Two Russian nationals fleeing President Vladimir Putin’s call-up of military reservists landed by boat on a remote Alaskan island in the Bering Sea and are seeking asylum in the United States, the state’s two senators and U.S. government officials said Thursday.
The unusual incident highlights the lengths some Russians have gone to avoid a mobilization of up to 300,000 as Putin’s military, having suffered heavy losses in Ukraine, has made multiple retreats in recent weeks amid an aggressive offensive push by Ukrainian forces. An estimated 200,000 Russians have fled since the call-up.
The two appeared this week at a beach near Gambell, a tiny community on the northwest tip of St. Lawrence Island about 40 miles from mainland Russia, where they reported having fled “to avoid compulsory military service,” a spokesperson for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told the Associated Press.
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A spokesperson for the department of homeland security said: “The individuals were transported to Anchorage for inspection, which includes a screening and vetting process, and then subsequently processed in accordance with applicable US immigration laws under the Immigration and Nationality Act.”
“These two individuals that came over from Russia in a boat and were detained in Gambell … my understanding is they are in Anchorage now being dealt with by federal authorities,” Alaska’s governor, Mik Dunleavy, said. “We don’t anticipate a continual stream of individuals or a flotilla of individuals. We have no indication that’s going to happen, so this may be a one-off.”
Dan Sullivan, a Republican senator from Alaska said that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had yet to decide whether the two Russians would be allowed to stay in the US.
Sullivan said he encouraged the CBP “to have a plan ready with the Coast Guard in the event that more Russians flee to Bering Strait communities in Alaska”.
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