Army "ruined on purpose": Ex-soldier exposes Putin's "special operation" as a farce

Created: 2022-12-02 2:17 p.m

By: Hannes Niemeyer

What about the Russian troops in the Ukraine war?

Not good, if you believe the reports of an ex-soldier.

His new book is making waves.

Moscow – The Ukraine war, started by Russia, has been raging since February.

For two months, Pavel Filatev was part of Putin's war machine, fighting as a local soldier.

Already in the summer he published a report entitled “ZOV.

The Forbidden Report.

A paratrooper unpacks”, how desolate the Russian army, which has degenerated into a chaos troop, really is.

A whole book by Filatev on his experiences has now been published under the same title – and the contents are explosive.

"Zov" is the Russian word for reputation.

But the big Z is also the symbol of war worn by Russian tanks in Ukraine.

The 34-year-old, who has asylum in France and is keeping his whereabouts secret, faces long prison sentences in his home country for defaming the Russian armed forces.

It's about insights into everyday wartime life.

About corruption.

Nepotism.

And to clarify how senseless Vladimir Putin's war really is.

Filatev's goal: to wake up as many of his compatriots as possible and, at best, to get them to stand up against him.

The Russian audio book version published on YouTube alone has more than 600,000 hits.

Ex-Putin soldier reports on the beginning of the war - and the naivety of the Russian army

As a soldier, he was there when the Russian army invaded Ukraine on February 24.

Initially, he naively believed there was a reason for the invasion, until he realized for himself that nobody was waiting there for the liberation announced by the Kremlin.

The assertion by the Russian leadership that they wanted to forestall an imminent Ukrainian attack is also untrue, observes Filatev.

In such a case, from his point of view, it would have been easier if Russia had strengthened its own borders and had gone on the counteroffensive in the event of a possible attack - "(...) and the world community could not accuse us of being an aggressor and occupier “.

Russian soldiers in the Ukraine war: An ex-combatant is now revealing desolate conditions.

© IMAGO/Evgeny Biyatov

Putin's war of aggression: ex-soldier Filateev exposes "special operation" as a farce

The ex-soldier repeatedly makes it clear that his criticism is not aimed at the ordinary soldiers who have been misled by a lack of information, but above all at the Kremlin, against whom he would even take up arms today.

He himself could not attest to any atrocities committed by the army from his time and the push towards Cherson in southern Ukraine.

"Of course I can't vouch for the whole army, but before my eyes no one was tortured, let alone raped."

Filatev, whose father fought in Russia's wars and died early of cancer with a meager pension, revolves around his experiences, the miserable equipment and organization of the troops, who also has no idea why they are fighting in the Ukraine.

Filatev exposed what Putin repeatedly called the special military operation against Nazis in Ukraine as a farce.

Civilians who are against the Russian occupiers are killed - and entire cities are senselessly destroyed, as Filatev says.

Frightening details from the front: "An army like this doesn't need an opponent, we're getting ready for ourselves"

The former horse breeder, who praised the German order after a visit to Bavaria, authentically describes how soldiers fail due to a lack of leadership and motivation.

"I smoke and I'm annoyed with the management that we've been here for three days and nobody upstairs apparently thought that we need something to smoke, eat and drink." Broken technology, a vehicle without brakes, due to breakdowns mutilated soldiers: "An army like this doesn't need an opponent, we're getting ready for ourselves." The army is "technically hopelessly outdated and morally rotten".

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In the book, diary-like notes from the front alternate with analyzes in which Filatev looks at the experiences from a distance.

While the elite get rich, live in luxury in villas, castles and on yachts, ordinary soldiers often have to pay for their medical treatment and medication themselves.

All of this, according to the ex-soldier, should show the people in Russia how the army is actually doing in the largest country in the world in terms of area.

Putin's army "ruined in a targeted manner": Ex-combatant railed against parade on May 9th

"An army that was purposefully ruined while we all sat in silence and watched the May 9 parades on Red Square," he writes, referring to the holiday celebrating the Soviet Army's victory over Hitler's Germany in World War II.

“On May 9 we thank our ancestors who ended the war.

Have we, their descendants, really started a war now?”

Russia celebrates May 9th: Military parade in Moscow

View photo gallery

Ukrainians and Russians, who once lived in one country and "have innumerable family ties", are now enemies through hatred.

Filatev, whose great-grandfather was a Ukrainian farmer in Tsarist Russia, warns his homeland could be shattered by occupation because the cost of holding the territories could bankrupt the state.

He himself announced in the summer that he would donate the proceeds from book sales in Germany and other countries into whose languages ​​the work was translated.

Filatev, who himself is not married and has no children, draws a bleak future for his country, which is sinking in "lies, deceit and false values".

Everything is atrophied - from defense to health care to the legal system.

Man as such counts for nothing.

"The victorious people became an occupying people and an aggressor!"

It is by no means the first report of desolate conditions in the Russian army.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has called Olaf Scholz - including serious allegations.