HIT THE ROAD

Ex-Russia Minister Flees Draft, Becomes Trucker in U.S.

“It is heavenly up here in Michigan. Texas was too hot.”

A former regional minister in Russia who decided to flee being drafted into Vladimir Putin’s armed forces is now working as a truck driver in the U.S. Denis Sharonov, who was once the agriculture minister of the Komi Republic in northern Russia, left his homeland in September 2022 after receiving his draft papers. His escape involved stops in Kyrgyzstan and Dubai before arriving in Mexico, where he crossed the border into the U.S. on foot and applied for asylum. “A lot of people don’t understand my choice,” Sharonov told The Guardian. “They mock me. They say I downshifted, from a regional minister to truck driver. But I don’t see it that way at all. I am proud of what I do.” Sharonov says he has visited 45 states over the course of six months in his new role. “Sometimes it feels like one big adventure, discovering the country on the road,” he said. Sharanov added that while he finds it “heavenly” in Michigan, “Texas was too hot.”