The US deported a Russian deserter, but he escaped from prison in his home country.

Russian Artem Vovchenko, speaking out against the war in Ukraine, deserted from the Russian army and fled to the United States. There, he spent 13 months in three American detention centers before being denied asylum. The Trump administration deported him home in handcuffs, knowing he faced imprisonment in his home country, writes The New York Times. However, the deserter managed to escape abroad again.

The New York Times first reported on Artem Vovchenko last year, after he was among the people the Trump administration began deporting en masse.

I completely disagree

Vovchenko, the son of a security guard and a hairdresser, grew up in a poor family in a provincial town in southern Russia.

After graduating from college, the young man was drafted into the army. After serving the required term, Vovchenko was reluctantly forced to sign a contract for another year of service (according to the fugitive, he was forced to do so).

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When Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Vovchenko was horrified: he had always considered Ukrainians a brotherly people.

"I couldn't come to terms with it and thought, 'What the hell? On what basis?'" he said.

Convinced his unit was about to be sent to Ukraine, Vovchenko fled. He first went to Indonesia, where he worked as a jiu-jitsu coach, and then moved to Mexico. In 2024, the Russian crossed the US border and requested asylum.

He was sent to a detention center in Mississippi. There, he says, he worked in the kitchen for $1 a day, preparing porridge. One day, while carrying a 68-kilogram container of food, the immigrant slipped and injured his back.

“Even in the army, where I was, of course, treated poorly, I never encountered such treatment as there,” Vovchenko noted.

However, a spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security said: "Any allegations of inadequate conditions in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities are not true."

Extreme tension

Last summer, when he lost his asylum case, he was put on a military plane.

Artyom believed that his last chance to preserve his freedom was to convince the Egyptian authorities during his transfer in Cairo not to send him to Russia, but to let him go to Indonesia, where his visa was still valid.

At first he politely asked for permission to change his route, but soon things went completely differently than he had expected.

Vovchenko entered the airport restroom, grabbed a pipe, and declared he wasn't going anywhere. He said Egyptian guards attacked him and began beating him. He felt a sharp pain in his back, and then one of the guards began strangling him with his shirt collar.

Finally, an armed man appeared and threatened to shoot him.

After this, Artyom went limp - the guards picked him up, tied his hands and feet and carried him "like a sausage" onto a plane heading to Moscow.

Upon arrival, Moscow airport security personnel discovered that 27-year-old Vovchenko was wanted by military prosecutors. By then, the despair he felt at the way Russia and the United States had treated him had given way to bitter resignation.

"Fuck you all. Do whatever you want. I know I'm right," Artyom told them then. "I've resigned myself to it. In fact, I was ready to die."

Then he encountered the Russian military machine. He was sent to a military base to await trial. Days there turned into weeks, and gradually the desire to fight for his own future returned. He says he patiently waited for the right moment, prayed every night, and relied on the discipline he'd developed over years of martial arts training. He began to devise an escape plan.

"I simply trusted in the Lord and decided: if God helps me walk this path, then that's how it's meant to be. If He doesn't allow me to walk it, then that's my destiny," Artyom reasoned then.

Like an alien

Returning to Russia, Vovchenko unexpectedly found himself in a situation where the chaos in the military system, overburdened by the war in Ukraine, played into his hands.

He was held in a military prison for two days, after which he was sent to a base near Moscow. This base typically serves as a training center for military personnel specializing in communications systems, but according to Vovchenko, it is now used to hold military personnel in custody.

There, Artyom saw cells filled with wounded soldiers, many of whom suffered from mental disorders or had serious health problems.

However, Vovchenko noted, the conditions at this base were better than those at the American detention center. Some Russian personnel treated him kindly, although they called the soldiers themselves "traitors" and criticized them for desertion.

Security wasn't as strict as in a typical Russian prison. According to Vovchenko, neither his phone nor his passport were confiscated, and his bag was only checked for weapons. Artyom admitted that the officers rarely encountered people like him, who had lived abroad for years, so they began calling him "American," despite his repeated protests.

“To be honest, I was like an alien to them,” Vovchenko concluded.

Due to the large number of wounded soldiers, the deported fugitive had no access to medical care through the state system. He raised money and became one of dozens of arrested soldiers who were regularly transported by guards to local private medical facilities.

Doctors explained to Vovchenko that he had three herniated discs, one of which protruded from the spinal canal by 11 millimeters.

Over the course of several months of such trips to the hospital, while the guard waited for them to pick him up and take him back to the base, Vovchenko began planning his escape.

"It's like preparing for a competition," he compared his plans to the actual competition. "You can't spend too much time just thinking about the competition itself. You need to focus on specific tasks, on key details, and then just perform."

Totally lost

One day, Artyom was taken to a medical facility for another treatment, and when he was out of sight of the security guard, he left and hailed a taxi.

The fugitive had prepared in advance. He knew exactly which route he would take and how he would avoid detection. He estimated he had about three hours to leave the Moscow region before the search began.

He faced a long prison sentence or forced deployment to the front lines. Therefore, in his view, the risk was worth it.

"I just couldn't bring myself to give in and let my whole life go to waste like that," Vovchenko explained.

While he was being held in a pretrial detention facility at a military base, his name was removed from the wanted list. Artyom claims this is standard procedure for Russian courts.

The detainee made it to the Belarusian border in several cars, where travel is free from the Russian side. He read online about the possibility of leaving Russia via Belarus after other compatriots opposed to the war, including Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina, publicly described how they had used this route.

According to a Rapid Unit representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, the organization verified Vovchenko's identity and provided him with assistance.

Rapid Unit is an underground group that helps Russian political prisoners go into hiding and escape to safety. It organized Vovchenko's departure, primarily by assisting him in Belarus. As circumstances changed, the group adjusted its plan, working with partner organizations to arrange tickets, logistics, and temporary housing.

A Rapid Unit spokesman said the route had to be changed several times, but Vovchenko was eventually able to get out of Belarus and to a safer location.

The New York Times agreed not to disclose the fugitive's current whereabouts for security reasons.

Having regained his freedom, Artyom is trying to rebuild his life. His back problems continue to plague him, and he's run out of money.

“Now I have absolutely no idea what to do,” he concluded.

Dmitry Valeev, president of Russian America for Democracy in Russia, an American organization that assists Russian asylum seekers, organized a fundraiser for Vovchenko. So far, only $2,000 of the $12,000 needed has been raised. This money is intended to help him start a new life elsewhere.

For his part, Vovchenko regrets thinking the United States would be his welcome and not fully understanding how the American immigration system works. Now he's trying to shake off the fear that constantly haunts him because of his need to hide. Artyom no longer wants to see nightmares of people regularly coming to take him away.

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He recently managed to compete in a jiu-jitsu tournament. He'd been trying to rehabilitate his back on his own for several weeks prior. Given his current dire situation, this victory was a small stroke of luck.

"I have my own goals, my own dreams. I just want to live my life," concluded the Russian who refused to fight.

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