The anti-war position becomes the reason for the expulsion of Russians from Vietnam. This is reported by Voice of America, citing three such cases.
A Colombian-born Russian Sergio Juan , who has lived in Vietnam for over six years, sent an email to the Russian embassy in March 2022. In it, he expressed his disagreement with Russia's attack on Ukraine. Quan was then called to the immigration police, where he was advised to leave the country to "save his life".
A source familiar with the incident confirmed to VOA that the police urged Quan to leave Vietnam with the phrase "save your life." The source agreed to speak on condition of anonymity due to concerns for his safety.
It is not clear if the police threat had any factual basis or if it was a ploy to get him to comply with the deportation order.
As a result, Kuan was detained and put on a flight to Russia. However, he was able to leave the airport during a transfer in Dubai, as he was afraid that he might be detained upon arrival in Moscow. He spent several months in Dubai before being able to fly to another Asian country. Quan's wife and child remained in Vietnam.
Another Russian who has been living in Vietnam for 9 years, English teacher Sergei Kuropov, was summoned to the Department of Education and informed that he was blacklisted. Because of this, he was fired from a kindergarten in Nan Trang.
Kuropov maintained a blog on YouTube in which he made statements against the war in Ukraine. He was called several times to the immigration police department, where they talked about the need to stop doing this, threatening deportation. Some time later Kuropov was contacted by phone by a person unknown to him and informed him that a decision had been made to extradite him to Russia.
The Russian tried to get political asylum in Vietnam, but he was denied it. At the end of 2022, Kuropov and his family were able to get it in Canada.
Russian citizen Sergei Pavlov, who repeatedly criticized the actions of the Russian authorities, received a decision on his deportation at the Russian consulate, where he tried to draw up documents for his newborn daughter. He had to leave for the US and apply for asylum, which Pavlov and his family are now awaiting.
In early April, a Russian was detained in Armenia, who was wanted in Russia on suspicion of desertion. Later he was released. However, the country's Prosecutor General's Office emphasized that in the event of an appeal from Russian law enforcement agencies and "sufficient grounds" he could be sent back to Russia.