The wife of an officer with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) who was deported from Kazakhstan to Russia weeks ago is seeking political asylum in France after fearing she and her children may also be sent back home.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you the latest developments on Russia's invasion, Western military aid, the plight of civilians, and territorial control maps. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
Yekaterina Zhilina told RFE/RL on January 22 that she and her children left Kazakhstan for Paris and asked for political asylum there. Self-exiled Russian journalist Yevgenia Baltatarova, who is currently based in Kazakhstan, said on Telegram that Kazakh prosecutors had expressed interest in Yekaterina Zhilina before her departure to France.
Mikhail Zhilin sent his family to Kazakhstan after Russian President Vladimir Putin in September announced a mobilization to support Russia’s armed forces fighting in Ukraine.
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 rejected. He was then arrested and subsequently deported to Russia in late December.
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.
After he fled, Russia put Zhilin on the international wanted list under the articles "desertion" and "illegal crossing of the state border of the Russian Federation."
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 fears her husband could be the subject of torture back in Russia, where he faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.