Russia recently tightened its conscription laws again, and doing so in the summer was probably no coincidence.
Roope Kariniemi,
Petra Nykänen
People have fled to Finland illegally from Russia. ‘s A-studio told the story of two border defectors on Monday.
Illegal border crossings are driven by Russia’s tightening grip on its citizens.
– Those who are planning to leave would do well to leave now. It’s not worth waiting, said the researcher doctor of the Foreign Policy Institute in the evening’s A-studio Kristiina Silvan.
In theory, it should still be possible to leave Russia if you have not received a summons order or had to deal with the judiciary.
However, through recent updates to the conscription laws, young men in particular are wanted to be kept in the country. The upper limit of conscription age will rise from 27 to 30, and those who have received a conscription order will be stopped at the Russian border.
A Finno-Russian who runs a podcast about Russia Mihail Ionin stated in the A-studio that the laws were deliberately enacted during the summer time.
– In Russia, it is customary at this time of the year to pass questionable laws. Citizens may not even notice that something has happened.
Kristina Silvan says that currently in Russia “they are trying to get people armed from several sources”. The next officially declared campaign launch has not been publicly announced so far, but Russia’s dire need to get more people to the front seems obvious.
According to Ionin, it is possible that a new large-scale campaign would generate a wave of Russian asylum seekers fleeing to Finland.
At the moment, asylum processes for those who have fled Russia have been suspended. The Finnish immigration authorities are waiting for a common line from the EU regarding Russian men of military service age.
Silvan hopes that the Finnish authorities will look at the situation of each asylum seeker individually.
– I hope that humanitarian justice is realized in the treatment of people.
Watch Monday’s A-studio at Areena.