Female Russian medics ‘are pressured to become sex slaves and are ‘passed’ between agents or beaten’
- The woman said those who refused to be sex slaves would be punished
- She said that “field women” should cook, clean and please the male officers
Female Russian medics serving on the Ukrainian frontline are being forced to become sex slaves for military officers, it is alleged.
News company Radio Free Europe/Radio Freedom published an interview with a so-called “field woman” who said women were “passed around” by male Russian officers.
The woman – a “whistleblower” identified only by the name Margarita – said those who became field women would be forced to cook, clean and please the male officers.
She told the publication that those who refused to be sex slaves would be punished and often beaten.
She said her time on the frontline has left her with severe trauma and regularly suffers from panic attacks, the publication reported.
Russian women officers march during a rehearsal of the Victory Day parade last May in Moscow, Russia
In the interview, Margarita said that she joined the frontline in Ukraine as a medic so she could take care of her family. A single mother of a child with additional needs, she said she left the military in 2011 and returned 11 years later.
She said Radio Free Europe/Radio Freedom a colonel in charge of her platoon chose her to make her his “field wife” while she was in the Nizhny Novgorod training camp.
Margarita said she rejected the sexual advances, leading the Russian officer to order his soldiers to make life difficult for her.
She said she had to sleep outside for a month while others slept in tents and houses.
Continuing to reject the advances, Margarita told her to go to the front as a form of punishment.
She was in a platoon of seven women, all of whom received sexual advances from commanding officers, it was reported.
“When we went there, no one knew what was going on there. And once we understood everything, there was no turning back,” she said Radio Free Europe/Radio Freedom.
She said she saw one of the officers shoot his “field wife.” She said the officer then shot himself in the hand to make it look like he was protecting her from a Ukrainian attack. The woman is permanently disabled.
Female prisoners line up as they are sent to fight in the Ukraine war (undated file image)
Margarita said she had seen the woman hit several times before by the officer with the butt of his rifle.
She added that another woman was “passed” between officers and kept away from the platoon.
Some women accepted what happened, she said, because they thought it was better than being sent to the front.
Margarita said some thought about escaping across the Russian border back to their families, but knew they risked being shot by their own troops.
She also said that not only women, but also Russian male military men were routinely beaten by officers.
Through the whole experience, she undergoes treatment for severe trauma. She said she is on antidepressants and still suffers from panic attacks.
But despite her harrowing experience, Margarita shared it Radio Free Europe/Radio Freedom that she was willing to return after her first stay in Ukraine because she had to take care of her family.