RIGA -- Many Russians and Central Asians with Russian passports are desperate to escape Russia to avoid fighting in the Ukraine war -- and reaching an EU country for asylum is often their best option.
They will cross the border illegally, surrender to officials, and apply for a humanitarian visa, usually being put in special camps or even prisons while waiting -- and hoping -- for their applications to be approved.
These are the stories of three of those men who ended up in Latvia and Estonia seeking a safe haven.
Said From Tajikistan
Mutsenieki is a center for migrants and refugees located in a dense forest near the Ikea store in downtown Riga, the Latvian capital. It is divided into two sections: a dormitory for asylum seekers and a prison enclosed by a 5-meter-high metal fence.
Said, a migrant from Tajikistan, spent six months in the Mutsenieki prison before being moved to the refugee camp. He says the main difference between the two sections is the quality of the food, which he found better in prison.
Said -- his name has been changed for security reasons -- was once a member of the opposition movement Group 24, which advocates for freedom and democracy in Tajikistan, an autocratic state where there are no free or fair elections and corruption is rampant.
The main entrance to the Mutsenieki center in Latvia
Group 24 was banned in 2014 and the following year its leader, Umarali Kuvvatov, was assassinated in Istanbul after several failed attempts by Tajik officials to have him extradited.
Meanwhile, in Tajikistan, many Group 24 activists were arrested and given long prison sentences.
Fearing for his safety, Said fled to Moscow and found work as a deliveryman. But he was soon arrested and authorities began the process of extraditing him to Tajikistan.
But some human rights groups intervened and secured his release. After spending three months in a Russian prison, Said decided to escape to the EU, driven by the fear of being mobilized into the army and sent to Ukraine. He then crossed the Latvian border via Belarus alongside others fleeing Putin’s mobilization.
Said views his opposition activities in Central Asia, his imprisonment in Russia, and his escape from potential military service as evidence of his dedication to freedom and human rights and believes those experiences justify his request for asylum in the EU.
But his Latvian refugee lawyer points out that his prison time makes the Latvian security officials suspicious.
"In prison, a person is vulnerable and can be easily recruited and released on the condition that they fulfill tasks for Russian special services within the European Union," said his attorney, who asked to remain anonymous.
"They ask me if I respect my God," Said recounted. "They ask why I shave my armpits. How can I not respect my God? How can I not shave my armpits?"
He says the interrogations focus heavily on his Muslim faith and accompanying religious practices.
The press office of the Latvian State Security Service (VDD) responded to queries from Systema, RFE/RL's Russian investigative unit, stating: "The nationality or religion of a person is not regarded as a threat. In all checks, the [VDD] considers each case individually, analyzing a wide range of information about the person in question."
The Latvian border service said last year that 13,863 people attempted to cross the border illegally into Latvia from Russia and Belarus. Of these, just 428 were granted asylum on humanitarian grounds. This year, 126 people have tried to cross the border illegally, it added.
Kazakh Activist Escapes Wagner
The story of anti-war, Kazakh-born Russian citizen Azamat Tyuzulbaev is more dramatic than Said's. Unlike Said, Tyuzulbaev does not hide his identity and is proud of his actions. Imprisoned in Russia for "extortion," Tyuzulbaev’s journey, as he says, is one of “defiance and survival.”
While Tyuzulbaev was in a Russian prison in 2022, Yevgeny Prigozhin -- founder of the Wagner paramilitary group -- visited the Zlatoust prison colony where he was being held. Of an estimated 300 prisoners, 138 joined the mercenary group, he says. But Tyuzulbaev refused. Consequently, he was placed in a punitive isolation cell for six months.
Upon his release in May 2023, Russian police tried to coerce him into joining the Storm Z group to fight in Ukraine. But Tyuzulbaev instead fled to Kurgan, his birthplace in Kazakhstan.
In Kazakhstan, Tyuzulbaev recorded several anti-war videos, one of which garnered 130,000 likes on TikTok. He also gave an interview to the BASE publication, becoming a well-known anti-war social media figure in the process.
Fearing imminent detention by Kazakh authorities and extradition to Russia due to Kazakhstan's agreement with Moscow on mutual legal assistance and the exchange of the personal data of citizens, Tyuzulbaev decided to flee to Europe.
Tyuzulbaev, 38, crossed the Kazakh-Russian border illegally, a feat he claims to have accomplished many times, often transporting Russians fleeing mobilization to Kazakhstan. He says he then traveled to the Leningrad region and swam across the Narva River to Estonia. After reaching the Estonian coast, he hitchhiked to Tallinn, surrendered to authorities, and was imprisoned in Estonia for more than six months.
In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a mobilization decree aimed at recruiting 300,000 new troops through a combination of incentives and draft orders for military reservists. The decree shocked Russian society, leading to an exodus of hundreds of thousands of people to Armenia, Georgia, Central Asia, and elsewhere.
Hero Or Criminal?
Ibrahim, who is in his 40s, was working as a system administrator in the prefecture of a city in Russia’s Caucasus in 2014. He says that while fixing a computer one day he stumbled upon a document listing people who were to be kidnapped. He decided to download the list and warn the potential victims.
The next day, he says, the mother of one of those on the list told prefect officials that a "good man" had warned her about a possible abduction. Ibrahim feared he’d be identified and fled to Poland. He remains discreet about how he crossed the Belarusian-Polish border, not wanting to "scorch the guide" who helped him, he says.
From Poland, Ibrahim moved to France. A Latvian lawyer who preferred to stay anonymous told Systema that this was a mistake, as migrants should always apply for asylum in the first European country they arrive in because moving around the EU complicates a case.
In France, Ibrahim admits he made several errors. He says he settled in a suburb with a bad reputation and quarreled with neighbors who were "drug dealers” from North Africa. In retaliation, they used to set fire and otherwise destroy his mailbox, he says, claiming that’s why he missed a court summons on his asylum application and causing him to miss his court date. He was later denied asylum.
Ibrahim says he also sold used cars while awaiting word on his application, though asylum seekers are not allowed to work. That could have also led to his asylum rejection, he says.
And he alleges a fight with a man over damage to a car resulted in him being arrested and given a 4 1/2-year jail sentence in 2017. (Systema later acquired a court document that says theft was involved in his conviction.)
Natalia Morozova, a lawyer at the Memorial human rights center in France, said that though a migrant may commit a crime, that shouldn't result in them possibly being killed after extradition to Russia -- citing the cases of Magomed Gadaev and Daud Muradov, both of whom died in suspicious circumstances after being sent to Russia.
Ibrahim’s journey for a place of refuge was far from over. He was deported from France to Russia in 2021 and fled to Turkey. One year later, he was expelled to Georgia before fleeing to Latvia.
Unknown Destiny
Systema also has two decisions from Latvian courts regarding Ibrahim's case, both rejecting his asylum request. After each refusal, Ibrahim's lawyer appealed to international organizations -- including the European Court of Human Rights -- asking for the case to be reconsidered.
Though his lawyer wouldn’t comment on the case, Morozova told Systema the appeals likely invoked Articles 3 and 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibit the expulsion of people from the EU if they might face torture or death after extradition.
The Latvian court’s refusal to grant asylum was based on a recommendation from the VDD, which deemed Ibrahim a danger to Latvia. The court decision does not specify the nature of the danger.
During the appeals process, Ibrahim repeatedly wrote to the VDD to request an interview, a lie detector test, and an explanation of the accusations against him but says he didn’t receive a response.
A Latvian lawyer who specializes in refugee cases says, "You can't demand explanations from the [VDD] [but rather] must challenge each court decision in the established order."
Ibrahim’s experienced lawyer is likely a key reason he hasn’t yet been extradited.
In contrast, Azamat wasn’t as lucky and says his lawyer merely appeared in court, spoke in Estonian, and left without even talking to him. Delfi reports that Azamat has been ordered to be extradited and was unreachable when Systema tried to contact him.
Said is in a more favorable situation.
He was imprisoned for six months but eventually released and moved to an open migration center. As of July 9 he was still awaiting a decision on his asylum application.