Two Russians flee by boat to Alaska to avoid military service in Ukraine
Juneau, Alaska: Two Russians who said they fled the country to avoid compulsory military service have requested asylum in the US after landing on a remote Alaska island in the Bering Sea, Alaska US Senator Lisa Murkowski’s office said on Thursday.
Karina Borger, a spokesperson for Murkowski, said by email that the office has been in communication with the US Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection and that “the Russian nationals reported that they fled one of the coastal communities on the east coast of Russia to avoid compulsory military service”.
Gambell on St Laurence Island, Alaska.Credit:Walter Holt Rose /CC
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy said the two individuals came over from Russia in a boat and were being questioned.
“We don’t anticipate a continual stream of individuals or a flotilla of individuals. We have no indication that’s going to happen, so this may be a one-off,” Dunleavy said in a statement.
The independent Novaya Gazeta Europe reported on September 26 that 261,000 men had left since Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the mobilisation, citing a Kremlin source. The report could be independently verified.
Russia has denied some reports in Russian media saying 700,000 Russians had fled the country since the announcement, primarily across borders to Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan and by flying to Turkey.
Spokespersons with the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection each referred a reporter’s questions to the US Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond Thursday.
Alaska’s senators, Republicans Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, on Thursday said the individuals landed at a beach near Gambell, an isolated community of about 600 people on St Lawrence Island.
The statement doesn’t specify when the incident occurred though Sullivan said he was alerted to the matter by a “senior community leader from the Bering Strait region” on Tuesday morning.
A pair of Russians have turned up on a remote Alaska island in the Bering Sea, reportedly fleeing compulsory military service.Credit:AP
A Sullivan spokesperson, Ben Dietderich, said it was the office’s understanding that the individuals had arrived by boat.
“This incident makes two things clear,” Sullivan said.
“First, the Russian people don’t want to fight Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Second, given Alaska’s proximity to Russia, our state has a vital role to play in securing America’s national security.”
Gambell is about 320 kilometres southwest of the western Alaska hub community of Nome and about 58 kilometres from the Chukotka Peninsula, Siberia.
AP, Reuters
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