“Deserters are not traitors and desertion is not a crime, because there is no other way out of this situation,” Alexander tells DW. The young Russian believes that it is “a reasonable decision for a well-educated person not to take part in a war of aggression.”

Alexandre is one of six Russian deserters who have arrived in Paris in recent months. They first fled to Kazakhstan, then to France in 2022 and 2023. They now hope to obtain political asylum.

Pro Asyl, a German human rights and refugee protection association, estimates that at least 250,000 military conscripts sought protection in other countries between February 2022, when Russia launched its war against Ukraine, and until September 2023.

Most sought refuge in Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Serbia and Israel. There are reports, however, that defectors have been deported to Russia from Kazakhstan and Armenia.

Pro Asyl reports that only a few Russian soldiers have fled to one of the Schengen states, because reaching these countries is difficult and because EU countries have very restrictive visa regulations.

France sets a precedent

France has now become the first EU country to allow former military personnel opposed to Russia’s war against Ukraine to enter the country without passports. However, the men were previously examined in Kazakhstan to rule out any problems.

“I understand the concerns of Western countries and why they do not distribute travel documents to many defectors, because they could include Russian secret service agents or war criminals,” Alexander said. This is why the men’s journey from Russia and their subsequent journey were monitored.

“We checked the background of the six deserters,” Alexei Alshansky of the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), an independent investigative organization from Russia, told DW. CIT itself was forced to leave Russia in 2022.

Alshansky is a former Russian soldier who helped deserters come to France. “At one point we contacted human rights activists in the EU, then the outreach work began and lasted for a year,” Alshansky told DW. “The deserters were in Kazakhstan all this time.”

Escape from the Russian army

Of the six men now hoping to gain asylum in France, only Alexander was directly involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where he served as an officer. In the winter of 2022, he was stationed in Crimea, annexed by Russia.

At first it seemed like Russia was conducting a military exercise, he told DW. But on February 24, 2022, all the soldiers left in convoy.

“There was no order to attack Ukraine, there was no instruction, we just crossed the Ukrainian border and only then did we realize what was happening,” remembers Alexandre. “I was shocked and didn’t know why we were in Ukraine.”

He said he did not want to participate in the military operation. But he was also aware that he couldn’t turn back.

“Either my own men would have shot me or I would have been arrested at the border. I needed a legal way to get back to Russia,” Alexander says.

When he finally got furlough and returned home to Russia, he immediately asked to be discharged from the army. But in September 2022, Russia announced partial mobilization.

“It was clear to me that I would either be imprisoned or sent back to the front line unless I fled Russia,” Alexander says.

Stopover in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is one of the few countries that Russians can enter without a passport. This is why many Russian men found refuge there, including Alexander. After arriving in the country, he contacted human rights activists through acquaintances and requested asylum.

“I knew it would be difficult to get protection in Kazakhstan, because Kazakhstan is still to some extent dependent on Russia,” says Alexander. “I didn’t get refugee status, but at least my legal stay was extended.”

Alexander also visited Western embassies to ask for help. “I knew that I could not ask for asylum there, and that I could only do so within the territory of the country,” he says.

After two years in Kazakhstan, he can finally leave for France. “We were allowed to enter France because we actively opposed the war, not because we were deserters,” Alexander explains.

No evidence of war crimes

“His involvement in the (Russian) invasion (of Ukraine) was not up to him,” says CIT’s Alshansky, while admitting that one cannot be absolutely sure that the defectors’ stories are true.

That said, there is no evidence that Alexander committed war crimes in Ukraine. “So he should benefit from humanitarian protection, and it is very fortunate that he received it.”

Alshansky is also aware that Ukrainians do not understand why former Russian soldiers receive such protection. For Ukrainians, “it can be difficult to see the situation from the other side (of the conflict) and understand that not all Russian soldiers want to fight in Ukraine,” Alshansky says. There were a lot of Russian soldiers who just wanted to survive and didn’t necessarily want to fight.

Alshansky points out that international law states that a person is not automatically classified as a war criminal simply because they participate in a war. “In the context of armed conflict, humanitarian law guarantees the protection of all persons who are not involved in the commission of war crimes.”

Russian defectors receive no support at home

The number of Russian deserters has increased since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to the CIT. This large part of the Russian population does not benefit from any support from Russian society, although deserting is “a really courageous step”, according to Alshansky.

“When someone attends an anti-war demonstration holding a ‘no war’ sign and then spends several days behind bars, he is considered a hero,” Alshansky says. “These people can get a visa to another country, there are international programs for them. But if someone flees Russia after spending weeks in a pit, starved and beaten because they refused to take part in Putin’s war, he gets no help.” he said.

Russian defectors usually only receive support from foreign human rights organizations. “Russian civil society is not inclined to help deserters,” says Alshansky. “He is basically paralyzed when he learns that someone has fled the Russian army. This attitude is unfair to say the least.”

The six Russian deserters welcomed by France are now making their contribution to help other Russian men fleeing the army. They even created an association called “Farewell to Arms!”

This article was originally published in Russian.