Russian volunteers fighting on the side of Ukraine speak of hostility towards Russia

Kyiv – A Russian who joined the Sibir battalion fighting on the side of Ukraine told Radio Free Europe journalists that he sees Russia’s actions in Ukraine as a crime. He left Russia only in order not to support his country even by paying taxes. As a member of the Buryat minority, he joined a group that attracts representatives of Russian minority ethnic groups to its ranks. In an interview with the Meduza portal last week, intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov informed about the creation of this battalion within the International Legion at Ukrainian military intelligence.

“What crimes Russia is committing! What crimes the Russians themselves are committing, including my nation (the Buryats). I became ashamed of it. I didn’t want anything to do with it, so I picked myself up and left,” explained this man who has an army nickname of Burjat.

Among other things, Russia resents the fact that, according to him, it has a history of oppressing other peoples, for example the Buryats, which it subjugated in the 17th century. In Russia, he himself had to listen to racist remarks about himself more than once. “I’ve been to Moscow three times, three times I’ve been Asian, cross-eyed, Chinese, everything possible, but not a Russian citizen,” he said.

Another member of the Sibir battalion, a native of Yakutsk in the Russian Far East, who has a military nickname of Vargan, also feels animosity towards Russia. “I don’t feel like a Russian because that country is my enemy,” he said. He perceives a harshness in the Russian nature, which, according to him, was triggered by widespread poverty in the country.

Vargan condemns Russian soldiers, including Yakuts, who have been recruited into the war against Ukraine. According to him, their main motivation is money, for which soldiers are willing to kill or rape women.

Ukraine Russia army fighting PHOTO