Remember the faces of the Russian émigrés in this photo: Nikita Belov and his mum, Olga Belova.
This is what they expect to happen when they land in Moscow, after having being denied asylum by Finland: “Both of us will be arrested immediately on charges of high treason, followed by a rapid investigation, and prison sentences measured in the decades,” Nikita told EUobserver.
Other charges might include “spreading false information about the Russian military” and “terrorism”, he added.
Nikita and Olga left Russia in August 2022 after it fully invaded Ukraine, applied for asylum in Finland that September and have regularly spoken out against Russian president Vladimir Putin’s regime at protests and online, as well as organising aid for Ukrainian soldiers.
Finland rejected their asylum application in December 2024, so now they are sitting at home, awaiting deportation, which could happen, irrevocably, any day this week, or shortly later.
