CNN has obtained and aired an exclusive interview between network reporter Matthew Chance and Pavel Filatyev, a former Russian soldier who is now in hiding and gained international attention in recent weeks after he put his very life on the line to publicly condemn the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine and exposed the heinous crimes that are still being committed by the Russian Army against the Ukrainian people to this day.
Putin has been calculated, to say the least, in the information he’s allowed to get out to the Russian people, as well as the Russian soldiers out there fighting in his name. The dictator has attempted to lead his people to believe that the catastrophic war being raged against Ukraine is nothing more than a simple, strategic operation meant to provide security for what he has called “independent Republicans.”
Filatyev, who has seen first-hand the horrors Putin has implemented in Ukraine from his vantage point on the front line, is now calling out the lies.
Speaking through an interpreter during the exclusive interview with CNN, Filatyev explained, “It’s awful to realize that Russia is destroying Ukraine and Ukraine hates Russia because of what we are doing. And that the whole world thinks Russians are animals and bad people.” He went on to add, “We were dragged into this serious conflict where we’re just destroying towns and not actually liberating anyone. All of that’s a lie. We are simply destroying peaceful lives.”
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CNN host Chance noted for viewers, “And we’ve seen those lives destroyed. Russian troops [are] killing thousands of Ukrainian civilians in a bloody rampage across the country. Human rights groups and others documenting alleged war crimes including rapes and killings. But that’s something Filatyev denies witnessing at all, although he does describe how grinding battles, poor conditions, and a severe lack of basic supplies turned Russian soldiers like him into savages.”
“Many of us had no food, no water, nor even sleeping bags,” the former Russian soldier went on to reveal. “Because it was very cold at night and we couldn’t sleep, we would find some rubbish, some rags just to wrap ourselves in to keep warm. Some took laptops, computers and other technology. Perhaps because their salary does not provide for them to get those in an honest way. Many robbed abandoned stores with mobile phones and other things. I don’t want to justify their actions. You about it is important to understand that their poor level of life pushes them to do such things during war.”
Chance questioned Filatyev as to whether he feels guilt for his own role in the heinous, deadly war, prompting the ex-Russian Army soldier to answer, “Look, the majority of Russian servicemen did not break the laws of combat. But morally, I feel guilty. Guilty for being used as an instrument in political games which will not even bring Russia any benefit. Our army has been destroyed. My government has destroyed almost every sphere with corruption, and everyone in Russia knows it.”
You can watch the harrowing interview from CNN here:
Featured image via screen capture/Wikimedia Commons – The Presidential Press and Information Office, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
