In the Army now

The last time Derek Huffman posted a video of himself, he addressed his family from a Russian military training camp: “You can see my face, see I’m doing well, probably see I’ve lost a few pounds … I miss you all more than you can imagine and I can’t wait to see you. Hopefully I get a vacation at some point and I get to come home and spend a couple of weeks with you.”

Earlier this year, the Huffman family — Derek, DeAnna, and their three daughters — settled in Big Water, a remote, purpose-built village near the Moscow region town of Istra that’s about an hour’s journey from the Russian capital. The so-called American Village project was launched two years ago by the American-born pro-Kremlin propagandist Tim Kirby for Americans keen to live with “like-minded individuals”, and Big Water is the first of multiple planned communities in rural Russia for foreigners fleeing the “woke mind virus”.

Speaking about the project to state-affiliated tabloid Argumenty i Fakty, Kirby cited escaping “LGBT propaganda” as the main reason Americans chose to move to Russia. “In the West, it’s everywhere: advertising, computer games, even in schools. Children are being forced to believe that this is the norm.” Last year, Vladimir Putin made the process of relocation to Russia a whole lot easier when he issued a decree granting foreigners who share “traditional Russian spiritual and moral values” temporary residency permits, removing a legal requirement for them to have passed a Russian language test.

The Huffmans are reportedly one of two families who call Big Water home. Their elderly neighbours, the Barretts, who left their relatives behind in the US to start a new life in Russia, are reportedly finding it challenging to form connections with Russians due to the language barrier.

The houses in Big Water are small, white modular structures — humble lodgings given that the Americans sold almost all their assets to buy them. Despite having three children, the Huffmans now live in a two-bedroom house, and much of the surrounding area still looks like a construction site.

‘They want us to be fat and dumb’

Back in the US, Derek Huffman had been outraged by what he saw as “the LGBT indoctrination of kids”, where, in his words, even “cartoons are about sex and gender”. His concern extended to other aspects of life in the US: “The food in America is so unhealthy. They want us to be fat and dumb, controllable,” resolving to create a better life for his daughters.

The family’s first move was from Arizona to Texas, where they hoped to find a more conservative environment. But they were disappointed by the “propaganda” they felt had infiltrated the Texas school system. After that, the couple began homeschooling their daughters, but found even that insufficient. It was at that point that Derek stumbled across an article about Kirby and his American Villages project.

In videos made before his deployment, Derek frequently mused on the “decline of the West”, fretted about what he said were “pornographic books” in US libraries, and bemoaned the indoctrination of children in schools. “Russia is a different matter,” he says in one. In another he says, “I’m just thankful we were able to find this and get an opportunity to raise our children the way we want,” before calling Russia a “great country” and Putin an “amazing leader.”

The struggle is real

On 26 May, DeAnna announced that her husband had enlisted to serve in the Russian army, and even recorded herself giving the news to her daughters: “Daddy just sent me a picture. He has signed the contract. It’s official. He signed his army contract.” The girls didn’t react.

In an effort to get fast-tracked Russian citizenship for himself and his family, Derek signed up to serve in the military, a quid pro quo used by many foreign citizens hoping to become naturalised in Russia.

Speaking about how so many of the migrants who had come to the US had no respect for the local culture and didn’t attempt to integrate, Derek said that he didn’t want to be seen by Russians in the same light and that he was determined to earn “the right to live in Russia”.

In the video, he seems to be sold on the Kremlin’s false narrative of the war: “I know enough to know that Russia is just in their cause and they are doing the right thing. And this Nazi regime and Ukraine needs to be stopped.”

DeAnna’s tone changed noticeably in a new video she posted on 8 June, in which she admitted that Derek had found his basic military training to be tough.

“It’s hard of course because it’s the military in Russia, so it is definitely a struggle. He is eating every day but not a lot because between his stomach not feeling the best and the food being a little bit dry.”

DeAnna added that many people had asked her why they couldn’t afford a car. She explains that as a “migrant worker” in Russia, Derek receives a far smaller salary than the one used to promote migration to the country from abroad. She goes on to say that the equipment the military issued to her husband was substandard — seemingly unaware that such public statements could lead to a criminal prosecution in Russia — but added that a “gentleman who has been amazing” gave Derek boots, a bulletproof vest and a helmet.

Thrown to the wolves

In mid-June, DeAnna confessed to her followers that after three years in recovery from severe alcoholism, she had fallen off the wagon and started drinking again. Days after that, she again took to YouTube to say that she believed her husband had been duped. The family had expected him to be kept safe during his tour of duty, DeAnna said, adding that Derek had just been told that he would be deployed to the frontline.

“We thought because he had a welding certificate and really good background in construction and welding that he would be put in a spot that would be safe and or safer and utilise his experiences but unfortunately we’re not sure that that’s what is going to happen,” she said.

DeAnna said Derek had even attempted to be given non-combat roles such as a military reporter or as part of a repair battalion, but neither option turned out to be possible.

“And the foreigners unit is still being taught in Russian and he doesn’t understand Russian very well. So he’s kind of struggling a bit with that, and not getting really any training,” DeAnna said. “He feels like he’s been thrown to the wolves right now, and he’s kind of having to lean on faith, and that’s what we’re all kind of doing. So we are gathering together and asking everybody to just pray that something can be done. We are petitioning some public figures to hopefully help.”

In a now-deleted video that remains available on Reddit, DeAnna said that above all else Derek now needs money, as he’s been asked to help “pay for supplies,” for his unit, and as his military salary had not yet been paid out, DeAnna says that she has been unable to send him money herself.

DeAnna declined to respond to Novaya Gazeta Europe’s question about Derek’s current whereabouts. For about a month, DeAnna’s videos barely mentioned Derek, and focused on her daughters instead, who seem to spend all their time at home with her. Russian state-run media, which initially did numerous segments on the family’s relocation from the US, also appears to have lost interest in the story.

On 26 July, DeAnna posted an audio recording of her speaking to her husband by phone, set to a montage of the family photographs taken in happier times.

“I have to go soon. I have a lot of work to do, but I wanted some parting words,” Derek says in the recording. “For all the people saying I’m a Christian, yet I joined an army so I could kill Ukrainians, I don’t relish the idea of taking life. You know, but I’m doing what I think is right… and of course I’m alive and well.”