Russian paratrooper Pavlo Filatyev, who fled to the West, condemning the war of aggression against Ukraine, made a new front gesture to the authorities in Moscow.

Filatiev, who fled Russia after publishing a book strongly critical of the war launched by Vladimir Putin on February 24, has arrived in France, where he has sought political asylum.

At Charles de Gaulle International Airport near the French capital Paris, Filatiev tore up all his Russian documents to show his opposition to the “special military operation” ordered by Putin. Then he threw them in one of the airport toilets.

However, his gesture was criticized by many Ukrainians on social networks, who recalled that Filatyev participated in the war against their country, killed Ukrainians, and now seeks refuge in the West.

In his book ZOV (named after one of the two letters that the Russian military painted on their tanks and armored vehicles), he gave an insight into the state of the Russian army before the war and described his experiences in the early days of the war. intrusion.

Filatyev fled Russia after investigative websites Meduza and iStories, which operate outside Russia to avoid being shut down by Moscow authorities, published excerpts from his book. He later said he was afraid he would be jailed or disappeared.

How a former Russian paratrooper described the army that Putin sent to Ukraine

“[Pe 24 februarie] I woke up at two in the morning. […] I could not understand: are we shooting at the advancing Ukrainians? Or maybe NATO [trupe]? Or do we attack? Who is this infernal bombardment aimed at?” Filatyev wrote in his book.

“Even a paratrooper wouldn’t know what was going on. The column began to move slowly. I heard gunshots and explosions from the direction I was walking. Where we were going and why was unclear. [Dar] it was clear that a real war had begun,” he said.

His statements echo those of Russian soldiers captured by Ukrainians in the early days of the war, who claimed they were not told they would be sent to fight in Ukraine, but instead would participate in “military exercises.”

Filatyev called the military equipment used during the invasion “irreparably outdated,” and the battle tactics identical to those used by the grandfathers of the soldiers Putin sent to Ukraine.

“We had no moral right to attack another country, especially our closest people. When it all started, I knew few people who believed in the Nazis and wanted to fight against Ukraine. I did not harbor hatred and did not consider Ukrainians as enemies,” the former paratrooper also wrote.

After being wounded during the war, he was hospitalized, but then again sent to the front. Filatiev reported that the commander of the unit accused him of evading the war and filed a complaint against him with the military prosecutor’s office.

Pavlo Filatyev also talked about the thefts committed by the Russian military

Last week, in an interview with CNN journalists, the former Air Force soldier also spoke about the conditions faced by Russian soldiers at the front, who lack basic equipment, food, water and sleeping bags.

“Our barracks are about 100 years old, and they cannot accommodate all our soldiers… All our weapons are from the time of Afghanistan. A few days after the siege of Kherson, many of us had no food, no water, no sleeping bags. Since it was very cold at night, we could not even sleep. We were looking for cloths to wrap ourselves in to keep warm,” he said.

In this context, he also talked about the thefts committed by the Russian military, saying that some of them stole laptops or other things, “maybe because they didn’t have enough pay.”

“Many people looted abandoned shops, took mobile phones and other things. I don’t want to justify their actions, but it is important to understand that the low level of their life pushes them to such actions in the war,” Pavlo Filatyev told American journalists.

“I see what is happening to my country and I am horrified. Everything is destroyed, spoiled. The only laws that work well are repressive ones,” he also said about the situation in Russia.

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