‘This is not our territory’: Startling unrest in Russian republics as thousands flee mobilisation
Vladimir Putin has for seven months insisted his invasion of Ukraine was only a special military operation.
That way he hoped the conflict would seem distant and contained to the broad Russian public.
With his military suffering setback after setback, a week ago he announced the mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of reservists. But even that was qualified.
It was a partial mobilisation and so far the bulk of men being drafted are said to be from areas far from Moscow and in the Russian federation’s autonomous republics.
Putin faces ‘imminent defeat’ – Ukraine war latest
He will have hoped again that the bulk of ethnic Russians will still not feel directly affected by this latest escalation.
But it is not working out that way, it seems, not for hundreds of thousands of Russians across the country.
They’ve felt so strongly about his latest moves that they have left their homes and everything in them and made the long and difficult journey out of Russia. To Georgia, or to Mongolia and Kazakhstan or Finland, where so many Russians have crossed that the authorities have now closed the border to them.
As many have left in the past week as in the entire conflict. One young mother crossing into Georgia told Sky News that you cannot raise children in a country that sends men to kill against their will.
Others are less prepared to talk to news crews when they cross. Many of them are from those autonomous republics.
Areas such as Dagestan, in the north Caucasus, Buryat far to the east and Chechnya have suffered a disproportionately high amount of casualties in the Ukraine war and suspect the new mobilisation will mean an unfair number of their men are forced to join up.
Startling levels of unrest
There has been an unprecedented level of unrest in these republics in the last week. We have seen startling videos online of men headbutting policemen and kickboxing them in mass brawls.
And in deeply conservative Islamic areas of Russia, women have been so angry they have taken to the streets to chant “No more war” against police.
We were able to talk to a few men anonymously who come from these areas.
One from Dagestan would not show his face on camera, but said the situation there was getting worse. Young men, he said, were being forced into minibuses and sent for military training. He was getting out of Russia while he could.
Another man from Chechnya said zthat since Mr Putin’s mobilisation order “the mood of younger Chechens worsened. Everybody is trying as fast they can to leave Chechen territory, fearing they’ll be mobilised.”
He questioned the Kremlin’s logic in forcing men to fight against their will.
“I don’t think they’ll try hard because many of us think this isn’t our war and that Russia is an aggressor. This is not defending the interests of their motherland.”
He had been working hard to get Chechen men across the border.
‘I don’t really understand’
We filmed our interview at night and obscured his identity to avoid retribution by Chechen authorities back home against members of his family. Chechnya has been subject to brutal repression since its subjugation by Russia in two conflicts.
He said Russia was fighting a war and there was no other way of describing it.
So did another man who approached us under cover of darkness. A military veteran, he had fought for Russia and served four years, he said, but had just crossed the border to avoid being called up.
Mr Putin’s announcements showed Russia was not fighting a limited military operation, he said.
“I really don’t understand why I should go,” he told us. “This is not our territory. The fact they’re trying to mobilise this many people means it’s the start of something very serious.”
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He had comrades who had fought in Ukraine, he said, but their experience was far from encouraging.
“I have some friends who are in Ukraine and friends who have come back. But they’re not saying anything good about it.”
Mr Putin is doubling down on his war, but for an increasing number of Russians that has brought the conflict far closer to home.
It is provoking widespread unrest and a mass exodus. He is gambling that those downsides will be worth it, but he may be raising a fighting force of only dubious quality, hastily trained poorly equipped and reluctant to fight.
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States, going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Pic: Reuters
It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had a “very good conversation” with Mr Trump late on Monday. He thanked him for the “willingness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings”.
Weapons being sent from to Ukraine include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which the country has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
Mr Zelenskyy previously criticised Vladimir Putin’s “desire to drag [the war] out”, and said Kyiv was “working on major defence agreements with America”.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump over Mr Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump threatens Russia with ‘severe’ tariffs’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call”, but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Mr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump says Putin ‘talks nice and then bombs everybody’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.
Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.
The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.
It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
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In March, Sky’s Stuart Ramsay described escalating violence within Syria
The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.
Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.
But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.
It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.
Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.
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Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.
That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.
The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.
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