A former Russian presidential guard who fled President Vladimir Putins mobilization now faces extradition from neighboring Kazakhstan on charges of desertion and illegal border-crossing, Kazakh media hasreported.If approved, Mikhal Zhilins extradition would mark the first publicly known time an allied country has returned a draft dodger to Russia, where his family says he faces torture and abuse.Police in the Kazakh capital of Astana arrested Zhilin at the airport on Dec.
6 as he attempted to board a flight to Armenia, according to Radio Azattyq, the Kazakh affiliate of the United States news organization RFE/RL.Russia reportedly placed him on an international wanted list for desertion and illegal border crossing.Zhilin, 36, faces up to 15 years in Russian prison if he is extradited and convicted.Zhilin is a former shift supervisor of the Federal Guard Services (FSO) special communications and information department in Siberia which oversees Putins contacts with Russias regions.Federal employees like Zhilin are not permitted to leave Russia because they have access to state secrets.Five days after Putin declared a partial mobilization of reserves on Sept.
21, Zhilin crossed into Kazakhstan without going through a border checkpoint and requested political asylum after being detained.Zhilins wife Yekaterina, who entered Kazakhstan with their children through a border post,told Russian media that Russian authorities opened the criminal case against him on Sept.
27, one day after his detention.A court in northeastern Kazakhstan found Zhilin guilty of illegally crossing the border on Dec.
2 and handed him a six-month suspended sentence.On Monday, another court in Astana ordered Zhilin to 40 days of pre-trial detention, according to Azattyq.Yekaterina said her husbands lawyers and relatives are appealing the Kazakh authorities refusal to grant him asylum in late November.Russia is highly interested in men who know how to hold a gun, Azattyq quoted her as saying.
Theyll try to force him to go to war, so were afraid hell be tortured.Russian authorities rejected Zhilins resignation request from the FSO which he submitted after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.Kazakhstan haspledged not to extradite Russians who fled their countrys mobilization unless they are under criminal investigation.