Putin soldier is wrapped in clingfilm, hung upside down and beaten by commander in latest

A disturbing new video has emerged highlighting the brutality of Putin‘s army, showing a soldier wrapped in cling film, suspended from a tree and beaten by his commander.

The footage, shared on a Telegram channel, appears to show the serviceman hanging upside down in a forest while a commander repeatedly slaps him across the face.

His entire body has been bound in layers of cling film, forming a cocoon-like shell, as he spins helplessly from the tree.

Meanwhile, fellow soldiers can be heard laughing and encouraging the abuse as the suspended man groans in pain.

It is unclear what prompted the punishment, but it follows a well-documented pattern of commanders abusing their own troops for infractions including refusing orders, abandoning suicide missions, or even remaining on sick leave for extended periods. 

The footage is the latest in a wave of similar videos released on social media platforms.

In April, another harrowing clip surfaced, showing a near-naked refusenik soldier being made to eat dirt by his commander.

The serviceman, who is wearing only underpants, was thrown in a pit and appeared to have broken ribs. 

‘Eat the dirt, you *****! ‘Come on, come on. Since you’re a dog, go on, have a walk, crawl around on all fours,’ the commander shouts.

The serviceman pleads: ‘My ribs hurt,’ before the commander begins to hurl a tirade of insults and threats at the man.

‘**** your ribs, for ****’s sake! Tomorrow you’ll go on a raid with a pancake, you ****ing *****!’

A pancake is a mine which could explode and kill him at any moment.

The new video comes as Russia has lost almost half a million soldiers in the war in Ukraine, the head of GCHQ revealed on Wednesday.

Anne Keast-Butler disclosed the staggering scale of the military losses as she piled pressure on Putin.

In her inaugural annual lecture, the spy chief said: ‘Putin is going backwards on the battlefield with new intelligence showing that almost half a million Russian soldiers have now been killed since the conflict began.’

The figure is far higher than previous estimates of 350,000 deaths, which was calculated earlier this month by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think-tank.

In March, the Daily Mail compiled a series of graphic videos showing commanders beating and electrocuting their own troops, denying them food, forcing them to crawl through mud, tying them naked to trees in sub-zero temperatures and even making them fight to the death.

Other footage shows injured soldiers on crutches being sent back to the frontline. In separate clips, troops sheltering in Ukrainian dugouts film themselves surviving on stolen potatoes because their own army has not supplied them with food.

Commanders are sending their men into so-called ‘meat storm’ battles, likened to suicide missions, where troops are thrown at Ukrainian positions until they run out of ammunition.

Those who flee or refuse orders face brutal punishment.

One video shows two naked men lying in a pit as their commander screams at them and fires bullets into the ground nearby. ‘Lay there for a few more days until you understand how to follow orders,’ the commander shouts.

Another shows two men forced to crawl through mud while commanders kick dirt at them and strike them in the head. The commander is heard yelling ‘are you still going to be sick?’ while beating him.

One clip shows a middle-aged soldier chained by the neck inside a box while his commander taunts him with food.

‘Are you hungry?’ the commander asks, before flinging a plate of meat and bread at his head and pouring water over him.

‘Eat, you dog. You’re going to die there, you know,’ the commander jeers while hitting the man.

Another video shows half-naked men chained to a tree. ‘These are our dogs who ran away from us,’ a commander is heard saying, ‘but we caught them’. He then forces the two soldiers to bark like dogs before urinating on them.

In another clip, reportedly from the 132nd Brigade, two terrified soldiers are duct-taped to a tree. One has a bucket placed over his head, which a commander repeatedly kicks.

The commander shouts ‘why did you refuse orders,’ while repeatedly hitting the man. He then turns to the other man, an elderly soldier, and says you’re going to be shot, before urinating on the younger man.

One video shows a middle-aged soldier being beaten while accused of theft. Commanders write ‘I’m a thief’ across his chest in black marker and force him, dressed like a clown, to dance as they jeer.

In a different disturbing clip, a man screams and writhes on the floor as he is repeatedly electrocuted by laughing soldiers.

Russian military expert Keir Giles said these displays of abuse demonstrate deeper systemic issues within the country.

‘The Russian army reflects the society from which it’s drawn. And that’s a society in which violence, extortion, and corruption are endemic,’ he told the Daily Mail.

‘We shouldn’t be surprised when these behaviours are carried forward and displayed, whether it’s against the people that the Russian army conquers, or to their own people, because the social structure within Russia has always been built upon anybody that has even a tiny amount of power exploiting it to the greatest extent possible.’

‘When explaining this to Nato forces, we often say: you have no difficulty imagining that North Koreans or the Taliban behave differently from European militaries. That is the category to place the Russian armed forces in.’

Giles explained that in the earlier part of this century, the Russian army attempted to modernise and get rid of ‘dedovshchina’, which is an extreme form of hazing and abusing recruits.

‘They tried to abolish the system whereby the reign of terror of the senior conscripts over the juniors led to a significant number of fatalities and general misery. They never really succeeded,’ he said.

Reports suggest poverty-stricken men are being taken from small towns and deprived regions and forced into service, including homeless people, ethnic minorities and prisoners being sent into deadly combat.

Exiled news outlet Vyorstka reported last year that Russian police officers are being offered between £98 and £975 per detainee they recruit to fight in Ukraine.

Methods of torture such as beating and electrical shocks are reportedly used to coerce men to sign.

‘These are people that come from the poorest levels of Russian society, the undiluted, unvarnished, unchanged Russia that in many respects hasn’t moved on,’ said Giles.

‘There are people coming into the armed forces who are seeing a toothbrush and a toilet for the first time in their lives.’

Meanwhile, wealthier Russians in major cities such as Moscow can avoid conscription through bribes or medical exemptions.

Giles said: ‘If you look at the proportion of people serving from remote villages, ethnic minorities, and the periphery compared to Moscow, the difference is stark.

‘Putin does not want to mobilise large numbers from cities, where people can exchange information and understand the real cost of the war. If casualties are concentrated in rural areas, that vulnerability is reduced.’