Ukraine war: Russian army deserters live in fear as they are hunted at home
- Hundreds of Russian deserters and draft dodgers have fled to neighbouring ex-Soviet countries where they are stuck in limbo
Russian officer Farkhad Ziganshin had prepared himself for a life of military service since a young age. He could never have imagined that one day he would become a deserter and flee the country.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed everything.
“I don’t support what’s happening in Ukraine, I don’t support the government we’ve had for so many years,” Ziganshin, 24, said in Kazakhstan, where he fled in September 2022 after Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s first military mobilisation since World War II.
Faced with a choice between taking part in a war of aggression or going to prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, hundreds of deserters and draft dodgers have fled to neighbouring ex-Soviet countries where they are now stuck in limbo.
Russian authorities have opened a criminal case against Ziganshin for abandoning his unit. He does not feel safe in Kazakhstan and fears he might be deported to Russia.
But it is hard for men like him to seek refuge in the West because many Russian servicemen do not have the Russian passport that allows travel to Europe and only have documents that permit them to reach neighbours such as Kazakhstan or Armenia.
