Latest news with #Mordovia
The Sun
17-07-2025
- The Sun
Putin's ‘psycho' torturer Dr Evil who inflicted electric shocks, beatings and sexual humiliation unmasked by Ukrainians
PUTIN'S "psychotic" prison torturer known as Dr Evil has been unmasked by those who survived his reign of terror. Under the cover of a white medical coat and a balaclava, Ilya Sorokin became one of the most feared torturers inside Russia's notorious Penal Colony No. 10 in Mordovia. 6 6 6 The 34-year-old inflicted electric shocks, savage beatings and depraved sexual humiliation on Ukrainian prisoners of war. But thanks to independent journalists, working with with dozens of exchanged Ukrainian POWs, the identity of the so-called doctor has finally been exposed. The heartless dad-of-two was accused of 'pointless sadism' and a grotesque betrayal of medical ethics. One brave survivor said Sorokin's voice was 'manic, screechy… indescribable'. 'He made prisoners bark and crawl like dogs, or crow like roosters,' one said. 'One POW barked especially well and was made to do so constantly.' Former inmate Pavlo Afisov recalled: 'His favourite question for all of us was, 'Who are you?' We had to reply, 'F*****s.'' Torture in a white coat The torture wasn't random — it was systematic. According to a damning new investigation by Schemes and Current Time, corroborated by nearly 50 ex-inmates and amplified by OCCRP, Sorokin singled out prisoners for electric shocks and genital beatings. His horror methods also saw psychological torment that included mock executions and forced singing of Russian anthems. Putin's soldiers killed 'in mass poisoning by laced bottles of WATER' in suspected Ukrainian sabotage operation 'Nearly all,' the report says, 'reported having been tortured and subjected to relentless physical and psychological violence.' Sick prisoners were denied care — one, with a rotting tooth, was refused any treatment. Volodymyr Yukhymenko, a Ukrainian soldier, died from his injuries after enduring pneumonia, multiple fractures and internal bleeding. His cellmate told investigators that Sorokin refused to even examine him. When confronted by journalists, Sorokin — now working as an army medic — tried to feign innocence. 'That can't be true. I don't work there,' he said before abruptly hanging up and blocking the caller. 6 6 But damning video evidence, social media trails, and victim testimonies leave little doubt that Sorokin is Dr Evil. He lives in Potma, just 19 miles from the penal colony, where he once posed in military garb, peddled Soviet nostalgia, and performed crude comedy skits. His online posts show unwavering support for Russia's war and a chilling pride in his role. It comes after Russian troops were reportedly killed by poisoned water bottles in a suspected Ukrainian sabotage operation. At least four soldiers were said to have died in excruciating pain after drinking from bottles labelled "Our Water", allegedly supplied to the front line in a humanitarian consignment. Several others are said to be in critical condition in another major blow to Mad Vlad's invasion of Ukraine. The deadly incident, which unfolded in the Panteleimonivka area of Donetsk, has sparked horror and fury across pro-Kremlin military channels. Distressing footage seen by The Sun shows poisoned troops convulsing, moaning in agony, and slipping into unconsciousness as medics scramble to help. 6
Daily Mail
17-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Russian 'psychopath' torturer dubbed Dr Evil by Ukrainian POW victims for his brutality at hellhole gulag is unmasked by activists
A 'psychopath' torturer known as Dr Evil in a Russian jail has been unmasked with the help of Ukrainian POWs whom he 'inflicted with electric shocks, beatings and sexual humiliation'. Dozens of exchanged prisoners collaborated with independent journalists to track down the Russian prison medic who subjected them to physical and psychological abuse. The twisted doctor was named as Ilya Sorokin, 34, who worked in a medical unit serving hellhole Penal Colony No. 10 in the Russian region of Mordovia. His cruel torture led to the death of one Ukrainian soldier Volodymyr Yukhymenko, who was diagnosed after captivity with pneumonia, multiple fractures and internal bleeding. The investigative journalists from outlets Schemes Current Times gathered testimony from more than 150 released prisoners, and analysed open sources, including social media, locating video evidence from a Medical Service Day event in which Sorokin is seen and heard, highlighted by OCCRP. Dozens of former inmates identified the man as Dr Evil. He has now switched jobs and is now an army medic, and when contacted by reporters pretended to deny his role. However, there is overwhelming evidence that Sorokin was the torturer in a jail where at least 177 Ukrainian POWs were sent. 'Nearly all, according to Ukrainian officials who interviewed them when they returned home, reported having been tortured and subjected to relentless physical and psychological violence,' said the report, which obtained testimony from almost 50 ex-inmates. 'They described rampant sexual violence - threats of rape, beatings aimed at their genitals - and psychological torture, like mock executions. 'They said they were forced to stand for up to 16 hours a day, listen to loud Russian patriotic songs for equally long stretches (or 24 hours straight, if they were in the punishment block), and sometimes sing along to the Russian national anthem, hands on hearts.' They recounted the doctor as the worst torturer. 'He wore a white coat and usually hid his face behind a medical mask or a balaclava, but the prisoners said his voice was unforgettable', said the report. 'It was manic, screechy,' one said. 'Indescribable.' He stood out for his 'pointless sadism and betrayal of medical ethics'. He forced them to hold out their hands, then jolted them with an electric shocker or stun gun. 'He made prisoners bark and crawl like dogs, or crow like roosters. One POW barked especially well and was made to do so constantly.' Former POW Yulian Pylypey said: 'God forbid he didn't. The doctor would immediately shout: 'You, bark!' Inmate Pavlo Afisov said: 'His favourite question for all of us was, 'Who are you?' 'We had to reply, 'F******.' He made them chant: 'Glory to Russian medicine!' Those who didn't faced electric shocks. Sick prisoners - one with a rotting tooth - were denied treatment. One Ukrainian prisoner, Volodymyr Yykhymenko, died after being beaten. His cellmate said Dr. Evil refused to examine him. Research helped identify him as Ilya Sorokin, a married father of two, who lives in Potomac, 19 miles from the brutal jail. 'Social media shows Sorokin as nostalgic for the Soviet Union and proud of his role,' said the report. 'He supports the war and posed in military garb, shared chauvinistic memes, and performed comedy skits for holidays.' A journalist reached him and said, 'Ukrainian servicemen... identify you as the person who tortured and beat them.' He replied: 'That can't be true. I don't work there.' He hung up, and blocked the number, yet his face and voice were confirmed by multiple former victims of his sickening violence, which flouts the rules of war. The prison service and penal colony did not comment.
Reuters
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
From a Russian prison, US schoolteacher tells lawyers he was grabbed by Moscow's soldiers
LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) - A 73-year-old American jailed by Russia as a mercenary for Ukraine protested his innocence when his U.S.-based legal team and family finally tracked him down in April, months after he vanished into the vast Russian prison system, they said. Stephen Hubbard, a retired schoolteacher, was sentenced last October to almost seven years in a penal colony after a court found him guilty of serving in a Ukrainian territorial defence unit against Russian forces, tasked with manning a checkpoint. Russian state media reported that he had entered a guilty plea in the closed-door trial. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has not been granted consular access to Hubbard, a State Department spokesperson said, adding that U.S. officials have requested his immediate release. Martin De Luca, his U.S.-based lawyer, told Reuters it was not until this April that his legal team learned Hubbard was being held in a facility in the Mordovia region, east of Moscow. "The first thing Hubbard wanted to talk about when he was able to make contact with the outside world was: 'It's not true,'" said De Luca, who made his first public comments on the case to the New York Times this week. "They (Russian soldiers) grabbed him from his house. He was not in any combat or military unit", De Luca recalled Hubbard saying. Joseph Coleman, a son from Hubbard's first marriage who lives in Cyprus, said he spoke to his father in prison by phone for less than five minutes on May 28. "He did sound a little down," Coleman told Reuters. "He said, 'I'm tired of being a slave.'" At least eight other Americans are currently imprisoned in Russia, which has stepped up arrests of alleged mercenaries for Ukraine since its 2022 invasion of its neighbour. But Hubbard is the only one designated by the U.S. as "wrongfully detained," making him a top candidate to be returned in any future prisoner exchange. The Kremlin said last month the two sides were discussing a possible swap involving nine people on each side. A document written on the letterhead of the IK-12 penal colony, signed by a prison official and seen by Reuters, says that Hubbard is incarcerated there. Russia's federal prison service did not respond to an emailed request for confirmation from Reuters. Other U.S. citizens previously jailed in Russia have been incarcerated in the same region. Hubbard, a Michigan native who taught English abroad for decades, had moved to Izium in eastern Ukraine in 2014 to be with a Ukrainian girlfriend, but by 2022 he was living there alone, his family said. Russian forces captured Izium in April 2022. After his arrest, his family struggled to establish what had happened to him. They caught glimpses of him in videos posted online in pro-war Russian Telegram channels. One showed what appeared to be a staged interrogation. In another, Hubbard appeared with his hands zip-tied and whimpered as a man slapped him with a plastic sandal. His sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, identified her brother in both videos in conversations with Reuters. The agency could not verify when and where the videos were taken. "He is so non-military," Hubbard Fox told Reuters last year, expressing doubt that her brother would have taken up arms for any state. "He never had a gun, owned a gun, done any of that... He's more of a pacifist." After Hubbard's trial, De Luca and his team at a U.S. law firm began working to secure his release. They picked up the case in late February. It wasn't easy to find him, De Luca said. "Russia is still a functioning country. There are laws, bureaucracies, processes that get followed," he said. The team located Hubbard at the penal colony in Molochnitsa, a very small town about a seven-hour drive from Moscow. De Luca said the team has been able to call Hubbard three times since April. He described him as weak after months living in a prisoner-of-war camp.
New York Times
10-06-2025
- New York Times
U.S. Teacher Seized by Russia Is Located in Prison
After months without contact, Stephen James Hubbard, a retired American teacher taken from his eastern Ukrainian home by Russian soldiers shortly after Russia invaded in February 2022, has been located in a Russian prison in Mordovia. His family had no information on his whereabouts since his criminal conviction last fall. But in recent weeks, he has been able to call one of his sons. Mr. Hubbard is the only American remaining in Russia who has been designated by the U.S. State Department as 'wrongfully detained,' an indication that the United States believes the charges against him are fabricated. Given the designation, he is likely a top candidate in any potential prisoner exchange being discussed between Russia and the United States. Mr. Hubbard, now 73, was accused of manning a checkpoint and fighting for Ukraine, and then convicted by Russia of being a mercenary last October and sentenced to almost seven years in a penal colony. After that, Mr. Hubbard's family was not able to find him in Russia's prison system. In a highly unusual move, the Russian judge removed his case file, even basic information like his lawyer's name, from public view. Documents reviewed by The New York Times show that Mr. Hubbard is being held in the IK-12 penal colony in Mordovia, the southwestern Russian region commonly referred to as 'prison land.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Drones hit defence industry plants in Russia's Tula and Saransk, causing fires – photos, video
Drones attacked defence industry facilities in several Russian oblasts on the night of 6-7 May, with fires raging at the locations of the strikes. Source: Tula Oblast Governor Dmitry Milyaev; Artyom Zdunov, Head of the Republic of Mordovia; Astra Telegram channel Quote from Milyaev: "Air defence forces destroyed four drones over Tula Oblast. Emergency services continue to work at the scenes… Air defence systems are on high combat readiness and are repelling the fifth wave of attacks." Details: Zdunov only wrote that there was a "drone threat on the territory of Saransk" and that "emergency services and law enforcement agencies are working". The Astra Telegram channel, citing local residents, reported that after the drone attack in Tula, a fire broke out near two of Russia's largest defence industry facilities, which are part of the Rostec state corporation. In particular, smoke was seen in Tula near Shcheglovskaya Zaseka Street. This street is home to Instrument Design Bureau JSC named after academician A.G. Shipunov, which develops high-precision guided weapons for ground forces, the navy and aerospace forces, air defence systems, rapid-fire guns, combat small arms and civilian products. SPLAV Research and Production Association is also located on this street. It manufactures multiple-launch rocket systems, heavy flamethrower systems, ammunition for both of these and both unguided and guided missiles. The facilities are located about a kilometre apart. It is not yet known which of them is on fire. Smoke was also seen in Saransk (Mordovia) after the drone attack. Two fires broke out in the city, one of them in the Khimmash district. Two fires in Saransk Photo: Astra According to local residents, the Optic Fiber Systems plant was attacked again. A fire has broken out there. Fire at the Optic Fiber Systems plant Photo: Astra Another building is on fire a few kilometres away. Fire in Saransk Photo: Astra According to Astra, the Saransk Mechanical Plant and the Saranskkabel-Opticа plant, which may have been the target of the second attack, are located a few kilometres from the Optic Fiber Systems plant. According to the company's website, Optic Fiber Systems JSC is the first and only optical fibre manufacturing plant in Russia, located in Saransk. This plant was previously attacked at the beginning of April. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
