Military mobilisation: Caucasus Russians flee to Asia

The aim is to reach Kazakhstan to avoid ending up on the Ukrainian front. They come from all over Russia, especially Moscow and St. Petersburg. Many flee from the Crimea annexed in 2014. The "queue business" at border crossings.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The flight from military mobilisation in Russia continues despite increasingly strict measures to prevent it. One of the most heavily trafficked corridors is the passage from the Caucasus to Kazakhstan, the real border between Europe and Asia, where queues of cars, motorbikes and ordinary pedestrians now exceed 20 kilometres and two days of waiting. Moreover, there are no guarantees that they will be able to get through, since at all border crossings the guards are in possession of the lists of mobilised persons, and border posts are being organised for conscription.

The categories of fugitives are, moreover, rather articulated. A distinction is made between the 'uklonisty' (decliners), who look for any excuse not to be enlisted: feigning illness, bribing officials and ignorance of the call-up; the 'otkazniki' (renunciates), who refuse to fight because of their pacifist and anti-militarist convictions; the 'dezertiry', deserters who flee from military facilities or offices where they are identified.

According to UN criteria, all those who refuse to take part in a conflict condemned by the international community are entitled to refugee status. These definitions are questioned at border posts.

The Krasnodar province in the Astrakhan region, around the Caspian Sea, is crowded with cars with licence plates from all over Russia, mainly from Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also from Rostov-on-Don and Belgorod, the Russian cities closest to the war zones. There are many Crimeans, who in the eight years since the annexation have not fully matured their loyalty to the Russian 'motherland'. Krym.Realii journalists have tried to learn more about the stories of these people, who obviously have little intention of revealing the details.

There are family groups from the Donbass and the newly annexed provinces of Russia, who have sought their way out of Crimea. A 55-year-old university graduate, who wishes to remain anonymous, says he did his military service in the Ukrainian Crimea in his time, being originally from Donetsk, and now he is supposed to be fighting against many of his fellow soldiers who are on the opposite side, so he is trying to get out of everything and leave all borders behind.

Everyone hopes to be more protected in Kazakhstan, a country where anyone can feel at home, despite a thousand mistrusts and difficulties. The route from Astrakhan is also the cheapest. Even in Georgia, tariffs and bribes have become unaffordable; on the Caspian you can eat 'plov' (Asian risotto) for 500 roubles, a tomato and cucumber salad for 100 roubles and a bottle of water for 300, since after two or three days of waiting, supplies are running low. The Crimeans try to take advantage of the Kerč bridge, a Putin pride that the Ukrainians have promised to destroy, through which they manage to approach the freedom crossings.

The inhabitants of Astrakhan in turn try to cross to the other side. 'We were foolish not to have thought of this sooner,' says one local resident, 'when there weren't all these queues yet, we thought we were favoured by the proximity of the borders, and now we're all stuck'. Dmitry from Rostov explains that 'during the queue we take turns sleeping to spot the policemen and hide in the woods, we only leave my aunt and the dogs in the car'. There is also the possibility of relying on guides to accompany you through 4-5 kilometres of forest for 2,500 roubles each. The most sought-after bargain is to buy a place in the queue within a kilometre of the border, with a good chance of crossing it: it costs 40,000 roubles, just under USD 1,000.

Organising the business of food and places in the queue are often people who have fought in Ukraine, like 21-year-old Danijar: 'I came back in August and they still haven't paid me, they say we have to apply all together and not alone, in the meantime I try to survive as best I can'. Alongside the 'queue professionals', however, there are also volunteers, mainly from Buddhist Kalmykia, who organise waiting camps with tents, providing food and rest hoping for better times.

• russia
• caucasus
• ukraine
• war
• invasion
• georgia
• astrakhan
• flight
• mobilisation
• draft