‘They want to show no one can escape’: how the long arm of Russia is reaching out for Putin critics in exile

Alina Gorshenina was arrested in June while trying to cross from Kyrgyzstan to Kazakhstan. She was freed after two months behind bars. Photograph: Courtesy of Alina Gorshenina

Lev Skoriakin, 23, fled Russia in January 2023 after he was accused of organising a protest outside the FSB security service’s headquarters in Moscow. As his passport was confiscated by the Russian authorities, he was left with a limited number of escape destinations.

“I could choose Armenia, Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan. I do not know why I chose Kyrgyzstan,” Skoriakin says. “At the time we [Russians who sought to leave the country] thought that if we do not stick our heads out, we will be safe. But we were wrong.”