Russian man swims across river from Kaliningrad region to Lithuania — border guards dried him off and sent him back

Lithuanian border guards detained a Russian citizen, believed to be around 60 years old, near the town of Pagėgiai after he swam across the Nemunas River from Russia's Kaliningrad region. The incident was confirmed by Lithuanian border service spokesman Gediminas Mišutis.

According to Lithuania's Interior Minister Martynas Kateliauskas, the detained man requested asylum, claiming he was being persecuted in Russia for his activity on social media. However, Mišutis noted that Lithuanian authorities found no evidence supporting the claim that he faced danger at home or that he held any special status entitling him to enter the EU.

In the end, border guards gave him dry clothes and shoes before sending him back to Russia on Thursday evening.

An unusual incident on the border

According to Euronews, attempts to cross into Lithuania from the Kaliningrad region by swimming across the Nemunas are a rare occurrence. Even so, the Lithuanian border service says it maintains constant surveillance of this stretch of the river along the border with Russia.

A similarly high-profile case took place last summer, when a man jumped off a transit train travelling from southern Russia through Lithuania to Kaliningrad in an attempt to dodge military conscription. He later made his way to France, where he filed for political asylum. This summer, a French court ruled that he should be handed over to Lithuanian authorities, but the Russian man appealed the decision, saying he feared Lithuania could deport him back to Russia.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz