The US authorities have released two Russians who, fleeing the mobilization, reached Alaska from Chukotka by motor boat.

The Economist writes about it.

Two friends, Serhii and Maksym, are residents of the urban-type village of Egvekinot, Chukotka Autonomous District.

On September 26, people in military uniform knocked on them.

The men understood that they had come to them from the Military Commissariat to mobilize.

On the same day, Sergey called Maxim and asked him to come, because it is better not to discuss such things over the phone.

The men claim that they do not support the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine, so they decided to flee.

Serhiy, who was a truck driver and ran his own transport company, convinces Americans that he has always opposed corruption in Russia, accusing state institutions of embezzling money.

According to him, in June, security forces detained him for two days, interrogating him about his activities and alleged connections with opposition leader Oleksiy Navalny.

In August, the FSB accused Serhii of extremism and ordered him not to leave Egvekinot without permission.

By the time of mobilization, he had already tried to escape once, trying to cross to Alaska alone on a schooner, but encountered strong winds and was forced to turn back.

Photo: economist

For three days, Maksym and Serhiy prepared to escape.

They needed to overcome about 500 kilometers by sea and reach the island of St. Lawrence. 

The men took with them bread, sausage, eggs, tea, coffee, cookies, cigarettes and fuel, distributed their property and transferred their savings to the accounts of friends and relatives, because they had no opportunity to exchange rubles for dollars.

Only Serhiev's daughter, who lives in Omsk, knew about the escape plan.

When asked where they were going, they claimed they were looking for dead walruses to sell their tusks.

The men braved a strong storm and escaped the Russian border guards and military that swarm the coastal zone.

"We didn't even think to turn around," Serhii said, recalling the storm.

Serhii believes that the Russian border guards probably never thought that someone would try this kind of escape from the Russian Federation.

After several hours of the storm, they came ashore in the town of Gambell on the island of St. Lawrence.

Dozens of people came to see the strangers.

At first, the locals thought they were Russian soldiers, because the fugitives were wearing camouflage jackets.

The Russians explained through Google Translate that they were asking for political asylum.

"Welcome to America," said the Americans, feeding the fugitives with pizza and juice. "You are safe now."

The next day, immigration officials picked them up and booked them into a jail in Anchorage, Alaska's largest city, for two nights, and then to a detention center in Tacoma, Washington.

"They didn't even let us smoke," Serhii complains.

They spent months in one large room with 70 other detainees.

They ate "beans, rice, rice and beans", read all the Russian-language books they could get their hands on.

After more than three months of imprisonment, both were released on bail - Serhii was released on January 13, and Maxim - five days later.

A Ukrainian priest in Tacoma, who ministers to Ukrainian and Russian refugees, posted a bond for them and then gave them asylum.

The fugitives now plan to find work.

Serhiy wants to start a business: recycling plastic and aluminum waste.

Maxim's plans are more modest - first he wants to return his fishing boat.

We will remind that at the beginning of October 2022, two residents of Chukotka escaped from Putin's mobilization to Alaska on a small boat.

They swam about 500 km.

Mobilization in the Russian Federation

On September 21, dictator Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of mobilization in Russia.

After that, Russian men began to flee en masse to neighboring countries.

Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security Council, pointed out that more Russians of draft age fled abroad from Russia than they were able to mobilize.

According to various sources, almost a million men fled the Russian Federation after the mobilization was announced.

According to The Times, Russia will announce a new wave of mobilization in the coming weeks.

The newspaper writes that the Kremlin plans to recruit 500,000 troops and launch a new offensive against Ukraine in April.

At the beginning of November, Putin announced that 

318,000 men had already been mobilized in the Russian Federation.

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