UNITED NATIONS, October 15. /TASS/. The United Nations’ disregard for or overly lenient attitude toward the existence of "secret prisons" in Ukraine encourages their proliferation, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik said during a dialogue with Claude Heller, chair of the United Nations Committee against Torture.

"The United Nations’ disregard for or overly lenient attitude toward the existence of an entire network of 'secret prisons' for prisoners of war in territories controlled by Kiev encourages the spread of this criminal practice. Hundreds of Russian servicemen we have interviewed who have endured the hell of Ukrainian camps unanimously point to the existence of an entire network of places where prisoners of war are held. In several reports by foreign human rights organizations, these facilities are referred to in extremely vague terms as 'transit prisons,' where fighters are taken during the initial stages of their captivity," he said.

Miroshnik added that conditions in these "secret prisons" were utterly inhumane. "In these stone dungeons, underground cells and cages, usually located on the premises of Ukrainian military units and nationalist battalions, everything human is subjected to utter contempt, from personal dignity to life itself. Militants who hide their faces behind masks and balaclavas and call one another by their call signs subject captured Russian servicemen to inhuman abuse. 'Waterboarding,' 'electric chairs,' attacks by dogs and amputations without anesthesia are just a small part of what Ukrainian punitive forces systematically inflict on them," the diplomat said.