BY
The Russian military is using “improvised cells” and medieval punishment techniques to clamp down on poor discipline, according to a new assessment. In the past few months, Russian commanders “have likely started punishing breaches in discipline by detaining the offending troops in ‘Zindans,'” the British Defense Ministry said on Sunday. The government department described the “Zindans” as “improvised cells consisting of holes in the ground covered with a metal grille”, writes newsweek.com.
Reports show “Zindans” being used to punish soldiers for drunkenness or looking to end their military contracts, the defense ministry wrote on Twitter. The “Zindans” were previously used in parts of the former Russian empire, with photographs showing the “Zindans” in use in parts of central Asia in the early 20th century, with some accounts suggesting their use in previous centuries.
Such tactics are a marked change from the earlier stages of the all-out war in Ukraine, the U.K. Government said. The initial period saw “a relatively light touch in enforcing discipline” – an attitude that changed in the fall of 2022.
At that point, Russian forces were retreating from parts of Ukrainian territory captured in the first months of the war. Throughout Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Western sources have reported morale and discipline issues among Russia’s ranks.
Since the end part of 2022, however, Russian commanders have introduced “multiple increasingly draconian initiatives to improve discipline in the force,” the British Defense Ministry said. This is seen particularly since General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s Chief of General Staff, took control of Moscow’s military operations in Ukraine, it added.
