Soldier Filatev opens up about despair and misdeeds of Russian army in Ukraine

Spoiled rations, faltering weaponry and serious human rights violations. Nothing Russian paratrooper Pavel Filatjev revealed on social media about the misdeeds and desperation of Russian soldiers in Ukraine is really new. What is remarkable is the fact that 33-year-old Filajev, who fought in Ukraine for two months, spoke up about a subject that is scrupulously silent in Russia.

Two weeks ago Filatev published a 141-page document on the Russian social medium VKontakte, in which he records his war experiences. It is by far the most detailed account of the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, and of the abuses within the Russian army. “Two months of mud, hunger, cold, sweat and the nearness of death. Too bad they don’t admit journalists, so our country doesn’t hear about the haggard, unwashed, skinny paratroopers, of whom it’s unclear who annoys them more: the stubborn Ukrainians who won’t let themselves be denazified, or by their ungrateful army commanders who even not to worry about the equipment during acts of war.” According to Filatev, it lacks any kind of military strategy or plan.

Last week Filajev fled Russia with the help of the human rights organization gulagu.net, run by Russian whistleblower and human rights activist Vladimir Osetshkin, who had fled earlier this year.

Ukrainian uniforms

Filatev, serving with the 56th Air Brigade in Crimea, was sent with his unit to the southern Ukrainian port city of Kherson shortly after the start of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. There they took the harbor and then started looting. About these looting he writes in his diary: “We searched all the buildings for food, water, showers and places to sleep. I was no exception: I found a hat in a broken-down truck and took it with me. In offices we found canteens with kitchens and refrigerators. As a couple we ate everything we could find.”

Filajev says the army is seriously lacking when it comes to equipment, weapons and medical care. “Half of our boys wore Ukrainian uniforms. Because of the better quality, or because their own uniform was worn out, and our great nation is unable to clothe, supply and feed them.” He also describes how some of his comrades, traumatized by their experiences, suffered from amnesia, anxiety and speech disorders, and how many of the misery drowned their paychecks. According to him, the soldiers had to arrange and pay for medical care themselves. Filatev himself was injured in the eye near the Ukrainian city of Mikolayiv. Two months and all kinds of appeals later, including one to President Putin, he managed to be discharged from the army and undergo treatment. Only then did he hear about the mass murder of civilians in Butja, he told the Russian news site Mediazona this week. Filatev says he can hardly believe the news and is ashamed.

For more than a month Filatev worked on his account, which he published on VKontakte in early August. On The Guardian Earlier this week, just before his flight, he told how he kept switching places of residence after publication to avoid arrest. In the end he saw no option but to leave the country, even if it was against his will. “Why do I have to flee just because I told the truth?” wrote an emotional Filatev in a WhatsApp message published by gulagu.net.

Military censorship

While stories of abuses and human rights violations within the Russian military are widespread and substantiated by confessions of captured or deserted soldiers, it is rare for a soldier to publicly blow his mind under his own name. Military censorship in Russia is extremely strict and thousands of Russians, both civilian and military, have been fined or jailed for ‘discrediting the Russian armed forces’.

Read also ‘With patriotism and money, the Russian army is luring soldiers to Ukraine’

Yet Filatev is not the only Russian soldier to speak out. The independent Russian news site ‘Important Stories’ this week published a major investigative story into crimes committed by Russian soldiers in the Ukrainian town of Andreyevka near Kiev. In it, 21-year-old soldier Daniil Frolkin, from the Siberian Altai region and in military service for three years, pleads guilty by telephone to the murder of a resident of Andrejevka and involvement in the murder of two others.

Frolkin says he acted out of revenge and was in a state of shock. “I know revenge is a terrible thing, but that’s how it went. [Hij] is the only person I’ve killed in the seven months the special operation has been going on. I saved 86 lives and killed one,” Frolkin told the reporter. He also gives the names of his superiors, whom he accuses of assaulting and intimidating the members of his unit.

Service Denied

The confessions do not bode well for the Russian government. According to experts, the large losses suffered by the Russian army are causing a shortage of men and equipment. There is also a growing awareness among Russian citizens about the hopelessness of the military operation and stories are being circulated about the serious human rights violations within the Russian army. The demand for alternative conscription is rising and according to the Russian news site ‘Vjorstka’, 1,800 soldiers have already refused service. (and for that are punished with imprisonment and ill-treatment). To increase the appetite for military service, the Russian military tries to seduce civilians with high salaries, short-term contracts and the promise of heroic deeds.