With a bag in each hand and another on his back, Denis walks up a hill, having just crossed the Russian border into Georgia. “I’m just tired. That’s the only thing I feel,” says the 27-year-old as he tries to catch his breath.
Denis has just spent six days on the road, most of them just waiting in line to cross the border. He is one of hundreds of thousands of Russians who face a grueling marathon journey to leave their country.
Although women and children are among those crossing the border, most are men of fighting age who fear the possibility of being called up to fight in the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. According to the Georgia Department of the Interior, at least 10,000 people cross the Lars border daily.
Denis, who declined to reveal his last name, said he chose to leave because of uncertainty following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement last week of a “partial mobilisation” of citizens – despite his earlier emphasis that the military strike would only be fought by military professionals.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the military will recruit about 300,000 men with previous military experience to fight in Ukraine.
While the current draft shouldn’t apply to him, Denis fears that could change. “How can I know what will happen three years from now? How can I know how long this will take?” he said. “It’s uncertain, and no one knows what’s to come.”
His sentiment is shared by many who cross the border into Georgia. They are teachers, doctors, taxi drivers, lawyers and builders – ordinary Russians who have no appetite for war. And while they say they don’t agree with the government, they believe there is nothing they can do to force Putin to change course.
They chose to leave their homeland despite the perilous journey. Denis said he spent days in his car without enough access to food and toilets. “When you’re there waiting, there’s no toilet.
You can’t eat too much because everything is instantly sold out and no one has packed much food because no one expected it to take that long,” he said. Another man CNN spoke with walked 20 kilometers to reach Georgia, also fueled by concerns that the draft could expand.
“That doesn’t apply to me today, but it might apply tomorrow,” the individual said, speaking to CNN on the condition that he remain anonymous because he fears Moscow’s far-reaching hand.
And George Vatsadze, a 28-year-old marketer, says he’s leaving Russia because he doesn’t want to hurt his loved ones. He has a Ukrainian grandmother and cousins who live in the country. “I can’t go there to fight,” he said.
Vatsadze bred to his brother, who was eligible for the draft. He only brought a bag with some clothes and his dog. He says it was the only thing he could do. Tired and emotional, he is happy to have arrived in Georgia but frustrated that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced him to leave home.
“I think maybe about half of our population thinks war is wrong, but they can’t oppose it because it’s dangerous,” he says. “Right now, just saying this is putting myself at risk.”
He didn’t want to leave, but now he thinks he might never be able to come back. “It’s all because we can’t trust our government anymore, because they’ve told us a lot of lies,” he says. “We heard that there would be no mobilization, but six months later we are here”.
“What will happen in the next six months?” he asks, fighting back tears. “I don’t know and I don’t want to find out.”
*With information from and
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
