Under the fire of international criticism, Russia was preparing annexation votes scheduled for Friday in four regions of Ukraine on Thursday, while many Russians left their country to escape possible mobilization on the Ukrainian front.
Russia, through the voice of its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, should defend in the UN Security Council its project of annexation and its invasion of Ukraine, the day after the announcement of the mobilization on Wednesday of 300,000 reservists and threats to use nuclear weapons made by Vladimir Putin.
Speaking then before the UN body, in the presence of the head of Russian diplomacy, the American Antony Blinken hammered home that the world “cannot let Putin get away with it”.
In Russia, the announcement of the mobilization caused an influx of Russians wishing to leave the country, with queues reported at the land borders with several countries. No estimate of the number was available.
A person, who passed through Mongolia, told AFP on condition of anonymity that he had to wait “for twelve hours” to cross the border by car.
Finnish border guards said they observed an increase in crossings, which remains however moderate. Russians need visas to get there.
While Poland and the Baltic countries have taken measures in recent weeks to drastically restrict the entry of Russians into their territory, Germany for its part said on Thursday ready to welcome deserters from the Russian army “threatened severe repression”.
“Whoever courageously opposes Putin and thus puts himself in great danger can apply for political asylum in Germany,” said German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.
Upon arrival at Yerevan airport in Armenia, Russians interviewed by AFP admitted to having fled the mobilization. Dmitri, 45 and carrying a small bag, says he left his wife and children behind.
“I don’t want to die in this senseless war. It’s a fratricidal war, ”he said, preserving his anonymity.
The day before, more than 1,300 people had been arrested during improvised anti-mobilization demonstrations across Russia, according to the NGO OVD-Info.
The Kremlin has denied the scale of the departures, a phenomenon “greatly exaggerated”.
“Sham” referendums
From Friday to Tuesday, four regions of southern and eastern Ukraine under total or partial control of Moscow will vote in elections organized in an emergency to be annexed by Russia, “simulacra” of referendums denounced in the West . China, close to Moscow, issued criticism, calling for respect for the territorial integrity of states.
The pro-Russian authorities installed in these territories and Moscow have nevertheless promised to move forward.
“The vote starts tomorrow and nothing can prevent it,” Vladimir Saldo, head of the occupation administration for the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, told Russian television.
The electoral body of the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk, in the east, indicated that “for security reasons” the ballot would be organized almost door-to-door, “in front of homes” for four days, polling stations opening “only on the last day”, i.e. September 27.
The former Russian president and number two of the country’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, told him on Telegram that the separatist regions of Luhansk and Donetsk (east), which form the Donbass basin, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhia (south ), “will integrate Russia”.
He added that his country is ready for a nuclear strike on the West if necessary: ”Russian hypersonic missiles are capable of reaching their targets in Europe and the United States much faster” than Western weapons.
Putin aide freed
In an address to the nation, Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he was ready to use “all means” against the West, which he accused of wanting to “destroy” Russia. “It’s not a bluff,” he blurted out.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that because of Western military aid to Ukraine, Russia is “de facto confronted by the NATO bloc”.
Moscow therefore remains unsurprisingly deaf to criticism, starting with that of the American Joe Biden who, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, insisted on Wednesday that Putin’s war “annihilates Ukraine’s right to to exist “.
After him, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the world to “chastise” Russia.
Frenchman Emmanuel Macron called on him to resist the “blackmail” of Vladimir Putin: “Our duty is to hold our line”.
On the ground, the missiles continued to rain with, among other strikes, the city of Zaporijjia (south), under Ukrainian control, hit by nine missiles, which hit a hotel in particular, killing at least one person.
Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk have accused kyiv of firing into a market, killing seven, with local media broadcasting images of a charred bus and a bloody corpse on the road.
In addition, Russia has confirmed a major exchange of 215 Ukrainian prisoners of war for 55 Russian soldiers, plus a close friend of Vladimir Putin, the former deputy and Ukrainian businessman Viktor Medvedchuk.
This former deputy had been arrested in mid-April in Ukraine, suspected of treason in favor of Moscow.