Brezhnev’s great-grandson joined Russia’s ‘special military operation’ to ‘see Nazis.’ Now he’s a Ukrainian POW who says the Nazi threat is a myth.

The adopted great-grandson of Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, Anton Milaev, took part in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and was taken prisoner in the spring of 2026. On July 6, the “Khochu Zhit” (“I Want to Live”) project — which Ukrainian authorities use to encourage Russian soldiers to surrender — published an interview with him.