White House: Russians fleeing mobilization may get asylum in US
Russian citizens who do not want to participate in Putin's "unpopular" war and are hiding from the announced mobilization can apply for asylum in the United States. This was said at a briefing by White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre, quoted by the Russian service of the Voice of America radio.
“We see street protests in Russia, we see people signing petitions and I think they send us a very clear message that this war that Putin has started is unpopular. There are people in Russia who do not want to fight and die in the war of Putin,” said Jean-Pierre. According to her, American authorities welcome “anyone who seeks asylum.” At the same time, Jean-Pierre specified that “each application will be considered individually.”
Earlier, the German authorities made a similar statement. Among those who can count on asylum in the country, they named “deserters from the Russian army” and “opponents of the Putin regime.” However, there is still no official decision to issue special visas or grant asylum to the specified categories of Russian citizens. It is expected to be accepted or rejected within a month.
At the same time, some EU countries, such as Latvia, the Czech Republic, and Finland, have said they will not issue visas to Russians who are hiding from the mobilization. The main wave of Russian refugees so far has taken Mongolia, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. Georgian authorities have reported that the number of people crossing the Russian border daily has doubled in less than a week. Those waiting in the huge queues at the border crossing report a real humanitarian disaster – many are left without gas, water and food, and it is almost impossible to buy them from anywhere.
