Russia is once again proving its brutality in Ukraine, this time through a Soviet-era torture method grotesquely called a “call to Putin.” According to a forthcoming United Nations report, Russian forces have been shocking prisoners’ genitals with the hand-cranked TA-57 field telephone, sending excruciating 80-volt currents through their bodies.
Dr. Alice Jill Edwards, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture, revealed that the practice is far from isolated. “The scale is really off the charts about how many people who are detained are subjected to some form of degrading or inhumane treatment,” she told the Telegraph. “It’s not only on an individual level; this is widespread and systematic, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
The barbaric method — known as both a “call to Putin” and a “call to Lenin” — is just one of several atrocities documented. Edwards’ report details gang rapes, beatings, stabbing of genitals, burning nipples, threats of castration, and family members forced to watch sexual violence.
She made clear that responsibility lies at the very top. “It is the level of the state; it’s Putin himself and [foreign minister Sergei] Lavrov who have responsibility for these types of policies,” Edwards said.
As the Trump administration and NATO allies consider their next steps in the face of increased Russian aggression, this report is a stark reminder that Russia’s war is not just about territory — it’s about systematic dehumanization and terror. And as Edwards concluded, “Torture remains part of, in my view, Russian war tactics and war policy.”
