More sickening brutality by the Russian army has been revealed, with new footage showing two terrified soldiers ordered to fight in the snow for their commander’s entertainment near the frontline.
The two men, belonging to ethnic minority groups in Yakutia, Siberia and North Ossetia in the Causcaus, are racially abused by their commander while forced to fight in sub-zero temperatures.
The loser is warned he will be ‘tied to a tree’ as punishment.
The foul-mouthed Russian commander is heard shouting racist phrases as he becomes furious that he loses a bet as one man falls into the snow.
The soldier cowers as the other man repeatedly kicks and punches him.
The commander continues shouting: ‘Fight, or I’ll start beating you myself. I lost my bet because of you. Everyone bet on you, for ****’s sake.’
The other fighter says: ‘Commander, is that enough? Or should I keep beating him?’
The commander says: ‘He’s not getting up. I think this is turning into some kind of ****ing bull****. He needs to get up. Let’s tie him to a tree now.’
Footage showed two terrified troops ordered to fight in the snow for their commander’s entertainment
The loser of the sadistic fight is warned he will be ‘tied to a tree’ as punishment
The soldier in the video cowers as the other man repeatedly kicks and punches him
Ukrainian war reporter Denis Kazansky said: ‘A Russian military officer forces representatives of small ethnic groups to fight each other.
‘The winner will not be punished. A classic of the Russian world. Sadism, chauvinism, senseless violence.’
This video is the latest in a series of disturbing footage spread online showing Russian superiors torturing their soldiers.
One video from January of this year showed a fighter taped upside down to a tree in the biting cold near the frontline.
Another – also tethered to a tree – was forced to eat snow by his superior officer.
The frightened and shaking men wore only underwear after being stripped of their winter uniforms.
Their commander is heard barking: ‘[They] wanted to **** off from their positions, not follow orders.’
Forcing snow into the mouth of the refusenik, the raging officer says: ‘Eat, you ****ing *****.’
In other videos that have surfaced men are beaten with rifle butts for retreating, denied food and endlessly threatened with execution.
In one case, a deserter is forced to dig his own grave before being ‘reprieved’ and sent back to the line in a cruel form of psychological torture.
In another, a unit commander shoots over the heads of his own men to drive them out of a trench and into oncoming enemy fire.
In units around Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, soldiers who refused to advance have been chained to poles and radiators, or thrown into open pits in the ground and left for days without food in the snow.
Some were kept under the observation of drones – a menacing presence hovering above, just waiting for the soldier to try to flee, at which point he would likely be killed.
One Telegram video showed emaciated men crouching in a dark pit after being starved and beaten for refusing orders
Men who refuse to participate or who flee face horrific torture and abuse from their commanders
In a BBC documentary released last month, several soldiers recounted the severe torture troops endured for refusing to follow orders.
The abuse is filmed and put on social media platforms such as Telegram for the world to see.
One Telegram video displayed in the film showed emaciated men crouching in a dark pit after being starved and beaten for refusing orders.
A man in the video is heard saying: ‘Are you hungry? Let’s feed the animals,’ and ‘Do you want a cookie’ as one soldier begs and pleads before some scraps of food are thrown into the pit.
One former soldier speaking in the film called The Zero Line: Inside Russia ‘s War, said he was tied to a tree, urinated on and beaten, before a gun was put to his head.
Another showed a photo taken after he was tortured by commanders. Two of his front teeth were knocked out.
Many of the men are punished with these sadistic methods after fleeing the front line where commanders send troops into ‘meat storm’ battle missions unarmed.
These ‘meat storms’ men are forced to partake in are so deadly they are likened to suicide missions.
Speaking in the film, one former soldier said: ‘I saw them [commanders] send wave after wave, throwing men like meat at the Ukrainians, so they run out of ammo and drones and another wave can reach their objective.’
He explained that commanders would start out by sending three men, and when that didn’t work they would send up to 50 people.
He said: ‘We had 200 dead in three days. On our regiment’s first meat storm they broke us, our regiment was destroyed in just three days.’
The soldiers also recounted how they saw fellow troops killed on the spot for refusing orders.
One ex-soldier said he saw the bodies of 20 men lying in a pit after being shot, also known as being ‘zeroed’ in military slang for executing ones own troops.
This comes as Western officials say that Russia is losing more troops than it can recruit, with the forces suffering nearly 40,000 casualties every month.
Despite the devastatingly high casualty count, Russia is only recruiting up to 35,000 troops every month, officials added.
During the last four years, Putin’s forces have seen 1.25million of its soldiers killed or injured on the front lines – more than the total sustained by the US during the whole of WW2.