Russian soldier Pavel Filatyev broke his silence denouncing the Russian military operation in Ukraine in a long text he posted on the Internet following he fought for two months in Ukraine and fled Russia to seek political asylum in France.
The 34-year-old military arrived Sunday at Roissy airport in France via Tunisia and met staff of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons on Monday.
The paratrooper, who left the ranks of the Russian army for some time and was re-enlisted last year in the 56th Airborne Regiment stationed in Crimea, posted a 141-page text denouncing the status of Russian forces and the war in Ukraine, on the social networking site VKontakte in August.
Filatyev in military uniform before leaving Russia
“When I learned that the leadership had asked to be sentenced to 15 years in prison for ‘false information’ ( once morest the Russian army), I realized that I would not come to any conclusion,” Pavel Filatyev told an AFP correspondent who met him Monday in the waiting area for asylum seekers in Roissy. something and that lawyers can do nothing for me in Russia.”
Filatiev criticizes Russian military operation that began on February 24in the text entitled “Zov” in Russian, meaning “call”.
Al-Askari, who was also the son of a soldier who served in the same 56th Regiment, wrote: “We did not have the moral right to attack another country, in addition to that, it included the people closest to us.”
Corruption and indifference
and talking regarding Russian forces wrecked and barely equipped She lacks training, “in the same way that Russia has become in past years.”
“From year to year corruption is spreading more and more,” Filatyev said. He added: “Corruption, chaos and indifference have crossed the boundaries of what is acceptable.”
He added: “In the first months I was under the influence of shock. I used to tell myself that this is unreasonable, and at the end of the year I realized that I did not want to serve in the ranks of these forces.”
But he did not resign and was on the front line when the Kremlin called for the launch of a “special operation” in Ukraine. He went with his regiment first to Kherson and then to Mykolaiv, two cities on the Black Sea coast.
He said, “If the army in times of peace is corrupt and in a state of indifference and chaos, it is obvious that this appears more in times of war and fighting and that the lack of professionalism becomes more evident,” believing that the Russian government played a major role “in destroying the army inherited from the Union.” Soviet”.
It’s hard to leave
After two months of fighting in Ukraine, during which he confirmed that his regiment did not participate in any operations once morest civilians or prisoners, Pavel Filatyev was evacuated due to an injury to his right eye and was treated in Sebastopol in the Crimea.
Then he tried to resign for health reasons, but his leadership asked him to return to the front and threatened to open an investigation once morest him if he did not.
Filatyev in military uniform before leaving Russia
In early August, he left Crimea and published his text on the Internet. After moving from one city to another in Russia to avoid being identified, he left the country.
“Why should I tell all this in detail? I want people in Russia and the whole world to understand how the war happened and why people keep fighting it,” he said. He added, “Not because they want to fight, but because they are in circumstances that make it very difficult for them to leave.”
He stressed that “the army, as well as Russian society, is terrified”, estimating it at only 10% Number of soldiers supporting the warMost soldiers, on the other hand, are afraid to speak out. “The opponents of the war are afraid of expression, and they are afraid of the consequences of leaving,” he added.
He stressed that if he was granted refugee status, he would work to “end the war.” “I want as few young Russians to join the war, so let them know what is happening there,” he concluded.
