The long lines of Russians seeking to escape the military mobilization continued this Wednesday to ‘clog’ the roads out of the country, while Moscow will have established recruitment offices at the borders, to intercept some of these.
North Ossetia, the Russian region that borders Georgia, declared a state of “high alert” and announced that food, water, heating equipment and other aid must be brought for those who spend days in queues.
Across the border in Georgia, volunteers are also mobilizing water, blankets and other assistance.
That Russian region restricted the entry of many passenger cars into its territory and set up a recruitment office on the border of Verkhy Lars, Russian news agencies reported.
According to the Georgian Interior Ministry, around 10,000 Russian citizens are crossing the border daily.
Some media published photos near the border, where a black van with the words: military enlistment office was visible.
Another such office was set up on the Russian side along the Finnish border, according to the independent Russian news agency Meduza.
Moscow’s announcement last week of mobilizing 300,000 reservists is triggering the exodus of large numbers of Russian men of military age who refuse to fight in Ukraine, which has been the target of a Russian military offensive since last February.
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 21 announced a “partial” mobilization, many Russians fear it would be much broader and arbitrary.
In Russia there are numerous reports of men without military training and of all ages receiving notices to be mobilized.
Aleksandr Kamisentsev, who left his home in Saratov and fled to Georgia, described the situation on the Russian side of the border as “very frightening”.
“It’s all very scary, tears, screams, a huge number of people. There is a feeling that the government does not know how to organize it. It looks like they want to close the border, but at the same time they are afraid that the protests will happen and they let people out,” the Russian told the Associated Press (AP).
Protesters waving Georgian and Ukrainian flags and banners such as “Russia Kills” greeted Russians at the border on Wednesday.
Russians have crossed the border by car, motorcycle, bicycle or on foot.
There are also long lines at the border with Kazakhstan, which has received more than 98,000 Russians since last week.
Russia has land borders with 14 countries.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 13 million people – more than six million internally displaced people and more than 7.4 million to European countries – according to the most recent data from the UN, which ranks this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the generality of the international community, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing it on Russia. of political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war 5,996 dead civilians and 8,848 wounded, underlining that these numbers are far below the real ones.
