ALTANBULAG, Mongolia — Long lines of
vehicles were seen at a border crossing between
Mongolia and Russia on Sunday
as people fled the Kremlin’s call-up of hundreds of thousands of reservists for
the war in Ukraine.
اضافة اعلان
The head of a checkpoint in the town of Altanbulag
told AFP that more than 3,000 Russians had entered Mongolia via the crossing
since Wednesday, most of them men.
Queues of people holding Russian passports were also
seen outside the immigration counter for the border crossing, according to an
AFP reporter there.
“From September 21, the number of Russian citizens
entering Mongolia has increased,” checkpoint head Major G. Byambasuren told
AFP.
“As of 12pm today, more than 3,000 Russian citizens
have entered Mongolia.”
Russian President
Vladimir Putin on Wednesday
announced Russia’s first military call-up of fighting-age men since World War
II.
It is designed to fill Russia’s army with hundreds
of thousands of men after a string of setbacks that appears to have altered the
tide in the seven-month Ukraine war.
Byambasuren said about 2,500 of the Russians
crossing the border were men while more than 500 were women and children.
“Most of them are single young people who crossed
the border with their parents,” he added.
Russian nationals can visit Mongolia and stay
without a visa for 30 days and extend their stay by another 30 days if needed,
Byambasuren said.
Authorities on Saturday detained more than 700
people at protests across Russia against the partial military mobilisation,
according to an independent monitoring group.
Police monitor OVD-Info counted at least 726 people
detained at rallies in 32 cities, nearly half of them in Moscow.
A stream of Russians was also seen flocking by air
to Istanbul on Saturday where several expressed relief at escaping but also
concern for the safety of loved ones left behind.
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