Five Russians who refused to fight Ukraine live in an airport awaiting refuge in South Korea

Incheon International Airport in South Korea has become the home of five Russian men who escaped being conscripted into their country’s army, currently facing a war in the Ukraine.

The five Russians receive three meals a day, spend the day touring the waiting rooms of the air terminal and wash their clothes with the soap from the bathrooms. They don’t expect to stay much longer at the airport, what they want is to receive the official status of refugees to enter the Asian country.

“This is our last chance here in Korea,” one of the men, who chose to remain anonymous, told a Washington Post correspondent. They came to South Korea seeking asylum between October and November after receiving their recruitment notices.

Nevertheless, South Korean authorities refused the Russians’ request, since they did not meet the requirements to be considered refugees. The men appealed the decision, and three of them will know on January 31 if their appeal is accepted.

The five Russians are part of the more than 180,000 Russian citizens who fled their country after President Vladimir Putin declared a “partial” military mobilization of reservists for his war in Ukraine on September 21.

Enlisting able-bodied adult men was the main objective of the Russian army, so many fled as soon as they heard about the recruitments.

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“I don’t want to hurt people. I don’t want to die either. But I think this conflict is extremely political.”, Vladimir Maraktaev, one of the men who lives at the South Korean airport, told the American newspaper. “It is an imperialist war in my opinion, conquering a neighboring sister nation. I have all the respect for the Ukrainians for defending their home.”

Maraktaev, 23, left his home and his fiancée after receiving his draft notice on September 24. He will have his first court hearing on January 31.

According to South Korean law, people can apply for refugee status at a port of entrysuch as an airport, and are interviewed for a prior evaluation. If they qualify to apply, the immigration office refers them for refugee assessment.

Lee Jong-chan of the Advocates for Public Interest Law is the lawyer for the Russian group. He assures that his clients were rejected in their asylum application because evading military service is not a criterion for refugee status.

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If they manage to be considered refugees, they will be able to leave the airport and enter South Korea until their status is determined, which could take up to a year.

According to The Washington Post, military service is also compulsory in South Korea, and its authorities take the evasion of this responsibility very seriously. But the Russian men’s lawyer claims there is a difference between South Korean and Russian citizens.

“A person forced to serve in Korea who simply leaves the country to avoid military service and applies for refugee status, say in the United States, would have a hard time getting it. It’s understandable,” she said. “But if the people who are at risk of being forcibly recruited in a war-torn country like Russia they flee because they oppose the war, we generally see that as a reason to be considered a refugee.”

Meanwhile, the five Russian men are still awaiting a decision on their status. Their passports and credit cards were seized by South Korea, so they only get cash from the Russians who arrive at the airport, to whom they make bank transfers.

“Not only do we know the airport, but the airport knows us,” said one of the Russians. (YO)