As the Russian exodus looms large, the EU has called an emergency meeting of 27 ambassadors next Monday in Brussels for countries to coordinate their steps.
The wave of Russians fleeing the country continues in an attempt to avoid the conscription announced by Vladimir Putin last Wednesday. The Russian president’s speech caused panic as hundreds of thousands of reservists were called up to join the Russian army to fight in Ukraine.
At the Russian-Georgian border, there are queues of about ten kilometers, as the BBC’s correspondent in Tbilisi, Rayhan Demytrie, reports. According to her, many waited up to 20 hours in order to be able to cross the border.
Russians on the border with Georgia
Traffic at Russia’s border with Finland is also up, with the number of Russians arriving in the country more than doubling from last week.
The 27 are being coordinated for the flight of the Russians – Emergency meeting on Monday
As the Russian exodus looms large, the EU has called an emergency meeting of 27 ambassadors next Monday in Brussels for countries to coordinate their steps.
A spokesman for the Czech presidency said the convening of this meeting “shows how seriously we take the current developments in Russia and Ukraine and our commitment to coordinate an effective response.”
Ambassadors will be briefed by experts and “the views and concerns” of each member state will be taken into account, he continued.
There is no common line
As of this stage, the 27 are far from having a common line on how to deal with Russians who leave their country because they don’t want to go and fight in Ukraine.
Poland: Borders will not be opened for Russians
A member of the Polish government has said that Warsaw will not offer asylum to Russians fleeing their homeland.
“We will not allow any group of Russians to enter Poland (…), not even those who claim to have fled to avoid conscription,” Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Vasik clarified on Polish public radio yesterday Friday.
Citing reasons of Poland’s national security, he insisted that the border would not be opened to the Russians. Mr Vasik argued that there was no way to directly verify whether people claiming to be conscientious objectors were actually working for Russian intelligence.
Only in individual cases, when a Russian national can prove that he is at risk of persecution or torture for political reasons in Russia, the Polish government will apply the rules on asylum by granting international protection, added the Polish deputy interior minister.
Germany: Good sign that the Russians are trying to avoid war
For his part, German government spokesman Steffen Hempstreit called it a “good sign” that many Russians are trying to avoid going to fight in Ukraine. But the issue is to find a “sustainable solution” together with the other EU states, he estimated.
The case of each conscientious objector must be considered separately before asylum is granted, Mr. Hebstreit said, explaining — like the Polish official — that it must be verified that those granted international protection are not actually working for the Russian state.
So far, there is no plan to create a special program for the reception of Russian conscientious objectors on humanitarian grounds either in Germany or at the EU level.
Germany has taken in 438 people from Russia under a program to protect dissidents, journalists and scientists, according to the German interior ministry.
German Interior Ministry spokesman Maximilian Kahl noted that the procedures have already been amended since April so that “the general rule states that being a conscientious objector is a reason to be offered protection.”
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