The couple is not yet at ease yet in their new home. Although the men are legal residents of the Netherlands as of this month, they are worried that someone could still come for them. “We try not to talk to anybody who speaks Russian who might be able to call home and say where we are,” said Pavel Stotsko during a phone interview with both men from an unidentified location. In January this year, Stotsko and Yevgeny Voitsekhovsky, both 28, fled Russia. Their marriage was widely reported as the first same-sex union to be recognized in the country due to a legal loophole (they had tied the knot earlier in Copenhagen). But after they started receiving threats and police warned them that their protection couldn’t be guaranteed, they decided to flee. Since, they have avoided speaking with the media, citing concerns for their safety. Now, seven months later, the couple gave one of their first interviews to The Moscow Times, in which they described how they fled Russia and started their new lives in the Netherlands. Not all of the details could be independently verified.

In late January, before the men had time to properly say goodbye to their parents, the Russian LGBT Network, an activist group, hastily arranged for the couple to fly one-way to Istanbul because Russian citizens do not need travel visas for Turkey. Their itinerary included a stopover in Amsterdam, and the activist group instructed the men to request asylum there. Even during the flight, the men said they didn’t feel safe. They were seated at the back of the plane with six men in the row in front of them who, they claim, kept close watch. Scared their fellow travelers were members of Russia’s security services, they told a stewardess. During the layover in Amsterdam, the flight attendant shepherded them to the front of the plane, let them disembark first and explained how to find the Dutch police. “We don’t know who these men were,” said Stotsko, referring to the six men on the plane. “But we did feel that they were a threat to us.” (Two security experts on Russia said it would be highly uncharacteristic of Russia’s security services to allocate any resources to following the couple abroad.)



Yevgeny Voytsekhovsky and Pavel Stotsko during the Gay Pride parade in Amsterdam on Aug. 4 Pavel Stotsko Facebook

Dutch police detained the men for several days before transferring them to a refugee center specifically where there were no Russian speakers who might give up their location. Although the men were advised to destroy their phones, they decided not to because they didn’t want to lose their contacts.

They have since been transferred to another center (the men would only specify that it was not the capital) where they have their own private room. “We have everything we need,” said Stotsko, who did the majority of the speaking for the couple. The Dutch government, he said, provides them with a weekly stipend and language courses and will soon help them find their own apartment, too. After three years, they will have to pass exams on Dutch language and culture to begin working towards earning citizenships.