In a glitzy TV studio, a mother weeps to a backdrop of sentimental music as a presenter speaks of the war-hero son she hasn’t heard from for a year. “And now, he’s here!” the presenter says, prompting gasps from the audience and a heart-wrenching onstage embrace as he steps in front of the cameras.
The tearful TV show featuring Yevgeny Korobov was broadcast in December 2022, about 10 months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Fast-forward to today, and Korobov is seeking political asylum in Kazakhstan — from where he told RFE/RL’s Current Time how, in fact, he had shot himself in the leg to escape a war he did not believe in.
“I don’t want to fight in this war,” he said, speaking from the back room of a cafe in the Kazakh capital, Astana. “There’s nothing wrong with defending Russia on its own soil if it’s attacked. But that didn’t happen.”
Korobov served in the 15th Motorized Rifle Brigade, which included more than 2,000 soldiers and advanced close to Kyiv in the first weeks of the invasion, remaining there until the end of March 2022.
After Russian forces retreated, Ukrainian prosecutors accused several members of the brigade of war crimes. Korobov says he heard about the accusations but did not personally witness any crimes.
Korobov does not deny that by firing toward Ukrainian positions he may have wounded or killed someone. But he says he had no choice.
During the several months he was in Ukraine, he said he realized “the only way out of there is either dead or wounded.” He decided for the latter option and shot himself in the leg during a combat operation.
“The blood started pouring out. Hot. My whole boot was full of blood,” he said.
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Korobov is a career officer and a graduate of a military academy who also served during Russia’s military intervention in Syria, which began in 2015 in support of then President Bashar Al-Assad.
He said he did not want to become a TV poster boy for the invasion of Ukraine but that it was ordered by his commanders. At the time, he was recovering from his self-inflicted wound. State media praised him as a “hero of the special military operation,” using the official Kremlin euphemism for the war.
The TV show claimed Korobov had saved his unit under fire without casualties. In reality, Korobov says, his commander had greatly embellished the story.
Korobov said that even as he stepped onto the stage, a proud figure in uniform clutching a huge bunch of carnations, he feared being sent back to Ukraine — and knew it was a fate he must avoid.
“If you’re going to run, you shouldn’t hide inside Russia. That won’t work. You have to leave the country,” he said.
The following month, in January 2023, Korobov traveled to Astana and applied for asylum. In September 2025, Kazakh authorities officially rejected his request, stating there were no grounds to believe he would face persecution in Russia. On February 5, another Kazakh court ruled against him, stating his desertion from the Russian military was not a political act.
Kazakh human rights activist Artur Alkhastov, who is helping Korobov, said he would appeal.
“The battle is lost, the war continues,” he said. “We have clear and unequivocal evidence that his desertion was not cowardice. It was politically motivated. Korobov does not support the authorities’ policies. He considers [the invasion of Ukraine] a war crime and refuses to take part in it.”
Declared wanted in Russia for desertion, Korobov said he did not wish to reveal the details of his journey to Kazakhstan. While fighting for asylum, he said he had become even more convinced that he made the right choice.
“Russia doesn’t need victory. It needs war. Everything can be justified by war — absolutely everything. Permanent war is beneficial [for the authorities]. From the first days until now, any outcome can be presented as a victory. And those who are dissatisfied can be killed or imprisoned. That’s standard practice in Russia,” he said.
Korobov also had a message for Russian military personnel who are taking part in, or about to take part in, the war in Ukraine.
“Whatever beliefs you have now, the regime will change. They’ll put new ideas in your head. And you’ll realize that everything you believed in, the whole narrative that sent you to war, was a lie. Some people will already be dead. That can’t be undone. But those who are alive still have a choice. So if you can, think. Use your head. And get out of there.”
For his actions and his position, Korobov faces up to 15 years in prison under Russian criminal law.
