Need to leave, asylum

• First check whether you can leave: a summons in the draft register, a bailiff debt over 30,000 roubles, a criminal case, or state-secret clearance. How to check: see 'Am I on a list?'.
• On an internal passport you can enter Armenia (by air only), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus. Belarus is not a way out: since 2026 it shares an exit-ban database with Russia, and people have been detained at Minsk airport and handed to Russian officers. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have handed people over. Armenia does not extradite in political cases, but may detain a wanted person and keep them from leaving for months.
• Before the border, prepare an ordinary phone with a safe history in advance: an empty phone itself raises questions. Border guards ask about the purpose of the trip, your job, relatives in Ukraine and your view of the war. Prepare short, truthful answers. Don't lie about things that are easy to check: tickets, work, relatives.
• In advance: power of attorney for family, a second passport, apostilles on diplomas and civil-status documents, money not only on Russian cards. Much can't be done remotely later (see 'The register of people abroad').
• Where to turn: Kovcheg, Go by the Forest, inTransit, Reforum Help ('undesirable' in Russia; contact it from a phone other than one that could be seized); if a case against you may already be in the works: First Department.
• If a case is being prepared against you. The law does not bar a witness from leaving. It does bar suspects and the accused (art. 15, Law 114-FZ). Leaving under an undertaking not to leave is not a separate crime, but it almost always leads to a wanted notice, arrest in absentia and a trial in absentia. Decide only with a lawyer: First Department advises people facing a case.
• Since 20 January 2026 children under 14 can no longer travel to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan or Belarus on a birth certificate. For these countries and for Armenia they need their own passport or an entry in a parent's 5-year passport (until the end of 2026). Check in advance whether the other parent's consent is needed.
• Choose transit carefully. Turkey deported an anti-war Russian woman in July 2026, and Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have handed people over. If you face a case, avoid changing planes in countries that extradite or deport people to Russia, and don't fly Russian airlines.

Designations of organisations in this guide: Reforum Help (undesirable). Contacting them carries a risk: do not write from a phone that may be seized, and do not repost their materials.

current as of 26 September 2026. More: Kovcheg: leaving Russia without an international passport (foreign agent); OVD-Info: questions asked at the border (extremist); First Department: how persecuted Russians can travel (foreign agent); Kovcheg: crossing the border with Belarus (updated 21 Sep 2026) (foreign agent); Kovcheg: questioning at the border (foreign agent)