Russian Military Torturing Men Into Signing Contracts, Intel Says
DESPERATE MEASURES
Those who refused to enlist were “forced to lay down their weapons, and taken off in an unknown direction,” a woman says in a purportedly intercepted phone call.
Men in Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk region are reportedly being tossed into basements if they refuse to sign contracts to enlist with Russia’s military. The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry on Thursday said a tapped phone call between two residents in the area revealed the new psychological terror campaign. In a recording of the call, a woman sounding distressed can be heard saying “agitators” came to force men who have already been mobilized to fight with local Russian proxies to go one step further and sign contracts with the Russian Armed Forces. Those who refused to sign contracts were “forced to lay down their weapons, and taken off in an unknown direction,” she said. “They put them in a hole, in a basement,” she explained, noting that seven of the men later “changed their minds” and signed contracts after sitting there for half a day. But they were immediately sent to the front line, where four were wounded and one was killed, she said.
