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MAN TELLS FULL STORY OF BEING RECRUITED IN MOSCOW AND SENT TO INVADE UKRAINE
Washington Free Beacon
July 14 2014
July 14, 2014 1:47 pm
A 24-year-old Armenian man that was recruited in Moscow to be part
of the shadowy separatist force that invaded Ukraine says that his
group was "betrayed" by nameless bosses in Russia and sent to certain
death in the Donetsk airport, according to an interview with Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Artur Gasparyan spoke in detail during the interview of his experience
from the moment he was recruited to invade Ukraine to his long escape
back into Russia after he "survived by a miracle."
Gasparyan says that he was told to erase every scrap of his identity
upon joining the force, and also that he was not given the name of
a single person he was taking orders from, or fighting along side.
Artur Gasparyan: About 10 guys showed up at a meeting somewhere near
VDNKh [the All-Russian Exhibition Center in northern Moscow]. We spoke
in the entrance arch of a residential building there. A Slavic man
in civilian clothes who didn't give his name met with us. [...] They
insisted that we destroy all our online accounts and, in general,
remove any personal information from social networks. I deleted my
accounts on [Russian social-media sites] Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki.
Garparyan says he was taken to a military camp that he believes was
near the border (all road maps were confiscated) and spent two weeks
training. Everybody remained anonymous.
They taught us to communicate using gestures and signs in order
to recognize each other, to communicate silently at night, to give
commands like back, forward, stop, get down, danger, and so on. Now
I can speak with my hands like a deaf person. All this was taught
by an instructor in civilian clothes. He, like all the other big and
small bosses, didn't give his name. We didn't even know one another's
real names--just nicknames. Even now I don't know the names of most
of the guys who were killed beside me in that hell.
Most of the individuals recruited had nearly no military training
before being sent to invade the Donetsk airport in what Gasparyan
explains as a poorly planned and even more poorly executed operation.
What was the point of seizing a civilian airport in Donetsk?
Gasparyan: To prevent them from sending in troops from Kyiv. They told
us no one would fire at us. Just pose for the cameras and that's all.
They would see us, get scared, give up. We'd disarm everyone and send
them home. The airport would be ours.
Who do you mean?
The Ukrainian troops around the airport. There was gossip that
supposedly we were so tough and everyone was afraid of us. But it
turned out just the opposite. At 2 P.M. the helicopters came. Then
the airplanes, and they started bombing the place. I was on the roof
and with my aide, I managed to get to the sixth floor. It was a big
attack--I counted four helicopters and two planes.
They were completely unprepared for the battle that they found
themselves in, due to a commander that "naively" thought that Ukraine
"wouldn't use heavy weapons" on the airport that was newly built for
the 2012 European soccer championship tournament.
Eventually, the group was forced into trucks for an escape and told
that they would be killed if they didn't follow the order.
We made our way down to the first floor and were just sitting there,
waiting to be killed. We couldn't go outside. Someone contacted the
commander--a guy called Spark--and we were given the order to get
into the trucks. It was nearly evening. The trucks were standing
inside--in the terminal. I didn't want to get in. I knew how risky
it was. Spark told me, "If you question the order, I'll shoot you
here." I took my weapon and got in.
There were two trucks with about 30-35 men in each one. A covering
squad remained in the airport. They went out on foot at night--they
all got away. Spark gave the order to drive out of the terminal
and to fire in all directions at anything that moved. We lifted the
covers--they were open trucks stuffed with volunteers. Our truck flew
out of the terminal and we begin to fire on both sides, up in the air,
everywhere. We proceeded along a road for about 4 or 5 kilometers. The
trucks were about 500 or 600 meters apart. Two trucks speeding along,
firing without stopping. It was terrifying.
Gasparyan eventually ran away back towards Russia, and after avoiding
a death squad that was sent to find him and many other travails, he
has made it back. He had all his belongings and his identity returned
to him and was sent home.
We ended up at the same base where we'd been trained. They gave us
back our clothes, documents, telephones, some money for the road,
and sent us home.
Gasparyan says that much of what is being said about the Russian
invasion into Ukraine right now is a fiction, especially regarding the
presence of a large group of separatist Ukrainians that are involved
in the fighting.
RFE/RL: Journalists who have been in the region say that about 20
percent of those fighting are Russians and the other 80 percent are
local militias.
Gasparyan: I'd say exactly the opposite. Most of them are Russians,
Chechens, Ingush. There are also Armenians like me. I spoke to some
locals and they say that they did what they'd been told. I said,
"What did they tell you to do?" They answered: "We voted. The rest
is up to you." That is, they participated in the referendum on DNR
independence but they don't intend to fight. One guy told me, "I want
to get my pay and then drink until my next payday." In general, they
have no experience. Don't know how to handle weapons. No one had been
in the military. I'm talking about in Donetsk.
The full interview with Gasparyan can be read here:
http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-i-was-a-separatist-fighter/25455466.html
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/man-tells-full-story-of-being-recruited-in-moscow-and-sent-to-invade-ukraine/
Washington Free Beacon
July 14 2014
July 14, 2014 1:47 pm
A 24-year-old Armenian man that was recruited in Moscow to be part
of the shadowy separatist force that invaded Ukraine says that his
group was "betrayed" by nameless bosses in Russia and sent to certain
death in the Donetsk airport, according to an interview with Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Artur Gasparyan spoke in detail during the interview of his experience
from the moment he was recruited to invade Ukraine to his long escape
back into Russia after he "survived by a miracle."
Gasparyan says that he was told to erase every scrap of his identity
upon joining the force, and also that he was not given the name of
a single person he was taking orders from, or fighting along side.
Artur Gasparyan: About 10 guys showed up at a meeting somewhere near
VDNKh [the All-Russian Exhibition Center in northern Moscow]. We spoke
in the entrance arch of a residential building there. A Slavic man
in civilian clothes who didn't give his name met with us. [...] They
insisted that we destroy all our online accounts and, in general,
remove any personal information from social networks. I deleted my
accounts on [Russian social-media sites] Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki.
Garparyan says he was taken to a military camp that he believes was
near the border (all road maps were confiscated) and spent two weeks
training. Everybody remained anonymous.
They taught us to communicate using gestures and signs in order
to recognize each other, to communicate silently at night, to give
commands like back, forward, stop, get down, danger, and so on. Now
I can speak with my hands like a deaf person. All this was taught
by an instructor in civilian clothes. He, like all the other big and
small bosses, didn't give his name. We didn't even know one another's
real names--just nicknames. Even now I don't know the names of most
of the guys who were killed beside me in that hell.
Most of the individuals recruited had nearly no military training
before being sent to invade the Donetsk airport in what Gasparyan
explains as a poorly planned and even more poorly executed operation.
What was the point of seizing a civilian airport in Donetsk?
Gasparyan: To prevent them from sending in troops from Kyiv. They told
us no one would fire at us. Just pose for the cameras and that's all.
They would see us, get scared, give up. We'd disarm everyone and send
them home. The airport would be ours.
Who do you mean?
The Ukrainian troops around the airport. There was gossip that
supposedly we were so tough and everyone was afraid of us. But it
turned out just the opposite. At 2 P.M. the helicopters came. Then
the airplanes, and they started bombing the place. I was on the roof
and with my aide, I managed to get to the sixth floor. It was a big
attack--I counted four helicopters and two planes.
They were completely unprepared for the battle that they found
themselves in, due to a commander that "naively" thought that Ukraine
"wouldn't use heavy weapons" on the airport that was newly built for
the 2012 European soccer championship tournament.
Eventually, the group was forced into trucks for an escape and told
that they would be killed if they didn't follow the order.
We made our way down to the first floor and were just sitting there,
waiting to be killed. We couldn't go outside. Someone contacted the
commander--a guy called Spark--and we were given the order to get
into the trucks. It was nearly evening. The trucks were standing
inside--in the terminal. I didn't want to get in. I knew how risky
it was. Spark told me, "If you question the order, I'll shoot you
here." I took my weapon and got in.
There were two trucks with about 30-35 men in each one. A covering
squad remained in the airport. They went out on foot at night--they
all got away. Spark gave the order to drive out of the terminal
and to fire in all directions at anything that moved. We lifted the
covers--they were open trucks stuffed with volunteers. Our truck flew
out of the terminal and we begin to fire on both sides, up in the air,
everywhere. We proceeded along a road for about 4 or 5 kilometers. The
trucks were about 500 or 600 meters apart. Two trucks speeding along,
firing without stopping. It was terrifying.
Gasparyan eventually ran away back towards Russia, and after avoiding
a death squad that was sent to find him and many other travails, he
has made it back. He had all his belongings and his identity returned
to him and was sent home.
We ended up at the same base where we'd been trained. They gave us
back our clothes, documents, telephones, some money for the road,
and sent us home.
Gasparyan says that much of what is being said about the Russian
invasion into Ukraine right now is a fiction, especially regarding the
presence of a large group of separatist Ukrainians that are involved
in the fighting.
RFE/RL: Journalists who have been in the region say that about 20
percent of those fighting are Russians and the other 80 percent are
local militias.
Gasparyan: I'd say exactly the opposite. Most of them are Russians,
Chechens, Ingush. There are also Armenians like me. I spoke to some
locals and they say that they did what they'd been told. I said,
"What did they tell you to do?" They answered: "We voted. The rest
is up to you." That is, they participated in the referendum on DNR
independence but they don't intend to fight. One guy told me, "I want
to get my pay and then drink until my next payday." In general, they
have no experience. Don't know how to handle weapons. No one had been
in the military. I'm talking about in Donetsk.
The full interview with Gasparyan can be read here:
http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-i-was-a-separatist-fighter/25455466.html
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/man-tells-full-story-of-being-recruited-in-moscow-and-sent-to-invade-ukraine/