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Propaganda, internal violence in the Russian army: how to explain the abuses in Boutcha?

The lifeless body of a man discovered outside his house in Boutcha, April 4, 2022. AP - Felipe Dana

Text by: Justine Fontaine Follow

3 mins

Located northwest of kyiv, the small town of Boutcha was occupied by the Russian army from February 27, remaining inaccessible for more than a month.

Dozens of corpses of civilians were discovered there after he left.

Interview with General Dominique Trinquand, former head of the French military mission to the UN.

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After the withdrawal of the Russian army,

.

Visiting the small town of Boutcha on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that " 

 " which will be " 

 " have been committed there.

Lack of supervision of soldiers, dehumanization of the adversary by propaganda, or the consequences of violence within the Russian army itself... General Dominique Trinquand puts forward several hypotheses.

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RFI: How to interpret the abuses denounced by the Ukrainian authorities in Boutcha?

Do you think this is a scorched earth strategy on the part of the Russian army?

General Dominique Trinquand:

If that were the case, there would probably be no survivors.

In my opinion, these are "slippages" of the Russian army.

We can observe on the images [broadcast in the media] of people shot dead in the street, in several places in the city.

This region was occupied for almost a month and was a confrontation line between the Russian army and the Ukrainian army.

During the occupation or at the time of departure, Russian soldiers probably indulged in their “evil inclinations”.

This proves above all that they are not well framed.

According to you, therefore, it is not a question of a strategy decided in high places, but of a lack of control of the Russian soldiers by the high-ranking officers?

There are few non-commissioned officers in the Russian army.

In other words, there is a missing link between soldiers and officers, and therefore a deficiency in the management of the Russian army.

In my opinion, although we must always be wary, it is unlikely that this is a generalized policy on the part of the Russian army, because they know the damage that this would cause on public opinion in the world and even in the Russian population.

These skids seem rather due to a bad supervision of the Russian soldiers.

This is materialized not only by the abuses that we see today, but also by the desertions and lootings already observed since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

When the Russian soldiers withdraw from other areas, we will be able to see whether or not there has been the same type of abuse on the part of other units, and whether the leadership is better maintaining discipline in certain units. compared to others.

Can the communication from the Kremlin, assuring that the war in Ukraine would respond to a “

This does not justify them, but it can indeed explain them.

Propaganda necessarily has an effect on the soldiers who entered the war.

If [Russian President Vladimir Putin] says that Ukraine "does not exist" and that the country is "full of Nazis", these soldiers can consider that people who would step aside [in occupied cities in Ukraine ] are Nazis, and decide to shoot them down.

Can the violence that has existed for a long time within the Russian army against the soldiers also be an element of explanation?

The Russian military remained extremely brutal, especially against young conscripts.

These soldiers are often traumatized by their entry into the army.

This habit of internal violence in the Russian army, combined with nearly a month of very intense war, where the Russian army lost nearly 20% of its potential, may have favored violence linked to cases of post stress. -traumatic.

And the hierarchy has obviously let it happen. 

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