He Worked for Moscow’s Police for Nearly 20 Years. Then He Spoke Up About the Ukraine War.

It was week three of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Sergei Klokov, a driver at Moscow’s police headquarters, was increasingly uneasy with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war and the way it was being portrayed in the country’s state media. He telephoned a former colleague.

“We think we are fighting fascism, but there isn’t fascism there. There isn’t,” Mr. Klokov, who is Russian-Ukrainian, told his friend. Concerned that Russian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians were dying for no reason, he implored, “Get the information out to people.”