Crossing the border into Belarus, with Russia in the rearview mirror behind him, Artyom Vovchenko breathed a sigh of relief. He knew, in all likelihood, he would finally be free.
It had been a long journey. After deserting from the Russian military in 2022, Vovchenko, now 27, stepped into a life of uncertainty, attempting and failing to secure political asylum in the U.S. Last summer, he was deported back to Russia, where he faced imprisonment or being sent to fight in Ukraine.
The U.S. has deported scores of Russians back home as part of a widening immigration crackdown under the second Trump administration, but few are known to have replicated what Vovchenko did next: he escaped for a second time.
“In the SVO, those with a charge like mine, they’re sent into assaults, 70% survive,” Vovchenko said, using the abbreviation for the Kremlin’s term for the war. “I knew I had to do something.”
Vovchenko recently gave two interviews to The Moscow Times recounting his improbable and highly risky flight from Russia earlier this year.
