BOOKS & MORE: I was there

Pawel Filatjew no longer lives in Russia today, but in exile in France. This is not surprising, as his book in Russia, where by law the "special operation" in Ukraine cannot even be called a war, did not sit well. Which may also fit well with Filatjew's career. His father was already a Russian paratrooper, and the author himself ended up in the military twice, in Chechnya and then just before the war in Ukraine. It is a story of a disappointed love, showing how broken the Russian army has probably become, where corruption, brutality, and opportunism have created a major problem that ultimately affects Ukraine massively.

If you are wondering about the poor "performance" of Russian troops currently, Filatjew provides a lot of anecdotal support. He participated in the first two months of the war with the assault on Kherson. There is a lot of "fog of war" in the storytelling, chaos blooms, and the paratroopers, as Filatjew describes, are now only a shadow of the elite unit they once were. That's also why he's fed up, he complains repeatedly, vents his frustration to the whole world. And that in the truest sense of the word. And the system blows back. In the end, he ended up in exile.

"The Forbidden Report" is freely available in Russian as a PDF download, and in the West it is now a bestseller that has been translated into several languages. HERE you can find an English-language audiobook of it freely available on YouTube. The book is an exciting look into the Russian military world with the constant feeling: What, is this supposed to be the second strongest army in the world? Filjatew is now not only an exile, but also a sought-after interview partner. HERE you can find an interview with him by "Die Zeit."

"ZOV - The Forbidden Report. A Russian Paratrooper Speaks Out" by Pawel Filatjew, Hoffmann & Campe Verlag, Hamburg 2022, 190 pages, Euro 23.65. Also available for Kindle and as an audiobook.