PORTRAIT – This former Canadian soldier, known for speaking openly about his feats of arms, has joined the international legion that has been formed in Ukraine. Confronted with his “legend”, he wants to set the record straight.
When Wali crossed the Ukrainian border on March 3, his fame followed him closely. In the Anglo-Saxon media, it is announced with great fanfare the arrival alongside the Ukrainian forces of the best sniper in the world. “And of the universejokes the Canadian, whose real first name is Olivier. On social networks, it is said that he is capable of killing forty men a day. He also allegedly shot dead an Islamic State fighter more than three kilometers away in Iraqi Kurdistan. A new Vassili Grigorievich Zaïtsev, the hero of Stalingrad, but this time in his Canadian-Ukrainian version? “This is the Hollywood narrative in the service of war“, comments the interested party with his Quebec accent. The evocation of his alleged military exploits makes him smile. Neither very tall nor very muscular, he even describes himself as the exact opposite of the stereotype of the soldier. “Maybe that’s what makes me so interesting?“, he still has fun.
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Wali is…
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