BBC News Russian: Russian officer flees to Lithuania and requests political asylum

Ivan Korolev, a lieutenant in the Russian armed forces, illegally crossed the border into Lithuania and requested political asylum, reports BBC News Russian, who Korolev himself contacted.

According to BBC News Russian, Korolev reached the city of Vilnius, where he was detained by Lithuanian border guards at a bus station on August 10. He was then taken to a border checkpoint for 24 hours.

Korolev says that he decided on August 3 that he would flee Russia because he didn’t want to participate “in a bloody war.”

“I participated in the SVO, but remained on the territory of the Russian Federation this whole time. I have not been on Ukrainian territory. We supplied Russian troops with ammunition. We took ammunition from all over Russia, from all parts, from all arsenals, and distributed it to brigades, units directly in Ukraine,” he said.

Korolev was sent to a migration center in the town of Pabradė while his application for political asylum was being reviewed.