ST.PETERSBURG. May 24 (Interfax-AVN) -A Russian border guard who deserted to Finland without arms on Wednesday has applied for political asylum, a source in the Federal Border Guard Service told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The deserter, who is identified as Private Badautdin Isayev, provides no background for his intention to stay in Finland, the spokesman said. The Russian and Finnish border guard services are discussing the transfer of the deserter to the Russian party.
Isayev was serving in an engineering working group that was engaged in repairs and examination of the electronic border guard system. The private entered Finland from the Vyborg district of the Leningrad region and was detained by a patrol of the Finnish border guard.
Isayev is an ethnic lezgin. He was drafted for active-duty service in autumn 2001 by the military commissioner's office of the Dagestani autonomous republic.