GENEVA (Reuters) – The head of the U.N. human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine said on Friday that Russia is not allowing access to prisoners of war, voicing concern amid evidence that some have been subject to torture and ill-treatment.
“The Russian Federation has not provided access to prisoners of war held on its territory or in territory under its occupation…,” Matilda Bogner told a Geneva press briefing.
“This is all the more worrying since we have documented that prisoners of war in the power of the Russian Federation and held by the Russian Federation’s armed forces or by affiliated armed groups have suffered torture and ill-treatment.”
Russia denies torture or other forms of maltreatment of POWs. It says its forces in Ukraine are engaged in a “special military operation” to disarm the country and remove far-right nationalists it deems a threat to Russia’s own security.
(Reporting by Emma Farge, editing by Rachel More)
