As the war in Ukraine grinds into a third year, more Russian soldiers are attempting to escape frontline deployment, supported by an underground network of fellow Russians.
Associated Press investigative reporter Erika Kinetz follows the dramatic journey of one Russian military officer who deserted the army and fled Russia, guided by an anti-war group that has helped thousands of people evade military service or desert. The name of the group, Idite Lesom, is a play on words in Russian – a reference to the covert nature of its work but also a popular idiom that means "Get lost.”
With help from the group, the officer made the perilous journey to Kazakhstan, but only after he had a friend and fellow soldier shoot him in the leg.
“You can only leave wounded or dead,” he tells Kinetz. “No one wants to leave dead.”
His act of desperation reflects the horrific conditions troops face in Ukraine. But life in exile is not what this officer and other deserters had hoped for. Some have had criminal cases filed against them in Russia, where they face 10 years or more in prison. And many are also waiting for a welcome from European countries or the United States that has never arrived. Instead, they live in hiding, fearing deportation back to Russia and persecution of themselves and their families.
For Western nations grappling with Russia’s vast and growing diaspora, Russian military defectors present particular concern: Are they spies? War criminals? Or heroes?
Next, Reveal host Al Letson talks with Kinetz and fellow reporter Solomiia Hera about why these military defectors are not finding sanctuary in Western Europe or the U.S. and how demographics and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to accept enormous casualties in Ukraine could give Russia an edge in an emerging war of attrition.
In the final segment, we follow a Ukrainian man who knows all too well what a war of attrition really looks like. Oleksii Yukov is a martial arts instructor and leader of a team of volunteers who collect the remains of fallen soldiers, both Ukrainian and Russian. Yukov is on a spiritual quest to give these souls a final resting place.
“We are not fighting the dead,” Yukov says. “Our weapon is humanity and a shovel.”
Support Reveal’s journalism at Revealnews.org/donatenow
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the scoop on new episodes at Revealnews.org/newsletter
Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 6: Mississippi Justice
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 5: Star Crossed
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 4: The Investigator
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 3: The Autopsy
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 2: The Aftermath
Mississippi Goddam Chapter 1: The Promise
The Great Arizona Water Grab
It's Not Easy Going Green
Guatemala’s War on Journalists
The Pentagon Papers: Secrets, Lies and Leaks
They Followed Doctors’ Orders. The State Took Their Babies.
The Culture War Goes to College
The Welfare-to-Work Industrial Complex
The Post-Roe Health Care Crisis
The Battle for Clean Energy in Coal Country
Weapons With Minds of Their Own
The Long Campaign to Turn Birth Control Into the New Abortion
The Border Patrol’s Fearless 5%
No Retreat: The Dangers of Stand Your Ground
The COVID Tracking Project Part 3
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
1619
Into America
Code Switch
The Stoop
Intersectionality Matters!