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‘I don’t want this exchange anymore’. After their release, Russian POWs are being sent back to war instead of home to their families
Manage episode 491910532 series 3381925
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Back in May, Russia and Ukraine carried out the largest prisoner exchange since the beginning of the full-scale war, with each side releasing 1,000 soldiers. But the families of many returned Russian servicemen say their husbands, brothers, and sons weren’t allowed home for a single day — not even those who were seriously wounded. Instead, they were taken straight back to the front. Now, some families are pleading with the authorities to let the men come home after they’re released — and some are even hoping their loved ones remain in captivity to avoid being sent back to war. The independent outlet Okno spoke with relatives of Russian POWs to learn more about what the men face if they’re returned. Meduza shares an abridged English-language version of the outlet’s reporting.
On June 9, the Telegram channel Mobilizatsiya published a video appeal from Marina, the wife of a Russian prisoner of war. In it, she pleads with the authorities not to send her husband, Alexey Frolov — a soldier from the 752nd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment — back to the front after he’s released, but to return him home, as required by law. Frolov has been held captive for over a year, waiting for his turn to be exchanged. According to Marina, it’s standard practice to send freed Russian POWs straight back to the battlefield — without even a chance to hug their families.
Kirill Putintsev, 23, is from the city of Borzya in Russia’s Zabaykalsky Krai. He signed a military contract in May 2024 while serving a prison sentence for theft and was assigned to Unit No. 95-996. Less than two months later, he went missing.
“I found out he’d been captured on my own,” said Kirill’s sister, Yana. “I reached out to everyone I could in the military — nothing. No information, no help. I had to dig myself. I posted a video online, got in touch with volunteers.” Yana said she was helped by Irina Krynina, a Russian who collaborates with Ukraine’s Want to Find project, which helps Russians find out what happened to relatives sent to fight in the war. “Eventually I got a message saying to expect good news. That’s when I learned my brother was alive,” Yana recalled.
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Before that official confirmation, someone had sent Yana a video showing Kirill’s capture. She forwarded it to his commanding officers, hoping they’d acknowledge him as a POW. They refused. According to Yana, it wasn’t until Krynina published an interview with Kirill that the Russian military officially recognized him as a captive.
Yana is one of the few family members of POWs willing to speak publicly and on the record. Most are afraid of endangering themselves or their loved ones.
“I don’t care if someone [reports me],” she said. “I’ll speak the truth. My brother has six shrapnel wounds across his back. His fingers were amputated. And now they’re throwing him back to the front! We fought for 11 months to get him out of captivity — not to send him to die all over again. He told Irina in that interview that he only signed up for the money, and he regretted it immediately. Not a day goes by that he doesn’t regret joining this goddamn war.”
out of options
Putintsev had only a year left on his sentence when he was recruited. “Now he’d rather serve out his time, of course,” Yana said. “But they didn’t give him the chance. Kirill promised on camera that if he was exchanged, he wouldn’t go back to the war. That was the condition — that’s how he made it onto the list. And now they’re forcing him anyway!”
On May 5, 2025, the family was told Kirill would soon be exchanged. On May 6, they waited anxiously for his return. But he wasn’t allowed home — not even for a day.
“They brought him to the Moscow region, to Mosrentgen, where [the FSB] interrogated him several times,” Yana said. “Then they sent him straight back to Ukraine, to Unit No. 95396. They told him he wouldn’t be getting leave, and there was no possibility of a medical discharge. He wasn’t even allowed to see a military medical board. They threw him back into the ranks with a torn-up back and missing fingers.”
Soon after, Kirill suffered a mental breakdown. “He was sent to a psychiatric hospital in Donetsk for a while. He shakes all the time — I barely recognize him. He’s terrified of being sent back into combat. When I call — they have scheduled call times — he doesn’t know where he is. He doesn’t even recognize me! How can they send someone like that into battle? But they will.”
Kirill’s fellow soldiers told Okno that he was only admitted to the hospital after attempting suicide — a step, they said, that many have taken.
“No one wants to go back,” one serviceman said. “A few were lucky enough to get sent to a hospital. Others were just patched up and sent back. We’ve all been assigned to Unit No. 42038. They’re sending us on assault missions.”
No exit
‘As long as he’s still there, he’s safe’
Marina admits that although her husband is finally nearing the front of the exchange queue, for the first time in over a year of waiting, she no longer wants it to happen.
“I spent nearly half the year [he’s been in captivity] just trying to find him. And now I see how the men who’ve been exchanged are being sent straight back to Ukraine — right back into combat. I don’t want this exchange anymore. It’s like they’re being freed from captivity only to be made slaves again,” said Marina. “We, the wives and mothers of POWs, have written to the ombudsman, to the president, begging them to bring these men home after they’re released — not send them back to the slaughter. But all we get are form responses. I can’t shake the feeling that as long as he’s still there, he’s safe. He says they’re not torturing him. And he’ll stay alive.”
Tatyana, the mother of a 20-year-old named Daniil who is also awaiting exchange, told Okno she’d rather see her son go to prison for refusing to return to war than be sent back to the front. “They let me speak to him once. He’s been in captivity since April 2025,” she said. “He told me, ‘If they give me a sentence, I’d rather serve three to seven years, but I won’t go back.’ I told him, ‘Okay, son.’”
Yana says her brother feels the same way. The family is ready to hire him a lawyer — but they’re afraid he won’t even make it to court. That instead, he’ll simply be “thrown back to the front,” even if he refuses to fight.
Human rights advocates note that despite Article 117 of the Geneva Convention explicitly prohibiting the return of former POWs to military service, neither Russia nor Ukraine is upholding the rule.
“De facto, every contract with Russia’s Defense Ministry is now indefinite,” said Alexey (full name withheld for security reasons). “And there’s a loophole in Russian law: since active hostilities are ongoing and there’s no formal truce, POWs remain classified as active-duty soldiers. That means captivity alone isn’t considered grounds for discharge.”
“In theory, if a soldier is injured, he can request an evaluation by a military medical board,” Alexey continued. “But in reality, it’s almost impossible.”
a one-way trip
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