Europe urged to 'show openness to those' fleeing Russia after Putin's conscription call

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, President of the European Council Charles Michel urged Europe to show an “openness to those who don’t want to be instrumentalised by the Kremlin”, reported Politico. The remarks came ahead of a key meeting between EU ambassadors on Monday that is organised within the framework of the EU's Integrated Political Crisis Response. The IPCR is a mechanism that enables rapid and coordinated decision-making between the members of the EU at the political level during times of crisis. 

"In principle I think that… the European Union [should] host those who are in danger because of their political opinions. If in Russia people are in danger because of their political opinions, because they do not follow this crazy Kremlin decision to launch this war in Ukraine, we must take this into consideration," he said. "

European nations shut borders amid Russia’s partial mobilization  

Amid Michel’s calls to allow Russian refugees fleeing Putin’s military draft to mobilise around 3,00,000 military reservists for the war in Ukraine, several European nations announced the closure of their borders for Russian nationals. The Foreign Minister of Lithuania, Gabrielius Landsbergis, informed on Twitter that the country would not be granting asylum to Russians fleeing the conflict.  “Russians should stay and fight. Against Putin,” tweeted Landsbergis.  

The Lithuanian FM further stated that Russian men “instead of running away to Europe,” should protest Russia’s actions, disobey the military draft, go absent without leave (AWOL), surrender themselves as prisoners of war (POWs) or mutiny. Lithuania had further announced the deployment of their Rapid Reaction Force while raising the level of alertness of the country’s armed forces following Putin’s announcement of the partial military mobilization.  

Meanwhile, Foreign Ministeries of Latvia, Poland and Estonia also announced to closed their borders with Russia.  

Russians flee the military draft  

The official handle of the Border Guard of Finland revealed that more than 7,000 Russians had entered the nation via the land border.  

On the other hand, the Interior Minister of Germany Nancy Faeser stated that Germany would welcome Russians fleeing the military draft, reported BBC.