Derek Huffman, a 46-year-old construction welder, moved his 42-year-old wife and three kids — ages 12, 11, and 10 — from the United States to Russia to avoid LGBTQ+ “indoctrination.” But now he has been placed on the frontlines of Russia’s bloody, years-long onslaught of Ukraine, despite government promises that he wouldn’t be.

“When he signed up and had all of that done, he was told he would not be training for two weeks and going straight to the front lines,” his wife, DeAnna, said in a now-deleted YouTube video, according to The Daily Beast. “But it seems as though he is getting one more week of training, closer to the front lines, and then they are going to put him on the front lines.”

Related

Right-wing family moved to Russia to escape LGBTQ+ people. Then Russia froze their bank accounts.
The family of 10 has experienced quite the culture shock.

Derek Huffman said he joined the military to gain expedited Russian citizenship for his family and to “earn” the respect of other Russians.

Insights for the LGBTQ+ community

Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

“If I risk myself for our new country, no one will say that I am not a part of it,” he told Russian state media last month. “Unlike migrants in America who come there just like that, do not assimilate, and at the same time want free handouts.”

The Daily Beast noted that undocumented migrants used to be able to earn U.S. citizenship by joining the military, but the current president ended the program.

DeAnna Huffman said military officials had assured her husband that he would serve as a correspondent or a welder far away from the front lines. She also said that her husband has no prior military experience, has received no pay for his time serving, and received his training in Russian, a language he doesn’t know, leaving him totally unprepared to serve in active combat.

“Unfortunately, he feels like he’s being thrown to the wolves right now, and he’s kind of having to lean on faith, and that’s what we’re all doing,” she said in the video.

The Huffmans moved to Russia under a program touted by Tim Kirby, an American blogger who Russia allegedly paid to help improve its image internationally. Only two families moved to Russia under the program Kirby mentioned, United24Media reported 

This year, Russia has been using “shared values” (or “anti-woke” visas) to lure conservative Christian Nationalists to immigrate their country from the “liberal west,” The Washington Post reported. The visas are reportedly part of Russia’s “larger soft-power effort,” which paid U.S. conservative influencers to portray Russia as “orderly, stable, and poised to thrive,” the publication said.

The influencers’ messaging pushes a MAGA worldview that sees trans and LGBTQ+ rights as threats to children and signs of moral decay, and sees feminism as a leftist plot to undermine masculinity and families.

It’s estimated that over one million Russians have died in the country’s incursion into Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has portrayed the incursion as a battle against “Western perversions.”

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.