Russian authorities are launching an investigation into the alleged abuse of soldiers from the North Caucasus republic of North Ossetia, who were deployed to Ukraine in a regiment in Kherson.
The investigation stems from a video circulating online that shows a commander kicking a kneeling Russian soldier, while two male voices berate him. The soldier can be seen wiping blood from his face.
North Ossetian officials had requested that military prosecutors investigate the behavior, according to a Meduza report.
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North Ossetia Governor Sergei Menyaylo condemned the incident Monday. The battalion commander in question “treats his subordinates in a completely unacceptable way,” Menyaylo said in a social media post.
“Even in conditions of combat operations requiring strict discipline and allowing for less-than-delicate relations between commanders and fighters, tormenting people is impermissible,” he added. “It’s not at all how it is necessary to maintain the morale of the soldiers!”
It’s not the first time Russia has had to confront reports of abuses in its military ranks. The militia of the Donetsk People's Republic beat mobilized Russian troops in February, prompting the Russian Ministry of Defense to pull them out of Donetsk. Video emerged from the beatings showing a man kneeling and held up at gunpoint, while others said the military from the DPR fired at the mobilized troops.
Complaints have emerged in recent weeks that Russian ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented in Russian losses and mistreatment. In one case, troops from the Muslim-majority region of Dagestan have reportedly died at ten times the rate of those from Moscow. As the thinking goes, Putin could be leaning on ethnic minorities more to avoid stirring up dissent among other demographics.
