A Farewell to Arms

France is the first EU country that allows Russian deserters to arrive without a passport, and Deutsche Welle spoke with one of the first Russians who got asylum that way because they didn't want to go to war.

"Deserters are not traitors, and desertion is not a crime because in such a situation there is no other way out," Aleksandar said in an interview with DW.

He also said that the decision "of an educated person not to participate in a war of aggression is reasonable."

He, along with several other Russians, fled the country to Kazakhstan in 2022 and 2023, and then to France.

The maintenance of ProAsylum states that only a small number of arrivals of Russian conscripts in Schengen countries are known, which is related to the lack of escape routes and the very restrictive issuing of visas for EU countries.

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However, France has become the first EU country to allow Russian soldiers, who oppose the war in Ukraine, to enter the country without passports.

For security reasons, these men are pre-screened in Kazakhstan. Alexei Alshansky, from the Russian analytical group Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), which had to leave Russia, fled his country himself, and he is now helping other deserters.

"We contacted human rights activists in the EU, and then there was an institutional pointing out of the problem, which lasted for a year. The deserters were in Kazakhstan all the time," he told DW.

Alexander's story

Alexander was, as he says, directly involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the winter of 2022, he was on the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia.

At the beginning, he says, everything looked like it was a military exercise, but on February 24, 2022, the line-up took place and all the soldiers started in a column.

"There were no orders to attack Ukraine, there were no instructions, we simply crossed the Ukrainian border and only then did we realize what was happening. I was shocked and did not know why we came to Ukraine," recalls Alexander.

He points out that he did not want to participate in the action, but it was also clear to him that he could not just get out of that situation.

"Either my people would kill me, or I would be arrested at the border. I needed a legal possibility to travel back to Russia," he says.

When he finally got his leave, he immediately applied for discharge from the army upon his arrival in Russia. But in September 2022, mobilization was ordered.

"It was clear to me then that I would either go to prison or return to the front. Or I would escape from Russia," Alexander said.

Since Kazakhstan is one of the few countries where Russians are allowed to enter without a passport, this is precisely why many men from Russia sought refuge there. After arriving there, Alexander contacted human rights activists through an acquaintance and requested asylum.

"I knew it would be difficult to get protection in Kazakhstan, because Kazakhstan is still somewhat dependent on Russia. I didn't get refugee status, but at least my legal stay was extended," he continued.

He also states that he asked for help from Western embassies, aware of the fact that he cannot apply for asylum there, and only after two years did he finally manage to go to France.

"We got permission to enter because we were actively engaged against the war, not because we are deserters," emphasizes the former Russian soldier. Of course, it was proven that his participation in the invasion was "simply fate", that is, he was not there of his own free will, nor did he commit any crime.

Alexander is aware that his escape is met with misunderstanding, even among the Ukrainians.

For people there, "it may be difficult to look at the situation from the other side and understand that not all Russian soldiers want to fight in Ukraine," he says. During the invasion, many soldiers tried only to survive.

More and more deserters

According to CIT data, the number of Russian deserters has been increasing since the beginning of the war. It is a good part of the population that does not receive any support from society, although desertion, as Alshansky says, "is a really brave step".

"If someone with a poster that says 'No war!' goes to an anti-war demonstration and spends a few days behind bars because of that, he is considered a hero. Such people can get a foreign visa, there are international programs for them," he explains.

"A Farewell to Arms"

Such men can usually get help only from foreign human rights organizations.

"Russian civil society is not inclined to help deserters. It is as if paralyzed when it learns that a person has escaped from the ranks of the Russian army. Such an attitude is, to put it mildly, unfair," Alshansky believes.

Six Russians are now active in France and support Russian deserters from there. They have organized themselves in a society with the symbolic name "Farewell to Arms" and thus protest against the war in Ukraine in their own way.