Daniil, a young Russian electromechanical engineer, fled conscription in Russia because he does not want to go to war, nor does he want to kill or be killed. He jumped off a train travelling through Lithuania to reach the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. (Read the profile of him published by the newspaper Le Monde on 15 June here)
The Lithuanian authorities risk sending him back to Russia, so as not to ‘fall out’ with their aggressive neighbour. Daniil then fled to Finland and hitchhiked to France, believing it to be the land of human rights and freedom. But the French Republic has just decided to extradite him to Lithuania. This is effectively a death sentence, as he would then be handed over to the Russian authorities, who will make him pay for his desertion with the penalty prescribed in such cases: the death penalty.
Russian exiles and deserters have just informed us that they are organising a support rally on Friday 17 July. The Olga Taratuta Initiative calls on everyone who supports deserters and opposes war in general to join this rally, which will take place:
RDV Place Saint Augustin,
Vendredi 17 juillet, 16 heures
Every deserter brings us closer to peace!
Deserters of all nations, unite!
The ‘Olga Taratuta’ Initiative, supporting Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian deserters, refugees and conscientious objectors
http://nowar.solidarite.online/blog
Russian deserter risks deportation from France after high-risk escape from moving train
Succeeding in a highly risky escape, only to stumble over administrative hurdles could send Daniil Mukhametov, 22, back to Russia. Paris is forwarding his asylum request to Vilnius, Lithuania, which is usually quick to reject Russian applicants.
To avoid being drafted into the Russian military, 22-year-old Daniil Mukhametov managed an escape reminiscent of a Soviet-era dissident by jumping off a heavily guarded train traveling through Lithuania. Now stuck in Strasbourg, France, caught in an intractable bureaucratic deadlock, he faces the risk of being sent to Lithuania and from there, possibly back to Russia.
His dramatic journey began a year ago, on June 17, 2025. Mukhametov decided to flee Russia illegally. His name was already listed in the registry of people banned from leaving Russian territory because he had ignored a draft order.
Mukhametov had just finished his studies and wanted nothing to do with the war. Trained as an electromechanical technician, he worked for two years, as a train agent and railway electrician. “I knew I had to get out of the country immediately,” he told Le Monde by phone from Strasbourg, where he is staying in a shelter for migrants. He recalled that the Adler–Kaliningrad line, on which he had worked twice before, runs through Lithuania for 230 kilometers. He saw this as his only chance to escape to the European Union (EU). With a few hundred euros in his pocket and a special key to unlock the train doors, he boarded the Adler–Kaliningrad train with a risky escape plan in mind.
“I was lucky!”
Lithuania is a member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and takes very seriously the threat of agents, special forces, or military equipment infiltrating its territory via trains connecting Belarus (an ally of Moscow) and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, wedged between Lithuania and Poland. Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia has been suspected of having a similar intention: to establish a land connection with Kaliningrad.
Russian trains (up to three per day in each direction) are expressly prohibited from stopping. Lithuanian border guards check the identity of every passenger upon entering and exiting the territory. Security measures even include systematic helicopter flyovers of the train to verify that no one jumps off and takes advantage of the train’s deceleration, especially in forested areas.
“I knew there was usually a helicopter flying around there, but the moment I jumped off the train, there wasn’t one,” says Daniil Moukhametov. He had just quietly left his four-berth compartment. It was dark, and the other passengers were asleep. “The train was traveling at about 40 kilometers per hour, and of course I fell, but I wasn’t hurt. I was lucky!” He says he walked through the forest for a long time before coming upon a road. Eventually, someone gave him a ride all the way to Kaunas, which is roughly halfway along the train route between Belarus and Kaliningrad.
Imagine his surprise when he discovered that morning that his face had appeared on the front pages of the Lithuanian media. The police are actively searching for him. “I realized that if they catch me, I’ll end up straight in a detention center and then be deported to Russia. Lithuania is unwilling to grant political asylum, especially if someone enters its territory illegally.” He decided to make his way to an EU country that is more accommodating toward Russian deserters. According to him, he managed to reach Finnish territory nine hours later by a combination of buses, trains, and boats.
That’s where his administrative troubles began, and he ran into the “Dublin Regulation,” a mechanism that requires the first EU country an asylum seeker enters to conduct the asylum proceedings. Three months after filing his application in Helsinki, Daniil Moukhametov learned that this time he must file it in Lithuania, where he is still being sought by the Ministry of the Interior. “However, the Lithuanians have often been criticized for their practices regarding the return of Russian citizens” to their country of origin, emphasizes Martin Jouvin, Daniil Moukhametov’s French lawyer.
A young man facing deportation left his home and lived for several months with the “generous Finns” in the north of the country. He then decided to try his luck in France, where he filed an asylum application on December 29, 2025. On February 4, however, France asked Lithuania to take over the young man’s case, to which Vilnius immediately agreed. Daniil Moukhametov was not informed of the decision to transfer him to Lithuania until June 5, which is “an unusually long delay, suggesting that his case has reached the highest levels,” explains attorney Jouvin.
“We can trust that the French authorities will not send him directly to Russia, but this risk is very high if he is returned to Lithuania, where there is media pressure for his deportation,” the lawyer adds. He regrets that France did not decide to invoke Article 17 of the Dublin Regulation, which allows each member state to process an asylum application independently.
The future of a young deserter from Russia, who must report to the border police at the Strasbourg airport every week, will be decided at a hearing of the Administrative Court in Strasbourg on June 17, 2026.
– Translation source: https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2026/06/14/je-savais-qu-il-y-avait-un-helicoptere-mais-au-moment-ou-j-ai-saute-du-train-il-n-y-en-avait-pas-l-evasion-spectaculaire-d-un-deserteur-russe-embarrasse-la-justice-francaise_6702925_3210.html
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Read other statements and interviews on the topic of supporting desertion:
Fundraising for deserters and war refugees
“Freedom or death”: Interview on the Experiences of a Russian Army Deserter