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The US embassy in Moscow has urged all Americans in Russia to flee the country after President Vladimir Putin issued a “partial mobilization” order last week.
“Russia may refuse to recognize dual nationals as U.S. citizens, deny them access to U.S. consular assistance, prevent them from leaving Russia, and conscript dual nationals into military service,” the embassy warned Tuesday.
Travelers from Russia cross the border into Georgia at Zemo Larsi/Verkhny Lars train station, Georgia, September 26, 2022. (Portal/Irakli Gedenidze/File Photo)
RUSSIA’S BORDERS SEE DESPERATION AS ELIGIBLE MEN FLEE
The embassy warned that the ability to leave Russia had already become increasingly difficult due to limited commercial flights and overcrowded border checkpoints.
“Those residing or traveling in Russia should leave Russia immediately while limited commercial travel opportunities remain,” added the statement released by the embassy.
Putin’s decree to mobilize 300,000 troops for his war in Ukraine has reportedly prompted hundreds of thousands of draft-age men to attempt to flee Russia.
Images have surfaced on social media showing crowded airports and officials at Finland’s border checkpoint have said thousands of cars have clogged the highways while Russians, mostly fighting-age men, try to flee Putin’s orders.
Cars queue to cross the border from Russia to Finland at the Vaalimaa border checkpoint in Virolahti in Virolahti, Finland, Friday, September 23, 2022. (Sasu Makinen/Lehtikuva via AP)
THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS “WE WELCOME” TO RUSSIANS SEEKING US ASYLUM WITH PUTIN-DRAFT
Russian men have reported being flooded to Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia as other European nations have blocked their borders to Russian citizens.
The White House said Tuesday it will take in Russian refugees trying to renounce the war in Ukraine.
Within five days of Putin announcing the mobilization on September 21, about 261,000 men had already fled Russia, according to Novaya Gazeta Europe on Monday.
Warning all Americans in Russia that the State Department has limited ability to provide assistance, especially as tensions between Moscow and Washington continue to escalate to levels not seen since the Cold War, the embassy said, “The conditions, including of transportation options could suddenly deteriorate and become even more limited.”
Travelers from Russia cross the border into Georgia at Zemo Larsi/Verkhny Lars train station, Georgia, September 26, 2022. (Portal/Irakli Gedenidze/File Photo)
But a Russia expert said the White House could also signal to Putin that Russia “is not now off-limits to kinetic targeting” as the Kremlin escalates its language on nuclear threats and claims it will treat annexed territory as its own.
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“Moscow and Washington do not speak the same language, literally or figuratively, as they have diametrically opposed worldviews and security plans that have put them on a geopolitical collision course,” Rebekka Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) intelligence officer, told Fox News digital .
“This is a very complex and highly risky diplomatic dance of ‘strategic message’ and ‘strategic ambiguity’ because of the possibility of misinterpretation,” she added.
The State Department has also advised Americans not to travel to or through Russia at this time.
Caitlin McFall is a reporter at Fox News Digital. You can reach her at [email protected] or @ctlnmcfall on Twitter.