Evgeny Korobov
On February 5, the Astana court denied refugee status to Russian serviceman Evgeny Korobov. This was reported by his lawyer, Arthur Alkhastov, a lawyer from the Kazakhstan Bureau for Human Rights, to the project "Vot Tak".
Since the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, similar decisions have been made regarding ten other Russian deserters, and Korobov became the eleventh on this list.
Evgeny Korobov, a senior lieutenant and military academy graduate, has been at the front since the very beginning of the hostilities. He claims that he did not shoot at people and even shot himself in the leg during a mission to avoid further service. At the end of 2022, after being hospitalized, he moved to Kazakhstan, where he was granted a temporary residence permit. Since April 2024, he had been in the status of an asylum seeker. During this time, a criminal case was opened against him in Russia under Article 338 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Desertion"), and he ended up on the federal and then international wanted list, which made it impossible to extend his temporary residence permit in Kazakhstan.
Korobov applied twice to the Employment and Social Protection Department of Astana for refugee status, but was denied both times. An attempt to challenge the decision in the court of Kazakhstan's capital was unsuccessful. Lawyer Arthur Alkhastov intends to file an appeal, emphasizing the political nature of his client's refusal to fight, which may serve as grounds for persecution in his homeland.
After the court's decision comes into effect, Korobov will be required to leave Kazakhstan within 30 days, Alkhastov noted. In case of deportation, he faces a prison sentence of up to 15 years.
