This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
A Russian paratrooper who condemned his country’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine after taking part in the war has fled Russia.
France-based human rights activist Vladimir Osechkin said on August 17 that he and his team helped Pavel Filatyev to “urgently” leave Russia.
Filatyev took part in Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February and March. He later wrote a book titled ZOV (A Call) in Russian. The title was written in Latin script to highlight the letters “Z” and “V.”
Russian military vehicles in Ukraine are marked with those letters, which have become symbols promoted by Russian state media and other Kremlin supporters as patriotic emblems expressing support for the military and the invasion.
Before leaving Russia, Filatyev gave an interview to The Guardian saying that after his book was published, he changed his address several times to avoid possible arrest.
Filatyev also said that he was not aware of whether a criminal case has been launched against him.
President Vladimir Putin in March signed a law that calls for lengthy prison terms for distributing “deliberately false information” about Russian military operations, as the Kremlin seeks to control the narrative about the war in Ukraine it launched in late February.
The law envisages sentences of up to 10 years in prison for individuals convicted of an offense, while the penalty for the distribution of “deliberately false information” about the Russian military that leads to “serious consequences” is 15 years in prison.
It also makes it illegal “to make calls against the use of Russian troops to protect the interests of Russia” or “for discrediting such use” with a possible penalty of up to three years in prison. The same provision applies to calling for sanctions against Russia.
Earlier this week, another Russian soldier, Daniil Frolkin of the 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade from the Far Eastern Khabarovsk region, publicly confessed that Russian troops took part in robberies, looting, and murders of civilians in Ukraine under orders from their supervisors.
He also confessed that he killed a Ukrainian civilian, Ruslan Yaremchuk, in the village of Andriyivka.
