Don’t come back anymore.” How Russians are interrogated at the Russian border after returni...

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Forwarded From Here’s the Deal

“Don’t come back anymore”. How Russians are interrogated at the Russian border after returning and how to prepare for it

Actress Inga Aleinikova left Russia for Slovenia after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. There she began helping Ukrainian refugees. In mid-February 2026, Inga decided to go to Russia to visit her sick mother.

At the airport, she was met with a phone inspection and an interrogation in an FSB office. The woman crossed the border, but her contact with the security forces did not end there. The next day, the officer who had conducted the interrogation called her. After that, the calls became daily. If Inga did not answer for a long time, the security officer could call five more times until she picked up and say: “You’d better answer my calls.”

The actress spent ten days in Russia. When she returned to Slovenia, the intelligence officer contacted her again. “Don’t come back anymore,” he wrote, adding a sun emoji.

➡ What happens during interrogations, how to prepare for a trip to Russia, and who absolutely must not return home — read in the Here’s the Deal report.

➡ Here — without VPN.

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How Russians are interrogated at the Russian border after returning

Some Russian citizens who left the country after the start of the war still continue to travel to Russia, even if they have made anti-war statements or work for organizations that have been recognized...

The Border Let Her In, Then Called

After the border interrogation, the officer's calls became daily.

Return was approved exactly once.