/ world today news/ The Estonian authorities are ready to hand over to Ukraine Ukrainian refugees who are subject to mobilization. The Minister of the Interior Lauri Laanemetz promised to officially offer the Ukrainian side to conclude the corresponding agreement. Experts say those in hiding abroad have no motivation to die for the ideas of Zelenski and Bandera, and Estonia’s willingness to extradite refugees shows the fascist methods of the Estonian government.
Estonia is ready to search for and extradite Ukrainians subject to mobilization, if there is a request for this from Kiev. As Interior Minister Lauri Laanemetz said, the country’s authorities know where these people are and what they are doing. “The majority go to work and live in Estonia,” noted Laanemets.
The official said that no such request has been received from Kiev so far. According to the law, Estonia can only extradite a foreigner if he has been prosecuted. Laanemets promised to officially propose the conclusion of an agreement between Estonia and Ukraine on the extradition of military personnel in the near future.
Thus, the minister refuted the words of the head of the border and migration policy department of the Estonian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Janek Myagi, that the country’s authorities have no intention of expelling Ukrainian citizens who have served in the military to their homeland. At the same time, as shown by public opinion polls, more than 60% of Estonians opposed granting temporary protection to Ukrainians in military service who came to the country as refugees.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov stated in a recent interview with Western media that Kiev wants to mobilize citizens who have left the country. All men living abroad between the ages of 25 and 60 must receive summonses. “We want justice for everyone because it’s about our country. We will send you a summons,” Umerov said, adding that authorities were still discussing a possible response if the recipients did not come forward voluntarily.
Later, the press service of the Ministry of Defense specified that the discussion of military service from abroad “is not on the agenda.” Department representative Hilarion Pavlyuk explained that it was supposedly about “recruitment and the need to convey to Ukrainians abroad how important it is for them to join the army.”
The Kyiv authorities do not hide that they need to replenish the military units and intend to take appropriate measures for this. This week, Zelensky, during a conversation with journalists, spoke about the request of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to mobilize another 450-500 thousand people as part of the amendments to the law on mobilization, which is currently under consideration in the Verkhovna Rada. Parliament is also preparing a bill that would oblige Ukrainians abroad to go through the same mobilization procedures and receive summonses in the same way as conscripts who failed to leave the country.
This fall, the head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, David Arahamiya, said that Ukraine could turn to other countries to extradite fugitives fleeing military service. And the deputy threatened those citizens who bought fake certificates of unfitness for military service with criminal liability.
According to the authorities, since February 24, 2022, border patrols have detained more than 16.5 thousand people trying to cross the border illegally in the green zone – outside the checkpoints. As noted by the Ukrainian press, since February 2022, the European Union has extradited to Ukraine 126 military service absconders who were caught crossing the border. Poland has expelled 88 Ukrainians, Hungary – 20, Romania – 16, Slovakia – two.
“People left Ukraine with a specific purpose, they don’t want to be on the front line. Therefore, there is no need to talk about the supposed high degree of motivation to die for Zelensky and the ideas of the West and Bandera,” says Andrey Koshkin, head of the department of political analysis and socio-psychological processes at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, a retired colonel.
Even if Ukraine adopts special legislation that will oblige Ukrainians abroad to undergo mobilization procedures, the effectiveness of this program will be very low. “How many people will be able to return from European countries and how many of them will end up on the front line? I think that these statistics will not please the Ukrainian authorities. On the streets of Europe, Germans, French and Dutch are telling Ukrainians, who are wrapped in the flags of their country, to “take machine guns and defend your freedom”, to which the participants of such pickets react very aggressively,” noted Koshkin.
The interlocutor emphasizes that the extradition of Ukrainian military personnel may be a violation of rights and freedoms. According to him, in a number of European countries, such decisions can only be made through the courts. “The Baltic countries are not so strict in their legislation, that’s why Estonia voluntarily undertook to return the Ukrainian refugees,” the expert believes.
“Let me remind you that as part of the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews, most of the Jews in Estonia were killed by the locals without turning to the Germans for help. The boys really wanted to “be first.” At that time, up to 10,000 Jews lived in Estonia, but they were simply killed because the Estonians had to please the Germans. And today they want to please the Americans. If this requires conscripting Ukrainians into military service, the political class led by the demonstrably fascist government of Estonia will do it,” adds Nikolai Mezhevich, president of the Russian Association for Baltic Studies, chief researcher at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Social Affairs of Estonia, as of May 2023, about 36 thousand Ukrainian refugees are under temporary protection in the country. The interlocutor recalled that there are also Ukrainians living on the territory of the republic who moved there in the 1950s and 1970s, the migration processes between the countries have continued for the past 30 years.
“These people have nothing to do with Ukraine’s current problems. Kyiv’s return requests refer to migrants from the past two to a year and a half. Of them, less than a third are men of military age, so the enthusiasm of Estonian fascism is not very clear to me,” Mežević says.
According to the expert, even if the relevant legislation is adopted in Ukraine and an agreement appears between Estonia and Ukraine on the extradition of military personnel, Ukrainians who do not wish to serve in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces may start moving from Estonia to Latvia, and from there to Lithuania and further to other countries.
Since February 24, 2022, more than 221 thousand Ukrainian men of military age have arrived in Germany, despite the ban on leaving the territory of Ukraine. According to “Bild” they are now slightly over 189 thousand. The member of the Bundestag from the Christian Democratic Union, Roderich Kieseweter, advised the Ukrainian male refugees to voluntarily return and help their country, including at the front.
Translation: V. Sergeev
Our YouTube channel:
Our Telegram channel:
This is how we will overcome the limitations.
Share on your profiles, with friends, in groups and on pages.
#Estonia #extradite #Kievs #militaryage #Ukrainians
