Thousands of Russians are trying to escape conscription by fleeing to the United States Mexico to seek asylum, immigration lawyers asked.
Many fear Russia invasion of Ukraine will leave Putin wanting more people to join in supporting his troops.
Ukraine has already banned men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country in a bid to ensure the country’s “defense and timely mobilization”, and many Russians are fleeing before their homeland takes such steps.
The number of Russians who have stopped moving from Mexico to the United States has risen in recent months.
29-year-old Dmitry Politov (pictured) from Moscow backed Navalny and fled Russia to the United States to seek political asylum
Only 467 Russians were stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2020, but after the arrest of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, that number jumped to 9,376 in 2021.
An armed Russian soldier yesterday at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
Ekaterina Muratova, a Miami-based Russian-American immigration lawyer, said the number of Russians hoping for asylum would “skyrocket”.
“We’ve never been so busy,” she told Telegraph. “I have received tons of emails in the last few days – hundreds.
“They are mostly men between the ages of 20 and 55 who ask if they can get protection from the United States if Russia does compulsory military service.
“These people do not want to fight.”
Only 467 Russians were stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2020, but after the arrest of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, that number jumped to 9,376 in 2021.
This year their number continues to grow. Last month alone, 1,028 Russians tried to cross the border.
Moscow-based Dmitry Politov, 29, backed Navalny and fled Russia to the United States last year for fear of reprisals.
This map shows the strikes that Russia has so far been known to have inflicted on Ukraine, with more explosions rocking the country in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remains alive – and is fast becoming an international hero – while Vladimir Putin’s efforts to overthrow the government in Kiev and create his own puppet cabinet run into problems
He went to the United States because he thought Moscow could still contact him if he stayed in Europe.
Mr Politov has sought political asylum as an opponent of the Russian government after approaching US border guards on the border between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, California, a journey most Russians on the run are trying to make.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for Russians to travel to America legally. At the beginning of the pandemic, consular services were affected and relations between the two powers fell apart, especially after the start of the war in Ukraine.
The US Embassy in Moscow no longer even gives Russians tourist visas.
Smoke and flames can be seen rising over Peremohy Boulevard in Kiev in the western part of the city, near the zoo, in the early hours of Saturday morning
Ukrainian soldiers occupy positions in front of a military facility while burning two cars on a street in Kiev, February 26, 2022.
A Ukrainian soldier walks past the wreckage of a burning military truck on a street in Kiev, Ukraine on Saturday morning
A Ukrainian waited with his pistol at the Territorial Defense Registration Office on Saturday. Tens of thousands of ordinary Ukrainians have signed up to try to help their military defeat Vladimir Putin’s invasion
Although Putin’s army is the fifth largest in the world and surpasses that of Ukraine, Russia’s casualties are said to be great and the war costs an astronomical sum every day.
Former Estonian Defense Chief Riho Terras claims the war costs Russia about £ 15 billion a day.
Moscow’s 900,000 active military personnel mean that its forces are only smaller than those commanded by China, India, the United States and North Korea.
And yet, although Ukraine has built a bold defense, the influx of more Russian troops could turn the war in Moscow’s favor.
A shorter war would certainly be cheaper for Russia.
Even without a large increase in the Russian workforce, arithmetic seems bleak to Ukraine. Its 196,600 personnel rank its military 22nd in the world, but not only the number of active troops distinguishes its neighbors.
Most estimates by military experts show that the number of Russian troops near Russia’s border with Ukraine in the days leading up to the invasion is over 150,000.
Russia has also moved some of its troops to Belarus, north of Ukraine, for military exercises.
The Russian army has about 280,000 personnel and its combined armed forces about 900,000, while its 13,367 tanks outnumber Ukrainian ones by more than six to one, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
IISS also reports that Russia has 5,934 artillery units compared to 1962 in Ukraine and 19,783 armored military vehicles compared to 2,870 in Ukraine.
The institute, which tracks the military capabilities of nations around the world, also demonstrates Russia’s dominance at sea and in the air.
According to their data, the Russian Air Force has 165,000 personnel, 1,328 attack planes and at least 478 helicopters. Meanwhile, Ukraine has 35,000 air forces, 146 attack planes and 42 attack helicopters.
The discrepancies in the Russian and Ukrainian navies paint a similar picture.
Russia has 150,000 naval personnel compared to 15,000 in Ukraine.
Putin’s 74 warships and 51 submarines mean that Russia has managed to block Ukraine’s routes to the sea. Ukraine has only two warships and no submarines.
But while Russia easily outperforms Ukraine, some of its technologies are not as advanced as those used by Western countries.
Russia’s expulsion came when Ukrainians fled their war-torn homeland because of Putin’s invasion.
A UN envoy acknowledged that about four million Ukrainians could be displaced as refugees because of the crisis.
About 120,000 people have already left Ukraine as refugees since the start of the war on Thursday.
Ukrainians from Kiev board an evacuation train traveling to the western part of the country
About 120,000 Ukrainian refugees have moved to neighboring countries since the start of the war on Thursday
People coming from Ukraine get off a ferry to enter Romania after crossing the Danube River at the Isaca-Orlivka border checkpoint
Ukrainian citizens arrive at the border checkpoint between Poland and Ukraine at the railway station in Przemysl, Eastern Poland
Polish border guard helps refugees from Ukraine when they arrive in Poland at the Korcova border crossing, Poland
The latest war in Ukraine, at a glance
- Russia fails to capture Ukrainian capital Kiev during fighting Saturday night and Sunday morning
- But Russian forces entered Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, on Sunday morning
- Street battles are reported to be taking place, and photos show a Russian military machine on fire
- Oleh Sinekhubov, head of the Kharkiv regional administration, said Ukrainian forces were fighting Russian troops in the city and asked civilians not to leave their homes.
- Russian forces have reportedly blocked Kherson and Berdyansk and launched a new missile strike on Ukraine’s military infrastructure, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
- The UN says at least 240 Ukrainian civilians have been killed
- Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said their air force had shot down a missile aimed at the capital Kiev from a plane flying in Russia’s ally Belarus.
- As fighting continues, Russia has said it is participating in peace talks with the Ukrainian government in Belarus.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the delegation included the military and diplomats. “The Russian delegation is ready for talks, and we are now waiting for the Ukrainians,” he said.
- However, while Zelensky said that although he said Ukraine was ready for peace talks, he said they would not take place in Belarus – which was a base for Russian troops before the invasion.
- In a televised address, Zelensky, standing next to a Ukrainian flag wearing an army green T-shirt and jumper, said: “If there has been no aggressive action on your territory, we could talk in Minsk … other cities can be used as venues. of conversations.
- Meanwhile, Ukraine destroyed a convoy of 56 tanks of dangerous Chechen fighters
- Among those killed was one of Chechnya’s top generals, Magomed Tushaev
- At least two explosions shook the country in the early hours of Sunday local time
- Vasilkov, who is southwest of Ukraine, saw that the fuel depot at his air base was attacked by Russian ballistic missiles.
- The ensuing fire cast an ominous orange glow over Kiev, about 40 kilometers northeast.
- The pipeline was blown up near Kharkiv, sending a huge cloud of mushrooms rising into the sky
- A woman was killed in Kharkov after a Russian shell hit an apartment building
- Elon Musk has agreed to turn on his Starlink satellite network over Ukraine, as officials want to ensure that locals still have access to the Internet if Russia destroys the telecommunications network
- Wanting to repel Russian propaganda and expose violence by Putin’s army
- Russia’s prime minister says he is angry at slower-than-expected efforts to conquer Ukraine
- There are fears that delaying Russia’s invasion plan could make Putin more desperate in his attempts to crush Ukraine’s resolve.
- A Russian thermobaric missile system was spotted by an American film crew south of Belgorod, Russia, near the Ukrainian border.
- Weapons that contain a highly explosive mixture of fuel and chemicals and emit supersonic blasts that can tear buildings and bodies apart, can turn cities into ruins and cause enormous loss of life.
- Millions of citizens are sheltered underground
- But others took to the streets armed with Molotov pistols and cocktails to retaliate.
- US and EU agree to limit Russia’s use of SWIFT messaging system, which is vital for global financial transactions