This young man, aged 27, says he is “stuck” after the call for partial mobilization in Russia. He wants to leave the country “at any cost” and not take part in “this war crime” in Ukraine.
A few days after Vladimir Putin announced partial mobilization, many Russians are still trying to leave the country. 300,000 reservists are finally called to “defend the country” in the war against Ukraine. When Putin’s troops get into trouble, the sling organizes to avoid this mobilization.
Sergei is 27 years old. This Thursday evening on BFMTV’s antenna, this young Russian doesn’t want to be involved in “this war crime.” At the beginning of March, a few weeks after the start of the war, he left Russia with his fiancé. He recently came back to “pick up some stuff.” But he’s been stuck since the call for mobilization, he says.
“We found out about the announcement of the mobilization early in the morning. I’m looking for ways to leave Russia as soon as possible because I’m stuck here,” he confides.
“My life is somewhere else”
Because the plane tickets for leaving Russia have been taken by storm and the queues at the border posts are getting longer.
“I am not prepared to take part in this war crime. It’s a war crime taking place and I have a business overseas. My life is elsewhere, I am not willing to take part in this crime against humanity,” he said.
Sergei says that many young men around him are in the same situation as he is. But he also admits that many also “don’t have the resources to go.”
“The ruble has lost a lot of value, the people are destitute,” he notes bitterly.
Others “succumbed to apathy, they are alienated. People don’t know yet that they have to go to war,” he regrets.
The Russian General Staff says 10,000 people have already volunteered to join the ranks of the army. For its part, Germany assured on Thursday that it was ready to take in deserters who “are threatened with severe repression”.