GENEVA: A UN expert monitoring human rights in Russia said Monday that “repression is escalating,” targeting civilians, journalists and even Ukrainian prisoners of war in an attempt to silence dissent and opposition to the war in Ukraine.
Mariana Katzarova, the UN special rapporteur focusing on human rights in Russia, presented her latest report that said Russian authorities have stepped up their use of “criminal prosecution, long-term imprisonment, torture and ill-treatment” to quell opposition to the war ordered by President Vladimir Putin.
“The repression is escalating ... and becoming massive,” Katzarova told journalists before presenting the report to the Human Rights Council, which created her post after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“The masterminds of this repression are employing new elaborate tools against a total impunity for their actions: Torture is also part of this equation, as a tool,” she said.
Her report said that over the one year covered, starting in mid-2024, the number of prosecutions increased, “with at least 3,905 individuals convicted on administrative or criminal charges for peaceful dissent.”
Most recently, Katzarova noted that through July, more than 150 children aged 14 to 17 were added to the federal list of “extremists” and “terrorists,” she reported, adding that some were accused of treason and subjected to torture to extract confessions.
By mid-July, a total of 1,040 individuals and organizations — nearly one-quarter of them journalists — had been designated as “foreign agents,” including 133 added since January.
“Torture and ill-treatment in the Russian Federation remain widespread and systematic, affecting not only Russian citizens but also Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilian detainees,” the report said. “At least 258 cases of torture by law enforcement, prison staff, and inmates acting under orders of prison authorities were documented in 2024/25.”
Katzarova recounted how one Ukrainian man captured by Russian troops was interrogated and subjected to electric shocks. Then, a Moscow doctor had to operate on him to save his life.
“The surgery was perfect, but when the guy woke up, he saw that there were extra bandages on his stomach. And this Russian doctor has burned, with the medical tool: ‘Victory! Glory to Russia’ on his stomach,” said Katzarova, a Bulgarian who formerly headed investigations on human rights in Russia for Amnesty International.
UN human rights expert says Russia steps up repression to silence opposition to war in Ukraine
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UN human rights expert says Russia steps up repression to silence opposition to war in Ukraine
- Latest UN report stated that Russian authorities have stepped up their use of “criminal prosecution, long-term imprisonment, torture and ill-treatment” to quell opposition to the war ordered by President Vladimir Putin
Putin says developing Russia’s nuclear forces ‘absolute priority’
- Putin vowed to keep “strengthening the army and navy” and draw on military experience from the nearly four-year conflict in Ukraine
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin said Sunday that developing Russia’s nuclear forces was now an “absolute priority” following the expiry of its last remaining nuclear treaty with the US.
“The development of the nuclear triad, which guarantees Russia’s security and ensures effective strategic deterrence and a balance of forces in the world, remains an absolute priority,” Putin said in a video message.
His speech came on Russia’s “Defender of the Fatherland Day,” a holiday that is an occasion for military pomp and Kremlin-sponsored patriotism.
Putin vowed to keep “strengthening the army and navy” and draw on military experience from the nearly four-year conflict in Ukraine.
All branches of the armed forces would be improved, he said, including their “combat readiness, their mobility, and their ability to operate in all conditions, even the most difficult.”
Putin’s remarks came just two days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s assault on Ukraine that sparked a war that has shattered towns, uprooted millions and killed large numbers on both sides.
Moscow and Washington — the world’s two main nuclear powers — are no longer bound by any arms control pact since the New START agreement expired earlier this month.
But Russia said it would continue taking a “responsible” approach to strategic nuclear capability and respecting the limits set on its arsenal.
