As of: February 24, 2024, 8:25 a.m
By: Pitt von Bebenburg
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Press
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Tens of thousands of men from Russia and Ukraine refuse to serve in the military - but not many receive protection in Germany.
Two portraits on the anniversary of the start of the war.
Frankfurt – At the front they could face each other and perhaps have to shoot each other.
But the Russian Maxim Nekulcha and the Ukrainian Andrii Konovalov don't want to fight.
You have started a new life in Germany.
Nekulcha and Konovalov don't know each other, but both have contact with the conscientious objector organization Connection eV. Because both have avoided military service, although their path is significantly different.
Maxim Nekulcha from Saint Petersburg left his old life behind because he didn't want to become part of Putin's war machine.
© Berghöfer
According to estimates, there are more than 100,000 Ukrainian conscientious objectors in Germany
Andrii Konovalov, 24 years old, who comes from Kropyvnytskyi in central Ukraine, came to Germany before the war to study in Cologne.
The pacifist still considers himself a conscientious objector: “Every Ukrainian who lives here in Germany and has a right of residence here is clearly a conscientious objector who does not want to go to this war,” he says in German.
Otherwise people would go back to Ukraine to fight on the front.
According to estimates by Connection eV, there are more than 100,000 Ukrainian conscientious objectors living in Germany and more than 200,000 others in other European countries.
Andrii Konovalov, 24 years old, comes from Ukraine.
He studies in Cologne.
© private
In search of safety: Escape from Russian military service leads to Germany
However, the Russian Maxim Nekulcha, 30 years old, from Saint Petersburg, fled when the Russian authorities tried to conscript him into military service.
Nekulcha received draft orders three times.
He refused to obey them three times.
But there was a threat that he could be forcibly recruited.
That's why the man with the ear studs and the well-groomed beard left the country in November 2022, which had already been waging war against Ukraine for nine months.
He managed to leave via Moldova on a flight to Serbia, which made a stopover in Germany.
Nekulcha applied for asylum while still on the plane.
He is now recognized as a politically persecuted person in the Federal Republic.
Not just because he refused military service.
But also because he had already been exposed to repression before.
Maxim Nekulcha, 30 years old, comes from Russia.
He lives in Giessen.
© private
With the organization “Deystviye” (Action), he ran a community center for the gay, lesbian and queer community.
“There were threats because I was in the organization,” he says.
There are not many men from Russia who were able to successfully apply for protection - many never even managed to get to Germany.
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Asylum procedure in Germany: Few recognitions for Russian applicants
According to information from Pro Asyl and Connection, there were only eleven recognitions and 33 rejections in the Federal Republic in the first eight months of 2023 - in the majority of cases, Russians were referred to asylum procedures in other countries through which they had entered.
Nekulcha now lives in a shared apartment in Gießen, Hesse.
He is allowed to stay in Germany and the country can make good use of him: The Russian is an IT specialist and has worked in the industry for ten years.
But first he learns the language.
His German is already quite good, but when talking to the journalist he prefers to have a friend with him to translate.
Resistance without weapons: Ukrainian student on his decision not to go to the front
The Ukrainian Konovalov speaks German almost perfectly.
He is studying biochemistry in the seventh semester.
For some people, defending the “1991 borders”, i.e. after the collapse of the Soviet Union, is a necessity, says the blonde young man.
Not for him.
“I will not go to the front line for this and none of my friends would do that.” At the end of January, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to Ukrainians in Germany.
He wants them to return.
But he will not put any pressure on Germany.
Conscientious objection: “No legal basis” for extradition
The organization Connection reports worried reactions.
Many Ukrainians asked how they could avoid being recruited and prosecuted, reports managing director Rudi Friedrich - and emphasizes that there is "no legal recourse" for extraditions.
Konovalov is convinced that wouldn't work either.
In such a case, he would move on from Germany to another European or English-speaking country.
“If someone tried to recruit these people, Russian propaganda would be confirmed,” he says.
“That would be threatening for all politicians who try to do that.”
Maxim Nekulcha cannot imagine moving back to Russia.
Although his father, mother and sister still live there.
“After everything Russia has done, for me the country is desecrated,” says the 30-year-old.
“The war was the last straw for me.” (
Pitt von Bebenburg
)