Finland and Lithuania are about to send a young man to his death. The 21-year-old in question is Daniil Mukhametov, who has fled Russia to avoid forced military service. Pursued by Russian police, he bought a ticket on the Kaliningrad train that transits Lithuania, used keys purchased online to open a carriage, and jumped from a moving train. He then travelled via Tallinn to Finland, where he sought asylum. Now he is at risk of deportation.

This case exposes a kind of bureaucratic madness. It is senseless that Europe would even consider supplying Putin with a fresh soldier for his war-waging. Every conscript who never reaches Russia’s front is one less body for Putin’s war, one more Ukrainian spared, fewer bullets tearing into Ukrainian lines, fewer civilians suffering, and a war machine that is just a little more starved of fuel.