A Russian soldier captured by Ukrainians said in a newly released video that conscript officers in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s army are “encouraging” people to fight in the war by threatening them with false accusations.

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Ukraine had earlier released videos of Russian prisoners of war talking to their Ukrainian jailers.

Watch the video: Putin breaks the silence

Warning

Videos usually paint a negative picture of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, such as a clip from June shared by the Ukrainian security services, in which two Russian servicemen describe how military forces from their country fire on their troops as they withdraw, he wrote. Newsweek.

The video of the Russian soldier describing threats to enlisted officers, posted on Monday by Col. Gen. Oleksandr Sersky, the commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, has not been independently verified.

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And the Ukrainian media Ukrinform translated the soldier’s words into English.

According to Ukrinform, the prisoner said he was given an ultimatum: either serve in the Russian armed forces to fight in Ukraine, or go to prison for the drugs that will be implanted in his body.

The soldier is said to have said that such threats from enlisted officers are common in Russia.

recruit

The soldier is described as a 32-year-old man from Kalmykia, Russia. Before becoming a soldier in the army, he was serving a sentence in a penal colony.

When he was released, he was ordered to supervise the federal prison system, where he allegedly met with military recruiting officers.

On 13 July, he avoided the threat of false drug charges by signing a contract to enlist in the armed forces. He says he was promised that his criminal record would be erased and that he would receive 200,000 rubles (more than NOK 22,336).

Instead, he says, he received only 27,500 rubles (just over NOK 3,000).