The Ukrainian authorities provide antiviral medicine to HIV-positive prisoners of war. The domestic intelligence agency has made available videos of interrogations with Wagner prisoners of war describing HIV infection and showing red bracelets. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said in a statement last autumn that some captured soldiers had HIV and hepatitis C. Since the summer, about 50,000 prisoners have signed up to fight in Ukraine, roughly 10 per cent of the incarcerated population, according to Russia Behind Bars, a non-governmental group monitoring Russian prisons. Photograph: Mauricio Lima/ New York Times HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis, including drug-resistant strains, are prevalent in Russian prisons and penal colonies. “I was always afraid of this disease,” he said in an interview at a Ukrainian detention site. Three of 10 soldiers in the bunker were killed and most others wounded, Vadim said. “We were all treated together, the healthy and the unhealthy.”Īnd in the chaos of battle the bracelets serve little purpose, said 31-year-old Vadim, who was convicted of robbery and served in Wagner before being captured in a bunker.Īfter Ukrainian soldiers tossed several hand grenades into the bunker, the Russian soldiers, including two who were HIV positive, hunkered in a corner. “There were no conditions for the HIV infected,” he said.
He received timely medical help despite wearing a red bracelet, he said, but was treated in a hospital where he felt doctors were careless about infecting other patients. Photograph: Mauricio Lima/New York TimesĪnother HIV-positive prisoner of war who fought in the Wagner group, Yevgeny, said that he had suffered a gunshot wound a month before his capture by Ukrainian forces, according to a videotaped interrogation by Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency. Since the summer, about 50,000 prisoners have signed up to fight in Ukraine, roughly 10 per cent of the incarcerated population. Reluctance of fellow soldiers or medics to be exposed to the blood, however, could delay first aid. They are intended to protect other soldiers from infection if the wearer suffers a bloody battlefield wound, the prisoners of war said. The wristbands pose a risk to those wearing them. “If a person is in treatment, and continues treatment, the virus can be undetectable and he can serve, he can work and is not dangerous to those around him,” said Dr Iryna Dizha, a medical adviser to 100 Percent Life, a HIV advocacy group in Ukraine. Ukraine allows those who are HIV positive to serve in combat roles with approval from their commanders. They were made to wear the wristbands ostensibly as a warning to other soldiers in case they were wounded, although they would not necessarily be infectious if properly medicated.Īntiviral medication can indefinitely treat HIV and suppress the virus to the point where an individual is not infectious. When captured by Ukrainian soldiers, many wore red or white rubber wristbands, or both, signifying they had either disease, both widespread in the Russian prison system. Those with HIV or hepatitis C were forced to identify their status in a very public manner. Beginning on a wide scale last summer, inmates were promised pardons for going into combat. Units of former prisoners have made up the bulk of forces in Russia’s attack on Bakhmut, one of the bloodiest and longest-running battles in the war. Most were killed on their first day of combat. Soldiers in his platoon, Timur said, were sent on a risky assault, waves of soldiers with little chance of survival sent into battle on the outskirts of the eastern city of Bakhmut. Before sending the soldiers forward, he said, commanders “repeated many times, ‘if you try to leave this field, we will shoot you’.”
He was issued a Kalashnikov rifle, 120 bullets, an armoured vest and a helmet for the assault. Timur had no military experience and was provided two weeks of training before deployment to the front, he said.
“I chose a quick death.”įor the estimated 20 per cent of Russian prison recruits who are HIV positive, serving on the front lines in Ukraine for the Wagner mercenary group seemed less risky than staying in prison. “I understood I would have a quick death or a slow death,” Timur said of choosing between poor HIV treatment in prison and participating in assaults in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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