A criminal case has been filed in the Pravdinsky District Court of Russia’s Kaliningrad Region against a 16-year-old boy, who stands accused of illegally crossing the border. According to a now-deleted statement put out by the court, the teenager crossed from Poland into Russia after requesting political asylum in Poland. He did so only after Polish border guards handed him back to the Russian authorities.
The news was circulated by the Russian business-focused outlet RBC, along with human-rights-focused outlet in exile Mediazona and investigative publication Important Stories.
The court’s press release says the boy intended to travel to an EU country to seek asylum. On Aug. 20, he flew from St. Petersburg to Kaliningrad, and on Aug. 24, he reached the village of Sevskoye in the Pravdinsky District before walking toward the border. He then swam across the Lava River and entered Polish territory, where he was detained by the Polish Border Guard Service before being transferred back to Russia.
The teenager now faces charges of illegally crossing a state border, an offense punishable by up to two years in prison. However, minors cannot be sentenced to imprisonment for low-severity offenses.
Lt. Col. Andrzej Juźwiak, spokesperson for the commandant of the Polish Border Guard, told The Insider that officers had identified several people who crossed the border from Russia, but none had applied for asylum:
“Since the beginning of this year, officers of the Warmian-Masurian Division of the Border Guard have identified three people who illegally crossed the border from Russia into Poland. None of them applied for international protection in Poland.”