Russian Airman Defector Dmitry Mishov Speaks to BBC.
Russian airman, Lieutenant Dmitry Mishov, who defected and sought political asylum in Lithuania, gave a rare interview to the BBC. He described the Russian army as suffering heavy losses and experiencing low morale. Mishov, an attack helicopter navigator, said he tried to leave the air force in January 2022 but was sent to Belarus where he flew helicopters delivering military cargo. He returned to his base in Russia in April 2022 where he hoped to continue his decommissioning, but in September 2022 President Putin announced partial military mobilisation. He knew that sooner or later he would be sent to Ukraine and started looking for ways to avoid it.