A Russian soldier who defected to the West has said Moscow’s forces seemed to have ‘Rambo Syndrome’ as they raped and pillaged in Ukraine.
Nikita Chibrin, 27, told of one horrific case where four of his fellow invading soldiers raped a mother and her daughter in the Ukrainian town of Andriivka.
Now applying for political asylum in Spain after four months in Ukraine, he is ready to lift the lid about his time fighting in Vladimir Putin’s army to an international court.
Nikita Chibrin (pictured), 27, defected to the West from the Russian army. He has now told of how Putin’s forces seemed to have ‘Rambo Syndrome’ as they raped and pillaged in Ukraine
Chibrin served under the notorious commander Azatbek Omurbekov (pictured) whose troops were accused of massacres and of raping of women and girls around Bucha
Chibrin served under the notorious commander Azatbek Omurbekov whose troops were accused of massacres and of raping of women and girls around Bucha.
The atrocities in Bucha were discovered in April after Russian forces pulled out of the region surrounding Kyiv, having failed to seize the Ukrainian capital and overthrow the government. Mass graves were found, and bodies littered the streets.
Putin later promoted Omurbekov from Lt-Col to full Colonel. He has been dubbed the ‘Butcher of Bucha’ for the actions of his troops in the town.
Ukraine specifically identified members of his 64th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade as being responsible for murders.
‘They went crazy,’ said Chibrin about the Russian troops under Omurbekov’s command. ‘They said: ‘We have the power, we have the tanks, we have infantry fighting vehicles, weapons’ and so on.
‘Rambo Syndrome’ was on, he said.
Pictured: Policemen work on the identification process following the killing of civilians in Bucha, before sending the bodies to the morgue, on the outskirts of Kyiv, April 6. The atrocities in Bucha were discovered in April after Russian forces pulled out of the region surrounding Kyiv, having failed to seize the Ukrainian capital and overthrow the government
In addition to the rapes, Chibrin said soldiers in the unit looted houses for valuable items. ‘They stole household decorations and mobile devices,’ he said.
He told the Russian Insider media outlet: ‘They were going mental because of this.
‘Many found alcohol in [Ukrainian] houses and drank. There was a case in Andriivka when a mother and daughter were raped. Four men did it.’
He denied that the sexual violence had the approval of the soldiers’ immediate superiors yet said that troops seen as against Putin’s invasion were in constant fear of physical and psychological pressure.
‘One [rapist] ran away, and the rest were beaten by fellow soldiers and commanders using stools,’ he said. ‘They wanted to shoot them [for committing the atrocity].
‘They could not be charged because there was no evidence, so they were simply dismissed [from the army].’
He blamed the Russian barbarity on the poor conditions and bullying.
Nikita Chibrin is pictured in military equipment while holding up a cat to the camera while fighting in Ukraine. He is currently in Spain having defected from the Russian army
Pictured: Chibrin’s military ID is seen in this photograph
‘People had not been in the normal world for a long time,’ he said. ‘They did not have normal conditions.
‘The Ukrainian army showed footage of one of their trenches, where everything was human: shelter, protection from rain, normal beds, and electricity.
‘Ukraine treats its soldiers much better,’ he said.
Those who did not approve of Putin’s invasion or were suspected of seeking to be captured by the Ukrainians were subjected to ‘physical and psychological pressure’.
‘Everyone was intimidated that they would cut off their penis or balls or do something else,’ said Chibrin. They were also threatened with being shot, he said.
Chibrin claims to have fled for Russia in a food truck. He said he pretended to go crazy at the front so he could be dismissed.
‘For them, I am a traitor to the Motherland,’ he said. ‘What did I have to do? Go to war and kill Ukrainian civilians? Go to jail? Only a third option remains – just leave.’
He reached Madrid on 15 November and has applied for asylum.
Speaking to Russian human rights group gulagu.net, he denied seeing first hand evidence of torture, rape and murder – with which some of Omurbekov’s men in the 64th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade were accused.
But he was based 30 miles from Kyiv in Lypivka at the time the execution of civilians was going on in Bucha. He said there were ‘widespread rumours’ and talking among soldiers that this was happening.
Now, he is eager to testify before international court about his time in Ukraine.
‘I have nothing to hide,’ he said, according to The Guardian. ‘This is a criminal war that started. I want to do everything I can to make it stop.’ He said he never ‘once’ fired a shot during his time fighting.
Chibrin fled the Russian army, seeking help from Vladimir Osechkin, exiled head of gulagu.net. It was Osechkin who revealed the latest defectors from Putin’s military and law enforcement complex. He has issued an appeal for more to follow, and tell their secrets to Western countries.
A Ukrainian serviceman stands amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 6
Chibrin is not the only Russian soldier to have fled to the West and lifted the lid on the conditions of Putin’s armies, and the atrocities they are carrying out in Ukraine.
Pavel Filatyev, a member of a supposed ‘elite’ parachute regiment that stormed the southern port city of Kherson in February when the first Russian troops entered Ukraine on the Russian president’s orders, spoke out in August.
He said But his unit’s mission, launched from Russian-occupied Crimea, was plagued with issues before it even began.
Filatyev whore in a 141-page memoir ‘ZOV’ about how his unit was ravaged by hunger, had little tactical training, and no knowledge of the war’s progress.
He said his comrades were given rusty rifles to fight with, and were forced to loot Ukrainian supermarkets in order to eat. He also spoke hos members of his unit looting items such as laptops.
As of September 6, Filatyev was reported to be in Paris. Speaking with CBS news, he said: ‘Russia has been captured by some kind of mafia. The commanders, our government used its army, misleading it.’