Since the start of the war, Russia has communicated very little about its losses and even less about the number of prisoners remaining in Ukraine. In its last statement, four months ago, Moscow mentioned 1,351 dead but did not mention prisoners. A hundred families of soldiers accuse the army of doing nothing to recognize the status of these men. They wrote a letter to President Vladimir Putin about it.
This is a case revealed by Svoboda radio, a Russian editorial staff exiled in Ukraine. On its site, it broadcasts several testimonies from relatives of Ukrainian soldiers.
That of Irina Tchistiakova for example. She hasn’t heard from her son for five months: We demand that our relatives be found and added to the list of prisoners. No search is performed as they are simply recorded as missing. Relatives are forced to investigate themselves in order to gather the facts that prove that their son or husband is in prison or dead. »
Anna Danilova first learned of her husband’s death through the Russian army, before a Ukrainian soldier called her to tell her that he was in fact a prisoner. ” The Ukrainian soldier told me that my husband survived, that when they picked up the bodies he was found alive. If it’s a crime to talk about it, I want to be punished, but give me back my husband she begs.
If Anna’s husband was recognized as a prisoner, he would be taken into account in potential exchange negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. The families therefore demand to be received by the Minister of Defence.
They do not, however, call for an end to the war. In the interviews broadcast by Radio Svoboda, one of them even claims to understand the interest of what she calls ” the special operation ” in Ukraine.
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