A defected Russian soldier who fought with one of many models {accused} of committing conflict crimes in Ukraine described the rape, looting and horrors dedicated by Vladimir Putin’s forces
Nikita Chibrin, a former soldier who was a part of the sixty fourth Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade – the infamous Russian army unit {accused} of massacres in Bucha, Borodianka and different Ukrainian cities – says he’s prepared to testify towards his former brothers in arms.
‘There are maniacs who get pleasure from killing a person. Such maniacs turned up there,’ mentioned Chibrin, who was a civilian earlier than he was handed a gun and despatched to Ukraine, chatting with CNN from a secret location.
His unit brutally raped Ukrainian girls and left mass graves of their wake, after being handed down a ‘direct command to kill’ any civilians suspected of sharing info — permitting them to execute anybody with a cell phone, he mentioned.
Nikita Chibrin, a former Russian soldier who served with the unit {accused} of massacres in Bucha, mentioned he’s prepared to testify towards his fellow troopers
Chibrin’s unit brutally raped Ukrainian girls and had a ‘direct command to kill’ anybody suspected of sharing info, he mentioned in an interview with CNN
Chibrin, from Yakutsk within the nation’s far east, is pictured with a cat whereas in uniform.
Chibrin, from Yakutsk within the nation’s far east, had been an workplace employee and mowed lawns for a dwelling earlier than he was signed as much as struggle.
He says he swore on the first commander he noticed, telling him he did not wish to struggle within the conflict. However he was advised his household would undergo if he did not comply with orders.
The commander attacked him and threw him right into a army car, locking the doorways so he could not escape.
That was how he arrived in Ukraine, mentioned Chibrin.
Chibrin, pictured earlier than he was signed as much as struggle within the conflict, had been an workplace employee and mowed lawns for a dwelling earlier than he was signed as much as struggle
The identical troops he educated with and who went to Ukraine boasting of being ‘like Rambo’ got here again as damaged males, he mentioned.
‘They noticed the conflict, they noticed defeat, noticed their [fellow] combatants being murdered, noticed corpses,’ he described. ‘They realised – however they couldn’t run away.’
When he was deployed with the sixty fourth brigade, Chibrin remembers two of his fellow troopers raping Ukrainian girls throughout their deployment northwest of Kyiv.
The models commanders had been conscious of the rape and looting, he mentioned, however did nothing to cease the troopers.
‘They reacted like: “No matter. It occurred. So what?” Truly, there was no response,’ he mentioned. ‘Self-discipline goes [down the drain], there’s no self-discipline.’
Ukrainian forces found mass graves and the our bodies of murdered civilians mendacity within the streets after Chibrin’s unit retreated from the areas surrounding Kyiv.
The officer in control of the sixty fourth Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade was Azatbek Omurbekov, nicknamed the ‘Butcher of Bucha’, beneath EU-US sanctions and needed for conflict crimes.
After witnessing the horrors, Chibrin — who maintains he did not take any half within the massacres — abandoned from the Russian army in September and fled to Europe.
Russian troopers additionally looted the unarmed civilians, he mentioned, stealing computer systems, jewellery and the rest that is perhaps precious.
Russian officer Azatbek Omurbekov, who led the sixty fourth Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade, was recognized as Putin’s senior commander in Bucha when the barbarism unfolded
Troopers would take vehicles stolen from Ukraine to Belarus, the place they might promote them, he mentioned.
The mentality was to not get caught. In the event you stole one thing and no person noticed you, the commanders allow you to off the hook as a rule, he defined.
Through the preventing he injured his again, ending up in hospital. However the commanders rapidly compelled him again to the entrance.
He fought within the conflict on-and-off for months, earlier than lastly recognizing his likelihood to flee when he was despatched to the Kharkiv area and located himself among the many forests of Izym.
The Russian-occupied territory would quickly fall to a lighting Ukrainian counter-offensive, which might see the Ukrainian armed forces retake 2,000 sq. kilometers of land between September and October.
He noticed different troopers fleeing again to Russia on car, and took his likelihood within the chaos.
As soon as again in Russia, he spent virtually a month in hospital due to his conflict accidents, his again inflicting him an excessive amount of ache to go away his mattress.
In an effort to get correct therapy, the authorities offered him with a kind. He could be transferred to a particular sanatorium as a way to get the medical care he wanted. In change, he must decide to returning to the conflict.
Chibrin’s army paperwork, stamped by Russian officer Azatbek Omurbekov, present him as a former member of the sixty fourth Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade
His new contract got here round September, when Putin introduced a partial mobilisation of Russian civilians, press-ganging 1000’s to struggle in Ukraine.
Chibrin knew he did not have a lot time earlier than they despatched him again to the entrance.
Grabbing his possessions, he set out for St Petersburg regardless of his horrible ache, planning to get a prepare from there to Belarus.
He escaped on the time when Russia was looking for residents fleeing its borders, with Chibrin slipping via the cracks and escaping the nation.
From there, he was capable of finding assist to get to Kazakhstan with the help of Russian human rights activist Vladimir Osechkin, earlier than he managed to get to an undisclosed EU nation the place he’s now requesting asylum.
Having seen the preventing first hand, Chibrin mentioned Russia will ultimately lose the conflict in Ukraine, however not till many extra lives are misplaced.
Russia is preventing with inferior weaponry towards Ukraine, he thought whereas on the frontlines, with troops handed out gear from the Soviet period used through the conflict in Afghanistan within the Nineteen Eighties.
After they got here to Ukraine, he mentioned, many Russians thought they might be met with flowers. However as a substitute, they had been met with Molotov cocktails.
