This is a question that deeply divides Europeans and that will be on the menu of a crisis meeting of the ambassadors of the member states organized on Monday 26 September in Brussels by the Czech presidency. Should Russian citizens of age to be mobilized in Russia be accepted and welcomed into the European Union? The debate is animated in the chancelleries by the announcement of the “partial mobilization” decreed by Russia on Wednesday 21 September. While nearly 6,500 Russians still crowded the Russian-Finnish border on Friday, opinions differ.
Germany has offered, starting Thursday 22 September, to welcome deserters from the Russian army, “Threatened with severe repression”, according to German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. But Prague and the Baltic states are much less enthusiastic. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky refused to grant them any humanitarian visas on Thursday.
“Significant Safety Risks”
In a tweet, his Latvian counterpart, Edgars Rinkevics, for his part, considered it “Many Russians fleeing Russia due to the mobilization agreed to kill the Ukrainians, at that moment they did not protest. It is not fair to consider them conscientious objectors. There are significant security risks in admitting them and there are many other countries outside the EU they can go to. “.
Many of the Russians who are now fleeing Russia due to the mobilization were well killing the Ukrainians, they did not protest … https://t.co/Aced0VLKJI
This analysis is shared by the Baltic countries and Finland, which still wish to reduce the crossings at their borders. At the beginning of September, after fighting not to grant them tourist visas, the Baltic states, Poland and Finland managed, after bitter discussions at European level, only to complicate the procedure for obtaining these visas for Russians.
Since then, these states have however decided to close their borders to these tourists on September 19th. On Friday, Finland announced plans to cut back “significantly” their coming. However, “there are exceptionssays a Finnish diplomat. Russians with a permanent visa, family ties or property in Finland can still pass. Likewise, they can always come for humanitarian reasons. “
To date, however, the number of Russian asylum seekers in the country remains infinitesimal. “Since the beginning of the year there have been 417 requests, against the usual 200-500 requests per year. In the last two days we have counted four., He adds. Indeed, while the number of Russians attempting to cross the border has doubled this week, the borders are not stormed, unlike those of other countries such as Georgia, Serbia or Turkey.
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