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A former Russian army soldier denounces the war in Ukraine and the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Arrived Sunday, August 28 in Paris, he is one of the few soldiers to openly criticize the Kremlin.
Having just arrived at Roissy airport, this Russian soldier posts a video on the Internet. “My military ID, service information: trash can“, he comments facing the camera, tearing up the document. A final gesture of rupture with Putin and against the war in Ukraine for Pavel Filatyev. “I love Russia, I love Russians, but Putin is not Russia. The government is not Russia. Putin, screw you“, he asserts then.
A few months ago, he was still part of the Russian soldiers on the front in Ukraine. But on the spot, the 33-year-old man gradually loses the meaning of his military action. “We weren’t fighting for the truth, we weren’t saving anyone. Many civilians are dead, many people have suffered from the bombardments, from the cold, from hunger, and entire towns are destroyed.“, he had recently explained on the set of franceinfo. Returned to Russia after an injury, Pavel Filatyev has since taken it into his head to break the omerta on the conflict, documenting the situation in Ukraine extensively on the Internet.