Russian arrested at Georgian border charged with defecting to the enemy
21-year-old Russian citizen Savely Frolov, who was arrested at the Verkhny Lars border crossing while attemping to enter Georgia, has been charged with preparing to defect to the enemy side (in accordance with several articles in the Russian Criminal Code). The news comes from human rights and legal organization Pervy Otdel [Department One], whose lawyers represent Frolov.
According to the investigation, Frolov intended to join the Free Russia Legion, a group of war prisoners, volunteers, and defectors from the Russian military, which fights for Ukraine. The Leninsky District Court of Vladikavkaz authorized Frolov’s arrest until February 11, 2023. He faces a ten year prison sentence.
At the end of October, Savely Frolov, who holds anarchist and antifascist views, was taken off a bus at the Verkny Lars border crossing. He managed to alert friends that he would be interrogated by the FSB. Frolov then turned up at a police station in Vladikavkaz, which informed his relatives that he had voluntarily, in writing, renounced his decision to cross the border.
Frolov himself reported that he had been arrested for 15 days for “petty hooliganism” and “swearing in public.” He became aware of the criminal charges only in early December.
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In July 2022, the State Duma passed a law that makes “defecting to the side of the enemy in conditions of military conflict” equivalent to treason.
