Even as the columns of military equipment passed through Ukraine’s Kherson region, Filatyev told CBC News that he and his colleagues were unaware that Russia had invaded Ukraine. Instead, a regimental commander had urged them just days earlier to “stop spreading gossip,” he said, telling them they would go home in a few days once the exercises were over. Nearly seven months later, the Russian military is losing large swaths of Ukrainian territory it tried to seize, and Filatyev is out of the army — and out of Russia. He was forced to flee after publishing a scathing rebuke of an army he fought for and a government he served, he said. “Russia has been captured by some kind of mafia,” he said during an interview with CBC News in Paris, where he is applying for asylum. “The commanders, our government used their military, misleading them.” Filatyev, 34, was evacuated from the war zone after an eye infection in mid-April and then spent more than a month writing a 141-page journal titled Zov, which refers to the tactical “Z” tags used by Russia in her army. equipment. He posted the manuscript on social media in early August. He records the confusion and disorder in the days leading up to the invasion, the chaos he saw when troops moved into Ukraine, and his disgust at everything that has happened since. WATCHES | Ukraine reclaims territory from Russian forces:
Ukraine recovers parts of territory from Russian forces
Ukraine’s military has retaken 3,000 square kilometers of territory from Russian occupation within days after a swift counteroffensive in the country’s northeast. It marks a major shift in the war after months of attrition. Filatyev is the only Russian soldier to criticize the military in such a public and detailed way, and his actions carry enormous personal risk, given that Russia has already sentenced some civilians to years in prison for “discrediting the military.” He left a few weeks after publishing his magazine, with the help of a human rights network in France that advocates for Russian dissidents. Although it is impossible to verify his claims, his account is very detailed.
Realizing that it was Russia that attacked
Filatiev served in the Russian army during the second Chechen war in the late 2000s before giving up military life to become a horse trainer. He gave up that project after a decade for financial reasons, he said, and then re-enlisted. In February, while in Crimea for training, Filatiev wrote that he was given a rifle that he said was so rusty that it stopped firing after a few rounds. He said that on February 23, the division commander arrived and promised all the troops that they would get a daily bonus equivalent to Cdn$90. Filatiev said this was a clear sign that something was about to happen, but he thought the most likely scenario was that troops would be sent to the self-proclaimed, Russian-controlled Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic to act as peacekeepers. during referendums. Military vehicles of the Russian army drive along a road in the Crimean city of Armyansk after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in eastern Ukraine, February 24, 2022. (Reuters) He said rumors had begun to spread that soldiers might “storm” Kherson, but dismissed such talk as nonsense. He said he got into a fight with his platoon commander because he wasn’t fitted with a bulletproof vest and ended up being reassigned to a mortar team As they drove to Kherson on the morning of February 24, he wrote that the military truck he was in had no working brakes and that equipment was stuck in the mud. When he heard the sounds of the artillery, various scenarios played out in his head. He thought maybe Ukraine was trying to retake Crimea or that NATO was somehow involved. He said it was only when his unit was ordered to destroy a bridge spanning the Dnieper River that he realized it was Russia that was attacking. He later wrote that while it was shameful to invade Ukraine, it was also “shameful to refuse a military order.” During his interview with CBC News, he said the military units were poorly organized as soldiers did not know what they were doing and there was little communication. In his diary, he wrote that the Russian soldiers were not killed because of “the professionalism of the Ukrainian army, but the chaos in ours”. He described driving further into Ukraine, passing lines of cars as Ukrainians fled. At one point, two men passed Filatiev’s truck carrying a banner with a cross. “Either they banished us to the other world, or they blessed us,” Filatiev wrote. Filatyev, 34, in an undated photo. He has served twice in the Russian army and says he is ashamed of what is happening in Ukraine. (Pavel Filatiev)
Losing confidence in the Russian leadership
Russia was able to understand Kherson on March 2, just over a week after the invasion, but Filatiev said Russian soldiers were left struggling with exhaustion, freezing temperatures and hunger. In his diary, he wrote that some people thought about going into the houses to get warm blankets, but he says he didn’t see anyone do that. “We don’t even need an enemy,” he wrote. “The administration has put us in such conditions that the homeless live better.” When the soldiers arrived at the port of Kherson, he described them as behaving like “savages”, raiding buildings in search of food, water and anything else of value. He admitted stealing a hat and sharing a bottle of champagne found by another soldier. They drank it while watching a Ukrainian news channel on TV. A view of the damaged Fabrika shopping center in the city of Kherson on July 20, 2022, amid ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine. (AFP/Getty Images) When news reports described a multi-pronged attack across Ukraine, Filatiev said he felt somewhat relieved that it would all be over soon. However, Russia’s military campaign – which stalled early when troops failed to capture Kyiv and Kharkiv – has recently suffered major setbacks in eastern Ukraine. Some military bloggers, even the Kremlin-appointed leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, have criticized the Russian military. On one of his social media accounts, Kadyrov said on Saturday that if no changes were made to the strategy, he would be “forced to talk to the leadership of the Defense Ministry and the leadership of (Russia)”. The UK Ministry of Defense said last week that Ukraine had retaken an area roughly twice the size of Greater London and speculated that the already “limited trust that deployed troops have in Russia’s senior military leadership is likely to deteriorate further.” Speaking to CBC News, Filatiev said morale was already low even before troops moved into Ukraine. By March, he claims some soldiers were shooting themselves in an attempt to get compensation and “get out of this hell”. He said others left and didn’t want to come back.
War crimes
When asked about allegations that Russian soldiers committed war crimes, including murder and rape, Filatiev said he had not personally seen anything. However, in his diary he wrote about a Ukrainian prisoner of war who had his fingertips and genitals cut off. WATCHES | How people in Mykolaiv, Ukraine survive months of shelling:
Months of surviving shelling in Mykolaiv, Ukraine
Frequent shelling has driven out much of the population of Mykolaiv, Ukraine, a city on the country’s southern coast. Those who remain survive with the help of foreign aid. They say they are scared, but hopeful. He told CBC News that daily warfare makes people “harder and tougher,” but that’s the reality of all conflicts. In an Aug. 3 tweet, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said it was investigating over 26,000 alleged Russian war crimes. In recent reports, Amnesty International, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch have also raised concerns about the behavior of Ukrainian forces — including allegations that they could be putting civilians at risk. The difference with the Russian military, Filatiev said, is that the government does not root out and punish criminals. “I accuse the Russian government and administration of not repressing in any way,” he said. “I have enormous anger at these events.”
Leaving Russia
Filatiev told CBC News that before arriving in France, he had a stopover in Tunisia and described being pulled from his hotel room and interrogated by security services for hours.
Once in Paris, he tore up his military ID and Russian passport in a bathroom in protest. The video was also posted online
Kamalia Mehtiyeva, a Paris-based lawyer representing Filatyev, said his case is unique because he is not a politician who had to flee Russia, but a soldier starting a new life with few connections in France.
“The price (of security) is too high,” he said.
Kamalia Mehtiyeva, a Paris-based lawyer, represents Filatyev and is helping him apply for asylum. He says that once granted, they will see if he is eligible for any kind of police protection while in France. (Briar Stewart/CBC News)
When Filatyev spoke to the CBC on an observation deck in Montparnasse, Paris, his eye injury was still bothering him and he said he felt dizzy.
While he was eager to share his story of what he did and saw in Ukraine, he seemed exhausted and tired.
Even now in France, there is still a risk of being within the Kremlin’s borders. However, he expects his magazine to be published and said he wants to continue writing.
“I understand that if…
