Kremlin crackdown on run to the border

The Kremlin orders a restriction on travel across the border to stem the flow of deserters since Putin’s declaration of ‘partial mobilisation’.

Travellers walk towards the road to Tbilisi after crossing the Verkhni Lars customs checkpoint between Georgia and Russia on Wednesday. Picture: Getty Images

Russia has restricted entry into its border region with Georgia after more than 115,000 men fled to the former Soviet state to escape the Kremlin’s mobilisation drive.

Officials in the Russian region of North Ossetia, which borders Georgia, ordered a restriction on car travel to the republic on Wednesday. Sergei Menyaylo, head of the region, has put it on high alert.

As many as 10,000 Russians have entered Georgia every day since Vladimir Putin’s declaration of “partial mobilisation” a week ago, Georgia’s interior ministry said. Unlike other border states Georgia has no visa requirements for Russian citizens.

Russian authorities acknowledged a significant influx of cars trying to cross from Russia into Georgia after Moscow announced partial mobilisation. Picture: AFP

Fears that Russia would close its borders have yet to materialise but it has already sought to stem the flow by setting up a draft office at Verkhny Lars, the only operational crossing point with Georgia. FSB personnel and armoured vehicles have been seen in the area.

There are reports of people trying to escape by air being handed their draft papers at the airport.

Anger has been mounting in Georgia about the number of Russians arriving, with dozens of protesters gathering on Thursday near the Kazbegi border crossing point waving national and Ukrainian flags.

In Britain the Foreign Office has urged dual citizens to leave Russia, citing “scope for mobilisation”. It has advised against travel to Russia since the start of the war.

This week the United States, Bulgaria, Poland and Estonia also advised their citizens to leave Russia.

Russians heading towards Tbilisi pack belongings into a car after crossing Verkhni Lars customs checkpoint on Wednesday in Georgia. Picture: Getty Images

Russian forces fired a salvo of missiles at Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, on Wednesday night, hitting a railway yard and knocking out power to more than 18,000 households.

Oleg Synegubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, said Russian forces had fired S-300 missiles, designed as an anti-aircraft weapon but often repurposed to hit civilian infrastructure.

In Red Square, preparations were under way for a celebration of a series of sham referendums on joining Russia in occupied parts of Ukraine, totalling 15 per cent of the country. Moscow’s foreign ministry said that Russian-occupied regions had made a “conscious and free choice” to join Russia. Western countries have vowed not to recognise the move.

– The Times