The two Russians braved miles of high seas, traveling on a ship from Russia to a small, remote island in Alaska in an apparent attempt to avoid being ensnared by President Vladimir V. Putin’s mandatory conscription for fight in Ukraine, two US senators said Thursday.
The two escapees appeared to have achieved their goal, landing on a beach on the northwest tip of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea this week and seeking asylum in the United States, according to a statement from Senators Lisa Murkowski. and Dan Sullivan, Republicans. from Alaska.
Mr Sullivan said he contacted Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas after being briefed on the duo, whose flight he said underscored the desperation of Russians seeking to flee Mr Putin’s war.
“This incident clarifies two things,” Sullivan said in the statement. “First, the Russian people do not want to wage Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Second, given Alaska’s proximity to Russia, our state has a vital role to play in ensuring US national security.
The couple sailed to the island from the town of Egvekinot in northeastern Russia, a trip of nearly 300 miles, Gambell town clerk Curtis Silook told Alaska’s News Source, a news outlet on line. Phone calls to the clerk’s office were unsuccessful Thursday evening; the Coast Guard said the island was engulfed in a storm.
The two Russians appeared to be part of an exodus of more than 200,000 men who have fled Russia since September 21, when Mr Putin, faced with heavy battlefield casualties in Ukraine, ordered to mobilize up to 300,000 reservists to join the fight. Within four days, according to the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, around 261,000 men of military age had left. Tens of thousands more have since fled.
Many of the men ended up in places like Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet territory, which normally take in few refugees but are ready to welcome them. Others went to Georgia, Finland, Turkey or other countries.
Even before Mr. Putin’s mobilization order, hundreds of thousands of Russians had already left the country, driven by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Marsha Espinosa, spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that after landing in Alaska on Tuesday, the two Russians were flown to Anchorage for inspection, and were checked and checked, and then dealt with according to laws. Americans on immigration. . She said the two are now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Mr. Sullivan said that, given Alaska’s geostrategic position in Russia’s shadow, he and Ms. Murkowski had pressured officials in Washington “to prioritize capabilities in the Arctic – including including infrastructure, Coast Guard assets, ports and strategic defense assets”.
Ms Murkowski said they were in contact with federal officials and residents of the island town closest to where the Russians landed to try to learn more about the identities of the two individuals.
She also criticized the federal response to the arrival of the Russians, saying Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency securing America’s borders, had to send a Coast Guard plane more than 750 miles to arrive on places.
“This situation underscores the need for enhanced security in the American Arctic,” she said.