The UN Special Representative Praten said that Russian soldiers allegedly supply Viagra to rape civilians of Ukraine. We checked how justified her charges are.
On October 14, 2022, the UN special representative for sexual violence in the context of the conflict Pramil Patten said in interview Agency France-Presse (AFP) that Russian soldiers in Ukraine are allegedly “equipped with Viagra” because rape is their military strategy. “All signs are evident. When women are kept and raped for days when you start to rape boys and men, when you see a injury on the genitals, when you hear women about Russian soldiers who have Viagra with you, this is clearly a military strategy. ” said Patten to reporters. The words of the UN special representative fell into the headlines Russian, Ukrainian and others world Media. Tweet AFP With a quote, Patten at the time of writing this analysis gained more than 2100 likes and 1,200 retweets.
By mid -December 2022, according to the office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, the country was in the country Fixed More than 150 cases of rape of local residents by the Russian military. Such crimes documented several international organizations (for example, Human Rights Watch). Monitoring Group of Management of the Supreme Commissar of the UN Human Rights by the beginning of the summer last year Received More than 120 reports on the alleged acts of rape. However, by words Human rights activists, this figure does not reflect the real scale, since sexual violence is the “most hidden crime”, which is also difficult to investigate in the conditions of war. Dozens of media wrote about victims of violence in Ukraine (in particular, The New York Times, Deutsche Welle, NPR), and in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Open Dozens of criminal cases against Russian military personnel accused of such crimes.
The mention of Viagra in the context of the conflict in Ukraine first appeared in the media in April 2022. BBC Published The story of a resident of the village near Kiev about how, in early March, a Russian soldier bursting into the house wounded her husband (he soon died) and began to rape the woman. According to the Ukrainian, soon four more soldiers arrived who took the colleague. Numerous cases of rape in this village were confirmed by neighbors and local police. The military “saved” the military lived in her house for several days, but “behaved strangely, as if they were drunk.” After their departure, the heroine of the publication found “drugs and Viagra” left by the soldiers.
IN translation This article, published by the Russian BBC Service two days later, specifies that the woman found "Dimedrol, glue and female Viagra. " We were not able to find any other publication, which would mention the type of Viagra or drugs discovered by the heroine of the article after the departure of Russian soldiers.
The second case of mentioning Viagra in the media is reportage British TV channel Sky News in May 2022. A resident of the Kyiv region, who, according to her, was subjected to violence by Russian soldiers, asked a rhetorical question: “He was aggressive. 19 years old, but he had such aggression. I don’t know, did he take Viagra or some kind of drug? Generally so crazy. ”
In April 2022, the Swiss non -profit organization INSECURITY Insightswhich documents the influence of violence and military conflicts on people's lives, published report About armed actions in Ukraine. This report says: "There were reports of Russian soldiers with drugs, Viagra and condom packaging, which raises questions about whether these things were bought in private or were given to them." The report contains descriptions of cases of violence that were personally received from the victims, from social networks or from the conversations intercepted by the Ukrainian Security Service between Russian soldiers and their relatives in Russia.
The next mention of Viagra among Russian soldiers appeared only in October 2022 - just in an interview with Patten. When asked whether the rape as military tactics in Ukraine was used, the UN special representative replied that "all the signs are evident," mentioning "Russian soldiers equipped with Viagra." In the original, in English, the phrase sounded like “Russian Soldiers Equipped with Viagra”, which does not indicate where the soldiers could come from. That is, specifically in this interview, Patten did not directly say that “viagra’s equipment” is an initiative to lead the RF Armed Forces or Russian authorities. Rather, her quote was distorted Media, publishing headlines like "Russia gives Viagra soldiers to rape Ukrainians - the UN representative."
Nevertheless, a month after the AFP interview, Patten still mentioned the intentional distribution of the drug for soldiers. On November 10, Russian prankers Vovan and Lexus (Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov) They called The UN specialist on behalf of the Ukrainian human rights activist and deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Alexander Merezhko and asked if Russia really has a state program for the distribution of Viagra to the soldiers. Patten replied: "I received such information when I was in Kyiv on May 3, from victims and medical personnel." Then she talked about reports of holding women and girls in the basements of buildings in Mariupol, group rape for several days, that Russian soldiers were equipped with Viagra and other drugs. When asked if she has any evidence, Patten replied: “No, no, no. As I said, this is not my role - to go and investigate. I am sitting in the office in New York, I have the authority to protect interests. My role is not in the investigation. The investigation continues to monitor the observance of human rights and the International Investigation Commission. In their reports, nothing is said about Viagra. ”
In the reports of the Office of the Supreme Commissioner of the UN Human Rights, which Patten was most likely talking about (for September And October 2022, covering the period from February to July), more than a hundred cases of rape of Ukrainian residents by Russian military were really documented. But the documents never mention the words “Viagra”, “drug” or “medication”.
Thus, there is no unambiguous evidence that in Russia there is a state program for the issuance of Viagra to military personnel sent to Ukraine. If such a program really existed, it would be almost impossible to hide it, and some information about wholesale purchases of the drug would have already leaked to the Internet. The version of the state program was most widely spread after an interview with Pramila Patten, AFP, which was actually not approved that the commanders deliberately give this drug to Russian soldiers. Later, Patten herself clarified that she did not know any evidence in support of this version. It is not said about the state program in the reports of authoritative international organizations.
Photo collage on the cover: Minister defense of Russia and package ViagramMons (Wikicommons)
Most likely not true
- Correctiv.org: Reports of Sexual Violence in the War: Who The Ukranian Parliament Dismissed Human Rights Chief Denisova
- BBC. Violence as a means of warfare. What is known about rape in the war in Ukraine and how they are investigated
- "Present." Sexualized violence in the war in Ukraine
- UN. Murders, rape and torture in Ukraine is not a fake
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