translator: well, i came here to fight. if i were concerned about my safety, i would not have left russia. my goal is to be useful to my homeland, to ukraine. my goal is to be here until ukraine wins the war. i want to see victory, and i want to see a victory parade in kyiv and in my own hometown, and i don t regret this at all. reporter: volobuev may not be a household name in the west or even in russia for that matter, but his voice is added to a chorus of prominent russians turning their backs on putin as the war in ukraine drags on. from this tv journalist, who protested on the evening news, to two former government officials and these oligarchs hit by sanctions. the interesting question perhaps is will it encourage others? those people who have spoken have restricted themselves to very benign statements about regretting the loss of life in ukraine. but clearly fearful about what can happen to them. so it would, i think, take many more brave people to stand up
And express their positions. reporter: volobuev says that he intends to sign up for ukraine s army, but for now he could be more useful to intelligence networks says this analyst at chatham house. his value is going to be to particularly western intelligence services that will want to debrief him about the functioning of gazprombank, the extent to which its leadership is still connected with the kremlin. reporter: volobuev s personal protest is a risky one, yet even he believes it s unlikely to change the course of the war in ukraine yet. translator: he s gone so far, he has no exit route. he s covered in blood, and the economy won t stop him. he will go all the way. the only thing that can stop him is regime change or his own death. reporter: nina dos santos, cnn, in london. historians and military