I just tried. And God was with me.” How a Russian deserter escaped the army twice ...

“I just tried. And God was with me.” How a Russian deserter escaped the army twice — in a report by ‘Govorit NeMoskva’

Conscript Artyom Vovchenko managed to flee the army so as not to take part in the war against Ukraine, serve time in a deportation jail in the United States, endure deportation back to Russia, end up in the army again, and escape again.

It all began with a contract he was tricked into signing on the eve of the war against Ukraine.

Artyom did not want to go to war and managed to escape from his unit at a Russian military base in the Armenian city of Gyumri — through Georgia and Indonesia to the United States. The man spent eight months in a deportation jail, but never made it onto U.S. territory and lost his court case.

👋 ‘Verstka’ wrote about Artyom’s deportation from the United States in the article “Russians were deported en masse in 2025 after being denied asylum.” Read it with a VPN or via the mirror.

After being deported to Russia, deserter Vovchenko ended up in a military remand center — a “collection point,” where he was supposed to wait for trial. But he managed to escape from there too.

“I had a choice: either I go to the SVO, and there it would only be assault units. And that’s suicide. Or serve from seven to twelve years. That’s what they would have given me. And I just tried. And God was with me, the Lord helped, and everything worked out well here.”

Read the full story of the conscript with an incredible longing for freedom on the ‘Govorit NeMoskva’ website:

😘 More important materials from ‘Verstka’ here