Vladimir Putin could announce this Tuesday morning a military reinforcement in Ukraine. Last September, 300,000 men had already been mobilized, resulting in the flight of hundreds of thousands of Russians abroad.
Three days before the first anniversary of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin speaks before the two assemblies of the Russian Parliament, Tuesday, February 21, in the presence of army commanders and soldiers. For several weeks, in Russia, the rumor rustles of a second wave of mobilization.
On September 21, Vladimir Putin announced a first wave, with 300,000 additional men sent to Ukraine. In the following weeks, 700,000 Russians fled their country according to an estimate by the magazine. Forbes. “I didn’t want to go to warremembers Timour, who decided to run away. My colleague told me that she had friends in Tajikistan so I bought a ticket to Dushanbe, for a huge sum, and went there.”
Forced to return to Russia for lack of visa
After Tajikistan, Timur lands in Samarkand, in Uzbekistan. The 28-year-old is having difficulty finding a job there as a DJ in a nightclub, but life there is not easy. “It was cold in October, the apartment was not heated, the light was sometimes cut off and when it rained, the ceiling leaked. I wanted to go home, so when I heard that the mobilization was supposedly finished, I made the decision to come back.”
Many have returned to Russia after their hasty flight, as settling abroad often requires money and contacts. Ivan had followed his company which offered him to settle in Argentina. This programmer went to Buenos Aires with a tourist visa, valid for 90 days. “Our company, unfortunately, turned out to be quite light. They thought that it would be enough to get us out of Russia and then everything would be fine. But after 90 days, we realized that our company was not unable to regularize us here.”
“I will go to the country for a while.”
Ivan, a Russian programmer
What if Vladimir Putin announces a second wave of mobilization? “I try not to think about it or read the news, recognizes Timour who is trying to reassure himself. I think it is unlikely that there will be a second wave in the near future, in any case, I want to believe it…”
Ivan, he is convinced that he will still be able to escape it. “The risk remains and the effectiveness of the system is so low that the likelihood of being forcibly taken over is no higher than being run over by a car in everyday life.”
These Russians fear a mobilization in Ukraine: the report by Sylvain Tronchet
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