White House Says US Would Welcome Russians Fleeing Military Draft; White House Offers Asylum to Russians Fleeing the Mobilization

US would welcome Russians fleeing military draft, White House says

Russian men who are fleeing the country to avoid being drafted into Moscow’s war against Ukraine should seek asylum in the US, the White House said Tuesday.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her regular briefing that the response inside Russia to the so-called “partial mobilization” ordered last week by the country’s president, Vladimir Putin, shows “this war that was started by the Kremlin is unpopular.”

“Regardless of their nationality, [people] may apply for asylum in the United States and have their claims adjudicated on a case by case basis,” Jean-Pierre added. “We welcome any folks who are seeking asylum and they should do that.

“What we’re seeing in Russia are the people of Russia who are saying they do not want this war, they do not support Putin’s war,” she went on.

The military call-up, in which the Kremlin seeks to draft some 300,000 men for the fighting in Ukraine — has sparked protests, violence, and a run on Russia’s borders. Airline tickets to the few countries still accepting direct flights from Russia have been sold out for days. —>READ MORE HERE

White House Offers Asylum to Russians Fleeing the Mobilization:

The White House is converting asylum laws into another weapon in its proxy war against Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

White House spokesman Karine Jean Pierre was asked on September 26, “As mobilization in Russia continues, thousands of Russian men [are trying] to leave the country … Is the U.S. willing to grant those Russian] men refugee status here in the U.S.?”

“Anyone seeking refuge for persecution, regardless of their nationality, may apply for asylum in the United States and have their claim adjudicated, on a case-by-case basis,” Pierre responded.

Under U.S. law, people can only apply for asylum on U.S. soil.

Early in the Cold War, asylum rules were adopted in 1951 and 1967 to protect people from government repression, which could include forced military service. The laws were also drafted in the expectation that people fleeing communist repression would apply for asylum in the first safe country they reach — not after they pass through several quiet countries to reach the prosperous United States.

The U.S. won the Cold War in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. Since then, the U.S. has expanded its network of NATO allies up to the old Soviet border. It is now helping Ukraine as it tries to claim authority over districts claimed and populated by Russians. Those districts include the Donbas region and Crimea, which was captured from the Turks in 1783 by Catherine the Great. —>READ MORE HERE

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