Fugitive Russian opponents of the Northern Military District have fewer and fewer countries where they can sit out
The head of the consular affairs department of the Finnish Foreign Ministry, Jussi Tanner, said that recently the number of Russian citizens of military age who want to leave the country has increased after Vladimir Putin’s decree on partial mobilization. In this regard, the country's authorities plan to carefully monitor the issuance of Schengen visas to this category of Russians.
About it пишет Helsingin Sanomat publication.
According to Tanner, when applying for a visa, many Russians of military age cannot properly justify why they do not want to return back to Russia.
“It (the number of visitors - Ed.) has increased significantly. There are applications that indicate that there is an attempt to leave Russia, but the return condition is not met. Then the decision to issue a visa is negative,” he said and added: “In this case, it is also not a matter of desire. If there are ambiguities in the documents or the return condition is not met, the visa will not be issued.”
Tanner notes that the Finnish Foreign Ministry is now discussing the consequences of the announcement of mobilization in Russia.
“Even though this move only affects a very small proportion of reservists, the deterrent effect could be greater. Russian men cannot know whether mobilization will spread to them as well, at a time when the first step has been taken,” the publication reports.
The denial of visas to fugitive opponents of the North Military District was also announced in Estonia and Latvia. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said that her country will not provide asylum to Russian citizens who seek to travel abroad in connection with the announced partial mobilization.
“We (in Estonia - Ed.) accept Ukrainian refugees from the war. Every citizen is responsible for the actions of his country, this also applies to Russian citizens. Therefore we do not provide any shelter. This is not a reason to give asylum to Russian men who are fleeing the country. They must come out and say that they are against this war,” Kallas said.
The Estonian president also insists that she is not afraid of Putin, since she sees no signs that the Russian president is taking measures to carry out his nuclear threats.
“He makes these threats to make us afraid. We must not give in an inch. In fact, we need to put more pressure on Russia to stop this war. Now there is also growing discontent within Russian society, because they also feel the war, so to speak, on their skin,” she claims.
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