They fled Russia, but the West brought them back

Over the past year there has been a sharp increase in anti-government activists being deported from the European Union and the United States to Russia, where they sought asylum.

When the flight landed in Moscow in December, Russian security services were waiting. On the plane were Russians who had been deported by the United States, including activists who were denied political asylum.

"It was incredibly scary," says Katia, one of the evictees. My knees were shaking with fear. We have changed his name to protect his identity because he is in Russia.

Katya had left Russia two years earlier and applied for asylum in the United States.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many countries publicly welcomed the fugitive Russians. But more than four years later, attitudes have hardened. The number of anti-war Russians forcibly returned from Western countries is on the rise, and Katya's experience highlights their potential dangers.

US authorities rejected his asylum application because he said he had provided evidence of participation in protests and membership in an opposition movement.

In Moscow, Katya says FSB security service officers have handed all deported men military papers requiring them to register at the local registry office, where the men are often sent to fight in Ukraine. Another passenger of this flight and an activist confirmed his account.

The officers interrogated him and many others for several hours.

"At one point, they found incriminating information on my phone," Katya says. Their faces changed in a second. I'm going somewhere."

Katya was eventually released and allowed to stay with relatives. But he says the police still call him and meet him at home.

"I feel like I'm in a cage, like a zoo," she says, "and every time I see a police car, I feel panic and start thinking, what if they come after me?"

Deportations from the United States are expected to rise from 222 in 2023 to more than 1,200 in 2025, amid a massive increase in deportations during Donald Trump's second term. Activists say Russian deportees included dissidents and deserters from the Russian military, some of whom were imprisoned or sent to war after returning to Russia.

"We have numerous examples of people who were sentenced to eight years in prison for crossing the [Russian] border," said Andrey Pyovarov of the Russian opposition's anti-war committee in exile.

And deportations from Europe are also underway. His organization has changed its advice to dissidents fleeing Russia: the EU is no longer safe, it's better to seek refuge elsewhere.

Germany has drastically increased the number of Russian nationals it deports. According to German government statistics, seven were repatriated in 2023, rising to more than 110 in 2025. More than 21,000 Russians applied for asylum in Germany between 2022 and 2025, but the proportion of positive decisions fell from 29% in 2023 to just 6.8% in the first eleven months of 2025.

Germany's migration and asylum agency, BAMF, told the BBC: "Support is only granted if there is a genuine and well-founded fear of persecution."

Last year, Berlin suspended its humanitarian visa program for Russians, and across the EU, the proportion of Russian applicants granted some form of asylum fell from 23 percent in 2024 to about 17 percent in the first nine months of 2025, according to EU data.

Russian opposition activists who have fled the crackdown have been caught up in a wider immigration crackdown as governments across Europe and the United States tighten laws amid political pressure over high numbers of illegal immigrants and asylum applications, as well as security concerns.

Lawyer Anastasia Burakova, founder of the legal group Ark, which helps anti-war Russians leave the country, says Western governments are "focused on restricting humanitarian programs and asylum seekers." He adds that this crackdown is "in response to public concerns and increased support for right-wing populist parties."

Following a negative asylum decision, Russian nationals are often given the opportunity to leave independently, but an increasing number are forcibly returned to Russia, usually escorted through third countries.

Several Russian activists in exile have told the BBC that they have been told by immigration officials that they are "in no danger" in Russia, and that officials often do not understand the risks activists face.

"I tried to explain that if they return me, I will be sent to prison or to a war where I will be killed," explains ex-soldier Artyom, who escaped from the Russian army in 2022 after officers threatened him with Ukraine. They just didn't believe me.

He says he has provided US authorities with documents showing he is under criminal investigation in Russia for desertion. But he was sent back to Moscow by deportation flight through Egypt.

"I was preparing to die, I was thinking how can I die without it being painful," says the former soldier.

Artyom was held in a military detention center in Moscow but managed to escape. He is now hiding abroad.

"Another country can investigate better than me and give me asylum. Why didn't they give me that chance? Instead they specifically deported me to Russia," Ferrari says. "It ruined my life."

The US Department of Homeland Security told the BBC: "All illegal aliens get due process. If a judge finds that an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we will remove them."

The crackdown on asylum seekers comes as repression inside Russia has reached "unprecedented levels," according to a report by Nobel Prize-winning human rights group Russia Memorial. Their list of political prisoners increased from 803 to 1,265 in 2025, an unprecedented increase.

The Russian Embassy in London did not respond to a request for comment.

Anti-war activist Mikhail says he and his wife Dasha expect deportation from Finland "every day". Their names have been changed to protect their identities because Mikhail is afraid of his relatives.

Russian authorities blocked his social media accounts for anti-war posts, and police met with his mother, accusing her of spreading "fake information."

Dasha is a Jehovah's Witness, an organization banned as "extremist" in Russia. The couple provided Finnish authorities with evidence seen by the BBC, including a video of Russian police telling the mother that more than 300 posts had breached Russian law. One post can lead to a long jail term.

Finland's immigration office has rejected their asylum applications five times, concluding that there was "no reasonable basis to believe" that the couple would face serious rights violations if returned.

"We are sitting here and at any moment someone might knock on our door, take us to the Russian border and simply hand us over to Russian officers," says Mikhail. "We fear for our lives!"

"We came to Finland to help and they refuse us," he adds. My wife keeps crying.

Amnesty International, which supports the couple, said they could face a "real risk" of arrest, prosecution, imprisonment and torture if returned.

Finland's migration office announced that all asylum decisions are based on international refugee law standards, and that the share of Russian citizens receiving asylum is in line with the EU average.

For Mikhail and Dasha, the threat of deportation comes from the fact that more Russians may be considering leaving.

There are rumors that Vladimir Putin may announce a new wave of mobilization to bolster the ranks of his military in Ukraine, which the Kremlin denies. The latest mobilization in 2022 forced hundreds of thousands of Russians to flee, many of them to former Soviet states such as Armenia and Georgia.

Anastasia Burakova's organization says requests for help from Russians who want to leave have increased tenfold in August compared to May. For those who are now seeking to flee, the question is whether the West will give them refuge or send them back.