After Vladimir Putin announced the mobilization of Russia’s reservist troops in September 2022, tens of thousands of men who were due to be drafted left the country. Those who fail to enlist after being called up face heavy fines and, thanks to a criminal law passed just before this announcement, up to 10 years imprisonment.
‘I thought about what taxes I would have paid in Russia to go through with this war, to kill Ukrainian children and their parents,’ says Vladimir Pertsov, who was on vacation with his family in Germany when the mobilization was announced. ‘I do not want to live with this,’ he explains. He has not returned to Russia since.
