RFE/RL has identified a Russian prison doctor whom dozens of Ukrainian former captives have accused of subjecting inmates to frequent physical and psychological abuse, sexual humiliation, and deprivation of medical care.The finding, which adds to growing evidence of violence and abuse against Ukrainian soldiers and civilians held by Russia during its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, is the result of a joint investigation by Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).Schemes spoke to about 50 Ukrainians, mostly soldiers, who had been held at Correctional Colony No. 7 (IK-7) in Pakino, in the Vladimir region northeast of Moscow. They have returned home in prisoner exchanges conducted intermittently since Russia launched the full-scale invasion in 2022.
Former captive Davyd Pradchenko holds a photograph of Russian prison doctor Vyacheslav Cherdantsev.
Among other things, former prisoners who spoke to Schemes recounted being beaten repeatedly on the soles of the feet until they were unable to walk -- a form of violence frequently reported by inmates in Russia -- and forced to crawl on the floor “like a seal,” without using their legs.“The tiles there were sharp. People kept cutting themselves on them, and the wounds would start to fester. And there was no medical treatment at all there,” said Dmytro Khylyuk, a journalist who was taken by Russian soldiers at gunpoint when they occupied his village outside Kyiv in the first weeks of the full-scale war.The jailers at the prison in Pakino subjected both soldiers and civilians to physical and psychological torture, and younger inmates were singled out for the worst abuse, said Khylyuk, who was released in August 2025 after three years in custody.
