovery for me when it turned out that what I had read in my youth in the books of Solzhenitsyn and Evgenia Ginzburg about Stalinist times still exists today, admits Ilya Yashin.
Absolute censorship
In Russia, a political verdict is passed almost every day, and the scale of repression is gigantic.
– There are over 1,300 political prisoners in prison. Many are tortured or the conditions in which they are held amount to torture, says Mariana Kacarova, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Russia.
– Last week, an ordinary Moscow nurse was sentenced for writing a few words on social media criticizing the war. Her page was followed by 15 people. She got eight years. In the cell next to me in the detention center was a policeman whose father lives in Bucza. He spoke to him on the phone and strongly condemned the massacre. In a private conversation, but his phone was tapped. He got seven years, says Ilia Jashin.
Putin's system of repression is aimed at intimidating those who are critical of him.
– I'll come back as soon as I have the opportunity. I would go now, but they said that this could prevent further exchanges of Russian political prisoners, and there are people in prison there who need to be saved as soon as possible, replies Ilya Yashin when asked whether he will return to Russia.
The West is said to be negotiating the release of more prisoners, while Putin is gathering more hostages. On October 7, a 72-year-old US citizen was sentenced to seven years in prison because, according to Russians, he was a mercenary in the Ukrainian army. 10 years ago he settled in eastern Ukraine with his Ukrainian wife. To this day, it is not known how he was arrested.
The entire conversation with Ilya Yashin will be available in the “Wind from the East” program on TVN24 GO.
Main photo source: TVN24