In the first weeks after the start of Russia's full -scale invasion of Russia, Russian prison authorities lifted all restrictions on the use of violence to prisoners of war, which laid the foundation for many years of torture of Ukrainian citizens in prisons in the country. .

According to the publication, in March 2022, shortly after the start of the war, Major General Igor Potapenko, chief of prisons of St. Petersburg, sent a letter to the special forces of the penitentiary service, which were responsible for the reception of prisoners from the front.

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He canceled all existing rules, including a ban on the use of violence, and gave the order not to use cameras to fix security actions that were mandatory in other Russian institutions.

Similar instructions were sent to other regions of the country, including Buryatia, Moscow and Pskovyu. . . . . .

One of the first prisoners was Pavel Afisov, who was captured in Mariupol at the beginning of the war. .

When Afisov went to prison of the Tver region, the guards forced him to undress and hit him several times with a stamper shocker. . .

According to human rights activists and former guards, such cruelty aimed to break the will of prisoners and force them to pass information faster.

“These torture destroy any ability to resist or fight for freedom, even if they are ever exchanged,” said Vladimir Osechkin, head of the Russian human rights organization Gulagu. Net.

Recall, due to the rocket blow of the Russian Federation, part of the Poltava region without gas supply. .