The Russian lieutenant flees to Lithuania

12 August, 2023 Lieutenant of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Ivan Korolev, August 2023. Photo credits: BBC Russian army lieutenant Ivan Korolev illegally crossed the Lithuanian border, where he applied for political asylum.

The Russian service of the BBC, whose journalists talked to the military, reported on this. Korolev managed to get to Vilnius, where he was detained by Lithuanian border guards at the bus station on August 10. After being detained in Vilnius, the soldier was returned to the border checkpoint, where he remained for another day.

From there, he contacted the BBC journalist. The lieutenant said that he "decided to leave Russia not wanting to participate in the bloody war" that his country had unleashed.

Russian Army Lieutenant Ivan Korolev, August 2023. Photo credits: BBC

The soldier served in the military unit 59313-39.

This is the Joint Strategic Command of the Eastern Military District, which is located in the village of Teysin in Khabarovsk Krai. He says that he was a participant of Russia's so-called 'special military operation' against Ukraine, but claims that he was on the territory of the Russian Federation all this time and was engaged in the provision of ammunition to Russian troops. "We received ammunition from all over Russia, from all units, from all arsenals and directly distributed it to the brigades and units in Ukraine," said Ivan Korolev.

The BBC does not currently have confirmation of this statement.

Military ID card of Russian army lieutenant Ivan Korolev, August 2023. Photo credits: BBC

On 11 August, an application for political asylum from a Russian army officer who was the "deputy head of the warehouse of the accounting and operational department of the field artillery depot" was accepted for consideration by Lithuania. After that, the Russian was sent to the migration centre in Pabrade, where he would stay while the Lithuanian authorities considered his application.

Lithuania is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the arrival of the Russian soldier in the country.

Lieutenant Dmitry Mishov of the Russian Armed Forces, May 2023.

Photo credits: BBC

A similar case took place in June, when Russian lieutenant Dmitry Mishov, who was a navigator-operator of an attack helicopter of the Russian Aerospace Forces, fled to Lithuania.