Russian civilization that Putin wants to preserve by restoring Czarist imperialism

Latest OSCE Report on Russian Atrocities in Ukraine Reflects a Greater Illness in Russian Society

 

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In my last posts, I wrote that Russian culture accepts murder, torture, rape, and pillaging carried out by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.  A behavior, I argue, that has its basis in Russian society where citizens are complicit because they accept what the brutal, authoritarian Russian state is condoning.

Russian soldiers did't become brutal when they crossed the border into Ukraine.  They brought their brutality with them from a society that has been brutalized itself over many decades and centuries.

The latest OSCE report provides abundant confirmation of this.

The Kyiv Independent reports that the latest OSCE report "...details violent acts committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine between April 1 and June 25.  The report noted several particularly brutal cases, including rape and gang rape of children in front of family members, summary executions, and torture of civilians in torture chambers, all of which constitute crimes against humanity."

The OSCE report covers instances of humanitarian crimes on both sides, but the evidence of Russian crimes is huge and systematic.  Page after page reports "Russian soldiers beat, shocked, or staged mock executions to force detainees to provide information; in "a village in the Bucha district, 18 mutilated bodies of murdered men, women, and children were discovered in a basement: some had their ears cut off, while others had their teeth pulled out."

The OSCE reports hundreds of "enforced disappearances" and thousands of involuntary deportations, including 2,200 children in the first three months of the war,

"Ukraine's Commission for human rights said in mid-May that Russia had relocated more than 210,000 children during the conflict, part of the more than 1.2 million Ukrainians deported against their will, according to Kyiv." The OSCE reports "...when Russian forces controlled much of the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions in northeastern Ukraine, they subjected civilians to summary executions, torture, and other grave abuses, all of which amount to war crimes."

Crimes against personal property are so absurd as to be comic.  The OSCE reports,

"Survivors of the Bucha massacre have claimed that Russian soldiers ransacked the city, taking jewellery, electronics, kitchen appliances, clothes, and vehicles from the displaced, deceased, and those still in the city...Similarly, in the village of Berestyanka near Kyiv Russian soldiers looted clothing, appliances, and electronics from homes before the village was returned to Ukrainian control. Belaruski Gayun, a Telegram channel that has been monitoring military activity in Belarus since February, reported in early April that Russian soldiers were sending large packages to Russia via a courier service. The packages are believed to contain items stolen by Russian soldiers. There have been reports of Russian forces setting up bazaars in Belarus to trade looted goods. Washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators, jewellery, automobiles, bicycles, motorcycles, dishes, carpets, works of art, children's toys, and cosmetics are examples of such items"

There are many ways to look at the horrific behavior of Russian soldiers, but perhaps the most instructive is that many of the most horrific acts were carried out in the early days of the war when Russian soldiers believed they would overwhelm Ukrainian defenders and have complete control of Ukraine, not when they were under the continued stress of losing ground.  At that time, they clearly felt they had free reign to commit any act of violence and not be held accountable, an indication of the values they held when they entered Ukraine.

It was not just individual soldiers.  Russian soldiers throughout Ukraine believed they had license to carry out any atrocity.  The OSCE reports that "Instances of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment have been reported from all territories which were or have been temporarily occupied by the Russian armed forces."

That Russian state-sanctioned crimes were institutionalized is also evident from the many crimes that the OSCE reports took place in the Russian filtration camps.  The OSCE reports "a relatively consistent pattern of behaviour on the side of the Russian Federation, when the military occupation of a certain area is followed by abductions, interrogations, mistreatment and sometimes killings of important public figures, such as mayors or local journalists."

The reading of the OSCE report can be quite brutal.  The OSCE states "Reports from and about women being raped or otherwise sexually abused by members of the Russian armed forces, especially in the newly occupied territories, have become abundant...It is generally believed that the actual number is much higher and that many incidents of rape and sexual-based violence simply fail to be reported.  It is alleged that “the Russian Federation is using sexual violence and rape as instruments of terror to control civilians”

It just gets more horrific.  The OSCE report continues, "There are also certain reports indicating instances of gang rape or rape carried out in front of family members, including children."

Remember, these are evidently Russian state-sanctioned acts.

In one paragraph the OSCE reports:

"Reports of sexual violence against children, including rape, have been particularly common, though the extent of this violence is difficult to assess due to the sensitive nature of the abuse, the well-known and well-understandable reluctance of victims to report it and misinformation about this issue spread in the public space. By 3 June 2022, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine received 124 allegations of conflict-related sexual violence, 97 of them involving women and girls, 19 men, seven boys and one gender unknown.  After the Russian armed forces were pushed out of the areas north of Kharkiv, the Commissioner for Human Rights Denisova stated that a one-year-old boy was raped by Russian soldiers and later died in a village near Kharkiv.  Other victims have been reported, including "two 10-year-old boys,triplets aged 9, a 2-year-old girl raped by two Russian soldiers, and a 9-month-old baby" raped in front of his mother”

The Russian government's response?   The OSCE reports, "that instead of conducting investigation into the allegations of serious crimes, the Russian Federation simply denies these allegations and, in one instance at least, even confers special honours on members of the Russian armed forces who are suspected of having engaged in mistreatment and extrajudicial killings of civilians."

It is difficult to absorb the full impact of what the OSCE writes.  It is too extreme.  It is too horrific.  That Russian soldiers feel entitled to carry out atrocities and that the conduct of the war--including institutional support for abductions, deportations, torture, murders and unspeakable brutality--is tolerated by the Russian state, reflects a societal belief that these atrocities are acceptable behavior.  The Russian war on Ukraine may not end until Putin dies, but Russian aggression and barbaric behavior will only end when Russian society's acceptance of barbaric behavior ends.

Russia won't change until this is unacceptable: