Russian who held anti-Putin placard detained in Odisha, papers being checked

“We have detained him. He is being questioned. He came to India in 2016, and has been in Odisha for the last three months, mostly in Puri,” said inspector-in-charge of GRP police station, Bhubaneswar, Jayadev Biswajit.

Sources in GRP said Glagolev had come to India in 2016 on a six-month tourist visa.

Biswajit said Glagolev has applied to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for asylum in India. The UNHCR has forwarded the application to the Government of India, he said.

In November, when Glagolev was spotted at Bhubaneswar station, he only verified his passport and the application to UNHCR, not his visa, Biswajit said.

His documents are being verified. “So far, we have found nothing suspicious,” Biswajit said.

The next course of action — whether he will be rehabilitated or deported — will be decided following verification of the documents by experts, he said. Police are also in touch with the Russian consulate general in Kolkata, he said.

Photos of the Russian national with a placard — it said, “I am a Russian refugee. I am against war and against Putin. I am homeless. Please help me” — were clicked by some passengers and widely circulated on social media.

Meanwhile, the Crime Branch, which is probing the “unnatural deaths” of two Russian nationals — sausage tycoon and regional lawmaker Pavel Antov and his friend Vladimir Bidenov at a hotel in Rayagada —visited the hotel and the place where they were cremated.