Marat Gabidullin, a former member of the Russian private paramilitary group Wagner, said in an interview with AFP that Russia should end its interference abroad and focus on its own internal problems.
The 55-year-old former Russian soldier has become the first member of the controversial paramilitary group to speak publicly and anonymously.
In a book published in France (“Moi, Marat, ex-commander de l’armée Wagner”, “I, Marat, ex-commander of the Wagner army”) describes the daily life of the warriors of this secret structure and has nothing to do with what the Russian authorities claim.
In an interview in Paris, the ex-soldier explains that Wagner was “a kind of small army” whose objectives could vary depending on the situation in the field.
In its ranks are mercenaries who “want to live with the war” and ex-convicts who have closed the doors of their armies, attracting salaries (from $1,550 to $2300).
Gabidullin joined the Wagner group in 2015 on the recommendation of an acquaintance, after ten years in the Russian army and serving a three-year prison sentence for murdering a gang leader in the “close of accounts.”
His first mission was alongside pro-Russian fighters in eastern Ukraine in mid-2015. Soon after, he went to Syria to support the forces of Bashar al-Assad’s regime until 2019.
AFP was unable to confirm Gabidullin’s information with independent sources.
While not making a ‘mea culpa’, he admits that he left Ukraine in the pro-Moscow separatist Lugansk region, “disappointed” by “the deception of the noble cause that spoke of defending Russia’s interests”.
With regard to Syria, where a bomb explosion in Palmyra would seriously injure him, “Russian intervention” did not help the starving and cold Syrian people,” he says.
He thinks, “We have to settle and solve Russia’s internal problems in such a way that people begin to respect and admire us (…) Then Ukraine would not have approached us and driven us away”.
According to the British Ministry of Defense, paramilitaries from the Wagner group, suspected of atrocities in Mali, Libya and Syria, are also active in Ukraine.
Russia’s use of the group for Gabidullin is “undeniable”, as evidenced, for example, by the type of weapons used, although Moscow denies any connection to the private company.
The former mercenary says he did not witness the war crimes, but without disclosing details, he assured that the fighters could be used “in some cases” “against moral norms and values.”
Gabidullin hopes to one day return to his “homeland”, Russia, but admits the idea is premature due to a recent law penalizing “false information” about Moscow’s actions abroad.
source: Noticias
