‘If I have to, I’ll go to jail’: The Russians who refuse to fight in Putin’s war
It’s not the first time Mitya has packed to leave Moscow this year.
He left for Uzbekistan in mid-March when the first rumours around mobilisation and the borders closing caused a mass exodus of Russians.
Putin may have scored ‘strategic own goal’ – latest updates
“I don’t think it’ll feel like a good place anytime soon or just anytime,” he wrote then.
“But there are so many beautiful people trapped.”
In the intervening months, like so many others, he had come back to Russia, not sure what else to do.
“I’m somebody here and elsewhere, I’m just a nobody-ish character, you know,” he said. “I’m not really wanted anywhere else, let’s face it.”
Mitya left for Uzbekistan but then returned to Russia
‘Stick to the narrative’
But he has left again. Mobilisation was unlikely, but it was a possibility, if not now then at some point.
Safer for him to leave with no fixed plan, like hundreds of thousands others, than to stay and one day fight.
He is sanguine about Europe’s conundrum on what to do with incoming Russians.
“I think unfortunately that if you stick to the narrative you’ve chosen, that ‘we’re liberals, we are for freedoms and rights’, then you should stick to that narrative. And that means you should allow people in,” he said. “Or if you don’t allow these people in, you’re no longer sticking to the narrative that you’re fighting for – supporting Ukraine.”
Moscow has almost emptied of its intelligentsia, but those fleeing through Russia’s borders now are a cross-section of society from across the country and beyond those liberal parameters.
The ones who know that “partial” mobilisation might just be the beginning and who feel, finally, that the uneasy status quo they have been existing in for these last seven months is no longer sustainable.
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‘If we don’t go, we go to jail’
‘There’s a fighting spirit’
And then there are those who are ready to fight – in the big cities and beyond, where the patriotic spirit burns more deeply.
We drove just one hour north of Moscow to a small town called Klin to gauge the mood there.
Every bus stop in Klin is adorned with a Z sign, the town hall too.
“A lot of people from Klin are going, really a lot,” says Anya, whose husband wants to enlist voluntarily. “There are long queues at the military enlistment office, but the guys are all in a good mood. Nobody is sad, there’s a fighting spirit.”
Heading to the front – or first to the distribution centre in Moscow region and then, according to officials, to training – happens in the early morning.
At the Klin mobilisation centre, a small group of friends and relatives are taking selfies and waiting for their men to pass the medical checks and then, to say goodbye.
There are tears here though. And beers. Alcohol is part of the send-off.
“I feel patriotism for my motherland, that’s why I enlisted,” says Andrey. “Against fascism and Nazism, for our kids. I hope this is over as soon as possible because there should be peace. We are for peace.”
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‘I feel patriotism for the motherland’
‘If I have to, I’ll go to jail’
I ask a group of women if they think it was the right thing to mobilise now. “Nyet!” they shout in unison. “No!”
The bus drives away, the wives and girlfriends wipe their tears, a toddler continues to play happily with a paper tube, blissfully unaware her father’s gone to fight.
Back in Klin’s town centre, we’re met with a degree of hostility. One man tells me it was the UK who declared war on Russia, that we should wait till the Russians are guests of ours.
It speaks to a diet of state TV, where the UK, alongside the US, is the arch-villain.
“Sort out your own leadership, and then you can ask us questions,” he says.
But even here, it’s a mixed picture. We ask a younger man if he’d go to fight. As a student, he’s exempt for now, he tells us, “but I won’t go under any circumstances”.
“If I have to I’ll go to jail,” he says. “This shouldn’t have happened. It’s a crime what the government is doing.”
A Russian Su-35 fighter jet was scrambled to intercept two US strategic bombers over the Baltic Sea, Russia’s defence ministry has said.
“Two air targets flying in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation” were detected by radar on Monday, it said in a statement on the social media platform Telegram.
The aircraft were identified as two US Air Force B-52 strategic bombers “flying in the direction of the Russian Federation’s state border”.
A Su-35 fighter jet took to the air to prevent a border violation, the ministry continued.
“After the foreign military aircraft moved away from the Russian Federation state border, the Russian fighter returned to its base airfield,” it added.
The National Defense Center of the Russian Federation said: “The flight of the Russian fighter was carried out in strict accordance with the international rules for the use of airspace.
“Violations of the state border of the Russian Federation are not allowed.”
The US has not yet responded to the claim.
It comes after the crash of a US military surveillance drone into the Black Sea on 14 March after it was intercepted by Russian jets.
The US Air Force released a video it said showed a Russian jet intercepting the drone and dumping fuel on it over the Black Sea.
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Russian jet vs US drone – what happened?
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It said two Russian Su-27 jets flew close to the MQ-9 Reaper before one hit its propeller and forced remote operators to crash it into the ocean.
The incident highlighted the increasing risk of direct confrontation between the superpowers as fighting continues in nearby Ukraine.
American officials accused the Russian pilots of flying in a “reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner”.
Moscow denied the jets behaved dangerously and said they didn’t come into contact with the drone, claiming it crashed due to “sharp manoeuvring”.
World
Gwyneth Paltrow ski crash court case starts in US after man accused her of seriously injuring him in ‘hit-and-run’
Donald Trump has claimed he is set to be arrested over an alleged hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
If right in his assertion, the former US president could be charged by authorities in New York within days.
But what will happen if he is indicted – and how will both sides present their case?
What Trump has said
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, Mr Trump said he expected to be arrested on Tuesday and urged his supporters to protest against the authorities if he is detained and indicted.
He published a long statement describing the investigation as a “political witch-hunt trying to take down the leading candidate, by far, in the Republican Party”.
“I did absolutely nothing wrong,” he said, before criticising a “corrupt, depraved and weaponised justice system”.
However, it’s worth noting a spokesperson for Mr Trump said he had not been notified of any pending arrest.
The case – that the Republican made a payment to Ms Daniels towards the end of the 2016 presidential campaign in exchange for her silence over an alleged affair – is one of several related to Mr Trump.
Other ongoing cases include a Georgia election interference probe and two federal investigations into his role in the 6 January insurrection in the US Capitol.
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What Trump will do
Mr Trump has accused Manhattan’s district attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, of targeting him for political gain, and may try to argue for the dismissal of the charges on those grounds.
He could also challenge whether the statute of limitations – five years in this instance – should have run out.
But in New York, the statute of limitations can be extended if the defendant has been out of state – Trump may argue that serving as US president should not apply.
Politically, how any possible indictment may affect Mr Trump’s chances in the 2024 presidential election is unclear.
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He could be the first former US president to face criminal prosecution – right as polls show him leading other potential rivals for the Republican nomination, including controversial Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
This could lead to the unprecedented situation in which Mr Trump would stand trial as he campaigns in 2024.
If elected, he would not have the power to pardon himself of criminal charges.
In any case, Mr Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina told CNBC on Friday that he would surrender if charged. If he refused to come voluntarily, prosecutors could seek to have him extradited from Florida, where he currently lives.
In an ironic twist, as governor, Mr DeSantis would typically have to give formal approval for an extradition.
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Trump arrest ‘would be politically motivated’
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What prosecutors will do
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has spent nearly five years investigating Mr Trump.
It has presented evidence to a New York grand jury that relates to a £114,000 ($130,000) payment to Ms Daniels during the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.
It is alleged the payment was given in exchange for Ms Daniels’ silence about an affair between her and Mr Trump.
Mr Trump has denied the affair and accused Ms Daniels of extortion.
Any indictment by the district attorney’s office would require Mr Trump to travel to its New York office to surrender.
But Mr Trump’s lawyers will likely arrange a date and time with authorities, as it is a white-collar case. And then his mugshot and fingerprints would be taken before appearing for arraignment in court.
Mr Trump could also be charged with falsifying business records – typically classed as a misdemeanour – after he reimbursed his former attorney Michael Cohen for the payments, falsely recorded as legal services.
To elevate it to a felony, prosecutors would have to show Mr Trump falsified records to cover up a second crime.
In any case, legal experts have estimated that any trial of the former US president would be more than a year away.
That’s why if it happened, it could coincide with the final months of a 2024 election in which Mr Trump seeks a controversial return to the White House.
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