A new investigation from journalists at iStories and researchers at the Conflict Intelligence Team accuses the Russian military of using so-called “torture pits” against unruly, often drunk soldiers. Journalists and researchers think they found two sites, one outside Volgograd and the other outside Orenburg. iStories collected testimony from soldiers at two training grounds in these areas and identified satellite images that appear to show the pits those soldiers described.

iStories spoke to a soldier who trained at this facility this summer (the journalists gave him the pseudonym “Viktor”), who described a chaotic breakdown in military discipline. According to Viktor, roughly 80 percent of the soldiers undergoing training were prisoner recruits who were often drunk or high. In his comments to journalists, Viktor said repeatedly that these soldiers were only there for the money, signaling potentially severe problems with morale in Russia’s armed forces.

The Naked Pravda spoke to the author of the iStories report, Sonya Savina, to learn more about the story.

Timestamps for this episode:

(0:04) The plight of billionaire Mikhail Fridman
(1:53) Soviet basketball history
(2:22) Hamas and Iran send delegations to Moscow
(4:22) The hidden crimes and growing needs of Russia’s combat veterans
(6:16) News from Russia’s neighbors
(8:33) This week’s main story: The Russian military’s torture pits
(16:00) Halloween epilogue: A tale of forbidden sweets

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The Russian military’s ‘torture pits’