Russian Officers in Ukraine Killing Their Own Soldiers and Moscow is Suppressing Investigations into These Crimes

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 29 – In another sign of the deteriorating conditions in Putin’s invasion force in Ukraine, the independent Vyorstka news agency has documented 79 cases in which officers have killed their subordinates for disobedience or refusal to follow orders to go into battle.

            Not surprisingly, Moscow is trying to cover this up. Defense ministry prosecutors told Vyorstka that there is currently an informal ban on investigating crimes like these conducted by officers in Russian military units in Ukraine (verstka.media/im-pohuj-kogo-obnulyat-kak-kaznyat-v-rossijskoj-armii).

            This problem is far greater than the independent news agency has been able to document so far. It reports that a source in the military prosecutors’ office says that that body has received “more than 12,000” reports of killings by officers of those under their command or by Russian soldiers against other soldiers.

            One sign of just how widespread this phenomenon has become is that a new slang term for officers killing soldiers has emerged in Russia. It is “zeroing out,” which refers to such killings either by shooting, torture, or the sending of men whom the officers are displeased with into the most dangerous portions of the front without sufficient weaponry.

            Another is that other independent Russian news agencies are reporting on this phenomenon as well. Earlier this month, the Vot Tak agency published a list of 50 Russian servicemen in Ukraine who have been killed on way or another on orders from their commanders (vot-tak.tv/89209103/armija-prestupnikov).