CNN
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Nikita Chivrin still remembers how a fellow Russian soldier fled after he allegedly raped two Ukrainian women during his deployment to the northwest of Kyiv in March.
“I saw them running and knew they were rapists. They raped a mother and a daughter,” he said. Their commander shrugged when he learned about the rape, Tibrin said, and the rape suspects were beaten but never fully punished for their crimes, he said. To tell.
“They were never imprisoned. Just fired. Like that: ‘Go! ‘ They were simply fired from the war.” that’s it. ”
Tibrin said he was a former soldier from the Russian city of Yakutsk and served in the 64th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade. commit a war crime During attacks in Bucha, Borodianka and other towns and villages north of Kyiv.
He deserted from the Russian army in September and fled to Europe via Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Troops of the Tibrin Brigade were classified as war criminals by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense in April after mass graves containing killed civilians and bodies lying on the streets were discovered after Russian troops withdrew from the Kyiv region. rice field.
According to Tibrin’s military documents reviewed by CNN, his commander was Azatbek Omurbekov, head of the 64th Independent Guards Motor Rifle Brigade. Omurbekov, known as the “Bucha Killer”, is under sanctions by the European Union and the United Kingdom. The United States sanctioned the entire brigade.
The Kremlin denies involvement in the genocide, but repeats unsubstantiated claims that images of civilian bodies are fake.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent troops to Russia in a move that sparked outrage around the world. honorary military title He praised his “heroism” and “bold deeds”.
Chivrin said he did not see any acts of heroism, but he did see many crimes.
Speaking to CNN in a European country where he has applied for asylum, he detailed some of the crimes he says he has witnessed and heard testimony about, and is ready to testify against his unit before the International Criminal Court. He claims he has committed no crimes.
“I didn’t see a murder, but I saw a rapist run away chased[by a higher-ranking member of the unit]for committing a rape,” he said.
He also said the unit has “direct orders to kill” anyone who shares information about the unit’s location, whether military or civilian.
“If someone had a phone, they were allowed to shoot,” he said. He said that some soldiers of the 64th Independent Guards Motor Rifle Brigade kill unarmed civilians.
“There are maniacs who enjoy killing people. Such maniacs have appeared there,” he said.
Tibrin also described widespread looting, with Russian soldiers taking computers, jewelry, and whatever else they liked.
“They didn’t hide this at all. When they left Lipovka and Andreevka at the end of March, they robbed cars, robbed civilian cars and sold them in Belarus,” he said. “The mentality of stealing something and that’s it. If no one catches you, good! If you find something expensive and don’t get caught stealing it, you’ll be fine.”
As for the commander of the unit, he was well aware of the alleged rapes, murders, and looting, but he had little interest in seeking justice.
“They responded like, ‘It happened. So what?’ Actually there was no reaction,” he said. “Discipline goes [down the drain]no discipline.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on the allegations.
Tibrin has no doubt that Russia will eventually lose the war with Ukraine, but not until more lives are lost.
“Because Russia will not stop until a lot of blood is shed, until everyone dies. For them soldiers are cannon fodder. They have no respect for them,” he said.
Having seen the fighting first hand, he said the equipment Russian soldiers have is no match for the weapons available to Ukraine. , while stating that the Russian military relies on Soviet-era equipment used during the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
“Of course Russia will lose, because the whole world supports Ukraine. It is absurd to think that they (the Russians) will win,” he said. “They thought he could take Kyiv in three days. What day is it today? [of the war]260th place? They thought they would come to Ukraine and meet flowers. However, they were told to leave and had Molotov cocktails thrown at them. ”
According to Chivrin, the men in his unit were also very poorly prepared for battle. The training his unit received consisted of commanders giving them weapons, targets and 5,000 rounds of bullets, he said.
“Keep shooting and you’re free to go. No one was doing anything. There was no real training. Working on the computer in the office, working on the lawnmower…” he said. I was.
Lack of training became apparent once in Ukraine. The same guys he boasted about being “like Rambo” before he went out, he said, came back broken. “Those who said that if they came back from the front line, they would easily shoot Ukrainians … they could not even tell me. They saw the war, they saw defeat, [fellow] A combatant was killed and I saw a corpse. They noticed, but could not escape. ”
He said many of the men were poorly trained and most had no idea where they were going.
“It was a big lie. It was. military exercises with the Belarusian army. And they lied to us. On February 24th they just said they were all going to war.”
“The first thing I said was, ‘Commander, motherfucker, I don’t want to go to war.’ He said, ‘Hey, you’re in big trouble. You went to jail and your family said he attacked me, put me in a special vehicle, locked the door and wouldn’t open it. [it] from inside. That’s how I got to Ukraine. ”
Tibrin spent months in Ukraine off and on. When the 64th Independent Guards Motor Rifle Brigade withdrew from his north-western region of Kyiv at the end of March, he and his unit returned to Belarus after an unsuccessful attack there.
He said he had suffered a back injury and had been to a military hospital in Russia, but was forced to return to Ukraine in May. spent in
That’s when he finally saw his chance to escape, he said. He noticed that other unit commanders were leaving the area for Russia in trucks and jumped in.
“Dive in [the bed of the truck] And wow, I see others leaving Ukraine too.And they say we don’t want to [fight the] War, we paid the commander (to drive). And I’m waiting, I’m waiting, I’m approaching the Russian border, the cars are parked, everyone is jumping, I’m jumping too. Then I went to the Russian border and said I needed medical help,” he said.
Back in Russia, Tibrin said he was hospitalized for nearly a month, most of which was bedridden with severe back pain. However, he said he was unable to receive proper treatment. “He was told that if he wanted to go to a sanatorium, he would have to sign papers saying he was going back to war,” he said.
Tibrin, who declined to sign, said he was preparing to submit papers to cancel military contracts when the Russian government announced partial mobilization in September.
“And my friends told me I needed to hide. ‘I need to find a place and hide. Mobilization won’t cause contract cancellations,'” he said. Knowing that he needed to get as far as possible from the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk, Tibrin fled first across Russia to St. Petersburg, then by train to Belarus. There he was able to find his intermediary who helped him get to Kazakhstan. From there he eventually moved to his current location.
Now he is determined to speak out about what he witnessed in Ukraine and even writes anti-war songs. “Hundreds of souls, hundreds of bodies of lost people. Hundreds of childless mothers,” the chorus continues.
