The escaped Russian has been living at the Airport for two months
2023.01.19 08:16
The escaped Russian has been living at the Airport for two months
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – Vladimir Maraktayev, a 23-year-old Russian, has been living in a departure lounge at an airport for the past two months.
The linguistics student fled his home in the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude on Sept. 24, after receiving draft papers calling him up for military service in Ukraine during Russia’s “partial mobilisation,” and crossed the border into Mongolia.
He continued his journey to the Philippines before taking a flight to South Korea on November 12 in the hope of obtaining refugee status in what he considered to be one of the most stable democracies in Asia.
Upon his arrival, he applied for refugee status, but the South Korean authorities denied his request on the grounds that fleeing conscription is not a valid justification for asylum.
He was detained for six days before being brought back to the airport. Since then, he hasn’t left.
Because he has appealed the decision, he cannot be deported from South Korea at this time and must remain inside the terminal building while the decision is made.
He is one of five Russian men who are stuck in Incheon, the country’s main international airport, awaiting the appeals process for their asylum applications.
Vladimir observed, “My life is like groundhog day.” He claimed that during the day, he would walk around the airport lounge and try to read books and learn Korean. I basically do nothing during the day.”
He claimed that he and his fellow citizens reside in a small room adjacent to the departures lounge of the airport, where they sleep on blankets atop a raised floor area. They can take a shower, but the hot water supply is limited, so they have to wash their clothes by hand.
The South Korean justice ministry provides him with food despite the fact that he has very little money because Russian bank cards have largely stopped working outside of a small number of countries.
He stated, “The cash I took when I left my home was all I had for a long time.” I treated myself to a coffee at the beginning of the year because I felt I had to.”
He said that living in the airport was a “lesser evil” than returning to Russia, where he believed he would be arrested upon arrival, despite his state of limbo.
He stated that one of his closest schoolmates had already been killed in Ukraine, and his native Buryatia witnessed one of the most aggressive mobilization campaigns in Russia.
“My high school friends informed me just two weeks ago that he passed away in the fall. They even do not know whether or not his body will be found. I would never even wish that on my worst enemy.
