Fleeing Ukraine war, Russian deserters find refuge in France

"Deserters are not traitors, and desertion is not a crime, because there is no other way out of this situation," said Alexander. The young Russian man said it is "a reasonable decision for a well-educated person not to take part in a war of aggression."

Alexander is one of six Russian deserters who have arrived in Paris in recent months. He didn't want to give his family name, to protect his identity. They first fled to Kazakhstan, and then on to France during 2022 and 2023. They are now hoping to be granted political asylum. 

Pro Asyl, a German human rights and refugee protection association, estimates that at least 250,000 military conscripts have sought protection in other countries from February 2022, when Russia launched its war against Ukraine, through September 2023.

Most have sought safety in Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Serbia and Israel. There are reports, however, that deserters have been deported back to Russia from Kazakhstan and Armenia.

Pro Asyl said only a few Russian soldiers fled to any of the Schengen states. Reaching these countries is challenging, and EU countries have very restrictive visa regulations.

France sets precedent

France has now become the first EU country to allow former military personnel who oppose Russia's war on Ukraine to enter the country without a passport. However, the men were previously vetted in Kazakhstan to rule out any issues.

"I understand the concerns of Western countries and why they do not hand out travel documents to many deserters, as they could include Russian secret service agents or war criminals," said Alexander. This is why the men's journey from Russia and onward travel was monitored.

"We checked the background of all six deserters," Alexei Alshansky of the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), an independent investigative organization originally from Russia, told DW. CIT itself was forced to leave Russia in 2022.

Alshansky is a former member of the Russian military who has helped deserters come to France. "At some point, we contacted human rights activists in the EU and then the advocacy work began, lasting a year," said Alshansky. "The deserters were in Kazakhstan that whole time."

'I didn't know why we were in Ukraine'

Of the six men now hoping to be granted asylum in France, only Alexander was directly involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where he served as an officer. In the winter of 2022, he was stationed in Crimea, which had been annexed by Russia.

At first, everything looked as if Russia was running a military exercise, he told DW. But on February 24, 2022, all soldiers were sent off in a convoy.

"There was no order to attack Ukraine, there were no instructions, we simply crossed the Ukrainian border and only then did we realize what was going on," Alexander recalled. "I was shocked and didn't know why we were in Ukraine."

He said he did not want to take part in the military operation, but he was also aware that he could not simply turn back.

"Either my own people would have shot me, or I would have been arrested at the border. I needed a legal way to get back to Russia," he said.

When he was finally granted leave and returned home to Russia, he immediately applied for his discharge from the army. But in September 2022, Russia announced a partial mobilization.

"It was clear to me I would either be jailed or sent back to the front line, unless I fled Russia," he said.

Stopover in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is one of the few countries Russians can enter without a passport. Many Russian men have sought refuge there, including Alexander. After arriving in the country, he contacted human rights activists through acquaintances and applied for asylum.

"I knew it would be difficult to get protection in Kazakhstan, as Kazakhstan is still dependent on Russia to a certain extent," he said. "I wasn't granted refugee status, but at least my legal stay was extended."

Alexander also visited Western embassies seeking help. "I knew that I couldn't apply for asylum there, and that I could only do so on the territory of the country," he said.

After two years in Kazakhstan, he was finally able to leave for France. "We were given permission to enter France because we actively oppose the war, not because we were deserters," he said.

No evidence of war crimes

"His involvement in the [Russian] invasion [of Ukraine] was not up to him," said CIT's Alshansky, even as he admitted that one cannot be absolutely sure that the deserters' stories are true.

That said, there is no evidence Alexander committed war crimes in Ukraine. "He should therefore be granted humanitarian protection, and it is a great fortune he has received it," said Alshansky.

Alshansky is also aware that Ukrainians cannot understand why former Russian soldiers are granted such protection. For Ukrainians, "it may be difficult to see the situation from the other side [of the conflict] and realize that not all Russian soldiers want to fight in Ukraine," he said. There were a lot of Russian soldiers who only wanted to survive and may not necessarily have wanted to fight. 

Alshansky pointed out that international law says a person is not automatically classified as a war criminal just because they participate in a war. "In the context of armed conflict, humanitarian law guarantees protection to all persons who are not involved in committing war crimes," he said.

Russian deserters get no support at home

The number of Russian deserters has been growing since the beginning of the Ukraine war, according to CIT. This large section of the Russian population does not get any support from Russian society, even though deserting is "a really courageous step," according to Alshansky.

"When someone attends an anti-war demonstration holding a 'no to war' placard and then spends several days behind bars as a result, they are considered a hero," he said. "Such people can get a visa for another country, there are international programs for them. But if someone flees Russia after spending weeks in a pit, starving and being beaten because they refused to take part in Putin's war, they get no support."

Russian deserters usually only receive support from foreign human rights organizations. "Russian civil society is not inclined to help deserters," said Alshansky. "It is basically paralyzed when it learns that a person has fled the Russian army. This attitude is unfair, to say the least."

The six Russian deserters taken in by France are now doing their bit to help other Russian men fleeing the army. They have even established an association called "Adieu, weapons!"

This article was originally written in Russian.