Russian Authorities Attempt to Recruit Asylum Seekers into Army: BBC Report

The Russian authorities tried to recruit into the army some of the asylum seekers who sought to cross the border with Finland through its territory, but were unable to do so after the closure of the checkpoints.

This, as “European Truth” writes, is stated in the publication “BBC Russian Service”.

The publication refers to the testimony of one of the refugees from Somalia, who is called Awad, as well as data from Russian human rights activists who pointed to cases of recruitment of asylum seekers into the Russian army.

According to Awad, he arrived in Moscow in July 2023 and initially tried several times to cross the Belarusian border with Poland, but was unsuccessful. Then he went to the border with Finland through St. Petersburg in a taxi along with another refugee from Somalia.

Already in Karelia, the car was stopped by Russian police, after which the migrants were detained due to expired visas, fined and placed in a detention center for asylum seekers for several days.

Later, Avad and other refugees at the center were offered to “work for the state” instead of being expelled. Along with Awad, 11 other men agreed to this. As it turned out, it was about signing an annual contract for service in the Russian Army, but the essence of the work was not immediately explained.

Finland involved police in security measures on the border with Russia

An interlocutor of the BBC Russian Service said that he and his comrades decided to abandon “work” when they were brought to a military camp near the border with Ukraine. They began to intimidate them with prison, but in the end the unit was allowed to terminate the contract with subsequent deportation from the Russian Federation.

Let us remind you that from November 30, the Finnish border with Russia is completely closed for at least two weeks – only freight trains are allowed to travel.

The country took this step after asylum seekers and third-country citizens began arriving at checkpoints en masse from Russia during November. Previously, Russian border guards did not allow travelers to leave if they did not have the documents required to enter Finland.

Due to the situation on the eastern border to Finland employees of the European agency Frontex arrived.

Read more about this in the article Finland is on the defensive: how Russia kicked off a new migration crisis at the EU border.

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2023-12-06 16:31:00
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