Europe divided over whether to accept Russians who escaped coercion

After Russian President Vladimir Putin recently ordered the mobilization of 300,000 Russian reserve forces, European countries are divided over whether to accept Russians fleeing coercion.

European countries bordering Russia, including Poland and the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), have decided not to grant asylum to men who fled Russia to escape coercion, the Wall Street Journal reported on the 23rd (local time) he did.

These four countries have agreed to a common policy not to relax the asylum standards for those who have entered their territory in order to avoid mobilization. These state officials told the WSJ that they could not risk their national security by allowing entry to conscripted Russian men. There is a risk that people close to Putin could enter Europe. The governments of Poland and the Baltic states are also cynical about accepting Russians who have not resisted Russian military intervention, including Georgia and Krm, the WSJ reported.

The reason behind Poland and the Baltic States taking such a hard line is the judgment that Putin’s political position will not be weakened unless the war increases the suffering suffered by ordinary Russians. If conscripted Russians can easily escape to neighboring European countries, it is difficult for internal Russian criticism of the Putin regime to be strong enough, and therefore the Putin regime will not need to negotiate with Ukraine.

“We must always think about the goal of ending the war,” said Boutele Fay, an adviser to the Estonian Interior Minister.

Germany and France, on the other hand, believe that Russian youth, civil society activists, and Russians opposed to Putin should be able to enter Europe.

In an interview with US political media Politico on the 23rd, Charles Michel, permanent chairman of the European Union (EU) summit, said, “We need to show that the EU is open to those who do not want to become instruments of Kremlin.” “I think the EU should, in principle, accommodate people who are at risk because of their political differences,” he said

Earlier on the 21st, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that 300,000 reservists would be mobilized. Since then, crowds of Russians trying to avoid conscription have flocked to neighboring countries that border the country.