A Russian paratrooper, who published a frank account of his experiences in the first months of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, applied for political asylum in France. Agence France-Presse wrote about it on Tuesday. Pavel Filatev traveled to Paris via Tunisia on Sunday and says he faces trial and severe punishment in his home country for writing about the dysfunction of the Russian army and soldiers’ attitudes toward the war.
According to Filatyev, the Russian army is just working hard and the soldiers lack training and equipment (illustration image) | Photo: Alexander Ermoshenko | Source: Reuters
“When I learned that the big animals asked me to jail for 15 years for spreading false news, I realized there was nothing I could do and that my lawyers in Russia couldn’t help me,” the 34-year-old soldier, who served in the south for two months, told AFP. Press Ukraine near the cities of Kherson and Mykolaiv.
He was pulled from the forehead due to an eye infection and ended up in a military hospital in Sevastopol, Crimea, where he left this month.
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After his departure, he posted a 140-page text entitled Zov (Calling) on the social network Vkontakte, the Russian equivalent of Facebook, in which he recapitulated his participation in the fight.
According to him, the Russian army is working only with maximum effort, and the soldiers lack training and equipment.
“If in peacetime the corrupt and apathetic army is already in dire straits, then it is clear that during war and in combat the situation is worse and the lack of professionalism becomes even more pronounced,” says Filatyev, who left the country due to fears. from the prosecution.
“Why do I say all this in such detail? I want people in Russia and around the world to know why this war happened and why people keep fighting in it,” the soldier told AFP, adding that his former colleagues were afraid to speak out and feared the consequences if they spoke out.
