An investigation has been launched into the beating of a mobilized Russian soldier from the North Caucasus republic of North Ossetia, the head of the region said Monday.
A video of the incident was posted online Sunday by Vera Adayeva, the director of a charity in North Ossetia that sends aid to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.
In the video, two male voices can be heard shouting obscenities at a man kneeling on the ground wiping blood from his face. He is repeatedly kicked in the head by one of the men, while another can be heard saying to him: “You’ll buy me a new sleeping bag.”
Adayeva did not reveal how she came by the video.
North Ossetia Governor Sergei Menyaylo said Monday morning that Adayeva had sent him the video and requested he look into the incident. The beating took place in a regiment deployed to Ukraine’s partially occupied Kherson region, he added.
According to Menyaylo, some 46 mobilized soldiers from North Ossetia are currently serving in the regiment.
Menyaylo later wrote on Telegram that the men involved in the physical abuse had been identified and that military prosecutors were handling the case.
“The mobilized men I wrote about this morning said that the deputy commander for educative work came to see them … everything is fine now … I’ll monitor the situation and keep you informed,” he said.
Complaints made by mobilized Russian troops and their families of mistreatment and abuse by their commanders in the occupied territories of Ukraine have grown in recent months.