meeting Russian deserters who fled the mobilization in Ukraine

For several months, the National Court of Asylum has been able to grant asylum to Russian deserters, who fled the partial mobilization decreed in September 2022 by Vladimir Putin. To date, 66 men and two women have obtained refugee status in our country, but the process is complicated.

Sasha (not his real name) did not want to fight for Russia and he found refuge in France, on the Côte d’Azur. Out of sight, in a small room, the shutters are half-closed, and yet he prefers to keep his large sunglasses on. “I can’t say that I am completely safe, even being here in France,” he explains. The 23-year-old has been suspicious and on guard for a year and a half. “The security is better here, I feel better. But, with these spies, these snitches, it makes me a little tense.” Indeed, Russian intelligence does not hesitate to assassinate deserters, like former pilot Maxim Kouzminov, shot down in Spain in February 2024.

In the winter of 2022, Sacha was summoned to the military police station. “I was threatened by telling me that if I did not volunteer to go to Ukraine, well, they would force me to”, he explains. Sacha then decides to take the road and flee his country. He leaves, heading to Turkey, then Bosnia and finally France. He is free, but freedom has a price in Russia and it is his family who will pay it.

“My mother was fired from her job. Her boss told her: ‘You are the mother of a deserter and we don’t need employees like you.’

Sasha, Russian deserter

at franceinfo

His entire family suffered its fair share of intimidation. “My father received threats from the military police station. We told him: ‘If your son does not come back, you will be the one to go in his place’. Then, they threatened my little brother, telling him that as soon as when he turns 18, he will have to prepare to enter the army”, says Sacha. As for his friends, who like him belong to an ethnic minority particularly targeted by the mobilization, many returned mutilated from the Ukrainian front.

Sacha is alone, here in France. He was granted asylum in 2023, but he lives by makeshifts. He sleeps in squats, sometimes even on the street. However, he does not regret having left Russia and there is no question that he will fight this war in Ukraine. “You know, if another country had tried to invade my homeland, I would have had no problem taking up arms, he explains. But in this case, invading lands that are not ours, killing women, children, old people and being part of this criminal army, in a criminal war… I will not be able to live my whole life afterwards That.”

Leave your country forever

Like Sacha, Vlad* fled Russia and took refuge in the north of France. He is 53 years old and from the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he publicly demonstrated his opposition to this war, which earned him six months in prison. Upon his release, he received his mobilization order and immediately left his country.

“I’m sure I won’t be able to go back because it’s not Russia anymore. It’s a madhouse now and it will never be the same again.”

And Vlad confided: “It’s as if I had left Nazi Germany and was told: ‘Everything is fine, you can come back’“. The man has also cut ties with his acquaintances in Russia. “I only have one friend left there, who understands everything and who hasn’t lost his mind. The others are over because under the influence of propaganda, they have become zombies “. He wants to start a new life here in France, and now hopes to find a job in construction. In the meantime, he does volunteer work for humanitarian associations.

Refugee status difficult to obtain

Alexander and Vlad obtained asylum, notably thanks to a relaxation of the conditions for obtaining refugee status. The National Court of Asylum (CNDA) has, in fact, adapted to current events, since in July 2023, in view of the war crimes committed by the Russian army in Ukraine, it decides that soldiers recently mobilized can obtain protection. France has also granted asylum to 19 deserters from the Russian army in 2024.

However, they must provide evidence, which is not always easy, according to lawyer Sylvain Saligari, who has advised several Russian applicants in recent months. “If you do not have a military summons, a military booklet, or a document to prove that you were really called into the Russian army, you may have great difficulty convincing the judges, he explains. And when you flee your country, you don’t have any documents in your suitcase.”

Sylvain Saligari believes that the situation is difficult, because the demand for proof is too high on the part of the CNDA and on the part of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons. For its part, the CNDA responds to franceinfo that it is obliged to be demanding since the mobilization in Russia is partial and does not concern all citizens. Deserters must therefore provide proof and she specifies that a little less than half of the applicants end up obtaining refugee status.

*The first name has been changed