The unshaven man pictured on today's front page of the French newspaper Liberation was hired as a mercenary for the Wagner paramilitary group.
Marat Gabidulin, a former commander of Russian President Vladimir Putin's private army, is the first to admit that "Wagner" fighters fought in Donbass in eastern Ukraine and on the Syrian front.
However, he claims, the Kremlin strongman has always denied the existence of these mercenaries.
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In an interview with the French newspaper, Gabidoulin believed he was working for a "noble" cause before turning his back on his former life, he says.
Marat Gabidoulin makes it clear that he has no regrets for what he did. He says he is not someone who decided overnight to turn against the organisation he belonged to in order to denounce it."
"No. Marat is a soldier." These words begin his narrative in the French newspaper. He also reveals that Dmitry Udkin, the founder of Putin's private army "Wagner" had the nickname "Beethoven" while he himself had the code name "M-0346."
He even called himself "Ded" (Russian for grandfather) because at 49, he was one of the oldest "Wagner" mercenaries. As a teenager, Marat Gabidulin loved Soviet action movies. His big dream, however, was to make a career in the military.
He was recruited into Putin's private army consisting of ten thousand elite Russian mercenaries who have been involved in military conflicts. Wagner is headed by Dmitry Udkin and financed by Putin's confidant, Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigotsin.
For the high representative of European diplomacy, Josep Borel, Wagner is a paramilitary group whose activities Russia is trying to destabilise various countries.
Source: protothema.gr
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