‘Going back to Russia would be a dead-end street’

The only option left open to Suetin now is to return to Russia. The UDI cited statements made by Vladimir Putin and Sergey Shoigu, Russia’s former defence minister, announcing an end to mobilisation in October 2022, which, in its view, meant Suetin no longer ran the risk of being called up to fight. But Suetin worries that he will be detained immediately upon crossing the Russian border and points out that the police have come looking for him more than once.

Novaya Europe spoke to Suetin, found out how he fled Russia and asked what he plans to do next.

NGE: When and why did you decide to flee Russia?

PS: It was all very straightforward and simple. I was sitting at home the day mobilisation came into force on 21 September 2022. There was a knock at my door at about 10pm. I could see it was the police and military standing there. You don’t have to be all that clever to realise why they’d come. I just didn’t open the door.

Earlier in the day, a lot of friends had called me and said they’d already been to their places. They were surprised: “Don’t you see what this means?” But I laughed. I didn’t really think it was that serious. I thought it must be nonsense. But then they came for me too. I hadn’t yet turned 35 when they wanted to hand me my call-up papers and I’d served in the army, so I was at the front of the queue for mobilisation, without a doubt.

NGE: What did you do in Russia? And how did you manage to get across the border in the end?

PS: I had my own little coffee shop in Russia. I owned and ran it and had a couple of employees. I worked at the counter myself too. I loved my job. But when I saw the military, I decided to make a run for it. And I left my home in Severomorsk early the next day.

My mother had already been living in the town of Vadsø in northern Norway for about 15 years and already had citizenship, and I thought that sitting this out at her place was the best option. I had my passport and a tourist visa, both of which were due to expire in a year. I took a backpack with just the basics. I thought it would be a week or two and then all the hype over mobilisation would die down and I could safely return home.

I left Severomorsk around 5am, went to Murmansk and from there to Norway. It’s about a 3-4-hour drive to the border. I was there by about 8am. One of the reasons the UDI gave for refusing my asylum application was that I had “crossed the border without a problem”, which means I shouldn’t face any difficulties back in Russia. I told them the information that I was due to be mobilised might just not have made it to the border yet. If it had, they wouldn’t have let me out.

I followed whatever information there was online about mobilisation and could see that the situation was escalating and becoming increasingly tense. The only option I had left was to go to the police in Vadsø and apply for political asylum. There was no legal way of staying in the country via family reunification and a Norwegian mother as I am already well over 18 and do not need special care. I told the police that they wanted to send me to fight in this criminal war and that I didn’t want to be an accomplice. I didn’t want to kill or be killed. Half of my relatives are Ukrainian. It’s absurd to go and shoot relatives.

NGE: What did the police say?

PS: They asked if I really had nowhere else to go. Maybe I had relatives somewhere else? Had I applied for asylum in other countries? No, Norway was my only option. They took my passport from me and in return they issued me an asylum seeker card. So they accepted my application.

I was sent to a tent camp for refugees near Oslo. I stayed there for about a month, and then I asked to go to Kirkenes, in the very north of Norway. I was provided with a one-room apartment for free, which I currently share with another person. And I sat here for two years waiting for a miracle.

I asked for a work permit as soon as I arrived. They gave it to me after about six months. This is my second season working in a fish factory. I pay taxes. I’m not on benefits or reliant on the state. I’m working, I’m learning the language. I’m trying to assimilate. I consider myself a pretty decent person.

NGE: What problems did you face while waiting for the outcome of your asylum request?

PS: My passport and visa have both since expired. With my asylum seeker’s card, I can’t even buy plane or train tickets, I can’t register a SIM card in my name or get a bank card, for example. The only thing I can do is go to the police and ask for a copy of my passport, which they still have. But even then, the passport has expired anyway. And I can’t go to the consulate to get a new passport: first, there’s the risk of being held on embassy or consulate property. Second, I was told applying for asylum meant I was rejecting Russia, so I no longer had a right to Russian consular services.

Whenever I told UDI employees this, they would smile nicely, shrug their shoulders and say “Sorry, there’s nothing we can do.”

NGE: Why were you denied asylum?

PS: Their decision referred to Vladimir Putin and Sergey Shoigu both stating that mobilisation in the country had officially ended, so I faced no threat and could safely return home. I really hope that [talking to the media] can somehow influence their decision to send me back to Russia. For me, going back to Russia would be a dead-end street. 

I’ve been ordered to leave not just Norway, but the entire Schengen area and EU within three weeks.

But I can’t go to Kazakhstan or Georgia, say, because I don’t have a valid passport. I can’t even buy my own ticket. The only place they can send me is Russia. And the UDI knows it.

NGE: How do you see your situation and what do you plan to do next?

PS: I’ve been stressed for weeks. I never doubted that I’d be given asylum. I just thought it was a matter of time. But they turned me down, and now I’m in a state of panic and shock. But I’m hoping for the best.

The UDI provided me with a lawyer for free, and we talked about my case for an hour through an interpreter. He listened to what I disagreed with. And now I have a couple of days to appeal.

In any case, I can’t go back to Russia. If they turn me down again, it will be like a shot to the heart.