Putin has succeeded in mobilising a Russian army on the borders… not to fight, but flee
They come on foot, bicycles, cars and even electric scooters.
They bring what they can which isn’t much, dragging their suitcases behind them. Some have dogs and others cat boxes. They are exhausted after a journey that has taken days, but all seem hugely relieved to have left Putin’s Russia.
One couple laughed with relief. “Very tired, but happy,” said Katy. The relief seemed almost to overwhelm her.
We are on Georgia’s border crossing with Russia. It straddles a pass high in the Caucasus. A steady stream of Russians are coming through. They tell stories of chaos on the other side.
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Vitaly and Maria have four children. They left home four days ago. The last two they had spent walking and queuing with thousands of others crammed into the narrow gorge on the Russian side. They also had to bribe guards to have any chance of getting through.
Those waiting to cross face an anxious ordeal. The temperature at this altitude is either very cold, in the shade or roasting hot in the sun. One couple told us of moments of panic as rumours swept through the crowds that authorities would soon close the border – or were sending the military to find men of mobilisation age and pack them off to the front.
Some are too scared to talk even outside of Russia, fearful of retribution against their families left behind. Others seize the opportunity to speak their mind, almost shaking with anger as they do.
“Putin is a murderer,” Vitaly told me with a smouldering fury.
They had told the children they were going to the seaside he said. They couldn’t risk telling them the truth in case they passed it on to strangers. They won’t be going back until there is a change of government and a new president.
“My boy is 17 next year,” he said, pointing to his eldest. “He will be taken to the army. The war is not going to end tomorrow. If he goes, what, did I raise him for Putin?”
Vitaly and his family say they won’t return to Russia until there is a new government
They had left everything behind apart from what is in their suitcases. They even abandoned their car on the border. They had no plans beyond catching a taxi to Tbilisi, but even a future that uncertain, they said, was preferable to life under Putin.
Putin’s mobilisation decree has prompted a massive increase in the numbers of people leaving.
We met only one man who had actually received call-up papers. ‘Nick’ is now on the run from authorities who want to send him to Ukraine to fight.
His government “wants to make meat from me” he told us. He was a scientist and an engineer and has so much more than that he said to give to his country.
We have met IT specialists, managers and even a nuclear physicist. They have all given up their jobs and walked out of Russia.
Russia is haemorrhaging its brightest and best. It is a huge tragedy for the country that it will take years to recover from.
This satellite image shows the large traffic jam of trucks and cars waiting to cross the Georgian border
But it may also be exactly what the regime wants as it plots its future. The young and the savvy who have the best chance to see beyond the state’s lies and propaganda and what is really going on in their country.
One official has said as much – Ella Pamfilova, the head of Russia’s election commission.
“Let the rats who are running run,” she is quoted as saying. “The ship will be ours. It’s gaining strength and clearly moving towards its target.”
As an observer on Twitter noted, she seems gloriously unaware of the reason rats flee ships.
A mass exodus is under way. In less than a week, the number of Russians fleeing has doubled. Before Putin’s mobilisation announcement 300,000 had left – but in the week since at least that number have left.
They are fleeing into Mongolia, Finland, Kazakhstan and Georgia. Many are the younger ones, better educated and best qualified because they are of fighting age and do not want to be called up to fight.
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What’s happening on Russia’s borders as people flee Putin’s order
Vladimir Putin has succeeded in mobilising an army of Russians, mustering on the borders, not to fight but to flee.
The reservists that authorities do successfully corral into the army will likely be reluctant and demoralised. There have been multiple protests against the draft by young Russian men who do not want to fight.
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On Russian state TV, pundits openly urged the government to round up artists, street musicians, the mentally disabled and ethnic minorities and send them to war. Even by their own bigoted standards it was a startling exchange between state-funded propagandists.
Putin is looking increasingly unlikely to win this war, and the addition of hastily trained, poorly motivated men, even in their hundreds of thousands is not likely to change that.
But he is prepared it seems to send many more to the front. Between 40,000 and 80,000 have been killed or injured in this war already. Many more will follow.
World
Ireland pledging emergency legislation to send asylum seekers back to UK in wake of Rwanda bill being passed
Ireland is pledging emergency legislation enabling it to send asylum seekers back to the UK.
More than 80% of recent arrivals in the republic came via the land border with Northern Ireland, Irish justice minister Helen McEntee told a parliamentary committee last week.
Rishi Sunak told Sky News it showed the UK’s Rwanda scheme was already working as a deterrent after it finally became law last week.
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Ireland plans to return migrants to UK
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Ireland’s deputy prime minister has said the threat of deportation to Rwanda is causing migrants to head for Ireland instead of the UK.
Micheal Martin said the policy was already affecting Ireland because people are “fearful” of staying in the UK.
The former taoiseach told The Daily Telegraph: “Maybe that’s the impact it was designed to have.”
Protesters in Dublin. Pic: PA
Simon Harris, Ireland’s latest leader, has asked Ms McEntee to “bring proposals to cabinet to amend existing law regarding the designation of safe ‘third countries’ and allowing the return of inadmissible international protection applicants to the UK”, a spokesman said.
Ms McEntee said she will be meeting UK Home Secretary James Cleverly in London on Monday.
“There are many reasons why we have seen an increase in migration towards Ireland,” she told RTE.
“My focus as minister for justice is making sure that we have an effective immigration structure and system.
“That’s why I’m introducing fast processing, that’s why I’ll have emergency legislation at cabinet this week to make sure that we can effectively return people to the UK, and that’s why I’ll be meeting with the home secretary to raise these issues on Monday.”
People are now “worried” about coming to the UK, Rishi Sunak has said.
He told Sky News: “If people come to our country illegally, but know that they won’t be able to stay here, they are much less likely to come, and that’s why the Rwanda scheme is so important.”
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Are migrants fleeing from UK to Ireland?
Mr Sunak said the comments from Irish politicians show that “illegal migration is a global challenge”.
“[That] is why you’re seeing multiple countries talk about doing third country partnerships, looking at novel ways to solve this problem, and I believe [they] will follow where the UK has led,” he said.
Shadow minister Wes Streeting said it was unlikely a Labour government would bring people back from Rwanda if some are sent there.
“Once people are settled in Rwanda, they’re settled in Rwanda,” he told Sky News, adding it was doubtful that Labour would “unpick that situation”.
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Regarding illegal migration in general, he said it required “putting the money that’s gone to Rwanda into the National Crime Agency so we can have proper cross-border policing to tackle the criminal gangs, speeding up the processing of decision-making, making sure we’ve got serious returns agreements with other countries”.
He added: “Those are solutions that can work.”
Pope Francis has made his first trip out of Rome for seven months with a visit to Venice where he asked worshippers to “pray for me”.
It was a rare acknowledgement of the strains of the job as he told thousands of the faithful gathered in St Mark’s Square: “This work is not easy”.
During a five-hour visit on Sunday, the pontiff visited an art exhibition and prison as well as conducting mass.
The 87-year-old unexpectedly withdrew from a Good Friday procession in March “to preserve his health”.
He had been battling respiratory problems all winter that made it difficult for him to speak at length.
In December, he was due to go to the United Arab Emirates, but pulled out after coming down with flu.
A painful knee ailment makes it hard for him to walk and on Sunday he regularly used a wheelchair, with Vatican News Television cutting away whenever he was helped into a chair to give a speech, or on to his white golf cart.
Pic: Reuters
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The Pope acknowledged Venice’s “enchanting beauty” in his homily at a mass before about 10,000 people in the shadow of St Mark’s Basilica, one of the most celebrated churches in Italy.
But he said the city also faced an array of challenges, including climate change, the fragility of its cultural heritage, and overtourism.
“Moreover, all these realities risk generating… frayed social relations, individualism, and loneliness,” he said.
Venice introduced a €5 charge last week for day-trippers during peak travel periods in an effort to thin the crowds.
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He started the day by flying by helicopter into a women’s prison where the Vatican has set up an exhibition that is part of the Venice Biennale, a prestigious international art show that has never been visited by a pope before.
The pope has repeatedly called for society to rally around the poor and neglected, including prison populations.
“Prison is a harsh reality, and problems such as overcrowding, the lack of facilities and resources, and episodes of violence, give rise to a great deal of suffering. But it can also become a place of moral and material rebirth,” he told inmates and guards on Sunday.
He also addressed a group of young Venetians, urging them not to spend their life glued to their smartphones, but to help others.
“If we always focus on our self, our needs, and what we lack, we will always find ourselves back at the starting point, crying over ourselves with a long face,” he said.
Two Russian journalists could face at least two years in prison after they were arrested on “extremism” charges, accused of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
Konstantin Gabov and Sergey Karelin are accused of preparing materials for a YouTube channel run by Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which has been outlawed by Russian authorities.
Russian courts have ordered them to remain in custody pending an investigation and trial.
They will be detained for at least two months before any trial begins.
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What happened to Alexei Navalny?
They face a minimum of two years’ jail time and a maximum of six years for alleged “participation in an extremist organisation”, according to Russian courts.
Both journalists deny the charges.
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The journalists are the latest to be arrested amid a Russian government crackdown on dissent and independent media that intensified after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian government passed laws criminalising what it deems false information or discreditory statements about the military, effectively outlawing any criticism of the war in Ukraine.
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Mr Gabov, who was detained in Moscow, is a freelance producer who has worked for multiple outlets, including Reuters, the court press service said.
Mr Karelin, who has dual citizenship with Israel and has previously worked for The Associated Press, was detained on Friday night in Russia’s northern Murmansk region.
“The Associated Press is very concerned by the detention of Russian video journalist Sergey Karelin,” the AP said in a statement. “We are seeking additional information.”
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Their arrests come after Forbes journalist Sergei Mingazov was detained on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military on Friday, according to his lawyer.
A number of journalists have been jailed in relation to their coverage of Mr Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony in February.
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