The press service of Ukraine’s Main Defense Intelligence directorate (HUR) held a press conference on Aug. 20 where a Russian soldier explained how he successfully defected.
The soldier, who had been a first-person view (FPV) drone pilot in an unidentified Storm Z assault unit, was identified only by his call-sign “Silver.”
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According to Silver’s account, he had become disillusioned with Russia’s so-called special military operation, having witnessed what he described as “the systematic war and other crimes carried out by his command, including extrajudicial executions, beatings and extortion” against civilians and soldiers in his unit.
He said that sometime in early 2024, he had contacted the “Freedom of Russia Legion” (LSR) – a Ukrainian-based paramilitary unit formed by Russian citizens who collectively oppose the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.
A plan was devised over several months. This made use of the LSR contact, an HUR operation called “Ocheret” (Reeds), and the “I want to live” service which is designed to help Russian servicemen safely surrender to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).
When everything was in place, Silver took his chance at an opportune moment to make his break. He claimed to have thrown a grenade into the ventilation opening to the basement that the Russian unit used as its headquarters, where his commander and other Russian officers were sleeping.
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“There were about 15 people in the basement. In this room, a pipe was right above the bed where the commander was sleeping. It went out into the street next to the entrance, and we decided to throw a grenade or two into this pipe so that they would explode next to them,” he said.
He continued that he used the resulting confusion to make his escape via a pre-arranged route which led him through the front line and into Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Once safely in the hands of AFU, Silver was thoroughly debriefed by HUR operators. According to their spokesperson, he was able to provide valuable intelligence relating to Russian positions, numbers, and military intentions in a particular sector of the front line.
The soldier claimed that while serving with the Russian forces, he only carried out reconnaissance missions and had not killed any Ukrainian soldiers.
The HUR spokesperson added that “Silver” has now become a recruit of the Freedom of Russia Legion to “fight the criminal Putin regime.”
This is not the only success by Ukrainian intelligence in attracting disgruntled members of the Russian armed forces to defect or carry out acts of sabotage. The most high-profile case was the defection of Russian pilot Maxim Kuzminov who defected with his Mi-8 (NATO: HIP) helicopter in August 2023.
In April this year, the HUR said that a fire, which caused significant damage to the missile ship Serpukhov at the naval base of Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad region, was an arson attack carried out by a Russian sailor working for the directorate.
In addition, the partisan group Atesh credit much of their tactical intelligence to disgruntled Russian servicemen or civilian contractors. It seems likely that other unpublicized defections or sabotage are occurring within Moscow’s ranks as the war drags on.
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