Ukrainians prisoners recount strip searches, beatings at Russian 'filtration' camps

Ukrainian refugees too far east to flee toward Europe had to seek refuge in Russia, where they have been processed through “filtration camps” and screened for their loyalties and any military ties.

Some of Ukraine’s most vulnerable have opened up about the indignities they’ve suffered or witnessed at the hands of Russian authorities there.

One elderly woman told The Guardian she was asked to strip during her interrogation after waiting three weeks cold, hungry and sleeping on the floor. She did not give her full name.

“Bruises on the shoulders could mean you’re a sniper,” Olena explained, horrified, from Georgia.

“I told him, I’m turning 60 years old this August. How could I be a sniper?”

She said the officer replied, “I’m not wearing my glasses anyway. Take your top off now.”

Ukrainians in Russian-occupied cities were forced to decide between staying or flee to the invading country.

These refugees were forced through “filtration,” a process through which they are photographed, fingerprinted and interrogated, reports The Washington Post.

Also routine is a strip-search, where officials look for signs the subject had combat experience – calluses and bruises that can be signs of having handled weaponry or pro-Ukrainian tattoos – and the seizure of passports and other identifying documents.

Those believed to be soldiers or militiamen have been taken into custody, where they have been reportedly beaten and tortured.

The makeshift filtration camps are set up at schools, cultural centers and other public buildings in occupied territory. They are often poorly organized and bare; Olena said she slept on a cardboard box and had to find her own food after the cafeteria ran out.

Russia has been accused of forcibly deporting Ukrainian children from captured areas by human rights groups, according to Reuters.

"When our children are taken out, they destroy the national identity, deprive our country of the future," said Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudswoman.