The Russian Ministry of Defense indicated on Tuesday that it would not solicit foreign governments to obtain the extradition of thousands of Russians who fled the country in order to escape mobilization to fight in Ukraine.
“The Russian Defense Ministry, within the framework of the partial mobilization, has not sent, has not prepared and will not send requests to the authorities of Kazakhstan, Georgia and other countries regarding the issue of a supposedly forced return to Russia of Russian citizens who are there,” the ministry said in a statement.
Wave of exiles in Georgia
The wait is endless for many Russians fleeing Russia. Nikita spent two days in traffic jams at the border before she could enter Georgia. This wave of exiles is the second observed in Georgia after a first series of departures towards this small country of the Caucasus just after the outbreak of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, on February 24.
At the border, a line of vehicles almost twenty kilometers long has formed, while others pass by on bicycles and even on foot, bags on their backs or dragging their luggage behind them.
“This Crazy War”
“I had no choice but to flee Russia,” Nikita told AFP after crossing the Georgian side of the border at Kazbegi post, located in a narrow, rocky gorge. “What reason would I have to go to this mad war? I’m not cannon fodder, I’m not a murderer,” the 23-year-old continues as a vulture flies overhead.
Like most of the men interviewed by AFP, he did not wish to give his surname for fear of reprisals. Alexandre Soudakov, a 32-year-old executive, judges him that the mobilization was “the straw that broke the camel’s back” after twenty years of ever more authoritarian Russian power. “Ukrainians are our brothers. I don’t understand how I could go and kill them, or get myself killed,” said the man who is considering asking for asylum.
10,000 Russians every day
The influx of Russian exiles has received a mixed reception in Georgia, a country where the painful memory of the 2008 war with Moscow is still fresh in people’s minds. The five-day conflict culminated in Russia’s recognition of two breakaway pro-Russian Georgian republics, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where Moscow is stationing troops.
During the first four months of the war, 50,000 Russians arrived in Georgia. Since the announcement of the mobilization, around 10,000 have crossed the border every day, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior.
Moscow recognizes an exodus
Some 40,000 Russians also joined Armenia, another Caucasus country, in the first four months of the war. No figures are currently available for the more recent period.
On Sunday, Russian authorities for the first time acknowledged that there was a large influx of Russians at the borders, not only to the Caucasus, but also to Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Finland.