September 23, 2022 • 6 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And welcome back to the Armstrong and get a show.
Felix Light, our man in London with CBS Radio News
in the Moscow at times. Felix, how are you? I'm
very well. Thank you to be here as always. Yeah,
thank you. You're a great reporter and that's why we
like to have you on. So, speaking of reporting, does
that seem to be accurate? Are are are people that
desperate to flee ending up being some of the three
(00:21):
hundred thousand men that are going to be sent to war? Oh, absolutely,
you know, I think you know, it's it's kind of
hard to understate the gravity and the sort of the
scale of what's going on. You know, I you know,
speaking sort of from my own personal experience, I would
say that pretty much every young man of sort of
military age that I know in Moscow is making plans
(00:43):
or has already left. You know, it is making plans
to leave or has already left, and so, you know,
sometimes that's, you know, taking them from sort of some
really sort of you know securities and and and long
and sort of roundabout roots. You know. So as as
you said in the in the segment at the start,
all the you know, for four or five six days
are booked up. You know, it is literally impossible to
(01:04):
get a flight out of Moscow right now. So you know,
you see people sitting on trains to go over the
border into Kazakhstan or into Mongolia or anything, you know,
any sort of way to get out. Because you know this,
you gotta sort of realize what you know the Russian
army is. You know this is not the U S Army,
is not the British army. You know, a place where
you know you're obviously trained to kill and be killed,
but you know you're you're treated with a modicum of
(01:26):
dignity and a modicum of respect. You know, the Russian
army and, more to the point, you know a conscript
in the Russian army, you're not going to be treated
well and you're going to be used as cannon fodder,
an award that lots of these people don't agree with,
and so I think, you know, people are pretty desperate
to get out of that, whatever it may cost. Okay,
that's a really interesting angle you just brought up. So
I was one. I was wondering if this is an
indication how desperate these men are to get out of
(01:50):
the country that they know what's up. They're getting the
real story somehow. We we've talked a lot with you
and others about the state controlled media is still telling
the story that it's, you know, where we're liberating Ukrainians
from Nazis and all the difference sort of stuff. So
I was thinking, well, most of these young men must
know the real story. But part of it is, you're saying,
just the the idea of being in the Russian military
(02:13):
at all is so miserable you might want to leave
the country because the history of the Russian military, that
that's that's the deal. Well, yeah, you know, it's both.
I think. You know these people who are talking about
who are leaving. You know, these are people, I think,
who are not, you know, on board with the idea
of the war in Ukraine. You know people who, you know,
not endorsing sort of Vladimir Putin's ideas. You know, Russia,
(02:34):
you know, has a very sort of strict and vary
sort of, you know, authoritarian political system with, you know,
very little free media. But you know you know people
in the sort of advanced cities. You know young people,
educated people. You know they know the scholar, as you say.
You know they know what's upset. You know, it's not
impossible to find sort of, you know, accurate news on
the Internet and whatever, if you know sort of where
to look. So you know these people are not done.
(02:56):
You know they know what they're thinking about. But also,
you know, yeah, you know they've invested a lot in
not going to the war, you know, and especially a
war they don't agree with. You know, Russia has the
draft for one year. You know, you get concerted for
one year when you leave school and you're not supposed
to be half to fight in wars as a concert
but you know there's a really sort of roaring black
market trade and sort of you know, doctors to get
(03:18):
people out of that sort of you know, year of
service in the military. So there's a huge sort of war,
you know, sector of the economy around sort of getting
people out of the military. So you know, when something
like this happens, then there's a much bigger call up
and when it's actually to a war, I think that
sort of stuff really goes into overdrive. You know, those
kind of instincts. You know, people are just you know,
I'm not going to die for Poutin I'm not going
to die in a war that I don't agree with.
(03:40):
You know, I get a head out of friendship. Yeah, well,
I've seen videos of guys being hugged, hugged by their
mothers is before they get on a bus that are going.
So how many people seem to actually be sticking around
and going as far as you can tell? Well, you know,
Russia is a you know, a very sort varied in
(04:01):
complex country. You know, in sort of the big cities,
the Moscows, you know, the Saint Petersburg, you know, a
lot of people are just going to be going with
their seating, getting out, you know, going to wherever they can.
But you know, if you're like a young kid in
a little village somewhere, you know you've got a very
different life experience. You know, it's more likely that sort
of you know, your your dad's already served in the army,
you know, or your grandfather has already served in the army.
So you know, it's it's sort of much more normal
(04:22):
and I think you know those people they don't really
have the resources to sort of get out of the
country and get out of the way. So I think,
you know, what we see is that, you know, if
you get away from the big cities to sort of
especially sort of ethnic minority areas, you know, parts of Siberia,
parts of the south of Russia, where, you know, a
lot of the people aren't actually sort of, you know, European,
sort of ethnic Russians. You know they're they're Muslims or
(04:43):
their sort of Asians or whatever. You know, these people
are really getting called up. You know there's a lot
of sort of, you know, military recruitment going on there
now and a lot of the burden of this mobilization
is really falling on these people, I think. Um, what
is your take on how long it's going to take
before these guys are actually in the field fighting Ukrainians,
(05:04):
trying to liberate them from the Nazis? Yeah, right, well,
you know it's not going to take long. You know
these people are not going to get the sort of
the red carpet treatment in the merchant. You know you're
going to get sort of, you know, two weeks, two
and a half weeks of training. You know, because you're
already theoretically a member of the reserves. You know, you're
already theoretically a member of the Russian army. You've been
trained before and now you're getting sent off to war.
(05:25):
So you know, these people are going to be putting
a pretty down fast combat may belts, you know, to Ukraine.
So these people are going to be showing up on
the front of the end very quickly. Wow. One final
question for Felix Light, who is in London but he's
a a reporter on all things Russian, has been for
a while. Um, how seriously are Europeans taking the nuclear
(05:47):
threat that putting put out the other day? Well, you know,
I think the war obviously feels a bit closer to us,
but you know, when you're talking nuclear, you know it's
it's almost so bad that you can't imagine it. You know,
and I think for the you know, for the moment,
people do worry a lot about the war. You know,
they worry about gas prices, they worry about energy costs here,
(06:08):
which are really going up in Europe. You know, America,
obviously you can get it's it's gas and it's it's
still from other sort of sources, from Europe is really,
really dependent on Russia, and so you know, that's a
big worry, I think here right now. You know, nuclear
is obviously terrifying, but you know, it's it's almost bad
thing that you don't want to think about because it's
too bad to think about. So I wouldn't say people
worry about day level. Right, okay, cool, always good. Felix
(06:30):
light from London. Thank you, Felix. Always pleasure of cheers.
And welcome back to the Armstrong and get a show.
Felix Light, our man in London with CBS Radio News
in the Moscow at times. Felix, how are you? I'm
very well. Thank you to be here as always. Yeah,
thank you. You're a great reporter and that's why we
like to have you on. So, speaking of reporting, does
that seem to be accurate? Are are are people that
desperate to flee ending up being some of the three
(00:21):
hundred thousand men that are going to be sent to war? Oh, absolutely,
you know, I think you know, it's it's kind of
hard to understate the gravity and the sort of the
scale of what's going on. You know, I you know,
speaking sort of from my own personal experience, I would
say that pretty much every young man of sort of
military age that I know in Moscow is making plans
(00:43):
or has already left. You know, it is making plans
to leave or has already left, and so, you know,
sometimes that's, you know, taking them from sort of some
really sort of you know securities and and and long
and sort of roundabout roots. You know. So as as
you said in the in the segment at the start,
all the you know, for four or five six days
are booked up. You know, it is literally impossible to
(01:04):
get a flight out of Moscow right now. So you know,
you see people sitting on trains to go over the
border into Kazakhstan or into Mongolia or anything, you know,
any sort of way to get out. Because you know this,
you gotta sort of realize what you know the Russian
army is. You know this is not the U S Army,
is not the British army. You know, a place where
you know you're obviously trained to kill and be killed,
but you know you're you're treated with a modicum of
(01:26):
dignity and a modicum of respect. You know, the Russian
army and, more to the point, you know a conscript
in the Russian army, you're not going to be treated
well and you're going to be used as cannon fodder,
an award that lots of these people don't agree with,
and so I think, you know, people are pretty desperate
to get out of that, whatever it may cost. Okay,
that's a really interesting angle you just brought up. So
I was one. I was wondering if this is an
indication how desperate these men are to get out of
(01:50):
the country that they know what's up. They're getting the
real story somehow. We we've talked a lot with you
and others about the state controlled media is still telling
the story that it's, you know, where we're liberating Ukrainians
from Nazis and all the difference sort of stuff. So
I was thinking, well, most of these young men must
know the real story. But part of it is, you're saying,
just the the idea of being in the Russian military
(02:13):
at all is so miserable you might want to leave
the country because the history of the Russian military, that
that's that's the deal. Well, yeah, you know, it's both.
I think. You know these people who are talking about
who are leaving. You know, these are people, I think,
who are not, you know, on board with the idea
of the war in Ukraine. You know people who, you know,
not endorsing sort of Vladimir Putin's ideas. You know, Russia,
(02:34):
you know, has a very sort of strict and vary
sort of, you know, authoritarian political system with, you know,
very little free media. But you know you know people
in the sort of advanced cities. You know young people,
educated people. You know they know the scholar, as you say.
You know they know what's upset. You know, it's not
impossible to find sort of, you know, accurate news on
the Internet and whatever, if you know sort of where
to look. So you know these people are not done.
(02:56):
You know they know what they're thinking about. But also,
you know, yeah, you know they've invested a lot in
not going to the war, you know, and especially a
war they don't agree with. You know, Russia has the
draft for one year. You know, you get concerted for
one year when you leave school and you're not supposed
to be half to fight in wars as a concert
but you know there's a really sort of roaring black
market trade and sort of you know, doctors to get
(03:18):
people out of that sort of you know, year of
service in the military. So there's a huge sort of war,
you know, sector of the economy around sort of getting
people out of the military. So you know, when something
like this happens, then there's a much bigger call up
and when it's actually to a war, I think that
sort of stuff really goes into overdrive. You know, those
kind of instincts. You know, people are just you know,
I'm not going to die for Poutin I'm not going
to die in a war that I don't agree with.
(03:40):
You know, I get a head out of friendship. Yeah, well,
I've seen videos of guys being hugged, hugged by their
mothers is before they get on a bus that are going.
So how many people seem to actually be sticking around
and going as far as you can tell? Well, you know,
Russia is a you know, a very sort varied in
(04:01):
complex country. You know, in sort of the big cities,
the Moscows, you know, the Saint Petersburg, you know, a
lot of people are just going to be going with
their seating, getting out, you know, going to wherever they can.
But you know, if you're like a young kid in
a little village somewhere, you know you've got a very
different life experience. You know, it's more likely that sort
of you know, your your dad's already served in the army,
you know, or your grandfather has already served in the army.
So you know, it's it's sort of much more normal
(04:22):
and I think you know those people they don't really
have the resources to sort of get out of the
country and get out of the way. So I think,
you know, what we see is that, you know, if
you get away from the big cities to sort of
especially sort of ethnic minority areas, you know, parts of Siberia,
parts of the south of Russia, where, you know, a
lot of the people aren't actually sort of, you know, European,
sort of ethnic Russians. You know they're they're Muslims or
(04:43):
their sort of Asians or whatever. You know, these people
are really getting called up. You know there's a lot
of sort of, you know, military recruitment going on there
now and a lot of the burden of this mobilization
is really falling on these people, I think. Um, what
is your take on how long it's going to take
before these guys are actually in the field fighting Ukrainians,
(05:04):
trying to liberate them from the Nazis? Yeah, right, well,
you know it's not going to take long. You know
these people are not going to get the sort of
the red carpet treatment in the merchant. You know you're
going to get sort of, you know, two weeks, two
and a half weeks of training. You know, because you're
already theoretically a member of the reserves. You know, you're
already theoretically a member of the Russian army. You've been
trained before and now you're getting sent off to war.
(05:25):
So you know, these people are going to be putting
a pretty down fast combat may belts, you know, to Ukraine.
So these people are going to be showing up on
the front of the end very quickly. Wow. One final
question for Felix Light, who is in London but he's
a a reporter on all things Russian, has been for
a while. Um, how seriously are Europeans taking the nuclear
(05:47):
threat that putting put out the other day? Well, you know,
I think the war obviously feels a bit closer to us,
but you know, when you're talking nuclear, you know it's
it's almost so bad that you can't imagine it. You know,
and I think for the you know, for the moment,
people do worry a lot about the war. You know,
they worry about gas prices, they worry about energy costs here,
(06:08):
which are really going up in Europe. You know, America,
obviously you can get it's it's gas and it's it's
still from other sort of sources, from Europe is really,
really dependent on Russia, and so you know, that's a
big worry, I think here right now. You know, nuclear
is obviously terrifying, but you know, it's it's almost bad
thing that you don't want to think about because it's
too bad to think about. So I wouldn't say people
worry about day level. Right, okay, cool, always good. Felix
(06:30):
light from London. Thank you, Felix. Always pleasure of cheers.
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