After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of Russians fled the country in search of safety and to avoid mobilisation, many to central Asia. Many Russians do not have passports, and Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan can be entered with only a national ID.
But a growing number of Russians are finding that neighbouring countries in the region, in particular Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, are far from safe.
At least 14 Russian citizens were either detained or deported at Russia’s request from Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan in 2022 and 2023 alone, according to a Freedom House report on transnational repression.
Grady Vaughan, from Freedom House, says: “There are three main types of people Russia seeks to return. These are, obviously, former military officials and soldiers who were afraid of being called up to the war and deserted.
“Then there have also been independent activists, both anarchists and anti-war activists, who have also found themselves detained in relation to their activism and sometimes deported. The third group are journalists.”