In October 2022, Georgy, a 44-year-old daddy of 3 from the Moscow suburb of Lyubertsy, was set in motion and sent to fight in Ukraine despite extreme health concerns and his strong opposition to war and violence.After 2 failed escape efforts and suffering 2 heart attacks, he finally handled to desert in May 2024.
Now in Europe with his family, Georgy is looking for political asylum.One chapter of his ordeal stands out as especially painful: his time in secret detention centers where defectors were held in harsh conditions.President Vladimir Putin has actually denied the presence of special detention camps for military deserters.
Almost 16,000 soldiers have actually been charged with criminal rejection to serve since the major intrusion of Ukraine, according to independent media.Georgys story was validated by the Farewell to Arms group and the InTransit crisis group.
His last name has been withheld for safety reasons.You came here to dieGeorgy, a civil engineer by training, never imagined he would be drafted.
Identified years previously with high blood pressure and a heart disease, he had actually been considered just partially suitable for military service.
Ever since, his nearsightedness had aggravated and he had broken among his feet.When he was summoned to the military workplace in September 2022 to clarify his records, he believed it was just a regular update.I left early that morning thinking Id show my passport and military ID, validate some information and head to work, he remembered.
When I got here, I saw 2 lines: one for individuals like me and another for volunteers.
Strangely enough, most of the volunteers were turned away, while individuals like me they needed us.Within minutes, Georgy was handed a mobilization order.
No medical exam was conducted.
When he objected, officials informed him the health screening would happen later at his assigned system.
It never did.Even his company a major building professional for the Moscow city government was not able to help.
Regardless of initial pledges to protect him a non-combat function, he was categorized as a rifleman and sent to a training camp.The training was a joke, Georgy stated.
We fired a couple of shots from rusted rifles, then invested the remainder of the time roaming around.
Nobody taught us anything.A mobilized Russian resident is seen on a bus.Yegor Aleyev/ TASSIn November 2022, he was assigned to the 1855th Battalion and sent out to Ukraine.
Officers assured the troops that they belonged to an elite Moscow unit and would not be sent out into direct combat.They told us, Moscow will protect you.
It was all lies, Georgy said.His impressions of Ukraine were grim.It was complete chaos like wed been tossed back in time to the German army progressing Moscow in 1941, just with different uniforms.
Late fall, rain, mud instead of roadways, destroyed villages a land damaged by war, he recalled.He is still haunted by a speech provided to his system by the routine leader, Alexander Zavadsky.You came here to die, Georgy priced quote Zavadsky as saying.
Wish to go home? Leave in a body bag.Not long after, Zavadsky was granted the Hero of Russia medal by Putin.After weeks of sleeping in the forest without shelter or products, Georgy knew he had to leave.
Taking advantage of the chaos at the front, he rode on a military truck to the town of Troitske.When they asked me for a password at checkpoints, Id just shrug and theyd wave me through.
The majority of the guards were recently activated too.
They didnt know what they were doing, he said.We have our own Gestapo hereWhen he attempted to cross back into Russia, Georgy and a group of fellow deserters were ambushed.
A patrol helicopter opened fire, killing 2 of the males.
The survivors were captured and handed over to the military cops, who alerted them to forget what they d witnessed.I thought they were taking me to Zaitsevo, which had become infamous for holding defectors.
However instead, we ended up in a basement in Rozsypne, Georgy recalled.Rozsypne a repurposed Ukrainian border post was an unofficial jail used to detain Russian soldiers attempting to flee.It was stunning, he said.
The floor was sandy, the walls were bloodstained and we slept on wooden cots.
There were two areas: one for re-education thats where I was and another for the undesirables.
We had to clean up the blood because section.
It was everywhere, even on the ceiling.Mobilized reservists of the Russian Army go through battle training.Donat Sorokin/ TASSPrisoners were fed twice a day hardly enough to make it through and taken to the toilet just two times daily.
Those who declined to return to the front were beaten and tortured.They utilized electric shocks, punched us in the gut simply enough to hurt but leave no swellings.
The undesirables were killed outright.
We could hear their screams through the walls, Georgy said.The stress and abuse took a toll.
Georgy suffered a cardiovascular disease but endured thanks to a considerate regional medical professional, himself an ex-defector, who prescribed bed rest and medication.Again, it was like a time machine.
People were abused, beaten, tortured there.
It was shocking to see this kind of thing in the 21st century, he said.
I am from an older generation.
We were raised on the concept that during World War II, we were withstanding evil fascists.
It turns out we have this evil, too, and its in the system.
The people who tortured us were provided an order and taught to perform it.
While propaganda claims that there are fascists in Ukraine, we have our own variation of the German Gestapo here.Eventually, after he agreed to his superiors needs to repent for deserting, he was sent to combat near the Russian-occupied city of Svatove as part of the notorious Storm Z squad.A neighboring explosion hurt him once again breaking his leg, giving him a concussion and activating another heart attack.Russian military on the frontline in Ukraine.Stanislav Krasilnikov/ TASSHe was briefly sent out home to recover.
But knowing that going to a military healthcare facility would indicate being returned to the front, Georgy vanished, hiding for almost a year in a near-abandoned village in the Tula region.But in December 2024, when he made an unusual trip to visit his household in Moscow, he was ambushed by three plainclothes officers.
Within hours, he was on a military transportation to Russias Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad.Inside Kaliningrads secret prisonIn Kaliningrad, he was kept in a military detention facility that was stated to have been a German SS barracks throughout World War II.This facility was more organized than the makeshift detention centers Georgy had formerly experienced.
Prisoners were restricted to barracks under stringent security and escorted to meals.The just difference was we were on the second floor and got 3 meals a day rather of 2, he said.
And now the abuse was mental, not physical.Prisoners were given a grim option: prison or go back to war.
A lot of those who picked prison, believing it would ensure their safety, wound up redeployed anyway.
When Georgy was told that he was set to be flown back to the front line, he was saved by a bureaucratic accident a district attorney stopped working to finish his paperwork on time.His long-requested medical evaluation was finally approved, but only after he accepted elect Putin in the March 2024 presidential election and send an image of his ballot.But the district attorneys assistant asked physicians to state Georgy suitable for service anyhow.
The only one who refused was a cardiologist, who sent him to a hospital.
However even that did not help.In the health center, they magically updated me from partially fit to fit with small limitations.
Obviously, the German walls have healing powers, Georgy joked.Despite the prison-like conditions, inmates could still get their hands on alcohol and drugs by paying allurements.
Because Georgy did not take part, he was labeled well-behaved and rewarded with fresh air: being bought to assist construct a villa for the regimental leader without pay.There was no guard escort, just a major viewing us.
Some ex-convicts among the prisoners taught me escape techniques and provided me civilian clothing.
After a week, I climbed the fence, called a taxi to the airport and flew to St.
Petersburg.At the consultation of Idite Lesom (Get Lost), a group assisting Russian military deserters, Georgy flew to Uzbekistan via Belarus.
After a not successful attempt to request asylum in Spain, he made his method to Georgia.When the authorities recognized he had actually fled, they turned their attention to his spouse, Oksana, who remained in Lyubertsy with their children.The investigators started calling at the end of June, Oksana stated.
They told me his health didnt matter, that he was done, and the only escape was to give up.
I stated, Your message is noted.Law enforcement called their oldest daughter, who had simply turned 18, and threatened to visit their more youthful childrens school.
In September, they robbed their home with a search warrant.They took all our devices, Oksana stated.
When they robbed my senior parents home too, I broke down.
When they came with a warrant once again on Orthodox Christmas Eve, we decided to leave.Oksana left Russia in January and reunited with her husband in Europe, where he pursued Georgias controversial November 2024 election raised worries of persecution.
They are now awaiting a choice on their asylum application.For the very first time in over 2 years, Georgy said his household lastly feels safe in spite of the uncertainty that lies ahead.The administration is tough, but the people here are calm, inviting and understanding.
Leaving was hard, and now our focus is on raising our kids to be Europeans, he said.