Russia Accused of Setting Up Concentration Camps in Annexed Territories

Russia has been accused of setting up concentration camps in parts of Ukraine that were illegally annexed and are partially under the control of Russian forces.

The accusations came after Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a government order on Tuesday instructing the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service to set up 24 new penal colonies in the four Russian-annexed regions of Ukraine—in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in Kherson, and in Zaporizhzhia.

The four Ukrainian regions were illegally annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the fall of 2022 following "sham" referendums. Russia is not fully in control of any of the regions, and foreign governments, including the United States, said the move was illegitimate.

The decree from the Russian government, which has been published online, shows that 12 penal colonies will be set up in the Donetsk region, a further seven in the Luhansk region, three in the Russian-controlled part of the Kherson region and an additional two facilities will be built in Zaporizhzhia, where a "settlement-type colony" will also be established.

According to independent investigative outlet Meduza, as of November 2022, there were 626 penal colonies operating in Russia.

It comes weeks after Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the process of integrating the territories was in "full swing."

He was cited by Russian news agency Tass in December as saying that "the main thing for us is to ensure the security of these regions as soon as possible."

"Ensuring the safety of civilians who live there is the main goal of the [special military] operation," Peskov added.

Responding to the Russian government's decree, multiple Twitter users accused Russia of moving to set up "concentration camps" in the territories.

"They're building concentration camps for Ukrainians while systematically erasing every trace of Ukrainian history in occupied territories. If it isn't genocide, what is?" tweeted Les Vynogradov, a translator and musician from Kyiv. "The most nauseating thing about it, though, is that it's exactly what Russia has been doing for centuries."

Another Twitter user, named Isabelle Morgan, commented: "AKA Concentration Camps."

Russian penal colonies are the descendants of gulags, the brutal Soviet-era labor camps notorious for ill treatment of prisoners, and where millions of Russians were tortured and killed.

According to Amnesty International, Russian penal colonies are typically located in sparsely populated parts of the country such as the Far North and Far East due to their origins as labor camps for the extraction of raw materials.

In March 2021, jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny described a penal colony east of Moscow where he was being held as a "friendly concentration camp."

"I never imagined it was possible to set up a real concentration camp 100 kilometers from Moscow," he wrote on his Facebook and Instagram pages.

He said he could "easily believe the numerous stories that not long ago people were beaten to within an inch of their lives here with wooden hammers."

A 2021 State Department report on Russian human rights abuses said "conditions in prisons and detention centers varied but were often harsh and life threatening."

"Overcrowding, abuse by guards and inmates, limited access to health care, food shortages, and inadequate sanitation were common in prisons, penal colonies, and other detention facilities," the report said, noting that "physical and sexual abuse by prison guards was systemic," and that torture of inmates was pervasive, resulting in death or suicide at times.

Newsweek has contacted the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia for comment.

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