Putin Claims Russians and Ukrainians One People But Russian Jailors Don’t Treat Them the Same, Torturing Ukrainians Far More Often than Russians, Report Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 6 – One of the constant refrains of Vladimir Putin is that Ukrainians and Russians are one people who were illegitimately divided by Lenin and the Soviets; but in fact, his own regime treats members of these two nations very differently in jail, torturing the former for things they don’t torture Russian prisoners.

            The Dokha portal has received letters from Russian prisoners calling attention to this difference, one that is often ignored because Russian prison officials are so brutal to almost everyone except those with ties to the regime that such differences are generally ignored (doxa.team/articles/pytki-plennyh).

            But the information these letters and this site provide show that Russian jailors confirm what Putin and his minions deny: They treat ethnic Ukrainians differently and worse in Russian jails, simultaneously confirming the differences between the two nations and ensuring that those differences will increase in importance for both groups.

            Of course, for obvious reasons, the Russian authorities do not want this information widely broadcast lest it give Ukrainians another reason for continuing to fight Russian aggression and for not emigrating to the Russian Federation or for remaining loyal to Moscow if they are already there either as a result of the war or because of shifts in the past.