Russian authorities on Wednesday asked the Kazakh government to extradite Mikhail Zhilin, a former member of Vladimir Putin’s Presidential Guard who left the country after the partial mobilization decree in order not to be sent to Ukraine in the framework of the Russian invasion.
If approved, Zhilin’s extradition would mark a turning point by becoming the first publicly known to have avoided conscription. Moscow has accused him of desertion and illegal border crossing.
His family, however, claims that, should he return to Russia, he could face torture, abuse and mistreatment, according to The Moscow Times. His arrest took place last December 6 at the airport of Astana, the Kazakh capital, when he was trying to board a plane bound for Armenia.
Russia subsequently placed him on its international wanted list. Zhilin, 36, could face up to 15 years in prison if extradited and convicted.
Zhilin worked overseeing communications for the Presidential Guard’s information department in Siberia, which deals with Putin’s contacts in the region. Officials like Zhilin are not allowed to leave the country given their access to secret or confidential information.
However, just five days after Putin declared the partial mobilization of reservists in September, Zhilin crossed the border into Kazakhstan without passing through any border posts and sought political asylum after being arrested.
His wife, Yekaterina, who arrived in Kazakhstan with their children legally, has said that the case against him was opened a day before he was arrested. A Kazakh court has found him guilty of entering the country illegally and imposed a suspended six-month prison sentence against him.
Yekaterina has said that her husband’s lawyers and relatives are trying to appeal the decision to the authorities since the Kazakh judiciary refused to grant him asylum in November.
«Russia is very interested in men who have never picked up a gun in their lives. They are going to try to force him to go to war, so we are afraid he will be tortured,» he said.
Russian authorities rejected Zhilin’s own request for his resignation after Moscow announced the start of its invasion of Ukraine in late February. Kazakhstan, for its part, has pledged not to extradite Russians who have left the country because of the partial mobilization unless there is an open criminal investigation against them.
