UN Accuses Russia of Abuses Creating 'Climate of Fear' in Occupied Ukraine
According to the United Nations, Russia has tortured and arbitrarily detained people in the parts of eastern Ukraine it occupies, creating a “climate of fear” and suppressing Ukrainian identity.
The UN’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) was denied entry to Russian-occupied Ukraine and based its report on remote and in-person interviews with more than 2,300 witnesses and victims.
“Many people living under occupation have endured intimidation and repression, facing a constant threat of violence, detention, and punishment,” the released report concluded.
UN investigators have confirmed the execution of 26 civilians, including two children, on the spot, such as during house searches, and the killing of an additional 30 civilians during detention. The majority of these executions occurred between March and May 2022.
The report stated that no one has been held accountable for these abuses and highlighted Russia's active efforts to suppress Ukrainian identity by imposing its language, citizenship, laws, court system, and education curricula in the occupied areas. It also mentioned changes to the school curriculum aimed at justifying Moscow's invasion and the blocking of access to Ukrainian media and phone networks.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk emphasized the severe and enduring consequences of Russia's actions on Ukrainian society, leading to the rupture of social fabric and isolation of individuals.
Ukraine has accused Moscow of widespread war crimes in the occupied regions, while the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Russia's children's commissioner over the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. The Kremlin denies allegations of committing atrocities against civilians.
The report accused Russian forces of using torture in detention centres, saying it had received “credible and reliable accounts regarding the treatment of 171 civilian detainees and found that 90 percent of them had been tortured or ill-treated”.
It accused soldiers, police and prison authorities of using violence including kicking, waterboarding, and electric shocks and subjecting some 48 civilian detainees, including a child, to conflict-related sexual violence. It also documented 16 cases of sexual violence by Russian armed forces on civilians outside of detention, almost all of them against women.
Arbitrary detention and forced disappearances have also been widespread under Russian occupation, the report found.
In total, it documented 687 cases of arbitrary detention until December 2023: 587 men, 92 women, seven boys and one girl.
Local residents were also pressured into getting Russian passports, which were linked to access to social benefits and healthcare, and the Russians used intimidation and violence to get civil servants in fields such as law enforcement and education to work for them.
However, the report also criticised the wording of Ukraine’s law punishing collaboration with occupying forces as “vague and imprecise”.
“The Ukrainian law on collaboration also risks criminalizing conduct which the Occupying Power can lawfully compel individuals to carry out … and which might be essential for or benefit the normal life of the population of the occupied territory,” the report noted.
