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<\/p>\nA Russian TV reporter who quit his state-propaganda channel in protest over the brutal war in Ukraine has been thrown into a \u201cpunishment pit\u201d by Vladimir Putin\u2019s sadist forces. <\/p>\n
Ilya Andreyev, 42, left his position on Channel One at the start of the war last year because he refused to churn out propaganda nonsense in support of Mad Vlad\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n
As a result, he found himself blacklisted from other jobs. A couple of months ago, out of money and in debt, he signed up for the army after being assured he\u2019d be based in Moscow and away from the Russia-Ukraine frontline.<\/p>\n
\u200cREAD MORE: Graphic moment Russian soldier is blown up in desolate, body-filled Ukrainian wasteland<\/b><\/p>\n
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But he was \u201cconned\u201d and sent to Ukraine almost immediately, his wife said. \u201c[He was promised that] he would serve in Moscow \u2013 that\u2019s the only reason my husband agreed,\u201d said Yana, who\u2019s also a TV reporter.<\/p>\n
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Earlier this month, Ilya requested time off to renew his outdated identity documents. But local commanders in annexed Luhansk refused and accused him of \u201cdesertion\u201d and \u201cinsubordination\u201d.<\/p>\n
They threw him into the \u201cpunishment pit\u201d for refuseniks, and at one point tied him to a tree to prevent him escaping. Punishment pits are commonly used for those who oppose Putin\u2019s illegal war.<\/p>\n
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Yana went to Luhansk to find him and seek his release. He was allowed out of the hole in the ground \u2013 but he was then arrested and accused of seeking to leave the conflict zone.<\/p>\n
\u200cHis wife said his guards \u201cused violence against Ilya\u201d and \u201cspoke horribly to him\u201d. And last week \u2013 using a borrowed phone \u2013 he called his wife to say he was being moved to the village of Zaitseve in annexed Ukraine.<\/p>\n
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Zaitseve is notorious for basements where cruel Russian forces detain soldiers who refuse to fight in the war. Reports say 110 men are forcibly held here.<\/p>\n
Independent media outlet Meduza said: \u201cThe soldiers held there are threatened, fed irregularly or not fed at all, deprived of bathrooms and basic hygiene products, and tortured.\u201d<\/p>\n
A further report said Ilya had since been moved to a training base in Russia which is used by Putin\u2019s forces to \u201cconvince\u201d refuseniks to go to the front line.<\/p>\n
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