Discipline violators thrown into torture pits at Russian training grounds for volunteers, IStories reports

A joint investigation by Important Stories (IStories) and the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) has revealed the existence of torture pits at two Russian military centers where volunteers are trained before being sent to war.

The investigation found the pits at the Totsky training ground in the Orenburg Region and the Prudboy facility in the Volgograd Region. According to soldiers who underwent training there and spoke to journalists, these training sites have purposefully excavated pits to punish violators.

“The most rowdy ones, according to [their] stories, were thrown into pits in the street after the beating, covered with a lid, and that was it. There was a moment when a fellow soldier caught drinking was threatened in front of me: ‘Now we’ll put you in a fucking pit and you’ll sit there!” The same guys used to take [volunteers] to the training ground in their underwear, barefoot — they disgraced them on the orders of the unit commander.’” — one of the sources told IStories.

The investigators were able to confirm the existence of the torture pits by studying satellite images.