The largest prisoner exchange in three years gathered an incredible number of media representatives. The waiting was exhausting and irritating—the exchange was already delayed by three hours. A representative of the Coordination Headquarters came out to the frenzied crowd of journalists and asked them to be tactful and unobtrusive with the returned defenders.

He explained that usually the fighters cannot refuse persistent members of the press, even if they absolutely don’t want to talk. Most likely, they would stand and answer questions until they fainted. The point is that prisoners in the camps are punished for refusing, so the soldiers, almost on a subconscious level, lose the ability to say no.

This is yet another brutal example of how prisoners of war are treated in Russian prisons.