Russian security services were waiting when the flight landed in Moscow in December. On board were Russians the US had deported, including activists denied political asylum.
"It was unbelievably frightening. My knees were shaking with fear," says Katya, one of the deportees. We have changed her name to protect her identity, as she remains in Russia.
Katya had left Russia and claimed asylum in the US two years earlier.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many countries publicly welcomed fleeing Russians. But more than four years later, attitudes have hardened. The numbers of anti-war Russians forcibly returned from Western countries is rising, and Katya's experience highlights the potential risks they face.
US authorities rejected her application for asylum, after she said she had provided evidence that she had taken part in protests and was a member of an opposition movement.
In Moscow, Katya says officers from the FSB security service handed all the male deportees military papers, requiring them to register with the local enlistment office, from where men are often sent to the war in Ukraine. Another passenger on the flight and an activist confirmed her account.
The officers interrogated her, and many others, for several hours.
"At one point, they found incriminating information on my phone," says Katya, "Their faces changed in a second. I was very afraid that they would simply bundle me off somewhere."
Katya was eventually released and allowed to stay with relatives. But she says police continue to call her and visit her at home.
"I feel as if I'm in a cage, like in a zoo," she says, "Whenever I see a police car, I feel terrified and start thinking, "What if they're coming for me?"
Katya showed the BBC documents and photographs confirming her story, which matches accounts from other deportees.
Removals from the US rose from 222 in 2023 to more than 1,200 in 2025, amid a wider increase in deportations under President Donald Trump's second term. Activists say Russian deportees included dissidents and Russian army deserters, some of whom were imprisoned or sent to war after returning to Russia.
One such case is Leonid Melekhin, an anti-war activist who sought asylum in the US after being arrested at protests in Russia. He had posted photographs of Russian President Vladimir Putin online with the message "Putin: murderer, fascist, usurper". After being deported back home last year, Melekhin was charged with "justifying terrorism" and sentenced to six years in prison.
"We have several examples of people who got eight years in prison when they crossed the [Russian] border," says Andrei Pivovarov, from Russia's exiled opposition Anti-War Committee.
And deportations are taking place from Europe too. His organisation has changed its advice to dissidents escaping Russia: the EU is no longer safe, it is better to seek refuge elsewhere.
Germany has sharply increased the number of Russian nationals it deports. Seven were sent back in 2023, rising to more than 110 in 2025, according to German government figures. More than 21,000 Russians sought asylum in Germany between 2022 and 2025, but the proportion of positive decisions fell from 29% in 2023 to just 6.8% in the first eleven months of 2025.
"Protection is only granted if there is an actual, well-founded fear of persecution," Germany's migration and asylum agency, BAMF, told the BBC.
Last year, Berlin suspended its humanitarian visa programme for Russians, and across the EU, the proportion of Russian applicants granted some form of asylum protection fell from 23% in 2024 to around 17% in the first nine months of 2025, according to EU data.
Russian opposition activists fleeing repression have become caught up in a wider crackdown on immigration, as governments across Europe and the US toughen rules amid political pressure over high numbers of irregular migrants and asylum applications, as well as over security concerns.
Western governments are "focused on limiting humanitarian programmes and asylum seekers", says lawyer Anastasia Burakova, founder of rights group Kovcheg (Ark), which helps anti-war Russians leave the country. The clampdown is "in response to public concerns and rising support for right-wing populist parties", she adds.
Following a negative asylum decision, Russian nationals are often given the chance to leave independently, but a rising number are being forcibly returned to Russia, usually escorted via third countries.
Several Russian activists in exile told the BBC that immigration officials had told them they faced "no danger" in Russia, and that officials often lacked an adequate understanding of the risks that activists face.
"I tried to explain that if they sent me back, I would be put in prison, or sent to war where I'd be killed," explains former soldier Artyom, who deserted from the Russian Army in 2022 after officers threatened to send him to Ukraine. "They just didn't believe me."
He says he provided US authorities with proof that a criminal investigation had been opened against him back in Russia for desertion. But he was put on a deportation flight back to Moscow via Egypt.
"I was preparing for death," says the former soldier, "I was thinking, 'how can I die without it being painful?'".
Back in Moscow, Artyom was held in a military detention facility but managed to escape. He is now in hiding abroad.
"Another country could investigate me better and give me asylum. Why didn't they give me that chance? Instead they deported me specifically to Russia," says the deserter. "It ruined my life."
The US Department of Homeland Security told the BBC: "All illegal aliens receive due process. If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them."
The asylum clampdown comes as repression inside Russia has reached "an unprecedented level", according to Nobel Prize-winning Russian human rights group Memorial. Their list of political prisoners grew from 803 to 1,265 during 2025, a record increase.
The Russian Embassy in London did not respond to a request for comment.
Anti-war activist Mikhail says he and his wife Dasha are awaiting deportation from Finland "any day". Their names have been changed to protect their identity, as Mikhail fears for relatives back home.
Russian authorities blocked his social media accounts over anti-war posts, and police visited his mother and accused him of spreading "fake information".
Dasha is a Jehovah's Witness, an organisation banned as "extremist" in Russia. The couple provided Finnish authorities with evidence, seen by the BBC, including a video of Russian police telling his mother that more than 300 posts had violated Russian law. A single post can result in a long prison sentence.
The Finnish Immigration Service has rejected their asylum request five times, deciding there is "no reasonable basis to believe" the couple would face serious rights violations if returned.
"We're sitting here and someone could knock on our door at any moment, take us to the Russian border and simply hand us over to Russian officers," says Mikhail. "We fear for our lives!"
"We came to Finland for help, and they're refusing us," he adds. "My wife cries constantly."
Amnesty International, which is supporting the couple, says they could face a "real risk" of detention, prosecution, imprisonment and torture if returned.
The Finnish Immigration Service said all asylum decisions were based on international refugee law standards, and the share of Russian citizens receiving asylum was in line with EU averages.
For Mikhail and Dasha, the threat of deportation comes as more Russians may be considering leaving.
There are rumours that Vladimir Putin may announce a new wave of mobilisation to boost the ranks of his army in Ukraine, which the Kremlin denies. The last mobilisation in 2022 prompted hundreds of thousands of Russians to flee, many to ex-Soviet states such as Armenia and Georgia.
Anastasia Burakova's organisation says requests for help from Russians wanting to leave rose tenfold in August compared with May. For those now looking to escape, the question is whether the West will offer them refuge — or send them back.