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Pavel Filatiev, a former Russian soldier, arrived in France on Sunday, after writing a tell-all book detailing his time in Ukraine as a paratrooper in the Russian army.
He fled Russia in August after publishing his book “ZOV,” which refers to the symbols painted on Russian military vehicles, and escaping to France via Tunisia.
“We had no moral right to attack another country, especially the people closest to us,” he writes in the book, which he self-published on VKontakte, a Russian social media network, in August. “We started a terrible war,” he writes, “a war in which cities are destroyed and which leads to the deaths of children, women and the elderly.”
“ZOV” describes a chaotic Russian army in which demoralized recruits were equipped with rusty guns and ill-fitting uniforms. On Feb. 24, the day the invasion began, Mr. Filatiev writes that he and other soldiers were shocked to learn they were invading Ukraine.
“I woke up at around 2 a.m.,” he writes. “The column was lined up somewhere in the wilderness, and everyone had turned off their engines and headlights,” he continues. “I couldn’t understand: Are we firing at advancing Ukrainians? Or maybe at NATO? Or are we attacking? Who is this hellish shelling aimed at?”
Later, he characterizes the Russian Army as lacking basic supplies. During a military operation in occupied Kherson in March, he writes, desperate Russian soldiers raided buildings looking for food, water, showers, and a place to sleep, and looted everything they could find of value, including computers and clothing.
Mr. Filatiev’s account was widely reported by independent Russian media outlets, most of them based outside the country. But state-run outlets have conspicuously ignored him. And even some Ukrainians on social media have lashed out against attempts to glorify or praise him, given that he fought in Ukraine.
Ivan Zhdanov, a Russian opposition activist and ally of the jailed dissident Aleksei A. Navalny, said that Mr. Filatiev had blood on his hands.
“Honestly, I am skeptical about his decision because he went there and fought there,” he said on his show on YouTube.
In an interview with the Agence France-Presse news agency, Mr. Filatiev said he believed he had a moral imperative to say what was happening in Ukraine.
“I want people in Russia and in the world to know how this war came about,” he told the news agency.
Constant Méheut contributed reporting from Paris.
— Dan Bilefsky and Ivan Nechepurenko
I really hope he survives this.
He could well get asylum in France but I don’t see Russia taking kindly to him doing so.
There is already a window prepared for him …I’m convinced he will slip and fall out of it.
He should avoid hospitals.
He’ll eventually fall out a window
So the guy went into Ukraine, could have killed others and now requires political asylum. How is that even normal?
He needs to be taken in and investigated, if he is guilty of war crimes. If he has to go back to Russia he will get killed instantly, all information dies with him, and whatever good things could come out of this situation are lost. It could encourage others to do the same, removing soldiers from the battlefield and making Ukraine’s job easier.
However if he is found guilty of war crimes (arguably there is an obvious one of participating in a war of aggression) he must go to jail either way. Going to the west is his best shot regardless, if he is not a fan of falling backwards into a knife 20 times.
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Pavel Filatiev, a former Russian soldier, arrived in France on Sunday, after writing a tell-all book detailing his time in Ukraine as a paratrooper in the Russian army.
He fled Russia in August after publishing his book “ZOV,” which refers to the symbols painted on Russian military vehicles, and escaping to France via Tunisia.
“We had no moral right to attack another country, especially the people closest to us,” he writes in the book, which he self-published on VKontakte, a Russian social media network, in August. “We started a terrible war,” he writes, “a war in which cities are destroyed and which leads to the deaths of children, women and the elderly.”
“ZOV” describes a chaotic Russian army in which demoralized recruits were equipped with rusty guns and ill-fitting uniforms. On Feb. 24, the day the invasion began, Mr. Filatiev writes that he and other soldiers were shocked to learn they were invading Ukraine.
“I woke up at around 2 a.m.,” he writes. “The column was lined up somewhere in the wilderness, and everyone had turned off their engines and headlights,” he continues. “I couldn’t understand: Are we firing at advancing Ukrainians? Or maybe at NATO? Or are we attacking? Who is this hellish shelling aimed at?”
Later, he characterizes the Russian Army as lacking basic supplies. During a military operation in occupied Kherson in March, he writes, desperate Russian soldiers raided buildings looking for food, water, showers, and a place to sleep, and looted everything they could find of value, including computers and clothing.
Mr. Filatiev’s account was widely reported by independent Russian media outlets, most of them based outside the country. But state-run outlets have conspicuously ignored him. And even some Ukrainians on social media have lashed out against attempts to glorify or praise him, given that he fought in Ukraine.
Ivan Zhdanov, a Russian opposition activist and ally of the jailed dissident Aleksei A. Navalny, said that Mr. Filatiev had blood on his hands.
“Honestly, I am skeptical about his decision because he went there and fought there,” he said on his show on YouTube.
In an interview with the Agence France-Presse news agency, Mr. Filatiev said he believed he had a moral imperative to say what was happening in Ukraine.
“I want people in Russia and in the world to know how this war came about,” he told the news agency.
Constant Méheut contributed reporting from Paris.
— Dan Bilefsky and Ivan Nechepurenko
I really hope he survives this.
He could well get asylum in France but I don’t see Russia taking kindly to him doing so.
There is already a window prepared for him …I’m convinced he will slip and fall out of it.
He should avoid hospitals.
He’ll eventually fall out a window
So the guy went into Ukraine, could have killed others and now requires political asylum. How is that even normal?
He needs to be taken in and investigated, if he is guilty of war crimes. If he has to go back to Russia he will get killed instantly, all information dies with him, and whatever good things could come out of this situation are lost. It could encourage others to do the same, removing soldiers from the battlefield and making Ukraine’s job easier.
However if he is found guilty of war crimes (arguably there is an obvious one of participating in a war of aggression) he must go to jail either way. Going to the west is his best shot regardless, if he is not a fan of falling backwards into a knife 20 times.