“We have several examples of people who got eight years in prison when they crossed the [Russian] border,” says Andrei Pivovarov, from Russia’s exiled opposition Anti-War Committee.

And deportations are taking place from Europe too. His organisation has changed its advice to dissidents escaping Russia: the EU is no longer safe, it is better to seek refuge elsewhere.

Germany has sharply increased the number of Russian nationals it deports. Seven were sent back in 2023, rising to more than 110 in 2025, according to German government figures. More than 21,000 Russians sought asylum in Germany between 2022 and 2025, but the proportion of positive decisions fell from 29% in 2023 to just 6.8% in the first eleven months of 2025.

“Protection is only granted if there is an actual, well-founded fear of persecution,” Germany’s migration and asylum agency, BAMF, told the BBC.

Last year, Berlin suspended its humanitarian visa programme for Russians, and across the EU, the proportion of Russian applicants granted some form of asylum protection fell from 23% in 2024 to around 17% in the first nine months of 2025, according to EU data.

Russian opposition activists fleeing repression have become caught up in a wider crackdown on immigration, as governments across Europe and the US toughen rules amid political pressure over high numbers of irregular migrants and asylum applications, as well as over security concerns.

Western governments are “focused on limiting humanitarian programmes and asylum seekers”, says lawyer Anastasia Burakova, founder of rights group Kovcheg (Ark), which helps anti-war Russians leave the country. The clampdown is “in response to public concerns and rising support for right-wing populist parties”, she adds.

Following a negative asylum decision, Russian nationals are often given the chance to leave independently, but a rising number are being forcibly returned to Russia, usually escorted via third countries.

Several Russian activists in exile told the BBC that immigration officials had told them they faced “no danger” in Russia, and that officials often lacked an adequate understanding of the risks that activists face.

“I tried to explain that if they sent me back, I would be put in prison, or sent to war where I’d be killed,” explains former soldier Artyom, who deserted from the Russian Army in 2022 after officers threatened to send him to Ukraine. “They just didn’t believe me.”