– I realized that the choice between slow and rapid death. I chose to fast.
This is what the Russian prisoner of war Timur says The New York Times. He was originally imprisoned in his home country for selling drugs. The punishment was ten years.
Instead of completing his sentence, Timur enlisted in and with the Russian army to fight in Ukraine. The reason is simple – he is HIV positive.
He is not alone. According to The New York Times, one in five Russian servicemen conscripted into prisons is HIV-positive. They are recruiting for access to medicines.
Treatment in Russian prisons is described as inadequate. Many are said to have been denied effective treatment.
lost hope
Taymur tells the newspaper that he no longer believes that he will remain in prison for years. As a prisoner, his medicines were replaced by other, less effective ones. The fear was so great that he joined Wagner’s group.
On their way to war, soldiers were screened with colored bracelets—one color for every ailment they might have. The goal is to protect other soldiers from getting hurt. In the event of a bleeding wound in battle, other soldiers could see what injuries the wounded person had.
According to Russian sources, about 50,000 inmates have been enlisted in the army since last summer. Ukrainian intelligence recently reported that Russian prisoners of war had already been registered with HIV and hepatitis C. Last summer, the Global Fund, which fights the spread of diseases such as HIV, AIDS and malaria, came out and said that they expect an increase in HIV infections. Tuberculosis and HIV in Ukraine because of the war.
Recordings of the interrogation of prisoners, according to The New York Times, show many of them wearing red armbands. The same prisoners also talk about their HIV status.
Fear for your life
Ukrainian authorities are said to have ensured that prisoners of war received medication for, among other things, HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis.
A man named Raslan, 42, told the New York Times that he served one year of an 11-year prison sentence before he joined the Wagner Group in December. The drugs he received in prison at his home in Russia made him fear for his life.
Wristbands: red for HIV, white for hepatitis C. Russian soldiers were marked with bracelets of different colors to distinguish the diseases they carried. Photo: Mauricio Lima/The New York Times/NTB
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Last year he was said to have been bedridden with pneumonia for several weeks. In January he was still ill, but was sent to Bakhmut to fight. There he was finally captured by the Ukrainian defense.
Although he is captured, he does not regret his choice to enlist.
– If you have a long sentence ahead of you, it gives you a chance to start life again, Rosland tells the newspaper.
Sudden discontinuation of treatment
Tuberculosis was one of the main challenges in Ukraine, even before the war. In recent years, the country has made great efforts to combat the disease and was the first country in the world to test a new drug against drug-resistant tuberculosis.
However, the war brought the country’s program against the disease to an abrupt halt, and health workers feared the consequences would lead to an increase in infection.
Ukraine has been struggling for many years with a high incidence of tuberculosis. Before the war, the country recorded about 30,000 new cases annually and also had one of the highest rates of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the world.
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