Regardless, it’s still a war crime. There are well established international agreements that forbid this treatment. It behooves Russia to end this mistreatment of its PoW’s or it should not expect its own soldiers to be treated according to international laws of war.
And Russian soldiers have murdered tied up civilians. Russia is not the one with its territorial integrity at risk. It can afford to sit back and do things right without committing war crimes. Remember when there was so much (justified) outcry from the general public about the CIA being involved in torture as part of the War on Terrorism? This is much the same situation, where a larger power is dealing with a much smaller power. While ideally both sides would follow the laws of war, I put much more responsibility on the more powerful actor to do so.
Then lets wait for the end of the war and real investigation before judging anyone. For example, Ukraine has admitted just a few days ago that all the reports of rape by Russian soldiers were made up, and the responsible official was fired.
Regardless, it’s still a war crime. There are well established international agreements that forbid this treatment. It behooves Russia to end this mistreatment of its PoW’s or it should not expect its own soldiers to be treated according to international laws of war.
If you thought for even a moment that I care the slightest bit about what agreements oppressive states make among themselves, you are very wrong.
Russian prisoners of war have been tortured and murdered by Ukrainian soldiers since the first days of war, so this is hardly a threat.
And Russian soldiers have murdered tied up civilians. Russia is not the one with its territorial integrity at risk. It can afford to sit back and do things right without committing war crimes. Remember when there was so much (justified) outcry from the general public about the CIA being involved in torture as part of the War on Terrorism? This is much the same situation, where a larger power is dealing with a much smaller power. While ideally both sides would follow the laws of war, I put much more responsibility on the more powerful actor to do so.
Then lets wait for the end of the war and real investigation before judging anyone. For example, Ukraine has admitted just a few days ago that all the reports of rape by Russian soldiers were made up, and the responsible official was fired.