Russian officer defects to Lithuania: ‘Asked for political asylum as Putin…'

Russia-Ukraine War: Ivan Korolev said that he made the decision to defect as he was no longer wishing to take part in Russia's "bloody war" with Ukraine.

Russian military officer defected to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member Lithuania, requesting political asylum in an attempt to escape Moscow's war with Ukraine, BBC reported. Ivan Korolev, a lieutenant in the Russian army, had illegally crossed the border into Lithuania, it was reported. The crossing took place this week with the lieutenant making his way to the capital city of Vilnius before being detained by border guards. He was taken into custody at a checkpoint.

Russia-Ukraine War: A Ukrainian serviceman stands amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine.(AP)

Ivan Korolev told the BBC that he made the decision to defect as he was no longer wishing to take part in Russia's "bloody war" with Ukraine. He had never taken part in the direct conflict in Ukraine itself but had served in different capacities, he said.

“On August 3, I decided to leave the Russian Federation due to the fact that I did not want to take part in the bloody war that my state unleashed. At the moment I am in the Republic of Lithuania, where I asked for political asylum,” Ivan Korolev said.

“I participated in the [special military operation], but remained on the territory of the Russian Federation this whole time. I have not been on Ukrainian territory. We supplied Russian troops with ammunition. We took ammunition from all over Russia, from all parts, from all arsenals, and distributed it to brigades, units directly in Ukraine,” he continued.

Ivan Korolev has been transferred to a migration center in Pabradė while his political aslyum application is being processed and considered. Earlier in May, a group of defecting soldiers released a video statement via the Freedom of Russia Legion, against Russia's Ukraine invasion. “We are Russians like you. We want our children to grow up in peace and be free people so that they can travel, study and just be happy in a free country,” a soldier said in the video, adding, “The time has come to put an end to the dictatorship of the Kremlin.”