The father of 4, Alexander Barlet, illegally mobilized (after voluntary service), survived the torture cellar and an assassination attempt on December 30 in Donetsk. He told ASTRA who participated in his torture and his attempted murder. After suffering severe wounds, having lost a kidney and regaining consciousness, Barlet told ASTRA that he was beaten in the sixth commandant’s office of military unit 53435 (former military unit 08826) Donetsk by lieutenant Colonel Andrey Redko (call sign “David”).
“Redko personally beat me in the office, tried to tear up my Russian passport, shouted that I was unworthy to be a citizen of the Russian Federation, and cut my hand with a knife,” Barlet told ASTRA.
Human rights activist Maxim Davydov told ASTRA that Redko served in the same military unit as Barlet (42600, formerly 08826), where Igor Puzik (call sign “Evil”) also worked, who in 2024 sent soldiers of the “DPR” long-range reconnaissance regiment in the assault, where they died. Davydov claims that on the day of the attempted murder of Barlet, two men from the 110th brigade (formerly the 100th brigade) of the Barlet military unit and 4 men from the rapid reaction group of the 6th Redko commandant’s office arrived for him, who opened fire on the man.
Davydov says that they tried to kill Barlet because he was the victim of a fraudulent scheme — as ASTRA previously wrote. In December, it turned out that the man was still assigned to his old military unit 42600, although he no longer served there and was on leave due to injury. It turned out that at the same time in the military unit, he was listed as having voluntarily left the unit, but still allegedly received a salary and payments for injury. However, unknown bank account details were noted in the personal account of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, which neither Barlet nor his family owns — none of them received the money. When this information came to light, the officers of the military unit tried to hide their tracks by capturing or killing the main witness.
“The commanders of the military unit falsified documents that he [Barlet] was still serving, and issued some kind of bank card, which he allegedly used to receive payments, and I think it was for his injury. And when he began to figure out why he was deserting and hired a lawyer, it turned out that Barlet was still listed in the unit as receiving money and fighting. And here all the military investigators are in the same gang, along with war criminals from military units, and they just decided to settle the case quietly and remove the main witness. So they arrived and started shooting. Their task was to take him at any cost, alive or dead. I think that even if they had taken him alive, he would not have lasted long at the front,” says Davydov to ASTRA.
After Barlet’s escape, military unit officers were able to catch him and his father at the man’s property thanks to bribing neighbors — Davydov claims that the military paid 10,000 rubles so that Barlet’s neighbors would inform when he would be at home. That’s what happened on the day of the assassination attempt, the human rights activist believes.
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014, Andrei Redko, being an operative of the Kramatorsk police, was abducted by pro-Russian forces, but was later released, the Interior Ministry of Ukraine reported. At the same time, Redko is on the list “traitors of Ukraine”, as well as almost all employees of the 6th commandant’s office of Donetsk. Redko did not answer the ASTRA call.
Barlet’s family is currently receiving threats, and the Donetsk channel “Mobilization of the DPR” is raising funds to a man’s lawyer.
