GeorgiaGeorgia denies reports that they granted asylum to Russian army deserterIf confirmed, it would be the first known case in which a Russian deserter has received Georgian asylum since February 2022. (Updated: 19 days ago )• 1 min readShare▲Vladislav Tatarintsev, who fled his Russian military unit in 2025. Photo: MediazonaEditor’s note: this article has been amended by the Migration Service’s comment provided a day after publication. Georgia’s Migration Service has denied Russian independent media reports that it granted a year-long international protection to Vladislav Tatarintsev, a deserter from the Russian army. Fleeing his military unit in 2025, Tatarintsev was detained by Georgian law enforcement and criminally charged over his alleged illegal crossing of the Georgia border in April 2026. Sofia Chepik, Tatarintsev’s partner, told Mediazona that he was arrested while trying to cross into Turkey. Chepik — the co-founder of Scarlet Swan — an organisation established to support internet freedom in Russia, informed Russian media outlets about the success of his asylum application on Wednesday. However, the country’s migration body has denied granting Tatarintsev protection. ‘The competent Georgian authorities have not made any such decision concerning Vladislav Tatarintsev, and he does not hold refugee or subsidiary protection status as provided for under Georgia’s Law on International Protection’, it said in a comment provided to OC Media on Friday. According to the Russian independent media outlet Mediazona, Tatarintsev signed a contract with Russia’s Defence Ministry in late 2024, believing honour guard company contractors would not be sent to war. He was later deployed to occupied Ukraine in summer 2025, where he worked as an engineer near Avdiivka, before deserting with the help of the Russian anti-war project ‘Go Through the Forest’. Chepik told Russian media that Tatarintsev spent some time in a shelter for asylum seekers after entering Georgia. She also said he was detained while attempting to continue his journey to Turkey illegally and without documents. The Migration Service did not provide further details, but said Tatarintsev remains in custody at the ‘relevant penitentiary facility’ over his alleged illegal border crossing. Mikheil joined OC Media after a long career as a journalist at Netgazeti, focusing on politics, human rights and the wider region. He has an academic background in Arabic Studies and maintains a strong interest in Arabic language, Egyptian cinema, and the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.