INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kazakhstan, living with the constant fear that she could be deported to Russia and imprisoned, but yet unable to go to a safer
which shares a 7,644-kilometer border with Russia and allows Russian citizens to enter with just an internal ID, became one of the primary
as many as 2.9 million Russian citizens crossed the border with Kazakhstan that year, though both official and independent reports estimate
Ukrainian territories as a part of Russia.At the same time, it retains strong ties to Russia economically and through its membership in a
number of Russia-led regional projects, including the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and
war-related prosecution at home, a range of bilateral agreements with Russia prevents it from allowing wanted exiles to travel onward to a
government would be most pleased if all of these people would just gradually leave for a third country and this situation would simply
police in September 2022 during a routine documents check
hours later on the grounds that, according to the 2002 Chi?in?u Convention, Kazakhstan is not obliged to extradite individuals accused of an
Almaty airport in November when attempting to board a flight to neighboring Kyrgyzstan, though was again released after several hours in
expressed a readiness to grant asylum to Russian deserters and draft dodgers.But in August, French authorities refused to issue travel
view of Almaty.Pavel Aleksandrov / TASSIn Russia, Ziganshin faces up to 10 years in prison on charges of deserting a military outpost during
been as lucky as Baltatarova and Ziganshin.In December 2022 Kazakhstan deported former presidential guard Mikhail Zhilin to Russia, where he
Kozak, 19, was detained in Almaty and transferred to the capital Astana, where he remains in pre-trial detention as part of the extradition
process.This uncertain legal status makes it difficult for people wanted in Russia to find steady employment, forcing them to survive by
find a job somewhere, every random document inspection is a threat because there is an arrest warrant issued for me [in Russia]
