Alexey Makarov, who fought as part of the Ukrainian resistance, faces in Sweden where he lives since 2011. The Swedish Security Service (Säpo) and the Migration Agency claim that our comrade is a threat to national security and denied him both Swedish citizenship and a refugee travel document. According to them, he ‘abroad was engaged in activities that threaten security.’ Yet ‘abroad,’ in Ukraine, Aleksey, alongside other comrades, fought against Russian fascist, imperialist state, while openly declaring an anarchist position.
We have a letter from Aleksey that had been circulating among comrades for some time. We are publishing it in the following posts.
Hello, comrades! In Sweden, the country of my current residence, I face repression because of my participation in the anarchist struggle in Ukraine and the resistance against the Russian imperialist invasion. I call to describe my situation in anarchist and left-wing media.
I have been living in Sweden since 2011 as a refugee fleeing political repression in Russia. In June 2022, in coordination with the comrades in Ukraine — primarily the comrade Dmitry Petrov (‘Leshiy’) — I came to Ukraine to engage in armed struggle against Russian imperialism. I served alongside Dmitry Petrov in the 95th Air Assault Brigade, fighting as an assault trooper and machine gunner. Later, after Dmitry was killed in action near Bakhmut, I fought in the ‘Sibir Battalion,’ a unit for Russian citizens established by the initiative of the GUR (Main Directorate of Intelligence). This unit officially declared a form of anti-colonial ideology. While fighting in the ‘Sibir Battalion,’ I was severely wounded twice. The second injury affected my head and arm; I never fully regained mobility in the fingers of my right hand, and I am now a person with a physical disability. Also, in the ‘Sibir Battalion,’ I did political work with my friend and comrade Vladislav Yurchenko (‘Pirate’), who had arrived in Ukraine in February 2024 and was killed in action on the Kinburn Spit on August 9 the same year.
In the summer of 2024, while I was still undergoing medical treatment for my injuries, after discussions with my comrades and in coordination with the command of the ‘Sibir Battalion,’ it was decided that I would travel to Sweden and other parts of Europe during my recovery period to engage in political and media-related work. My refugee travel document expired in December 2024, and I applied for a new one; without it, I can not legally travel outside Sweden. Also, in April 2023, during a brief stay in Sweden, I applied for Swedish citizenship. In August 2025, my application was rejected because, according to the Swedish Security Service (Säpo), I posed a threat to Sweden’s national security. In June of this year, I was summoned to the Migration Agency, where a secret classified Säpo ruling was read to me: abroad I had engaged in activities posing a threat to security. The only country outside of Sweden where I had spent any significant amount of time was Ukraine. In early September, after a wait of nearly two years, my application for a refugee travel document was rejected. There are grounds to believe that this persecution, initiated by Säpo, could escalate — potentially leading to the revocation of my refugee status and a deportation order. While deportation to Russia is currently effectively impossible due to the principle of ‘non-refoulement’ (a person cannot be deported to a country where the person face the threat of torture, death penalty, etc. — a principle EU countries currently strive to uphold), I can still end up without any documents or even be detained for an indefinite period.
he repressions against me are caused by the state’s desire to disarm and subjugate the anarchist movement, by prohibiting participation in the self-defense of society, and to protect the false state cult of ‘national security’. The new wave of the ‘global campaign against left-wing terrorism,’ initiated by Trump, likely plays a role as well. Furthermore, we see repression mounting across the Western world: the power of security services is growing, social movements are being suppressed, a right-wing class offensive is underway, and the state is employing increasingly aggressive methods — manifested, for instance, in the support European states and capital provide for the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, as well as in the brutal treatment of refugees and migrants. My situation is not an isolated issue, nor is it merely the result of errors or malice on the part of specific individuals within security services and state institutions; rather, it is an expression of the structural processes. This repression demands a collective response: pressure on one is an attack on all. Therefore, I call upon comrades — and the ‘Solidarity Collectives’ in particular — to spread the word about my situation. This is an act of solidarity with the anarchist resistance in Ukraine — in which I am currently unable to participate in directly, due to repression by the Swedish state — and a form of radical critique of the repressive policies European states use against refugees and migrants.
With comradely greetings and respect, Aleksey (Lesha) Makarov
sourse tg channel Solidarity Collectives
