> Russian lovers who deserted the military over the horrors of Moscow’s “meat grinder” war in Ukraine braved eight harrowing days in a single kayak on the Black Sea to flee — and now face potential prison.
> Alisa and Sergei Sadovnikov fell in love while deployed in the second year of the Ukraine invasion, both convinced that they were doing the right thing by serving their country and taking on the allegedly evil Kyiv.
> It wasn’t until Sergei, a 37-year-old combat medic, was sent to the front lines that they learned the truth: They were the expendable bodies of the invading force, Alisa told RadioFree Europe.
It’s a sad and typical case, where Russians maintain the delusion that they are winning and that there’s some kind of justification to the war even through all the obvious evidence that’s available. It’s only when they finally see the way that troops on the front are just thrown away for inches of ground (in fact in recent months, even in the face of actually losing ground). They don’t seem to have taken accountability for the evil they did. It even goes on to say
> Sergei had been loyal to Russian President Vladimir Putin through two separate previous deployments, including with the Wagner mercenary group
I guess that, unless they are willing to go and fight for Ukraine, Greece should be interning them until Russia finally surrenders. Sending them back to Russia would definitely be counterproductive.
Edit: more careful reading says they ended up in Greek custody after attempting to paddle on from Turkey.
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> Russian lovers who deserted the military over the horrors of Moscow’s “meat grinder” war in Ukraine braved eight harrowing days in a single kayak on the Black Sea to flee — and now face potential prison.
> Alisa and Sergei Sadovnikov fell in love while deployed in the second year of the Ukraine invasion, both convinced that they were doing the right thing by serving their country and taking on the allegedly evil Kyiv.
> It wasn’t until Sergei, a 37-year-old combat medic, was sent to the front lines that they learned the truth: They were the expendable bodies of the invading force, Alisa told RadioFree Europe.
It’s a sad and typical case, where Russians maintain the delusion that they are winning and that there’s some kind of justification to the war even through all the obvious evidence that’s available. It’s only when they finally see the way that troops on the front are just thrown away for inches of ground (in fact in recent months, even in the face of actually losing ground). They don’t seem to have taken accountability for the evil they did. It even goes on to say
> Sergei had been loyal to Russian President Vladimir Putin through two separate previous deployments, including with the Wagner mercenary group
I guess that, unless they are willing to go and fight for Ukraine, Greece should be interning them until Russia finally surrenders. Sending them back to Russia would definitely be counterproductive.
Edit: more careful reading says they ended up in Greek custody after attempting to paddle on from Turkey.