Russian officer escaped to Lithuania and requested political asylum (photo)
Russian Lieutenant Ivan Korolev crossed the Lithuanian border illegally, reached Vilnius and was detained by the Lithuanian Border Guard Service on 10 August.
A serviceman of the Russian Federation was serving in military unit 59313-39. In normal times, this unit is stationed in the village of Teysin, Khabarovsk Krai. This is reported by the BBC.
on 3 August, I decided to leave the Russian Federation because I did not want to take part in the bloody war, which was unleashed by my state. At the moment I am in the Republic of Lithuania, where I asked for political asylum," Ivan Korolev told the BBC.
I took part in the SWO, but I was on the territory of the Russian Federation all this time. I was not on the territory of Ukraine. We were engaged in providing Russian troops with ammunition. We received ammunition from all over Russia, from all units, from all arsenals and distributed it to brigades, units directly to Ukraine," the escaped officer claims.
The BBC specifies that it has no independent confirmation of this information at the moment.
The application from the artillery officer, who was "deputy chief of the warehouse of the accounting and operational department of the field artillery depot" was accepted for consideration on 11 August.
He was then sent to the migration centre in Pabrada, where he will remain while the Lithuanian authorities consider his application.