Lithuanian authorities deported a Russian military deserter to Kaliningrad on June 15 after he fled the front lines in Ukraine, the Slovo Zashchite project reported. Russian authorities arrested him after he crossed the border into Russia, and his fate remains unknown.
The project did not name the Russian national, describing him only as a young man who “fled directly from the war in Ukraine.” He had arrived at the Lithuania-Russia border without a passport and requested asylum.
Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service said that the man had withdrawn his asylum application of his own accord and agreed to return to Russia.
According to the agency, border guards detained the man on December 29 after he crossed from Russia. He was imprisoned on a charge of illegal border crossing, and filed his asylum application while in custody.
He was released on May 19 and placed in a foreigner registration center, only to be arrested again shortly afterward on a court order. The agency disclosed no charge. In early June, he decided to return to Russia, the agency said.
Lithuanian authorities said they could neither confirm nor deny that the deported man was a Russian military deserter. Lithuanian authorities handled his case exclusively as a matter of illegal border crossing.
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