A Russian officer once paraded as a war hero says disillusionment and fear of being sent back to Ukraine drove him to wound his own men — and himself — to escape the front.
Incredible reporting on the moral complexities here. The "two enemies" framing really hits hard—caught between Ukrainian forces and his own commanders ordering impossible missions. Teh ambush retrieval story is particularly chilling, having to wound his own unit to save them. Reminds me of stories from Vietnam where similar desperation led soldiers to extreme measures ngl.
There’s an apparent discrepancy between “Korobov and other deserters can currently be protected from extradition to Russia because they hold the status of asylum seekers, but this does not protect them from the threat of abduction, Alkhastov explains” and Korobov’s quote a few paragraphs before: “Kazakhstan has not granted asylum to a single Russian citizen yet, and I think it won’t”.
Incredible reporting on the moral complexities here. The "two enemies" framing really hits hard—caught between Ukrainian forces and his own commanders ordering impossible missions. Teh ambush retrieval story is particularly chilling, having to wound his own unit to save them. Reminds me of stories from Vietnam where similar desperation led soldiers to extreme measures ngl.
There’s an apparent discrepancy between “Korobov and other deserters can currently be protected from extradition to Russia because they hold the status of asylum seekers, but this does not protect them from the threat of abduction, Alkhastov explains” and Korobov’s quote a few paragraphs before: “Kazakhstan has not granted asylum to a single Russian citizen yet, and I think it won’t”.
Seeking asylum doesn’t guarantee that it will be granted.