MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has opened an investigation after video footage was posted on social media showing what appears to be a military policeman brutally beating contract soldiers heading to Ukraine with a baton and using stun guns on them.
The video clips show a man wearing a Russian military police uniform walking towards one of the soldiers, hitting him on the ground with a baton while shouting insults at him and shocking him with an electric shock gun.
Another soldier carrying a walking stick is then shown being beaten and tased with a pistol while the man wearing a military police uniform asks them to take off their clothes.
The time on the video, which was distributed by Russian war correspondents on Telegram, is January 16, and local authorities said the events took place in a unit in Kyzyl in the Tuva region of southern Siberia.
It is not clear what prompted the soldiers to carry out such beatings. Russian war correspondents said that the injured soldiers were discharged from the hospital and returned to the front lines in Ukraine.
The Tuva Regional Government said in a statement on its website that an investigation had been opened after the videos appeared.
“In one of them, on January 16, 2025, cases of ill-treatment of contract soldiers of Military Unit No. 55115 were recorded, including beatings and use of electroshock guns before they were sent to the SVO,” Tuva government. He said.
“SVO” is the abbreviation Russia uses to describe what it officially calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
He added: “The perpetrators have been identified and are being investigated in advance. The circumstances of the incident will be assessed in accordance with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and the perpetrators will be punished.” The regional government said.
The Ministry of Defense did not respond to a request for comment.
