MMen of military age left the country in droves on Friday. Their displacement filled planes in Russia and caused traffic jams at border crossings. They shared the goal of not being called to fight in Ukraine as part of the partial mobilization announced by the Kremlin.
According to the Russian online map service Yandex, on a road leading to the country’s southern border with Georgia, long rows of ten kilometers long cars formed. On the border with Kazakhstan, the tin column was so tall that some people left their cars and continued on foot – just as some Ukrainians did when Russia invaded their country on February 24.
Meanwhile, dozens of flights from Russia – with tickets sold at exorbitant prices – carrying Russian men on board, have headed to international destinations such as Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Serbia without a visa for Russians. Among those who arrived in Turkey was a 41-year-old man who had disembarked in Istanbul with a suitcase and backpack and wanted to start a new life in Israel.
I am against this war. And I won’t be a part of it. I will not become a killer. “I will not kill people,” said the man, who only asked to be called Yevgeny for fear of revenge against his family in Russia. He called Russian President Vladimir Putin a „war criminal”. Yevgeny decided to flee after Putin announced partial mobilization on Wednesday. The total number of participating reservists could reach 300,000.
Perilous trip to Belarus
Some of his compatriots also fled to neighboring Belarus, closely allied with Russia. But this was not without risks. One of the oldest independent newspapers in Belarus, Nasha Niwa, reported that the country’s security services have been instructed to locate Russians in hotels and rented apartments fleeing conscription and report them to the Russian authorities.
The leadership in Moscow complained of „hysteria” in the country. At the same time, it excluded reservists with certain professions from conscription. Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov accused conscientious objectors of cowardice. “You know, you are nothing more than a coward, a traitor and a second-class person,” he told conscientious objectors on his Telegram channel on Friday.
White House press secretary Karen-Jean-Pierre said the fact that Russians left their country to avoid conscription shows that the war in Ukraine is „unpopular”. „What Putin is doing – he’s not acting out of strength,” said Jean-Pierre. Instead, Putin’s actions are a sign of weakness.
Arrived in Georgia: a group of Russians after crossing the border into the neighboring country
Source: AP / Shakh Aivazov
In Germany, there were calls to help Russian men evade military service. Government spokesman Stephen Hebestreet explained that the federal government wants to reach a common line at the European level to deal with Russian conscientious objectors. Interior Minister Nancy Wesser’s spokesman, Maximilian Kahl, said that anyone who bravely opposes the „Putin regime” and puts themselves at great risk can apply for asylum in Germany due to political persecution. Refugee status in Germany can be granted to anyone who is threatened with serious repression, but each case is examined individually.
But to do this, those affected will first have to get to Germany, to which it is no longer easy for Russia to travel, like many other EU countries. The European Union suspended direct flights between its 27 member states and Russia in the wake of its attack on Ukraine. A limited allocation of Schengen visas, which allow free movement within the European Union, has also been approved.
Four out of five countries bordering Russia – Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland – recently decided to turn away Russian tourists. Some representatives of EU countries also see a potential security risk in the flight of Russians. They hope that closing the border will increase pressure on Putin in Russia.
“It is not right to regard them as conscientious objectors.”
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevix said on Thursday that many of those who have now fled Russia have agreed to kill the Ukrainians. They would not have protested against it. “It is not right to regard them as conscientious objectors.”
However, so far, Russians have been able to enter Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia, on Schengen visas. Finnish border guards said on Friday that the number of arrivals from Russia has risen sharply. The media reported a 107 percent increase over the previous week.
A row of cars about half a kilometer long forms in front of Valima, one of the busiest border crossings, according to the Finnish border guard.
Cars line the Finnish border
Source: via Reuters
The Finnish broadcaster MTV broadcast interviews with Russian men who had just entered Finland through the Virulahti border crossing. A man named Yuri from Moscow stated that no sane person would want to go to war. Andrei Balakirov, a Russian from Saint Petersburg, said he was mentally prepared to leave Russia for half a year but put it off until mobilization.
„I think it’s a really bad thing,” he said. Valerie, a Samara man on his way to Spain, agrees. He described the partial mobilization as a „great tragedy.” “It is hard to describe what is happening. I feel sorry for those who have been forced to fight against their will. I have heard stories of people receiving such instructions on the street – it is scary.”
Meanwhile, dummy referendums organized by the Kremlin were taking place in four Ukrainian regions with the aim of annexing the occupied territories to Russia. Kyiv and the West condemned these elections as illegal under international law, the outcome of which was predetermined by Moscow.
„Then Russia can say: Hey, Ukraine is attacking us”
In the occupied regions of Ukraine, accession to Russia is carried out through mock referendums. Military expert Guido Schmidtek explains how Russia wants to make itself a victim – and how Putin might provoke public mobilization.
