US EditionExclusive: 'It's Not A War Crime If It Was Fun.' 3 Years Of Gory Messages By A Russian General
An investigation reveals General Demurchiev's role in torturing and killing Ukrainian POWs, with evidence implicating commanders in rewarding perpetrators, based on a private archive from 2022-2024.
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Skhemy and Sistema examined private correspondence showing Roman Demurchiev boasted about torturing, executing, and desecrating Ukrainian service members.
- Reporting found that Demurchiev reported incidents to 20th Army commander General Oleg Mityaev, who ordered decorations for convict recruits, indicating leadership involvement from 2022–2024.
- Demurchiev shared graphic images including severed ears with his wife, saying he would `string them into a garland and give them as a gift`, and in October 2023 asked Roman whether to kill or hand over a prisoner.
- Abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war has been documented throughout Russia’s invasion, and RFE/RL found leadership actively encouraged torture; a Ukrainian soldier named in the archive confirmed severe beating and electric shocks.
- Demurchiev served as deputy commander of the 20th Combined Arms Army until at least December 2024, and his sustained communications with military counterintelligence officer `Roman` indicate systemic patterns from 2022–2024.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Investigations say leaked messages from a Russian general detail torture and executions of Ukrainian POWs
The investigative projects “Schemes” and “Systema” have published findings based on an archive of personal messages belonging to Russian military officer Roman Demurchiev. Journalists say messages from 2022–2024 show the major general sharing with colleagues and relatives descriptions of torture and extrajudicial killings, along with photos and videos that appear to corroborate the accounts. Demurchiev took part in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a…
Exclusive: 'It's Not A War Crime If It Was Fun.' 3 Years Of Gory Messages By A Russian General
RFE/RL’s Ukrainian and Russian investigative units obtained three years of correspondence sent and received by a top Russian general fighting in Ukraine. Jokes about torture, mutilation, and executions of POWs abound.
The journalists received gigabytes of Russian correspondence and voice messages from sources among the Ukrainian military and verified their authenticity in several ways.
Russian General Roman Demurchiev sent his wife pictures with silent ears of Ukrainian soldiers and discussed this in his correspondence with her, sending Russian journalists from the System and Shema.
A Russian general promoted by Putin sent his wife a photo of severed ears taken from Ukrainian POWs. She said they reminded her of beer snacks. RFE/RL has the messages.
The abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war — beatings, torture, and extrajudicial killings — has been documented throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion. What has been harder to document is the chain of command behind it: who is informed and who issues the orders. Through an archive of personal messages, photographs, and videos obtained from a source within the Ukrainian military, journalists now have rare insight into Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
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- 75% of the sources lean Left
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