The Global Story: They fled Russia. The US sent them back

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1:04Visit FlySJC.com. Hi there, it's Asma Khalid from the Global Story podcast here at the BBC. As some of you all may know, we are a show that dives deep every weekday on one big story that looks at where the world and America meet. This week, we took a closer look at the issue of Russian deportees, dissidents and refugees who fled Russia after the start of the war in Ukraine, came to the United States and other countries in the West, and they are now being sent back to Russia. Why have governments changed their stances? And what happens to these dissidents when they return to Russia? That is what my co-host Tristan Redman dives into in this episode. Take a listen. We hope you all enjoy it. And a reminder that if you want to hear

1:50more from us, you can subscribe to The Global Story as a podcast. All right, now on to today's show. It starts with a journey. The plane that landed in Moscow's Dnepropetrovsk airport in December last year looked like any other really, but it was in fact a special flight organised by the US government. One of the people on board was a woman we're calling Katya. It was unbelievably frightening. My knees were shaking with fear. Katya's not her real name. We're protecting her identity and we've changed her voice. Katya thought that she would, after being interrogated, that they would arrest her formally and open a criminal case against her and simply lock her up. I was very afraid they would simply bundle me off somewhere.

2:40You start to think, that's it, this is the end. Katya had been an opposition activist in Russia. She'd left the country at the outbreak of the war with Ukraine in the hope of claiming asylum in the United States. And here she was a few years later on a plane back to Russia. When she got off the plane and entered the terminal building, she was greeted by a long line of FSB Russian security services officers. Katya isn't the only person who found themselves being deported back to Russia after requesting asylum in the West. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, thousands of Russians have fled the country. Many hoped the West would offer them protection. But now some are finding themselves sent back, potentially into the hands of the very

3:32authorities they were trying to escape. From the BBC, I'm Tristan Redmond in London. And today on The Global Story, why are Russian asylum seekers being deported from the United States? And what does it tell us about the West's willingness to protect those who oppose Vladimir Putin? My name's Will Vernon. I'm a senior journalist and I was previously based in Russia, Ukraine, Poland and the US. Well, Will, you've been looking into the story of Katya and other people like her who've been deported back to Russia from the United States and other countries. How did you first hear about this story? Well, I was based in Russia for the BBC. I left in 2023, so about a year and a half after the full scale invasion. And over the years with my

4:25colleagues, I've worked on countless stories about the opposition movement and protests and Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader who died in a jail two years ago. And I still talk to a lot of my contacts. And a few months ago, one political activist got in contact with me and told me about the case of a man, a Russian man, who was involved in opposition politics in Russia. He received summonses, so call-up papers, requiring him to be mobilised, go to the military enlistment office, and then be sent to the war in Ukraine. Now, this man fled Russia and sought asylum in a European country, and his asylum claim was rejected. And in the official rejection letter, which I saw, this official had written that they were rejecting this man's claim because prison conditions in

5:20Russia had improved. Now, prison conditions in Russia have not improved. They have got progressively worse over the last few years. So I started looking into how many Russians were having their asylum claims rejected, how many were being deported back to Russia straight into the hands of Russian security services. And I saw this really worrying trend. I thought, I've got to look into this further. Okay, so you decide you have to look into this. Where does the story then start for you, Will? When the full scale invasion of Ukraine happened in February 2022, that was really the first stage of emigration from Russia. People leaving. People leaving, yeah. So there were a number of reasons why people were leaving. The main one was because of the political crackdown. But a lot of people,

6:09I think, saw that sooner or later, there will be some sort of mobilization, call up, some sort of enhanced conscription for ordinary Russians. I spoke to a number of my friends and colleagues at that time who said, you know, sooner or later, we're all going to be drafted. But just in terms of the political repression, I mean, many activists, journalists and just ordinary Russians who are against the war fled and many Western countries welcomed them. multiple public statements by leading Western officials and politicians at that time. If you don't want to fight in this war, come here, you're welcome, we'll protect you. And the thinking was that one less soldier for Russia's army is one less person to pull the trigger, right?

6:58I spoke to one guy, a deserter from the Russian army called Artyom Vovchenko. He is from a small town in southern Russia, from a pretty ordinary family with quite humble beginnings. In 2019, he was conscripted into the Russian army. So this is pretty full-scale invasion. I didn't even know there was conscription at that point. So there's always been conscription in Russia. Now, conscripts are largely not sent to the front line in Ukraine, but all young people in Russia must go through some sort of military training. So Artyom, like many, many others, was drafted into the army in 2019. Now, he says that in 2021, so again, this is before the full-scale invasion, he was tricked into signing a contract to become a proper professional

7:54soldier in the army. Then, in 2022, when the full-scale invasion happened, he was opposed to that war and made it clear that he was opposed and came under a lot of pressure from his senior officers. And they planned to deploy him to Ukraine to fight in the war. And for Artyom, this was something completely beyond the pale, unacceptable, that he absolutely would not do. So he made the incredible difficult decision to leave Russia. How do you go about doing that? Well, just before his deployment to Ukraine, he was allowed a brief period of leave to go home and see his family. And during that leave, he took transport out of Russia via another country that it was easy to cross into from Russia and made his way to Mexico and crossed the US southern border into the US. fleeing military service, almost as a conscientious objector, the way you describe him.

9:06But what about the people who are leaving the country for political reasons, people who feel that they are being targeted by a political crackdown after the start of the war? Yeah, and there were many, many of those people. Hundreds of thousands of Russians left the country in 2022. Now, many of them fleeing persecution. There was a huge rise in internal repression inside Russia. And for many people, it just became unbearable to stay in a country where any expression of opposition to the authorities, criticism of the war could result in a long prison sentence. How much can you tell us about Katya, who we heard about at the beginning? So Katya was involved in opposition politics in a now banned opposition

9:53movement inside Russia. And she made the decision to leave and travel to the US because she felt that remaining in Russia as someone who was against the war and against the Kremlin and had been involved in an opposition movement which was now banned as extremist it was now illegal to show any support for that opposition movement or if you ever had showed any support for that opposition movement in the past even if it wasn't banned at the time, then that became, you know, illegal, punishable by long spells in prison. So she just felt that it was, she couldn't stay in Russia any longer. Okay, well, what did Artyom and Katya tell the US authorities when they were detained and had to present their case for staying in the country? Like, what was their case for

10:42not going back to Russia? So in the case of Artyom Vovchenko, he provided evidence, which I've seen, to the US authorities that he had been a Russian soldier. They tried to deploy him to the war in Ukraine that he had refused. And he also provided evidence that a criminal investigation had been opened against him for desertion. Because desertion is a criminal offense in Russia, like it is in many other countries. He provided evidence that this investigation was open against him and that he was a wanted man. Despite that, US authorities still rejected his request. What about Katya? Katya also provided me with copies of the evidence that she'd submitted to the US government. She showed them photographs, documents that confirmed that she was involved in opposition politics in her hometown in Russia,

11:46that she'd been present at protests, that she'd been arrested by Russian police at some of those political protests. And, you know, just that is enough to give you a very long prison sentence in Russia. What happens next? Like, is the Biden administration at the time, as it was, happy to greet them into the country? Yes. And this is the real key moment in the story when everything changed for those Russians seeking protection, fleeing war and persecution. Because under President Joe Biden, there was a relatively liberal immigration policy in the US. So when Donald Trump returned to the White House, he launched this wide-ranging crackdown, didn't he, on immigration. That meant that suddenly thousands of Russians were at risk of deportation,

12:40Russians who had crossed the border and claimed asylum. And many have been deported. And just looking at the data, we can see the removals of Russians from the U.S. rose from 222 in 2023 to more than 1,200 in 2025. Now, we asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about Artyom and about Katya and about other deportees that we spoke to. And they said this, all illegal aliens receive due process. If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, they said, we're going to remove them. Has the US government said why they're doing that? Is it part of a kind of the overarching desire to appear harsh on immigration issues? Or is there something Russia specific that's going on?

13:37There's no evidence to suggest that there's some sort of deal between Moscow and Washington to return these people back to Russia. Now, there are theories, right, that the reason that the US government ensures that these people are sent all the way back to Russia is to create a deterrent, right? That if people understand that they will be deported back to the FSB, back into really serious peril, then they perhaps might not attempt to come to the US and claim asylum. But as I say, that's a theory, speculation, we don't know. What we do know is that there doesn't seem to be any sort of official kind of agreement between Moscow and Washington that, oh, you send these guys back to me and I'll do

14:25this for you. There's no evidence of that. Well, which brings us back to Katya, who we left being interrogated by the FSB in Moscow airport. What happened to her next? Well, she and many of the other deportees on board were taken into a special part of the airport terminal building that was closed off to other passengers. And there, one by one, they were interrogated by the security service officers for many hours in some cases. They questioned me for a very long time, about two hours. They mocked me, made fun of me. They asked her all kinds of personal questions about her life, about why she left Russia, about why she went to the US and claimed asylum there, and about her political activity in Russia. At one point, they found

15:19incriminating information on my phone. Their faces changed in a second, but they released us. But she said the police continue to harass her. After I returned home, the police came and questioned me again. Because of the nervous stress, my hair had started falling out. Whenever I see a police car, I feel terrified and start thinking, what if they're coming for me? She's certain that her mobile phone is being monitored. She says it keeps on doing very strange things. I feel as if I'm in a cage, like in a zoo. She lives in fear in her hometown. But she's still in Russia, and that's why we have to protect our identity. How typical is Katya's experience, being left in this kind of limbo? It's almost like a limbo under surveillance, it sounds like.

16:12But how typical is that? Well, there's no typical scenario. It really depends on people's circumstances. So some of those who are deported are wanted, wanted in inverted commas, criminals. So they're arrested and they're put on trial. Others are just interrogated or there might be subsequently a criminal investigation opened against them. Some have been sent to the front line in Ukraine to fight. Katya said that every single male deportee on her flight was given summonses, right, military papers. But there have been some really shocking stories of people who have been deported and returned. One activist, a guy called Leonid Milirkin, he was an anti-war activist. He was deported from the US back to Russia last year. He had posted photographs of Vladimir Putin on social media with the message, Putin, murderer, fascist, usurper.

17:13Now, after he was deported, he was arrested in the airport and charged with justifying terrorism, which is an incredibly serious charge in Russia. And just a couple of weeks ago, he was sentenced to six years in prison in a penal colony. And what's happened to Artyom after he arrived back in Russia? So Artyom, when he arrived in Moscow, he was taken into interrogation like everyone else. And as soon as the FSB realized that he was wanted and he had a criminal investigation open against him, he was detained and handed over to the military police. He was then taken to a military police detention facility near Moscow. And he said that as well as him, there were many people there, many soldiers or

18:07former soldiers who'd been accused of crimes like desertion or other crimes. And he told me that faced with the prospect of being handed back over to the Russian security services, he was prepared to die. He said, my only thought was thinking about how I can die without any pain. What if you could get more from what you already do? As a Shell Fuel Rewards member, that's just a regular Sunday. You get more rewards, more savings, and more special offers. Earn rewards when shopping, dining out, and fueling up. And all of that becomes fuel savings when you're at the pump. See, there are no extra steps and no changes to your routine, just more value built into it. It fits naturally into what you already do throughout your day. And all of your savings

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20:16As a One World Alliance member and American Airlines Advantage program partner, your miles go further across the South Pacific. Visit FijiAirways.com today. Conditions apply. Heroes don't always wear capes. Sometimes they carry a backpack. Work a shift. Help their family. Mom, I'm home. And still show up for class. At Cal State East Bay, change your future and what's possible for everyone who comes after you. Cal State East Bay. Becoming a pioneer starts here. Apply or learn more at csueastbay.edu slash start. Will, is the United States the only country that is deporting people back to Russia like this? Well, we're also seeing this in several EU countries, countries that are top destinations

21:14for fleeing Russians, like Germany and Finland. They've also, we looked at the official data from those countries too, and there's also been a really significant rise in the number of Russians that they are deporting. What's driving that? The reason for that, it's similar to the US. So in Europe in recent years, there's been this huge surge in support for right wing populist parties. And a lot of that support is related to immigration. So as a result, you've seen countries like Germany also taking a much tougher line against migrants. And that means that, again, Russian asylum seekers are just being swept up in that crackdown. is not currently governed by a populist party. It's governed by a centrist party.

22:05Are you saying the centrist party in Germany is preemptively cracking down on immigration? That's exactly what they're doing. So Chancellor Merz has said he understands the concerns of ordinary Germans in terms of the high numbers of migrants that have been allowed into the country, and he's going to take a tougher line, right? But I was talking to one campaigner, Andrei Pivovarov. Our decision is to go to countries not in the European Union. Now, he's part of the Exiled Anti-War Committee. It's a kind of collection of Russian politicians in exile who opposed the war in Ukraine. And he told me that they've actually changed their advice to dissidents and people trying to flee Russia. It's now risky.

22:50We understand that the mentality and the political situation in the European Union changed. Don't go to the EU, they say. It's no longer safe. So that position has changed for you? Yes. OK, so if that's the situation in the European Union and the United States, you're not guaranteed asylum as a Russian fleeing Russia. The recruitment situation in Russia itself is only going to get worse, the evidence suggests. The Russian military is struggling to find enough soldiers to fight in Ukraine. There have been rumours of a general mobilisation, which Vladimir Putin was forced to deny back in September. He said it's complete nonsense. It's an information attack on Russia. But what if such a mobilisation did happen?

23:40Would there be a new wave of departures? And where could they actually go? There would absolutely be a new wave, a huge new wave of mobilisation, almost certainly larger than the last one in September 2022, as you said, when hundreds of thousands of Russians left the country. One organisation I was speaking to called ARK, they help Russians trying to flee the country, including deserters from the army. They told me that in August, they had 10 times as many requests for help from Russians trying to flee than just a few months before. Is that because of an anticipation that there might be a larger mobilisation? Exactly. You know, as you were saying, things aren't going well for Russia on the battlefield. Losses are high. And as a result of that, there have been all sorts of rumours,

24:29as you say, denied by the Kremlin, that President Putin could announce a new wave of mobilisation. Okay, well, the situation between the United States and Russia is evolving pretty fast right now. Last week, Steve Witkoff described Vladimir Putin as a, quote, humanitarian. Does that mean that we can expect this situation for people deported back to Russia to improve or change or get worse? What do we expect from that? It's difficult to say. We know that there are those in the White House, and there are certainly those in the Kremlin, who would like very much indeed for there to be better relations between Washington and Moscow. But I think this issue of Russians being deported back to Russia from the US,

25:19I think it will only, you know, amplify the voices of people who say that Donald Trump is too close to Vladimir Putin, people who call Donald Trump the best friend of dictators around the world, all of which the White House, of course, vehemently denies. Well, Katya, whose story we started with, you've described her being in a kind of state of limbo somewhere in Russia, somewhere you're not able to say. But what about Artyom? What happened to him? So Artyom had a few health problems at the time. And so he required treatment and the military police basically transporting him between the detention facility and a health clinic. And he has one thing on his mind, and that's escape. Escape for a second time from the country.

26:12And he says that he spotted an opportunity to escape. In the confusion of transporting people back and forth between these two facilities, he manages to slip away. He gets a taxi to a town, and from there he manages, via a very convoluted route through Russia, reach Belarus, which is Russia's neighbour. And ally. There's no hard border between Russia and Belarus, so citizens can go back and forth without any checks. So he's taking all kinds of precautions in terms of his phone, in terms of his passport, to ensure that no one's going to tail him, find him, catch him, take him back to detention. He reaches Belarus and books himself a flight to another country outside the region and spends a very nerve-wracking few minutes crossing the border,

27:15expecting any minute one of those border guards to turn around, sound the alarm and arrest him, bundle him off somewhere to some Belarusian border guard detention facility. It doesn't happen. He's allowed to board the flight and leave the country. He's now in another country outside Russia. We can't say where he is, obviously, for his own safety. I mean, he's an incredibly remarkable young man. He's very religious. He's very humble. He's very angry, though. He's angry at his treatment in the US, he says that he should have been allowed to leave freely and apply for asylum in another country that would have investigated his case properly. Instead of being violently bundled back onto the flight back to Russia. Extrapolating from Artyom's anger at the United States at having deported him

28:27once, how do people in Russia view the West and the United States having heard stories like Katya's and Artyom's? Do they see Europe and the United States as a haven still or not so much anymore? I think when Russians hear stories like Artyom's and Katya's and others, they feel incredibly disillusioned by the West. Many Russians have felt disappointed by the West's approach to Russia for many years. And now, where we're in a situation where repression in Russia is intensifying at an incredibly alarming rate, where the situation for anyone who is critical or has ever been even slightly critical of the war or of the government, is so dire. And at the same time, you've got rising numbers of Russians being deported back to Russia.

29:36And then they see now, you know, almost what they see as a refusal from Western countries to help ordinary Russians who are opposed to the Kremlin. I think they feel betrayed, frankly, by Western countries. Will Vernon, thank you so much for telling us these stories. Thanks very much for having me. That was Will Vernon, a senior producer here at the BBC. Let us know what you thought about this episode. Or if you have any thoughts and ideas for future episodes, you can share them with us at theglobalstoryatbbc.com. We love to hear from you. And before we go, a quick heads up. The US midterm elections are upon us, and our very own Asma Khalid will be right in the thick of it. As many of you know,

30:32Asma spent years covering US politics before joining us here at The Global Story, and this week she'll be putting that experience to work as one of the BBC World Service's co-anchors for our live radio coverage of the midterms. She'll be bringing you the latest results, analysis and reaction throughout election night. So if you're planning to stay up on Tuesday to follow along, join Asma and the team on BBC World Service Radio or at bbc.com. And that's it from us for today. From the Global Story, today's episode was produced by Kat Farnsworth and Aran Keller. It was edited by Martine Powers and mixed by Travis Evans. Our studio manager was Hannah Montgomery. Our digital producer is Sam Gruay.

31:15Our senior news editor is Chyna Collins. And I'm Tristan Redman. See you again tomorrow. We'll be back then. Cheerio. Looking for the perfect rental? Discover top-rated stays loved by guests, rated highest by real guests through authentic reviews. These traveler-loved stays are recognized by the details that matter most and validated by real experiences. Choose confidently from rentals you can trust. Vrbo. Book now a vacation rental loved by guests.