Pavel Filatyev. This name certainly does not mean anything to you but it is starting to make people talk regarding it. This Russian soldier was indeed engaged in the war in Ukraine. The 34-year-old was sent with his unit to take over the port of Kherson. Throughout his career, he kept a war diary, which he published a few days ago on the Russian social network Vkontakte. He denounces the atrocities of the conflict.
“When we were in the middle of the fight in the trenches around Mykolaiv, horrible things happened”he slips in particular in this 141-page long document. “I saw comrades mutilating prisoners of war. And then they once more vented their frustration on corpses. It was horrible madness that turned once morest us. The soldiers were looking for a way out, sometimes extreme I have seen comrades shoot themselves in the foot or mutilate some other part of their body in order to be removed from the battlefield. rubles (i.e. 50,000 euros)”.
“They make us real savages”
In an interview with a journalist from the Guardian, Pavel Filatyev discusses some details of the war, such as computers stolen by Russian soldiers. The man explains: “Even on the Russian second-hand market, they still earn a few months’ salary by reselling these computers. I didn’t steal any computers myself, but I stole a hat that I found in a damaged truck. Because my own balaclava was too cold.” For Pavel Filatyev, if Russian soldiers are sent to war with inferior equipment, it is strategic: it is to increase their desire for revenge. “In this way they make us real savages”he explains.
If Pavel Filatyev confides publicly today, it is because he is no longer engaged in this war that he denounces. He was injured and then evacuated due to an eye infection. On the advice of his mother, when he wanted to stay, he fled Russia, escaping the security services. Because with the revelations he makes, the now ex-Russian soldier knows that he faces a prison sentence in his country.
Regarding the war wounded, like him, Filatyev says: “I went to see some in the hospital. Among others, the survivors of the rocket attack on the Moskva cruiser. They said that they still had not received compensation. In addition, many families have not yet been informed that their son was killed on the battlefield.”
Most Russian soldiers would be unhappy
At the Guardian, the ex-soldier assures that he can no longer be silent. If he is one of the first to give himself up like this, he declares that many soldiers are of his opinion. “Most soldiers are unhappy with what is happening in Ukraine”he says. “They are unhappy with Putin and his policies, they are unhappy with the defense minister, who has never served in the army.”
Note that since his war diary was published, all members of his ex-unit have cut ties with him. But he remains convinced that around 20% of his comrades in arms support him. And many others at the front told him they had great respect for the patriotism of Ukrainians, who are fighting to defend their own territory.
As for the rest, Pavel Filatyev remains skeptical because popular protests are slow to arrive or are neutralized. “I’m just terrified of what will happen next”he concludes, fearing that Russia will continue to fight despite an already terrible record.
