"She was raped for half a year." How sexual violence became a Russian war tactic

"There was a girl, a very beautiful figure. Everyone raped her. She had long red hair. She reminded me of an actress. When I asked her why she was here, she answered that she had a brother in the Armed Forces and that's why she was taken, she was about 35-36 years old.

They took her away and brought her back after a while. It's hard to even talk about it. From her appearance, it seemed that she simply did not want to live," testifies a woman who, together with other Ukrainian women, was illegally imprisoned by the Russians.
According to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Sexual Violence, Pramila Patten, the world is now experiencing the highest number of armed conflicts since the end of World War II, and gang rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence are used as tactics of war, torture and terrorism.
For centuries, Russia used the culture of rape in imperial wars, especially during the Caucasian War of 1817-1864, which is described in classic texts of Russian literature, in the Chechen wars, 1994-1996, 1999-2009.
Whether it is possible to prove that sexual crimes were committed with the consent of the Russian command, whether our legislation is flexible enough to collect evidence and protect victims, and whether there are patterns of war crimes committed by the Russian army - read in the material.

 Anyone can become a victim

As reported by "UP. Life" in the Main Prosecutor's Office, as of August 2024, 314 cases of sexual violence in conflict (SNPK) were recorded. Among the victims are 201 women, 113 men, including 15 minors - 14 girls and one boy.
At the time of writing, 48 military personnel of the Russian Federation were suspected of these crimes.

The statistics were created on the basis of data on crimes against the civilian population. The statistics of injured soldiers are closed and are kept in other departments.

Ukrainian legislation provides for liability not only for rape, but also for coercion of acts of a sexual nature:
- threats
- genital mutilation
- sexual slavery (including marital and extramarital union),
- sexual torture,
- being forced to watch sexual abuse of a partner or child,
- forced prostitution,
- forced pregnancy or abortion,
- sterilization,
- forced exposure.
According to the research materials of the Piletski Institute, it is impossible to determine the typical places where the Russians committed violence.
"When we document evidence of crimes in the liberated territories, we notice that one of the tools used by the Russian army to control the population is precisely the fear of sexual violence. Women are afraid to leave the house, they avoid any contact with the occupiers," her coordinator points out in the introduction of the investigation. Polish journalist Monika Agdrushewska.
Women were exposed to violence not only at home or in the area of the settlement where they live. They could have died at checkpoints and in filtration camps.
Contrary to convention, women were examined by men, relatives were forced to witness violence against relatives, people were exposed. One of the women recalls the evacuation: 
"For several days, the Russian army held back lines of cars that wanted to leave the occupied territories and transfer to areas under the control of Ukraine. This is just my opinion, but they were satisfied, they liked it. And the more beautiful the woman was, the longer they looked at her, the more questions she was asked, the more they mocked her...
We watched the people coming (to the collection point for refugees from the occupied territories - ed.). For example, one woman looked very carefully at the paper knives and her eyes were crazy, crazy... We followed her, and she ran to a corner and told us that she was forced to orally satisfy a Russian soldier, while her father was watching. , son and husband. He was a Buryat. She said it was at one of the checkpoints where they stood in line to evacuate with their car."

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the Russian army commits crimes against people associated with the Armed Forces or against those who have a clear pro-Ukrainian position.
"That is, sexual violence is also a type of weapon used against the Ukrainian people to suppress possible resistance and intimidation.
Thus, Russian military personnel arrested, among other things, civilians who had a pro-Ukrainian attitude, who did not agree with the occupation authorities, participated in peaceful assemblies, especially among those detained were representatives of the Ukrainian authorities, activists, volunteers, journalists, foreigners, family members of police officials and participants of the ATO, representatives of business entities, etc.," the comment states.
On the other hand, according to the report of the Piletsky Institute, anyone, regardless of their political position, could become a victim of the violence of the Russian army during the Russian-Ukrainian war.

According to the testimony of a 45-year-old man, a woman who openly expressed her pro-Russian views became the victim of a murder committed by the Russians, which was preceded by rape:
"She approached a car with military personnel. In the city of Berdyansk, near our military commissariat. She waved a Ukrainian passport and asked him to give her a Russian passport. And then, a few days later, I found out that this girl was found on the outskirts of the village, raped she was also killed by soldiers of the Russian army".
The women also testified that some of the Russian soldiers "picked them" simply based on their appearance in the crowd:
"I left because of threats, because there were hints of a close relationship... What did it look like? I was in the village, he (a Russian soldier - author's note) told me "that he will steal me". .. He said he was going to steal me - I was scared (..) He saw me and said to the neighbor: "Who is this? Is she married or not? Because I'm going to steal her..." She said then that there were children in the house, not to enter or scare the children. I left the village to see my mother and the same story again... They (Russian soldiers - ed.) stopped by to the village, they settled in the house next to my mother... And he would come to my mother and hint at what he could do... "Let's make an agreement, let's make an agreement".
He scared me so much that I left immediately".
According to the study, the Russian military used rape as an intimidation tactic, thereby reducing the likelihood of local resistance.
Immediately after the occupation of Ukrainian territories, local residents spread information among themselves about cases of war crimes, including sexual violence. Consequently, people began to leave their homes less, wear old clothes, avoid jewelry and take care of themselves so as not to become victims.
A 35-year-old woman testifies: 
"My husband immediately told me: "Don't wear anything short - forget it! No heels... The scarier you are, the better!" And many women who were there followed the same principle... In order to draw less attention to themselves... Some kind of stretched sweater, torn pants, etc., what scarier, some kind of bundle on the head, a hat... We took off all the gold... They took off everything that could attract attention, because it was scary".
All these stories spread among the locals and became the reason for the hiding and submission of the population that remained under occupation.
British journalist Christina Lamb in her commentary for "UP. Life" noted that sexual violence during the war is not something new, because even from Greek or Roman epics we remember that women became trophies.
"If you want to terrorize or humiliate the enemy, expel him or change the ethnic balance in the territory, unfortunately, rape is a cheap and effective tool," the journalist notes.

In Russia, the foundations for violence have long been prepared

The behavior of the Russian army in the occupied territories indicates not only an attempt to put political pressure on people who could potentially oppose the occupation, but also the tolerance of the practice of sexual violence in Russian society, which manifests itself in the Ukrainian territories. One of the factors that can influence this is the popularization of "rape culture" in Russian culture, especially classical culture.
"Perhaps the best example of the 'romanticization of rape' syndrome is the fate of Bela in Lermontov's Heroes of Our Time. Bela, a princess in the eyes of her tribe, is kidnapped by a Russian invader and made a slave. Her upbringing leads her to love the man who stole, and she really falls in love with Pechorin, who, after the shine of the newspaper fades, rejects Bela and continues his selfish life, which is a classic example of colonial cruelty and violence", confirms Eva Thompson, an American researcher of Russian imperialism.

According to the materials of Olena Suslova, senior analyst of the "Informative and Consultative Women's Center", with whom we communicated during the preparation of the text, Russian propaganda used the legitimization of sexual violence as one of the elements of the "organizational weapon": intelligence, propaganda, psychological, informational actions against the enemy, which encourage him to move in the necessary direction.
Common prisons, unique approaches, the involvement of public opinion leaders - these are the materials that Russia distributed to the countries of its sphere of interest, and which specifically refer to the opposition to the ratification of the Istanbul Convention - which strengthens responsibility for sexual violence.

"In August 2013, anti-gender groups in Ukraine united and formed the organization "Committee of Parents". And it is not a committee that was supposed to collect money for curtains in the school. It is a structure of the Russian Church headed by Igar Druz, who later became Strelkov's press officer Until August 2013, Druze led aggressive anti-gender campaigns, founded a bunch of fake organizations, which at one point stopped their public activity.
They were preparing a broad basis for accepting aggression. That is, the forms could have been different, depending on the behavior of Yanukovych and the company and Ukrainian society, but everything was ready," says Olena Suslova, senior analyst of the "Women's Information and Consultative Center", researcher in the field of gender studies, conflict theory and creation of peace.
Olena proves that the anti-gender information campaigns in Ukraine had traces in Russia as well. In particular, he recalls the letter that called for the abandonment of the concept of gender. At that time, in 2010, Olena Suslova was working in the "Help to Parliament" program and was helping parliamentarians to prepare a response to an official appeal of a religious organization operating in Ukraine.
The letters were sent from Slovakian servers and contained appeals about the harmfulness of gender politics and juvenile justice.
"When I started to analyze this "brochure", I saw that there are strange maxims that are not in our legislation. I started to study other materials and saw that these things are in the legislation of Russia. "I immediately understood where the roots are," adds the analyst.

At the same time, the Russian Federation was preparing the foundations for the spread of rape culture in its country.
"It is no coincidence that the level of violence against women in Russia is very high, because in 2017 the State Duma decriminalized domestic violence, if it is not serious enough, that is, it does not involve hospitalization of the victims. This encourages the perpetrators to think they can get away with it," adds British journalist Christina Lamb, author of Her Body, Their Battlefield, which explores patterns of sexual violence during armed conflict.
Popular Russian culture actively uses plots of rape or gender-based violence. We can't help but mention Valentina Strikalo and her song "Pobijedim žene i đecu" (15 million views on Youtube), Islam Itliašev - Molodaya (99 million views) - if someone walks in front of you in a red dress - it's a sign that you want to like it.

"Let's remember, "I like it, I don't like it - bear with me, my beauty". This was not written for Ukraine, but it was written for internal use. And in Russia, the culture of impunity, radical manifestations of machismo is cultivated very actively and for a long time nurtures", claims Suslova.

The worst thing for victims is not stigmatization by society, but self-stigmatization

"The brain wants to survive, to protect itself, so that it doesn't go crazy. And it (the brain - author's note) closes some details. Mostly I don't remember any faces, it was very difficult with faces in general, I didn't remember them after seven days. Then when I found these people on the Internet, I didn't remember them in my brain, so they probably didn't come to me at night, because the brain tries to erase terrible things, and a lot of it gets lost in the evidence," the woman testified about the rape.
According to Suslova, victims find it difficult to contact law enforcement agencies or public organizations due to self-stigmatization:
"It's hard for me to remember cases when stigmatization happened from outside towards the victims, but the fear of stigmatization itself has a very strong effect. It has a gender component: it is different for men and women. Self-stigmatization is very strong, but it is connected with the fact that a person loses a lot of strength, self-confidence after what happens to him".

The fight against sexual violence during armed conflicts is specifically regulated by the Geneva Conventions, which were concluded in 1949 after the Nuremberg Trials. But not a single case related to sexual violence was heard in the Tribunal itself, even though the most numerous rapes in world history were committed by the Red Army during the occupation of Eastern Europe and Germany.
"Military historian Anthony Beevor estimates that around two million women were raped during the liberation of Berlin. Survivors tell of 'hunting squads' chasing the women. To make themselves less attractive, the women had their faces covered with ash. Almost none of the victims did so, he does not dare to testify because of his feelings of shame.
Rape is a type of crime that makes victims think they have done something wrong. Even if there were no written orders, such behavior was tolerated by the officers as a permissible "release" from frustration, and none of the Soviet soldiers were punished," says journalist Kristina Lamb.

Ukraine's task is to rewrite international law to protect Ukrainians
The situation with the punishment of Russian soldiers who commit crimes on the territory of Ukraine is very similar to the situation that happened in Germany after the end of the Second World War.
Despite the fact that by August 2024, 21 indictments against 30 people were sent to the court, five people were sentenced to prison terms - three to 12 years, two to 10 years and 11 years, one verdict against one person did not result in legal effect, Ukrainian legislation does not provide for command responsibility for crimes committed by personnel.
Within the limits of the current legislation, we can bring to justice a specific person who committed a crime and his direct commander, if law enforcement agencies establish the fact of the order, but the imperfection of the legislation for the 11th year of the war of Russia against Ukraine slows down the effectiveness of sentencing. After all, according to international humanitarian law, even the commander's inaction is considered a war crime, especially in the context of informative propaganda of violence as a way of waging war.

In the investigation, it is easier to identify the commander than each specific soldier who commits war crimes on the territory of Ukraine - accordingly, the effectiveness of punishment can be higher.
Olena Suslova believes that not only Ukrainian legislation, but also international legislation should be improved:
"International provisions should be rewritten. Conventions mainly refer only to women, in order to protect them. Today, in Ukraine, a third of the cases opened by the prosecution relate to men. Even the resolutions of the UN Security Council, which refer to sexual violence, do not regulate actions of peacekeepers.
The Istanbul Convention does not cover conflict-related sexual violence. That is, Ukraine and our allies in this regard should create legally binding (legally binding documents), say conventions for ratification, which will change the response approaches and the attitude of the international community towards this type of crime".