For two months now, 23-year-old Russian Vladimir Maraktayev has been residing in an airport departure lounge.
On Sept. 24, having acquired draft papers calling him up for navy service in Ukraine throughout Russia’s “partial mobilization,” the linguistics scholar left residence within the Siberian metropolis of Ulan-Ude and fled over the border into neighboring Mongolia.
After touring on to the Philippines, he flew to South Korea on Nov. 12, hoping to obtain refugee standing in what he thought-about certainly one of Asia’s most secure democracies.
He utilized for refugee standing upon arrival, however South Korean authorities rejected his software on the grounds that fleeing conscription just isn’t a legitimate motive to be given asylum.
After a six-day stint in a detention middle, he was returned to the airport. He has not left since.
He has appealed the ruling, which suggests he can not but be deported from South Korea and should stay contained in the terminal constructing whereas awaiting the result.
He is certainly one of 5 Russian males presently stranded within the nation’s fundamental worldwide airport, Incheon, ready for his or her asylum instances to be appealed.
“My life is like ‘Groundhog Day’,” stated Vladimir. He stated his days include taking walks across the airport lounge and attempting to learn books and research Korean. “All day I do basically nothing.”
He stated he and his compatriots stay in a small room off the airport’s departures lounge, the place they sleep on blankets atop a raised space of ground. They are capable of bathe, however there’s solely restricted scorching water and so they have to scrub their garments by hand.
Though he has little or no cash, as Russian financial institution playing cards have largely stopped working outdoors a handful of nations, he receives meals from the South Korean justice ministry.
“All I had for a long period of time was the cash I took when I left my home,” he stated. “At the New Year I bought myself a coffee because I felt I must treat myself somehow.”
Despite his state of limbo, he stated residing within the airport was a “lesser evil” in comparison with returning to Russia, the place he believed he could be arrested upon arrival.
His native area of Buryatia noticed some of the aggressive mobilization campaigns in Russia, and he stated that certainly one of his closest college buddies had already been killed in Ukraine.
“Just two weeks ago I got the news from my high school friends that he died in the autumn. They don’t even know if his body will be retrieved or not. That’s something I’d never even wish for my worst enemy.” — Reuters
