(FiveNation.com)- In a televised address last week announcing a partial mobilization of the military’s campaign in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of nuclear blackmail against Russia and warned that his country’s nuclear threats are “not a bluff.”
In his Wednesday address, Putin accused the West of attempting to “weaken, divide, and ultimately destroy” Russia. He reminded NATO that Russia “also has various means of destruction,” some of which are “more modern” than NATO countries. He warned that any threat to the “territorial integrity” of Russia would be met by “all the means at our disposal” to protect Russia and its people.
“It’s not a bluff,” Putin warned.
In response to Putin’s decree calling for a partial mobilization of “reservists” to fight in Ukraine, thousands of military-age Russian men began fleeing the country to avoid conscription.
Russian media reported that flights out of the country quickly sold out after Putin signed the decree.
With Russian men making their way out of the country, European countries neighboring Russia responded by closing their borders, shutting off every border crossing between Russia and Europe.
With Europe closed off, Russian men began fleeing elsewhere.
NBC News reported on Monday that Russians are now fleeing to Georgia, Kazakhstan, and even Mongolia to escape Putin’s conscription order and Russian border guards aren’t trying to stop them.
That same day, the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, approved a bill that imposes harsher punishments for desertion, damage to military property, looting, defection, and insubordination when committed during a military mobilization or combat situation.
The Duma-approved bill replaced the phrase “during armed conflicts or military actions” with the broader phrase “in the period of mobilization or the state of martial law, as well as during wartime or while armed conflict and combat activities are underway.”
All Russian men ages 18-27 are required to serve in the military for one year. About 300,000 are expected to be mobilized to join the fight in Ukraine.
