#Rusich Yan Petrovsky intends to apply for asylum in #Finland, report Finnish media. Petrovsky entered the country under name of Voislav Torden, the article doesn’t clarify if this is new Petrovsky’s legal name in #Russia or nom de guerre used in a fake passport, but it adds that Petrovsky/Torden had a “re-entry ban into Finland”.
Discussion
Now this is even more interesting, the HS article[^1] seems to contain the most details on #Rusich Petrovsky detention so far:
Voislav Torden was granted a residence permit to Finland on the basis of his wife’s studies, according to his legal adviser, even though he is suspected of terrorist offences in Ukraine. He is on the EU sanctions list under the name Jan Petrovski.
This explains how the entered #Finland in the first place - he just had a new identity, likely legally obtained in #Russia by means of changing his legal name.
According to media reports, the Rusich group was involved in fighting in Luhansk and Donetsk. The legal counsel of Voislav Torden, the Rusich leader arrested in Finland, claims that Torden has only been involved in “political activities” in Ukraine.
This excuse from his legal counsel is of course utter bullshit and there’s plenty of of evidence of Petrovsky participation as a combatant of the #Russia armed forces in #Ukraine. But here’s a trap as well: if they admit any “activities” in Ukraine, then it in the first place it implies he admits illegal crossing of Ukraine’s border.
Now this part is rather incredible and I’m sure his savage colleagues in #Russia are facepalming when they read this tear jerking story on how their neo-Nazi friend “wanted his children to obtain Nordic education”:
The man’s family wanted to move to Finland. They seemed to be able to do so this summer, when his Russian wife was accepted as a student at a Finnish university of applied sciences. According to Malgina, the legal adviser, the residence permit had been granted to the whole family for at least a year on the basis of the wife’s right to study. “He [Torden] wanted a Nordic education for his children. At the same time, he wanted to be close to Russia,” says Malgina.
Aside from its objective absurdity, Russian “patriots” frequently demonstrate this bipolar inconsistency: on one hand you believe in “Great Russia” which is superior in all aspect over “decaying Europe”, but at the same time you see the decay of Russian education or healthcare with your own eyes. But the tradition of “dialectical thinking” inherited from the Soviet system somehow helps them to hold both ideas in their heads and see no contradiction.
Now some more details on how Petrovsky was even allowed to enter Finland:
Torden’s family moved from St Petersburg to Finland on 19 July, when she and her three children crossed the Finnish border at Vaalimaa in a car, without any problems, according to Malgina. Before his wife’s studies were to being and the family settled in Finland, they wanted to meet their family in France. They stayed in a hotel, from where they continued their journey to Helsinki-Vantaa airport, says Malgina. The following day, on 20 July, police arrested Torden in the passenger lounge of Helsinki Airport on suspicion of immigration offences. Initially, there was no talk of terrorism. Malgina says she wondered why Torden was kept in detention in Mäntsälä for five weeks, when in similar cases the turnaround usually takes a couple of days.
But this is the best part, which explains why Petrovsky felt so safe under his new identity:
Last year, Torden had visited Finland on a tourist visa without any problems, according to the lawyer.
There’s also an usual argument from the defense about threat to his life in Ukraine to prevent his extradition:
The legal adviser is trying to prevent Torden’s extradition from Finland to Ukraine. “He would certainly not be allowed to enter a Ukrainian courtroom alive. His life is in danger,” Malgina claims. According to the legal counsel, Torden has been involved in “political activities” in Ukraine in 2014 but denies having committed terrorist acts or fought there.
But the Finnish journalists aren’t too keen to buy this nonsense, because Petrovsky was quite generously talking about his war adventures in Ukraine and the article refers to a number of interviews he gave in Russia, rather explicitly boasting about their battles with Ukrainian forces and “finishing off” wounded soldiers, which I linked before.