oh Russian lieutenant Ivan Korolev crossed into Lithuania on Thursday and requested political asylum from the country’s authorities.
After entering Lithuania, Korolev managed to reach the country’s capital, Vilnius, where he was stopped by Lithuanian border guards and sent to a checkpoint, where he was able to contact a BBC reporter.
“On August 3, I decided to leave the Russian Federation I do not want to participate in the bloody war unleashed by my government“, Korolev told the station. “At the moment, I am in the Republic of Lithuania, where I have requested political asylum”, he continued.
Although he participated in Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, he was not stationed outside Russia, the official said. His position as “Deputy Chief of Warehouse of the Field Artillery Depot’s Accounting and Operations Department” involved supplying ammunition to troops fighting in Ukraine, he explained.
The artillery officer’s request was considered by the Lithuanian authorities, and Korolev was taken to a migration center in the town of Babret, not far from the Belarusian border.
However, the BBC notes that Korolev’s claims have not been verified and that, under normal circumstances, the unit assigned to him was in the village of Daisin in Khabarovsk Krai.
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