THE two Russian soldiers who claimed they deserted their army unit in Chechnya and turned up in Galway at the weekend seeking political asylum went missing yesterday. The Irish Red Cross, which had provided them with clothes, shoes, pocket money and arranged accommodation for them, appealed to the two 25 year olds to contact it.
The soldiers, who claimed they had spent three weeks in containers and in the backs of trucks, as they made their way 2,500 miles west across land and sea to arrive eventually in Foynes, were being kept in a guest house in Galway city centre pending the processing of their applications for asylum by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
According to Mr Des Kavanagh, of the Irish Red Cross, the two had taken their belongings but left new shoes, some plastic CD holders, a number of personal items and a key to the guest house, which suggested that they had moved on. He confirmed that he had given the two, Mr Mikhail Udalstov and Mr Ivan Solovei, who are both single, phone numbers to maintain contact with his organisation. Gardai examined the items left behind.
"We hope that they will contact us," Mr Kavanagh added. "We are anxious for their wellbeing. We reassured them they could stay in Galway while their application for political asylum was dealt with. We suspect they will turn up and may have gone to Dublin. They were afraid of being arrested and sent back to Russia but they had no reason to be scared. They obviously don't realise that," he added.
Following their unexpected departure, the Red Cross has no choice but to wait and see where they turn up next. Meanwhile, Mr Kavanagh said he was inclined to believe their story, particularly as one of the two appeared to be "nervous and frightened".
A card was found in their room at Joyce's B & B in Helen Street, which had the word London written on it and some words in Russian. The words have yet to be translated. The two had indicated they were going to visit Salthill on Sunday night.
The B & B proprietor, Mrs Catriona Joyce said Mr Udalstov had fluent English but that his companion had none whatsoever. She said that she believed their account of what had happened.