Hundreds of thousands of Russians have fled their country in recent months to avoid the conscription imposed by Vladimir Putin, and five of them have been stuck at the Seoul airport for more than four months, with South Korea denying them asylum and refusing to return to Russia themselves. .

CNN has located one of five Russian citizens who have been at South Korea’s main airport since October last year, as he (not his real name Dmitry) and another were granted temporary permission to stay at a refugee reception center under strict conditions.

Unlike the role of Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal, the five Russians have both a homeland and valid passports. However, they fear that any return would mean they would be immediately sent to the front, Dmitry says.

“I have anti-establishment experience, I’ve been on anti-war marches, so it’s very likely that I’ll be sent straight to the front lines,” he told CNN. Six of his friends have already died in the war in Ukraine, he adds.

The father of a seven-year-old boy originally planned to go to Kazakhstan, but changed his mind when he learned that the country was sending Russians back.

South Korea was the only democratic country he could fly to at the time, he said, although he knows that the Asian country does not like those who try to avoid military service, given that it has its own compulsory military service that lasts not less than 18 months and should be served by most men under 28.

“I’m not against conscription, I’m against war,” he said, and he wants officials in Seoul to hear it. “Basically, I don’t want to go out and kill people, but I don’t mind being in office,” he says.

Until a few days ago, his life at Incheon Airport consisted mostly of hot buns and juice for lunch and chicken and rice for dinner provided by immigration, with nothing to fill the in-between hours other than walking around the airport.

He washed his clothes in the public washroom in the restrooms and says there has been no hot water for showers for the past month, a claim disputed by the immigration department.

“There has been no hot water for a month now. I turn on the hot water but nothing comes out,” he says in a video he recorded in support of his claim. He said that at the airport he slept on the floor in a small room with 15 other asylum seekers.

In the emergency room, things are much better. “The conditions here are very good, everyone is fed very well, there is a washing machine, there is an iron, there is hot water, everywhere is clean and everyone is very well treated,” he said.

But he will have to wait another five months to find out if he is finally eligible to apply for asylum, and then it is far from certain that his application will be accepted, given the extremely low approval rate of the South Korean authorities, below 1%.

If the application is rejected, Dmitri may still remain in the country on humanitarian leave, although this has its drawbacks. But again, it will be better than the alternative. “It would be great to return home to Russia,” Dmitry said. “It will mean that everything that happens will end, so the sooner the better.”

Source: CNN