A Russian army unit’s macabre contest to pose with executed Ukrainian prisoners of war

A Russian soldier, with his face blurred, poses in front of the bodies of three Ukrainian soldiers lying face down in a pool of blood, their hands clasped behind their heads. The image, shared by the Russian Rusich unit on its Telegram channel, is accompanied by an announcement for a contest: “The first three people to submit a photo of prisoners who have clearly been erased from existence will receive a cryptocurrency reward.” It is a war crime, yet another in the relentless conflict that the Kremlin descibes as a “special military operation.” This time, however, it has sparked a competition that Ukrainian forces have also joined.

The photograph was initially circulated by other Russian ultranationalist channels last week. Then, a fighter from the Russian Volunteer Corps, a unit that supports Ukraine and fights against the Kremlin, saw it and shared it on his Instagram profile, calling for revenge. The Sabotage Assault Reconnaissance Group (Rusich), saw the post and has escalated the situation into a bloody contest, with prizes.

“Take a lesson from the enemy: this is what a victorious army looks like, not a gang,” said the pro-Ukrainian military officer, nicknamed Slavian, while urging his men to imitate their enemies.

In his subsequent post, the Russian Volunteer Corps member shared images sent to him by other Ukrainian soldiers, showing them posing with the bodies of dead Russian combatants. In a video, a soldier shot a deceased Russian in the head in the middle of a forest, next to the caption: “Long live death.” According to the Russian Volunteer Corps, speaking to the independent news channel Sota, their official stance is “not to touch prisoners,” and the challenge issued by Slavian only involves “taking photos with dead soldiers.” This claim has not been verified.

Slavian’s words were paraphrased by Rusich days later. “Take note. This is how you photograph a victorious army, not a losing one,” the unit retorted last weekend, while announcing its competition.

This is not the first time Rusich has proposed executing prisoners of war. At the start of the invasion in 2022, when the first exchanges of captured troops between Moscow and Kyiv were made public, the unit published a guide entitled “Instructions for the Elimination of Prisoners of War of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

The document recommended not informing soldiers from other Russian companies about the executions. “If it has been reported, then report that the enemy is wounded and may die,” it advised.

However, executions are not exceptional. Ukraine reported a wave of killings of its prisoners of war in 2024. And a year ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin posed with the flag of the 155th Marine Infantry Brigade during his traditional annual address to the media and the public. That unit, in fact, had been accused of impaling the severed heads of Ukrainian soldiers.

According to Russian veterans who spoke to this newspaper, snipers and drone pilots are often the most vulnerable to being killed when they surrender. Their executions, shown in videos, range from point-blank shootings to beheadings. “The front is terrible. The shock makes it impossible for some to behave humanely. A person who experiences this cannot be normal after the war, in any country,” a Russian commander said months ago.

The Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, to which both Russia and Ukraine are signatories, expressly forbids the execution of surrendered soldiers.

Among the prohibited acts laid out in Article 3 of the convention, a pillar of international law, are: “Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture,” and “the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.”

In any case, it is Moscow and Kyiv, not Rusich or any other specific unit on either side, that are ultimately responsible for these war crimes. “Prisoners of war are in the hands of the enemy Power, but not of the individuals or military units who have captured them. Irrespective of the individual responsibilities that may exist, the Detaining Power is responsible for the treatment given them,” Article 12 of the Geneva Convention emphasizes.

Furthermore, the document stipulates that if the belligerent power cannot guarantee the protection of prisoners of war, it must entrust their safety to a neutral state or to organizations such as the Red Cross.

“Glory to Rus! Glory to Morana!” This was the slogan with which Rusich concluded the announcement of its prisoner execution contest. The word “Rus” refers to several ancient peoples of Eastern Europe of uncertain origins who gave rise to Kievan Rus, the first of several medieval Slavic states. Morana, for her part, was the ancient Slavic goddess of death.

Rusich, now part of the Russian Armed Forces, was a unit of the Wagner mercenary company. The group is known for its openly far-right ideology. Its leader, Alexey Milchakov, declared himself a Nazi in a 2014 interview with the digital media outlet Sputnik and Pogrom, and its symbol is the Kolovrat, an eight-pointed swastika-like rune popularized by Alexey Dobrovolsky, one of the fathers of Slavic neo-paganism in Russia. The military patch is completed with the white, yellow, and black colors of the Russian imperial flag.

The Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) was founded by exiles with the goal of overthrowing the Kremlin. Its leader is Denis Kapustin, also known as Denis Nikitin, a martial arts fighter who has been linked to far-right groups in Europe and who was banned from entering the Schengen Area by Germany.

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