A Texas man moved his family to Russia to flee LGBTQ+ values. Here's what we know

Yahoo

2 days ago

In July 2025, a claim circulated online that a Texas father had moved his family to Russia before enlisting in the country's armed forces and fighting on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.
While it was true that Derek Huffman moved his wife and three daughters to Russia and enlisted in the military there, we found no proof that Huffman ever fought on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.
The Huffmans documented their move and Derek Huffman's enlistment on their YouTube channel. In a since-removed video, DeAnna Huffman, Derek Huffman's wife, expressed concern that her husband would be sent to the front lines.
However, Tim Kirby, the founder of American Villages in Russia who helped secure housing for the Huffmans, told Snopes over email that Derek Huffman "was never involved in front line combat." Derek Huffman's exact location and role within the Russian armed forces remained uncertain at the time of this writing.
In July 2025, a claim (archived) circulated online that a man from Texas named Derek Huffman moved his family to Russia to avoid "woke" values but ended up joining the Russian armed forces and fighting on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.
One X claim recounting the Huffman family's story claimed that Huffman had "disappeared somewhere in eastern Ukraine."
The claim also circulated on Facebook (archived), Threads (archived), Instagram (archived), Bluesky (archived), Reddit (archived) and TikTok (archived). Snopes readers searched our site to find out if the claim was true.
The Huffman family documented their move to Russia on their YouTube channel, including a video of the family arriving in Russia in April (archived) and another in May (archived) about Derek Huffman's enlistment with the Russian armed forces. In a since-deleted video (archived), DeAnna Huffman, Derek Huffman's wife, expressed fears about Derek Huffman being sent to the front lines after he enlisted, something the family hoped to avoid. The most recent video (archived) showing Derek Huffman, posted on June 15, showed the father of six in military fatigues talking about being away from the family. Russian media also reported that Derek Huffman moved his family to Russia before enlisting.
However, exactly what role Derek Huffman was fulfilling in the Russian armed forces and where were unclear at the time of this writing. Tim Kirby, a travel blogger who founded the expat village where the family lives, told Snopes over email on July 22 that Huffman was "doing the work that is inline with what he agreed to during his sign up negotiations." According to DeAnna Huffman's since-deleted video, her husband had wanted to be a war reporter or in a "repair battalion," owing to his extensive experience in welding. Kirby said Derek Huffman "was never involved in front line combat from what I understand and he is certainly not doing so now."
We reached out to DeAnna Huffman through the Huffman Time YouTube channel to ask if she knew whether Derek Huffman was in active combat on the Russian front lines. We also reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to confirm whether Derek Huffman had enlisted with the country's armed forces and what role he was carrying out. We await replies to our queries.
Tracking the Huffmans
The family, as seen on their Huffman Time YouTube channel, consisted of DeAnna and Derek Huffman, their three daughters and a dog. According to reports, the couple has three adult sons between them who remain in the U.S.
In May, Derek Huffman told Russia Today the family first moved from Arizona to Texas to escape "LGBT propaganda." However, after one of Derek Huffman's daughters "learned about lesbians from a girl in her class," the Huffmans decided "something had to change." Derek Huffman said in a March 9 video that "concerns over LGBT indoctrination in the American schools" were a primary reason the family made the move.
On April 5, Kirby posted a video (archived), titled "The arrival of the second family to the American Village in Russia" that showed the Huffmans on VK, a Russian social media platform.
Around a month later, Huffman Time posted a video (archived) showing the family getting their Temporary Residence Permit. This visa, established by decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin, allows people "from countries where neoliberal values are promoted at the state level" a fast-track way to enter, work and live in Russia for three years. The U.S. was one of more than 40 countries where citizens could seek the Temporary Residence Permit.
Huffman enlisted for Russian citizenship
By the end of May, Derek Huffman had evidently decided that he wanted more than just a Russian visa. In a video recorded in Nizhny Novgorod, Huffman said he would enlist in the Russian armed forces as a way to get his family Russian citizenship.
Huffman explained in a May 26 video that if he signed and served a one-year contract with the Russian armed forces he and his family could get Russian citizenship immediately. He said (at 8:10):
A big part of it for me is about the respect and earning our place here in Russia, earning our citizenship. You think about America, people just come on in. They're given everything. They just don't really assimilate and they're just there for the free handouts. I don't want anyone here in Russia or anywhere to be able to say we don't belong here. And if I go put my body on the line for Russia, I defend the country, our new country, I've earned our place here and nobody can tell me different or tell my family different that we don't belong here.
Huffman said in the video that he would join the "special military operation" (the term used by the Russian government to describe the war in Ukraine) "today."
Around three weeks later, on June 15, former Ukrainian politician Anton Geraschenko posted a video showing DeAnna Huffman talking about her husband's deployment.
In the footage, Huffman said that it seemed as if the armed forces would send her husband to the front lines. According to Huffman, unnamed people had petitioned for Derek Huffman to serve as a war reporter rather than in active combat, but that request was denied. "They" then attempted to place him on a "repair unit" to utilize his welding experience, which also did not happen, according to DeAnna Huffman.
DeAnna Huffman also said that recruits in the foreigner's unit received instruction in Russian, a language the family had not yet mastered:
He's kind of struggling a little bit with that and not getting really any training because, unfortunately, when you are taught in a different language and you don't understand the language, how are you really getting taught? You're not. So, unfortunately he feels like he is being thrown to the wolves right now.
Huffman also said that though her husband had not yet been paid for his time in the armed forces, officials had asked him to contribute money to help pay for supplies. She said that the family was lobbying "public figures" to get a safer deployment for him.
The clip Geraschenko shared did not appear on the Huffman Time YouTube channel at the time of this writing. Comments on a June 28 video, titled "Russia: Big Water Adventures with Our Husky & Family Update!" that showed DeAnna Huffman wearing the same (archived) shirt and glasses as the Geraschenko clip, seemed to suggest that the Huffmans removed the clip from that video before re-uploading it. One commenter wrote, "Wait, we already saw this a week ago!?" to which another replied, "The previous video was attacked by bots because of the same topic and had to be deleted, leaving only the part about the lake."
On June 16, Huffman Time uploaded a video of Derek Huffman in army fatigues sending a Father's Day video to his family. Huffman did not say in the video where he was, which is standard procedure for deployed soldiers to preserve operational security.
However, it seemed that the Huffmans' money issues were persistent despite his seemingly active enlistment. On June 24, Kirby, the man who helped the Huffmans secure housing through American Villages in Russia, posted (archived) on VK asking people to send money to the Huffmans, who were still without an income due to delays with Derek Huffman's paychecks from the armed forces.
The Huffman Time YouTube channel replied to a comment on a July 15 video that Derek Huffman was "fine" but that the family would not "give details or videos for everyone's safety." DeAnna Huffman said (archived) in the video that "He is alive and safe and just counting down the days. He will be finishing up his army and coming home and visiting. We miss him very much," referring to Derek Huffman.
DeAnna Huffman also said she was due to fill out citizenship paperwork for herself and her daughters.
Huffman did not respond to media inquiries by Russian media in July about where her husband was. In an interview with Russian-language media Vot Tak, Kirby said the family was tired of "Kyiv trolls" contacting them about the family's choices but did not comment on where Derek Huffman was.
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