1/ Is a rebellion brewing in the Russian army? A Russian soldier's video appeal to meet with Vladimir Putin to avert a mutiny over the appalling conditions on the frontline has gone viral, and has clearly struck a nerve at the Kremlin. ⬇️
2/ Alexander Lunin, a self-proclaimed Russian Ukraine war veteran, attracted widespread attention on 25 June when he published a startling video on Russian social media in which he claims to have met with government officials who asked them to convey certain demands to Putin.
3/ He says he wants to be broadcast live on a federal media channel, where he will tell "the whole truth about what is currently happening in the country," specifically about the murders, torture, and extortionist commanders at the front:
4/ "Yesterday, I met with people, high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Defence and the security forces. They conveyed a message to Putin that if he doesn't grant a live audience, I will tell the whole truth about what's happening in our country right now.
5/ "At this very moment, tens, hundreds, thousands of our soldiers are sitting in dungeons, punished by their commanders. They sit there, rot, subjected to torture and violence by the so-called "Gestapo." For refusing to carry out stupid, suicidal orders.
6/ "For refusing to hand over their financial resources.
And ultimately, they are being wiped out and declared missing. Vladimir Vladimirovich, pay attention to this, invite me to your office.
7/ "The consequences will be very serious. If I don't come to the Kremlin soon and speak live, right next to you, the army will turn its weapons against the Kremlin. I am simply delivering a message."
8/ The 39-year-old's video immediately went viral, reaching 2 million views and 80,000 likes on Instagram within only 4 hours of its publication.
9/ Lunin is a former member of the reconnaissance unit in the Sudoplatov volunteer battalion. According to leaks, in 2023, Lunin (previously known as Pustovalov) traveled to Melitopol and served in the Sudoplatov battalion as a gunner and commander.
10/ The news outlet 'Agency' reports that he later worked at the State Unitary Enterprise "Sudoplatov Technical Development and Services Centre" in the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region.
11/ He says that he was later expelled from the BARS reserve unit for a video in which he described how two fighters were sent on a mission without guns. He says that the FSB came to him and there was "a lot of stuff".
12/ ASTRA has found that he appears to hold neo-Nazi and neo-pagan views, and has posted photos of figurines with a swastika and the inscription "ODIN" in runes. He also has a tattoo of the "Black Sun" or Sonnenrad, a common neo-Nazi symbol, on his body.
13/ Lunin has told 'Agency' that he receives messages and videos from acquaintances on the frontline about the current situation, which he is afraid to post, "because there are terrible images".
14/ He says that he decided to appeal to Putin "to show him personally, to talk to him personally".
After his initial viral video, Lunin subsequently published a series of follow-up videos in which he insists this is not a bluff and explains his motives.
15/ According to Lunin, if the authorities do not heed the "message" conveyed through him by "high-ranking representatives of the security forces and the Ministry of Defence," the soldiers at the front will abandon their positions.
16/ He claims to have been approached by security officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defence approached him yesterday, who he says demanded that he record the appeal because of the situation at the front.
17/ He claims they told him: "Nobody wants bloodshed. Just tell the president that we'll be in complete chaos if this continues. Because so many people are being sent on missions that are completely impossible."
18/ "And they're not coming back. And people don't want to go anymore, and they're being punished for it."
19/ An official from the administration in his home region of Voronezh did visit Lunin, who published a video of the meeting. However, the official refused to listen to him constantly interrupting, and only asked whether his family was receiving assistance from the authorities.
20/ Lunin's sudden celebrity prompted questions to the Kremlin about his appeal. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the the presidential administration has heard about Lunin's appeal to Putin, but they haven't watched it yet:
21/ "We were told that there is such an appeal, but we haven't had time to review it yet. So I wouldn't say anything. Judging by what you've said, there are some rather strange formulations, we need to review it first."
22/ On Friday 26 June, Lunin published a new video, in which he stated that he is driving to Moscow, supposedly at the invitation of pro-Kremlin activist and lawyer Vitaly Borodin.
23/ He criticised Russian warbloggers who had been attacking him for his temerity: "All those who portrayed me as some kind of traitor, especially the Z-channels, I guarantee you, you'll start changing your tune now, because you're all on record."
24/ "All those who portrayed me as a liberal yesterday, you're all on record. I will not deviate from my path."
He also asked his followers to send him "the crimes committed against our soldiers by all these Gestapo men."
25/ "Don't be afraid of anyone or anything if you're on the right path, the righteous path, the path of justice. I'm telling you, it gives me goosebumps. Never before has scum and rottenness been able to defeat the real truth, as it is, the truth."
26/ However, the inevitably harsh response from the authorities was not long in coming. On Friday night, according to Lunin's wife Tatyana, their house was raided by the police.
27/ In a video that was only up on TikTok for about three hours, she says that police officers came to their home in the village of Lisenovka and conducted a search, during which they seized "everything they found: flash drives, computers, laptops, a disk, nunchucks".
28/ As for Lunin himself, she said that "Either Sasha was detained and is being questioned now, but naturally, they should release him later. Or he's still en route, and they have poor communication there."
29/ She subsequently deleted the video and posted on her VKontakte page that "Sasha is alive and well" and asked followers not to comment on anything. He is said to have been administratively detained for 11 days.
30/ While Lunin's ultimate fate can only be guessed at, his appeal – however quixotic it may be – has clearly struck a chord at a dangerous moment for the Kremlin, with increasing talk of a "1917 scenario". The 'Brothers in Arms' Telegram channel comments:
31/ "Let's be honest. Everyone who has spent more than a month on the frontline knows perfectly well that basements and pits for their own are our fucking reality. People are written off as missing simply because they didn't want to die for a red tick on the commander's map.
32/ "And here you are sitting in a trench under shelling and thinking: why are we even shedding blood here? Our Motherland sent us here to defend it, but they treat us worse than cattle for slaughter.
33/ "No respect at all, we're just expendable material that can be mixed with shit and buried in a forest clearing. If the top brass don't wake up and start arresting these little kings with epaulets then it'll be too late for many. Patience isn't endless." /end
Sources:
🔹 t.me/tvrain/106685
🔹 t.me/mobilizationne…
🔹 t.me/tvrain/106701
🔹 t.me/astrapress/116…
🔹 t.me/ostorozhno_nov…
🔹 t.me/mobilizationne…
🔹 t.me/ostorozhno_nov…
🔹 t.me/mobilizationne…
🔹 t.me/istories_media…
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