Artyom Fridman, 25, was born in Kherson, Ukraine. In 2014, at the age of 14, because of his parents he ended up in Crimea. The peninsula was de facto under Russian control at that moment. In 2021, Friedman “without consent” obtained Russian citizenship for work, while he had a Ukrainian passport, the young man told ASTRA.
Until 2024, he avoided military registration, but then got a job at the state art cluster “Tavrida”. Because of this, he had to contact the military enlistment office.
In the summer of 2024, Friedman applied for military registration through Gosuslugi. The military medical commission gave him a category “B” (limited), although the guy expected to receive a “D” (not fit for service) — Artyom has heart problems, he was hospitalized at the Semashko clinic in Simferopol, where he was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with obstruction and grade 2 mitral valve prolapse. Two weeks later, he underwent open heart surgery. For two months after that, he wore a chest brace, and his ribs were stitched together. Despite this, in April 2025, after another medical examination, he was again assigned the category “B”, although the clinic said that he should be completely exempt from conscription.
“Apparently, someone has already put my name on the list of future contract soldiers. A few weeks later, I received a call and was invited to the military enlistment office to “sign the documents” for a military ID. I felt sick there. It was hot. I was still wearing a corset. I asked to leave, and they gave me a chance to go out for some air. I went outside and, standing next to the staff, called a friend who worked in a government organization. After 10 minutes, I was told that I had allegedly applied for a contract through Gosuslugi. It was a lie. There were no applications or notifications in the personal account. Just emptiness. But everything was already ready — only one of my signatures was missing,” says the young man.
According to him, he was offered to sign an empty sheet, but he refused. Acquaintances in government agencies suggested that he should run, since “you are already officially a contract soldier.” Four days later, on June 1, Friedman tried to leave Russia for Georgia via Verkhny Lars. However, he was stopped at the border by FSB border guards.
He was the only one taken off the bus and demanded to provide all the information, including “the second phone.” Friedman did not have a second phone at that time — the security forces saw that another Iphone was linked to the young man’s Telegram account, although Friedman claimed that this happened a long time ago and now he does not have this phone with him.
“Do you know who I am? We are the FSB. Don’t f*ck with me. It’s better to be nice to me, otherwise it will be worse. Don’t fill me in here. Tell me where you’re hiding your phone, otherwise I’ll look for it with force,” Friedman describes a conversation with Russian border guards.
According to him, he was then stripped and photographed in his underwear. After 2.5 hours of interrogations, the young man was released. Fridman passed through Georgian border control without any problems, despite the problematic Russian passport issued to a resident of Crimea through Krasnodar.
