Moscow has repeatedly said that Ukrainian nationalists brutally beat Russian artillerymen and intelligence officers. In March, a footage of what is believed to be Russian soldiers being shot in the legs appeared on the Internet. The incident reportedly occurred at one of the Ukrainian military bases in the Kharkov region. The head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin ordered investigations into all the circumstances of brutal treatment of Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
"Countries of the so-called 'civilized West', the United Nations, the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe], the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international human rights organizations have so far not reacted to the statements of the Russian side about horrendous torture and atrocities against Russian prisoners of war, showing complete indifference to the humanitarian issues raised by Russia," Mizintsev said.
In this regard, he also recalled that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called for an investigation into all reports of war crimes in Ukraine during a press conference that took place in Brussels on Thursday, but "hypocritically refused to comment on the video footage showing murders of Russian prisoners of war by Ukrainian nationalists," because he allegedly "does not know anything specific about this."
On February 24, Russia began a special operation to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine, responding to calls for help from the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics in countering the aggression of Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defense Ministry said the special operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only and the civilian population is not in danger.