Thousands of Russians withdraw from war in Ukraine: destroy military uniforms, insult Putin and seek asylum abroad

Last year, more than 57,000 people appeared at the US borders. of Russians who fled from the aggressors who started the war in Ukraine. For Western nations dealing with a large and growing Russian diaspora, Russian soldiers pose a particular concern: Are they spies? War criminals? Are the heroes?

Five officers and one soldier who had deserted from the Russian army agreed to speak. All of them face criminal charges in Russia and face 10 or more years in prison. Each of them waits for the West to accept them, but never does. Instead, all but one are living in hiding, reports the Independent.

“I gave myself life”

If given a choice between death and a bullet in the leg, Yevgenius would choose the bullet. Russian soldier Yevgeny told his friend and fellow soldier to aim carefully, avoid the bone and shoot. The turnstiles were already ready.

The pain that followed was the price Yevgenius paid for a new chance at life. Like thousands of other Russian soldiers, he deserted.

“I’m joking that I gave birth to myself,” he said, declining to give his full name for fear of punishment.

“When a woman gives birth to a child, she experiences great pain and gives new life. “I took my own life after going through a lot of pain,” said the man.

Yevgeny managed to dig himself out of the trenches. But the new life he discovers is not what he expected.

“I did the right thing,” said another deserter, nicknamed “Sparrow,” who is hiding in Kazakhstan while waiting for his asylum claim to be processed. After being forced into the army, he ran away from the barracks because he didn’t want to kill anyone.

“I’d rather sit here and suffer and look for something than go out there and kill someone because of some obscure war that 100% Russia is to blame. I don’t regret it,” he said.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, asylum applications by Russian citizens have increased, but few are approved.

Politicians do not agree

Politicians disagree on whether to consider Russians living in exile as a potential asset or a threat to national security.

Andrius Kubilius, the former Prime Minister of Lithuania, who now works in the European Parliament, says that the Russian education of Vladimir Putin’s opponents is in line with the strategic interests of the West. Fewer Russian troops at the front meant a weaker army, he added.

“It is a mistake not to believe in Russian democracy,” said A. Kubilius. “To say that all Russians are guilty is a mistake.”

Independent Russian media outlet “Mediazona” recorded that from 2022 in September, more than 7.3 thousand cases were filed in Russian courts. cases against soldiers who have left arbitrarily: cases of desertion, the most severe charge, have increased sixfold in the past year.

A record number of people seeking to defect – more than 500 in the first two months of this year – are turning to the Idite Lesom group, which is run by Russian activists in Georgia. According to the head of the group, Grigorijus Sverdlin, last spring only 3 percent. there were requests for help from soldiers who wanted to leave, and in January there were more than a third of such requests.

In total, G. Sverdlin’s group claims that it supported more than 26,000 people. of Russians seeking to avoid military service and helped to demobilize more than 520 soldiers and officers, a drop in the ocean compared to the total number of the Russian military, but an indicator of morale in a country where opposing the war is considered a crime.

“It is clear that Russian propaganda is trying to convince us that all of Russia supports Putin and his war. But this is not true,” said G. Sverdlinas.

The question is, where can they go?

Farhad Ziganshin, an officer who deserted shortly after Putin in 2022. of the September mobilization decree, was detained in Kazakhstan while trying to board a plane bound for Armenia after local authorities found his name on Russia’s wanted list.

“It is not safe to stay in Kazakhstan,” said F. Ziganshinas. – I just try to live a normal life, without violating the laws of Kazakhstan, without being too visible, without appearing anywhere. We have a proverb: Be quieter than water and shorter than grass.”

He is still waiting for his asylum application to be approved.

There are more and more Russians fleeing conscription

German officials have said Russians fleeing military service can apply for protection, and a French court ruled last summer that Russians who refused to fight could apply for refugee status. But in practice, it has proven difficult for deserters, most of whom have passports that allow them to travel to only a few former Soviet states, to get asylum, lawyers, activists and deserters say.

In 2022, fewer than 300 Russians received refugee status in the United States. And of the 5,246 people whose applications were processed last year, less than 10 percent. received some protection from the German authorities.

But the Russians continue to run. In 2023, Customs and Border Patrol intercepted more than 57,000 people at the US borders. Russian, and in 2021 there were about 13 thousand of them. Number of positive asylum applications in the year ending 2022 in September (the latest available data), increased almost four times – to almost 9 thousand.

Asylum applications in France in 2022-2023 increased by more than 50 percent. up to approximately 3.4 thousand persons, according to the data of the French application processing service. And in Germany, 7,663 Russian citizens applied for asylum for the first time last year, which is 2,851 more than in 2022, the German Interior Ministry told the AP news agency by email. None of the figures indicate how many of them were soldiers.

The military uniform forced into Putin’s hands ended up in a bag

Another Russian officer, nicknamed “The Athlete”, created a video diary of his escape. As he prepared to leave Russia, he did everything he could to make a grand gesture of his opposition to the war.

“They wanted to force me to go and fight against the free people of Ukraine,” he told the camera. “Putin wanted me in the bag, but it’s his uniform that will be in the bag.”

He stuffed his military uniforms into two black garbage bags and threw them into the dumpster.

“The worst that could have happened happened,” he said, leaving Russia with the remnants of his former life packed into one small backpack. “Now only good things await.”

An “athlete” is an optimist. Indeed, deserters were arrested by Russian forces in Armenia, deported from Kazakhstan and found dead, riddled with bullets, in Spain.

“There is no mechanism for Russians who do not want to fight, deserters, to get to a safe place,” Yevgenij said.

He urges Western policymakers to reconsider the issue.

“After all, it is economically much cheaper to let a person into your country – a healthy, able-bodied young man – than to supply Ukraine with weapons,” he says.