Russian Soldier Flees Putin's Army, Willing to Testify About War Crimes

A Russian soldier who fled a unit that is implicated in committing war crimes in Ukraine has said he is prepared to testify in an international court.

Nikita Chibrin, 27, said that he had spent four months in the 64th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, which Ukraine has accused of committing war crimes in Bucha in the Kyiv region. Mass graves and dead bodies were found in the street, following the withdrawal of Russian forces.

The unit was reportedly led by Lieutenant Colonel Azatbek Omurbekov, dubbed by some media outlets as "the butcher of Bucha," and whose identity was revealed by the group InformNapalm that uses open-source intelligence.

In interviews with U.K. newspaper The Guardian and Spanish digital newspaper El Confidencial, Chibrin said he had never fired a gun in Ukraine and was not involved in the reported war crimes of his unit.

"I have nothing to hide," Chibrin told The Guardian, adding that he wanted to do "everything I can" to stop the "criminal war that Russia started."

Born in the port city of Yakutsk, eastern Siberia, Chibrin said he joined the Russian army in summer 2021 due to financial difficulties but did not think he would be involved in war.

Chibrin said he told his commanders of his opposition to the conflict on the first day of the invasion on February 24. He was stripped of his rank as an army mechanic and was tasked with manual labor.

His brigade was accused of executing civilians in the villages of Bucha and Andriivka. Chibrin said he did not witness any shootings but did see his unit loot homes. However, he added there were "widespread rumours" that members of his unit were involved in sexual violence and the killings of civilians.

Photographic and video evidence of the massacre emerged on April 1 after Russian forces withdrew from Bucha. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights documented unlawful killings, including summary executions.

Chibrin deserted his unit in June to return to Russia but fled his homeland and arrived in Madrid on Tuesday via Georgia.

His escape was facilitated by Paris-based Russian human-rights activist Vladimir Osechkin, who told El Confidencial that there was no evidence Chibrin had participated in the murders of Ukrainians. The former soldier himself told the Spanish paper that he had Ukrainian heritage and was "completely against the war and Putin's policy."

Chibrin added that he is willing to collaborate in the international investigation of the war crimes committed and told Spanish authorities that he feared being killed if he returned to Russia. His asylum case is being considered.

Newsweek has contacted the Spanish interior ministry for comment.

The UN investigation into alleged human-rights violations by Russian forces is ongoing. Meanwhile, on Thursday, Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubynets described as "horrific" the evidence of torture in the city of Kherson.

Following the exhumation of hundreds of bodies on the outskirts of the city of Izium in September, David Crane, the founding chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, an international war-crimes tribunal, told Newsweek that the UN should also pursue Russia.

"The crime of aggression is really the ultimate crime because it's the thing that started all the horror stories," he said. "So that has to be dealt with. And if you choose not to, then the question is begged that is, why have the UN?

"The crime of aggression has to be dealt with because we've got a dozen other strongmen around the world watching this like a hawk and seeing what happens," added Crane, who is scholar in residence at Syracuse University College of Law, New York.