A Russian Air Force pilot, Lieutenant Dmitry Mishov, who fled the country after refusing to take part in Ukraine's invasion is currently in Lithuania, officials have confirmed.
“If he crossed the border illegally, the least secured border today is the Latvian one, although he might have crossed the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. So far, we have minimal information. The services are looking for possible traces of this citizen," Interior Vice Minister Arnoldas Abramavičius told BNS on Friday.
Later, the vice minister clarified that the Russian officer had turned to migration officials for asylum, but his request was denied.
"The citizen in question [...] is in Lithuania. Yesterday, he went to the Vilnius branch of the Migration Department in an attempt to register his asylum request, but it was not registered," said Abramavičius, adding that institutions were aware of the Russian pilot's whereabouts.
"The citizen did not enter Lithuania's territory through the external EU border we protect, but through an internal EU border," he said. "He probably entered either from Poland or Latvia."
"He might have links with Russian opposition organisations, it could also be a provocation, which we do not rule it out because the timing is very purposeful as the NATO summit is coming closer," Abramavičius said.
"There might be a possibility of discrediting [institutions], because when a person does not approach authorities first, but first speaks to the BBC, there are all sorts of issues – from him being an opposition member to being a provocateur," the vice minister added.
His comments came in response to the media reports that Mishov fled to Lithuania in late May.
In his interview with the BBC on Thursday, Mishov said he fled to one of the Baltic countries on May 28 and contacted Lithuanian's migration authorities on the day of the interview. The pilot said he was an assistant helicopter crew commander and later became a military helicopter pilot-operator.
LRT English
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
