I think this but of context is also important:

His mother says he was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and could become "fixated on certain things". He'd been living with her rent-free in a rural town west of Brisbane because he was depressed, withdrawn and "in debt up to his eyeballs".

She believes he met a man online playing "live-action war games", who convinced him to fight for Russia as a solution to his problems.

"He was just a desperate guy trying to get some money," she said.

"They got him at the right time when he was weak and vulnerable. They said everything magical, and it worked."

Coupled with how he was treated - getting injured in training and subsequently sent into the meat grinder while not being able to even run, tells a tale all by itself.

His value was in propoganda - never as a soldier. He had served his usefulness before he reached the front lines.