'Hostage': Russians deported by Trump face arrest back home

WARSAW - Deported from the United States after having his asylum application rejected, Russian soldier Artem Vovchenko -- who fled the army to avoid fighting in Ukraine -- now faces seven years in jail back home.

Vovchenko, 27, had sought safety, but found himself caught up in President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, put on a deportation flight and detained by FSB agents upon arrival in Russia.

He is one of hundreds of Russians that rights lawyers fear could face a similar fate.

Russia opened a criminal case against Vovchenko after he abandoned his post at a military base in Armenia in September 2022 when Moscow announced plans to mobilise hundreds of thousands for its Ukraine invasion.

AFP spoke to two other Russians who were on the same deportation flight as Vovchenko from the United States last month.

"I never saw him again after he was taken to the FSB office at the airport," one told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

At a stopover in Egypt, the former soldier -- knowing he was wanted for desertion in Russia -- tried to flee, they said.

"He was caught by (Egyptian) border guards and beaten up," the passenger said.

"He cried almost the entire flight while his hands were tied up behind the seat the whole time," they added.

AMERICAN DREAM

Hundreds of thousands of Russians fled the country after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and escalated a crackdown on dissent.

Most headed to nearby countries that allow visa-free entry.

But some tried for asylum in the United States, heading first to Mexico then across the border on foot.

As Washington tightened its borders, first under Joe Biden and then under Trump, that decision has been a fateful misstep for many.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data shows Washington has been deporting around 40 Russians a month since late 2023.

Over the summer, there were at least three deportation flights put on for Russians denied asylum, according to Vladimir Osechkin from the Gulagu.net rights group that helps anti-war Russians flee.

Sixty-four were deported on Vovchenko's flight alone, he said.

"According to our data, this repressive policy of mass imprisonment has affected thousands of Russians in the US," Osechkin told AFP.

'RUSSIA 2.0'

Political activist Leonid Melekhin, 34, is another who was arrested in Russia after being denied asylum and deported.

A father of two, he is currently being held in pre-trial detention in the city of Perm, in the Urals.

He attended rallies in support of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny and before leaving for the United States, prosecutors say he put up a poster calling for Putin to be hanged.

Facing a five-year prison sentence on charges of "justifying terrorism", Melekhin's allies have called him a "political prisoner".

They raised the alarm after local media quoted him as apologising and describing himself as a Russian "patriot" during a court hearing in July.

"He is a hostage, a political prisoner, so he can say whatever he deems necessary to save his life," Yuri Bobrov, Melekhin's friend, told AFP.

Russia's exiled opposition leaders have called on Canada to open its borders to Russians being deported from the United States.

Vladislav Krasnov, a 27-year-old activist who was denied asylum, drew parallels between Trump's America and Putin's Russia.

"Trump is trying to destroy political asylum as an institution ... he's building Russia 2.0," he told AFP.

'GO TO EUROPE'

Krasnov is still in the United States but fears he would be arrested if sent back for publicly denouncing Putin and the war against Ukraine.

Held in US detention centres for 14 months, he recounted being put in a 25-square-metre (269 square feet) room with around two dozen other people at a facility on the border.

There were no beds and the lights were kept constantly on during the week he spent there.

"People break down and even start hating the West," he said.

Yevgeny Mashinin, 27, a former Navalny campaigner, was also arrested in Russia after being deported from the United States.

He was let off relatively lightly -- a 35,000-ruble ($400) fine after being photographed holding a Ukrainian flag -- and then managed to leave Russia for France, where he has lodged another asylum claim.

His advice to other Russian political exiles?

"Go to Europe, they don't jail everyone here".