A court in the Siberian city of Barnaul has sentenced an officer with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) who was deported from Kazakhstan, where he unsuccessfully sought political asylum, to 6 1/2 years in prison.
The Second Eastern Military District Court said on March 24 that Mikhail Zhilin was sentenced after he was found guilty of desertion and illegal border crossing. The court also stripped Zhilin of his military rank of major.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military mobilization to support Russia's armed forces involved in the ongoing invasion of Ukraine in September, Zhilin sent his family to Kazakhstan.
The 36-year-old FSB officer followed afterward, having to cross the border illegally after hiking through forests because as an FSB officer he was not allowed to leave the country and did not have a passport.
He sought political asylum in Kazakhstan, but his request was denied. After Russia put him on the international wanted list, Kazakh authorities arrested him and deported him to Russia in late December.
Human rights groups have challenged Kazakhstan's decision, as Zhilin officially asked for political asylum within 24 hours after entering the country, which, according to Kazakh law, absolved him of responsibility for illegally crossing the border. Kazakh law also does not allow the return of asylum seekers to the country they fled from.
Zhilin was a shift supervisor in the special communications and information department of the FSB in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk and was responsible for Putin's communications with regions in the Siberian Federal District.
He was detained on September 26 by border guards in the Kazakh region of Abai as Astana followed through on its statement that it would extradite Russians wanted for evading mobilization if they were put on the international wanted list at home.
Zhilin's wife, Yekaterina Zhilina, told RFE/RL in January that she and the couple's children were currently in France, where she has applied for political asylum.
Thousands of Russian citizens fled the country following the September mobilization for Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, Mongolia, and other neighboring countries.