UkraineOver 113,000 people crossed the border between Russia and Georgia in just one week, at a time when rumors of a new mobilization are increasing. The Kremlin denies preparing such a measure, but recruitment is becoming more aggressive, and many Russians prefer to leave the country ahead of the parliamentary elections in September.
Traffic through the Verhni Lars border crossing, the main land route between the two countries, has increased significantly in the second half of August. According to Russian authorities, over 20,000 people crossed the border on some days.
In total, over 33,000 vehicles and 113,000 people crossed the border in just one week, writes Politico.
The number is reminiscent of the chaos in the fall of 2022 when Vladimir Putin announced the „partial” mobilization of 300,000 reservists. Over 100,000 Russians entered Georgia in just a few days, and hundreds of thousands fled to Armenia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, or other destinations.
This time there is no official mobilization order yet. That is precisely the difference: people are no longer waiting for the Kremlin’s announcement but are trying to leave preve
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Rumors point to the period after the elections for the State Duma, scheduled between September 18 and 20, as the moment when the Kremlin could announce a new call to arms.
At the beginning of August, the Russian Supreme Court excluded the federal list of the Yabloko party from the elections, the only party that was trying to participate with an explicit anti-war program.
Ukraine claims that Vladimir Putin aims to bring hundreds of thousands more people into the army. President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Russia intends to recruit 300,000 soldiers after the September elections and another 300,000 next year.
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Official denials have not dispelled fears, especially after human rights organizations reported an intensification of forced recruitment.
In several regions of Russia, police and military recruiters have reportedly started picking up men from the streets, workplaces, or even from their homes. They are taken to recruitment centers and pressured to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense.
„It has turned into a manhunt,” described human rights lawyer Alexei Tabalov. According to him, the methods used include deception, blackmail, violence, and threats.
Recruiters target vulnerable individuals, such as men with debts, suspects in criminal cases, detainees, students with problems, or people who can be easily coerced. There are also cases where conscripts have allegedly been forced to sign contracts to be sent to Ukraine.
In the city of Omsk, a 31-year-old man was reportedly detained for drinking beer in the street and taken directly to a military selection center, where he was pressured to enlist. In the Penza region, locals reported that men are taken from the streets or searched from door to door.
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The system is starting to show signs that it can no longer cover the losses on the front. According to Western officials cited by The Guardian, Russia loses about 6,000 more troops each month than it can recruit, despite bringing in almost 1,000 people into the army daily.
A new mobilization would be risky for Putin. The one in September 2022 sparked protests in several regions, a massive exodus of the active population, and a decline in trust in authorities. The departure of a large number of specialists also affected the economy, already facing a labor shortage.
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Israel would call those settlers.
If I were Georgia, I wouldn't be accepting them. Firstly because protecting groups of "ethnic Russians" (Russians, people of Russian descent, Russian speakers, etc) is one of the main pretexts Russia uses in it's war of expansion. And secondly because Russia attacked Georgia in 2008, has been occupying part of the country since then, and keeps edging the "border" further into Georgia's territory.
They already took in a lot of Russian refugees in 2022 and it caused a housing crisis, so I don't know that it will be a fun or easy time for the new refugees.
Generally, it is not a fun time being a Russian refugee these days. And before you say "good", remember that among the Russian refugees are a lot of people who disagree with their country's politics, were against the war from day one and there are also persecuted groups like LGBT people in the mix, who have fled to live a normal life elsewhere.
However, their Russian passports have basically landed them in purgatory and due to the rules in many European countries and a new established law in Russia where people who are deemed traitors of the Russian state will no longer be able to renew their Russian passports - many, many, maaaany Russian refugees are facing a reality where they might end up stateless. This can bar them from owning a bankaccount and put their ability to earn a living and have a roof over their heads in jeopardy.
It's never fun to be a refugee, but in this day and age, it is hell to be a Russian refugee inside of Europe. I don't see a lot of people talking about what Russian refugees have been facing since Putin sent missiles against Kyiv, but it is a genuine Kafkaesk nightmare for a lot of them.
As for Georgia, they have, from what I remember, already voiced dissatisfaction with the number of Russian refugees and how it messed up the housing market. I don't know what they're gonna do now, but I could imagine that many Georgians' patience are wearing thin and the new batch of refugees may not recieve as warm a welcome as they did in 22. I could be wrong, though.
This can bar them from owning a bankaccount and put their ability to earn a living and have a roof over their heads in jeopardy.
That is already a big problem due to sanctions.
They could have tried to do something with their own cuntry, dunno something that involves less paper airplanes and going out with white flowers and more removing their leadership (but ofc they didn't because they are the same m*scovians and actually supported their imperial ambitions before its their turn going into meatcube).
That's a very simplistic and uninformed way of looking at the situation. There have been multiple attempts to transition Russia into a modern democracy. Navalny gave his life to try and enact change and the state murdered him. Now the only party that was against the war in Ukraine have been banned from partaking in the election because they were beginning to pose a true threat to putins borderline dictatorship.
Russians are angry with putin and more and more have started to voice their dissatisfaction with his leadership, which hasn't happened before.
But if your keyboard warrior point is that the russian people should all die to kick putin off the throne, then you are way too naive and ignorant about how Russia is being run and has being run for centuries. It has never been a true democracy and there have always been extreme corruption at the top. The people have been systematically groomed into a state of fear and hopelessness for generations.
If it was that easy to topple a corrupt government, then Americans would have kicked Trump out of office last year, but that didn't happen. And Americans have a much easier, freer and more privileged life than Russians. If they can't mobilize and stop trump, then what makes you think that Russians can mobilize and stop putin? They barely have enough money for survival a lot of the time. I don't think you realize just how poor the average Russian is. They barely have shit and that is by design. Keep them hungry and wanting. That makes them less eager to go against the state, which is prone to have people disappear either permanently or for months at the time for protesting or playing songs.
I assume it was a typo, but I like using cuntry for Russia.
Russia arguably can manufacture any pretext to invade. Like the Nazi rhetoric.
Right, it wasn't "protecting Russians" in Africa or Syria but still killed and bombed people left and right.
That is their go to pre text but it means shit if you can't mobilize an armed force to do the invasion. And well Russia is showing it can't maintain it's invasion of Ukraine, so imagine how much self inflicted damage would happen if now Invading Georgia would be on top of it.
Well I for one am glad the Finnish border is closed.
"Our for is so vast, our land so small. Where will we find space to bury them all?"
That’s 113,000 people that could die for him. I bet he’s pissed.
It’s 113 days less worth of meat. That’s gotta sting.
Send them back. Fucks should have been making noise all this time, now its them and their kids that may die they care.
Who knows who else is coming over these borders, agents of putler.
Nah. Let them flee. Not everyone who lives in evil Russia, China, United States, is a bad person.
Agreed but all that is needed for evil to scceed is good people to do nothing.
No, what evil needs is meat the fill out thousands of uniforms, which is harder to find when potential conscripts run away.
Man, evil has been winning for millennia
You could say the same for Americans, but they’re also not doing shit.
Yeah fuck them too, playing life on easy and bitching all the way to fascism
Wait until this happens in the USA over the next few years
There is enoigh dumbasses to fill out the meat grinder there.
Hoorah and all that
they should have, but they get sent to gulag for just holding a plain white paper up in a public place. the place is fubr.
That’s a huge spike of immigration to Georgia. Wonder how they’ll handle that.
You should check out the increase in Russian 'tourists' to China in 2025 and first half of 2026.
I sure hope they will mobilize smurfs and cheaters. We deserve better dota2 game quality.
