- KOMENTARZ
- WIADOMOŚCI
Defection in the Russian army. Officer changing sides
A former Russian officer has turned against his own army and decided to help the Ukrainian side. The intelligence provided by him has supposedly enabled several decisive attacks against the aggressor.
As the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports, a former Russian officer is now fighting on the Ukrainian side. In the beginning, he supported the Ukrainian armed forces covertly and provided valuable intelligence before ultimately defecting in July 2024.
The former officer stated that the main reason for his disobedience were Vladimir Putin’s policies. “Did I break my oath? I pledged to defend freedom, independence, and the constitutional order. But Putin has destroyed all three,” he told the WSJ.
The switching of sides
According to the WSJ’s report, the former officer is a graduate of a military academy in St. Petersburg. He began questioning Russia’s conduct as early as 2022. At the decisive moment, he sent Ukrainians the exact coordinates of his Russian troop assembly point. Right before the strike, he left under the pretext of stomach problems, thus avoiding death in that attack. Reportedly, 68 Russian soldiers, including a colonel, were killed in that strike.
Afterwards, he provided further details of other Russian positions. The WSJ reports that the leaked intel contributed to the deaths of more than 300 Russian soldiers and helped halt the aggressor’s advance in the region around Vuhledar.
Since then, the former officer has been serving in a Russian volunteer unit on the Ukrainian side. As of now, he does not hold a military rank there.
He is not the only one
There are more Russian soldiers expressing disobedience to their leaders and deciding to switch sides. There are cases like that of Mikhail Pavlov, who was initially sent to the front while serving a prison sentence. He fled to the Ukrainian side just after ten days on the front lines.
It is also reported that Ukrainian intelligence networks pay up to $4,000 per month for information from trusted informants.
The situation of those soldiers will be quite difficult in the future. If they were to stop fighting in the war, they would not be able to go back to living in Russia safely. On the other hand, European countries won’t be eager to welcome them either, due to safety concerns. Talks about suspending tourist visas for Russian citizens in the European Union are underway and, as of now, those kinds of Russian soldiers are not treated as an exception.
