Russian activist who works with POWs stays in Ukraine as her husband returns in prisoner swap

On October 2, as part of a prisoner exchange with Ukraine, Russian serviceman Yevgeny Kovtkov — the husband of Our Way Out movement coordinator Irina Krynina — returned to Russia, the organization announced on Telegram.

Irina Krynina, from the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk, traveled to Ukraine after her husband was captured in 2023. She decided to remain there and, with the support of the Ukrainian authorities, founded Our Way Out, a group that helps connect Russian prisoners of war with their families and bring them home.

Krynina confirmed her husband’s return to Russia in an interview with blogger Rostislav Murzagulov.

“On the one hand, I’m glad for him, because he really wanted to return home, to his parents,” she said. “I’m glad he’ll be able to go home. I counted today — he spent 818 days in captivity. At the same time, my heart aches, because I know what is happening in Russia, that they send them back to the war, and I worry about whether things will turn out well for him.”

The activist said that during the two years she spent in Ukraine, she tried to dissuade Kovtkov from returning to Russia. She herself does not want to go back, she explained, because she wants to continue helping Russian prisoners of war.

On October 2, Russia and Ukraine exchanged 185 captured soldiers each, as well as 20 civilians apiece.

Kovtkov was mobilized in 2022 and captured by Ukrainian forces in the summer of 2023. Krynina, invited by the Ukrainian authorities, traveled to Kyiv with her children to try to secure his release, but Kovtkov chose to wait for a prisoner swap.

In Russia, Our Way Out has been designated a “foreign agent.”