Russian soldier crosses into Arctic Norway after defecting from Ukraine war
By Thomas Nilsen & Olesia Krivtsova
A Russian soldier in his late 20s who fought in the war against Ukraine crossed the border into Norway during the night of Thursday, 13 August.
Sources familiar with the case told the Barents Observer that the soldier fought in the war against Ukraine for more than a year before defecting about two years ago. Since then, he has been on the run, hiding in forests in Siberia. Earlier this summer, he began making his way north towards the Norwegian border.
He travelled on foot across the terrain of the Kola Peninsula and crossed into Norway during the night of 13 August. He then called a contact in Europe.
The person is a Russian citizen, originally from Novosibirsk Oblast. In late 2022, the man was mobilised to the Army and sent to the frontline.
Police confirmed to the Barents Observer that a person is suspected of illegally crossing the border.
Military border guards detained the man at around 1 a.m. The arrest took place without incident.
Both the Ranger Battalion GSV and the police had an increased presence in the area during the night, using dog patrols, drones and border patrols.
“It has not been revealed that there have been more people following or in the terrain,” Chief of Staff Tarjei Sirma-Tellefsen said.
The police have declined to provide further details, but said the person was detained in the area between Grense Jakobselv and Korpfjell. This is the northernmost section of the 198-kilometre land border between Norway and Russia.
Norwegian border officials have informed Russian FSB border guards about the suspected crossing. This is standard procedure when people illegally cross the border through the terrain.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the man has requested asylum in Norway.
Previous illegal crossings
There have been only three known illegal border crossings in the Grense Jakobselv area over the past decade.
Last year, another Russian defector from the war against Ukraine crossed a shallow stream at Grense Jakobselv. The Barents Observer later published an extensive interview with the man, who described how he found a small opening in the Russian barbed-wire fence after walking towards the border for two weeks.
A few years earlier, a Russian man came ashore in the area where the stream meets the sea after his small boat drifted across from Russian coastal waters.
In November 2015, during the autumn when 5,500 migrants were assisted to the official checkpoint at Storskog by the Russian FSB, a Chinese citizen suddenly came walking across the border through the snow near Grense Jakobselv. The man was not dressed for the snowy winter conditions.
The section of the border where the man was detained is about 20 kilometres from Pechenga, where the nearest Russian road is located. To reach Norway, anyone crossing illegally must first get through the barbed-wire fence Russia has erected several kilometres from the actual border.
Extra surveillance
When Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilisation in September 2022 to send more soldiers to fight his war against Ukraine, Norwegian police increased surveillance along the border in preparation for possible deserters fleeing Russia.
The Pechenga region is home to both the 61st Naval Infantry Brigade and the 71st Army Division.
Norway’s land border with Russia is 198 kilometres long.
In 2023, two people illegally crossed the border from Norway into Russia near the Storskog checkpoint.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, there have also been several other illegal crossings in the Jarfjord and Pasvik areas. The best-known was that of former Wagner fighter Andrei Medvedev, who crossed the border in the middle of winter in 2023.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Canada, U.S. shadow Chinese research ships in the Arctic as concern grows over Snow Dragons’ presence, Eye on the Arctic
Denmark: Denmark to provide four F-35 fighter jets to NATO’s Arctic Sentry, Reuters
Finland: Greenland clash left a mark on EU-US relations says Finnish PM, Yle News
Greenland: New Italy Arctic policy adds U.S. Greenland ambitions to growing Arctic competition narrative, Eye on the Arctic
Iceland: NATO chief to Arctic Allies: “We’re all frontline states now,” as Iceland’s role grows, Eye on the Arctic
Norway: Europeans step up submarine hunting in the North, The Independent Barents Observer
Russia: Putin says Russia will start seizing EU vessels if bloc goes after Russian ships, Reuters
Sweden: Swedish military intelligence on the great power rivalry over Greenland, Radio Sweden
United States: U.S. Coast Guard Operation Frontier Sentinel already underway when Chinese ships arrvied in Bering Sea, CBC News
