"Saran"wrap on russian POWs - is this a new thing?

Factual Questions
1

Hi there,

yes, I do spend way too much time informing myself what is going on in Ucraine …

A “new” thing (to me) … I have seen a few pics of russian POWs, with some sort of saran-wrap over eyes and ears. Unfortunately most are on reddit and it does not allow to link to them (search for “russian pow ukraine reddit” on image google)

I “get” it … this allows POWs to have limited vision and audition (to move/be moved around, receive orders), but probably are not able to see or hear any details etc… so actually a fairly smart thing

My Q now: is this a new thing? is this a Ukrainian thing? … or is it standard procedure?

2

Given the situation in Ukraine it would not surprise me one bit if it was completely improvised by someone with nothing readily available to make a traditional blindfold who just happened to have a roll of foodwrap at hand.

3

I’m not seeing that and used the search you suggested. One photo does have the heads blurred out, which I assume is not to reveal who they are, but perhaps that’s what you are talking about?

4

yeah, what I see in google might not be the same that you see …

image google: Ukrainian soldiers let Russian captive soldier to call his parents reddit

on closer inspection, it seems to be clear-package-tape, rather than saran-wrap

5

In my service time and beyond, I’d never heard of this before. But it does make some sense - it blurs vision and hearing a little.

6

First read the OP as “Sarin” and thought we’d turned a war crime into a fashion statement

7

Oh, that would be quite effective.

8

According to conversations with someone I know who had been a drug “mule”, saran wrap was used by gangs as a terror tactic. Easily done with hand held package wrapping rolls about a foot wide. The victim was wrapped immobilizing their arms and legs and maybe around the face and taken to a bridge for a last chance to tell the gang what they needed to know. He said the effect was absolutely terrifying.

9

Saran wrap (or similar plastic wrap, all the way up to “restraint wrap”) also has its uses in BDSM.

10

and is - for reasons not completely clear to me - widely used in citizen’s detentions in LatAm … muggers being saran-wrapped to light-poles before police shows up

11

Because clingy plastic wrap is cheap, readily available without a license or special permission, and fairly effective for the purpose (especially when combined with duct tape)?

12

Why? The website doesn’t disallow links and half of the images are on imgur anyway.