The taz presents under taz.de/unserfenster every Wednesday a weekly selection of current reports from critical Russian media. With this project, the taz Panter Foundation strengthens independent journalism and enables critical editorial teams to continue their work even under difficult conditions.
Opens on February 11, 2026 Novaya Gazeta Europe with the following post a window to Russia.
“Estonia has imposed entry bans on the first 261 Russian fighters who took part in the war of aggression against Ukraine – and this is just the beginning.” This is what the Estonian Foreign Minister wrote Margus Tsahkna am 12. Januar 2026 auf X.His reasoning was: “Hundreds of thousands of fighters from the aggressor state took part in this brutal war, committing atrocities and spreading violence. They have no place in Estonia and the Schengen area. We will continue to work to keep the door closed to former Russian fighters, and we call on other countries to do the same.”
When asked whether the ban also applied to deserters from the Russian army, the Estonian Interior Ministry confirmed that this was indeed the case, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported. Estonian officials say they view anyone who fought in the Russian army as a potential security risk: participants in the war in Ukraine are often traumatized, often have criminal records, are hostile to Europe and European values, and could be vulnerable to recruitment by Russian intelligence.
It is perhaps no surprise that the Russian Ministry of Defense does not publish statistics on desertions. Independent investigators and human rights groups rely on indirect data.
In May 2025, the Russian investigative platform Istories published research: From the beginning of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine until the end of 2024, around 49,000 cases of desertion or unauthorized absence from military units were registered. These estimates largely agree with the figures from the Ukrainian OSINT project Frontelligence Insight.
“When we advise people, we always say: the Baltic states are not places where a Russian deserter can realistically expect to receive asylum,” Ivan Chuvilyaev of Get Lost, a project that helps conscripts and soldiers avoid deployment or desert from the front, tells Novaya Gazeta Europe.
InTransit, an organization that supports Russians fleeing political persecution in their own country, made a similar statement: “In the EU there are actually only two or three countries that deal more or less sensibly with Russian deserters: France, Germany and, to a certain extent, Spain,” the organization told Novaya Gazeta Europe.
According to Chuvilyaev, around 60 percent of the people helped by the Get Lost initiative stay in Russia and go into hiding – even if this is usually not a long-term solution. “You can hide for a while, but sooner or later you will be found – stopped by the traffic police, put under pressure by relatives or something else happens.” The remaining 40 percent mainly go to Armenia or Kazakhstan – two countries that Russian citizens can enter with their domestic passport. This is considered a decisive advantage, as many Russians do not have a passport valid for traveling abroad.
However, Kazakhstan is particularly unsafe – the authorities are extraditing people at Russia’s request. Armenia, on the other hand, is safer.
According to InTransit, it is becoming increasingly common for Russians to be stuck in a transit country without a foreign passport. “The vast majority are in Armenia. There are large numbers of deserters and other Russians who have left without foreign passports. Human rights groups estimate the number of deserters at several hundred to 1,000 – but these are only those who have come into contact with NGOs. Many do not, so the actual number could be in the thousands.”
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