Russian soldiers get a pay boost if they can torture information out of captured Ukrainians and more if they can turn them, UN expert says

• Russian soldiers are being paid more by the army for getting information out of captured Ukrainians.
• The soldiers get money added to the month's pay based on what they can extract.

A United Nations expert on torture said the Russian army is being financially incentivized to get information out of captured Ukrainians.

Alice Edwards, the UN's special rapporteur on torture and inhumane punishment, told The Telegraph that Russian soldiers can have their monthly salaries increased significantly, which encourages torture.

Soldiers receive a 10% bonus to their monthly salary for catching a Ukrainian, a 25% bonus for getting information or confessions from their prisoner, and a 50% bonus for getting their prisoner to start working for the Russians, said Edwards.

"These are not the actions of an entirely undisciplined military force but rather purposeful violence perpetrated against both civilians and prisoners of war [that amount to] state policy," Edwards told the Telegraph.

Edwards added she is planning to present a report to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2024 that will summarize her findings from speaking with prisoners of war, and will say torture against Ukrainians was not random, individualized action by soldiers.

Edwards's comments follow months of allegations of torture against the Russian army and Wagner-associated forces, both for information and for the sake of torture. Russian officers who have defected have confirmed and described similar allegations.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, alleging war crimes, including deporting and transporting Ukrainian children to Russia.

Investigators from the UN also found that Russians committed horrific war crimes in Ukraine, such as the rape and torture of children, attacks on heavily-populated civilian areas, and mass killings.

In August, a Ukrainian soldier captured by Wagner said he was tortured for sport, and later had both his arms amputated above the elbow. In October 2022, another Ukrainian soldier said she was tortured, beaten, and electrically shocked as a prisoner of war.