A Russian mother and son who fled to Finland after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine have been denied asylum and now face deportation, the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona and the project Rulehti report. They are Olga and Nikita Belov.
The Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat had already covered the case, Svetlana Utkina, a former municipal deputy from St. Petersburg now living in Finland, told Mediazona. The April 13 article, available only to subscribers, describes how the Belovs helped Ukrainian refugees and worked with the FinEst volunteer humanitarian center in the Finnish city of Uusikaupunki. The center opened in March, though the Belovs had been actively helping Ukrainians before that.
Ukrainian acquaintances say the mother and son collected sleeping bags, binoculars, medical supplies, blankets, and wax for trench candles, and helped provide warm clothing and first-aid kits for soldiers.
In early April 2026, the Belovs received negative decisions on their asylum applications, Rulehti reports. Their court appeals failed. On April 24, Olga and Nikita Belov were summoned to a police station, where Belov recorded the conversation with the officers’ knowledge; Utkina passed the recording to Mediazona. In it, a police officer says deportation proceedings have been initiated and that the Belovs will be taken into custody.
The two have since been detained as part of the deportation process, Rulehti reports. A hearing on the detention measure is scheduled for April 26.
Olga Belova fainted at the police station after the deportation announcement and an ambulance was called, Mediazona reports.
Nikita Belov fears that if returned to Russia, his active assistance to Ukrainians while in Finland could expose him to treason charges.
The Turun Sanomat article identifies Olga Belova, 56, as an anesthesiologist. Nikita Belov, it says, had been working on a classified project that his superiors told him had no connection to the war — though it later turned out that it did. Once he realized this, he said, he refused to continue the work, after which he and his mother began facing threats and pressure. The Belovs were not activists before leaving Russia, Utkina told Mediazona.
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].
To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.
