According to a new report, tens of thousands of Russians who fled to Turkey after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine emigrated to other countries last year.
Reuters says those who have moved have been squeezed by residency issues and rising costs, forcing knowledge and interviews, including nine Russian nationals, to come to light.
Turkey, Russia’s Black Sea neighbor and NATO member, has a magnet for Russians after the February 2022 invasion, and Istanbul and Antalya’s Mediterranean hotel are among the preferred options.
Some of them had opposed the invasion, others sought to protect themselves and their businesses from a wave of Western sanctions imposed on Moscow, adding bans on Russians in much of Europe.
Some feared being drafted into the army.
But this month, the number of Russians with rented Turkish residence fell to 96,000, more than a third less than the 154,000 at the end of 2022, according to official data.
Nine Russian nationals interviewed via Reuters said they and others had left in part because of difficulties in obtaining a permit since early 2023. Many have made their way to Serbia and Montenegro, one of the few European countries where they are welcome.
Russians are also leaving due to rising prices (Turkish inflation hit 70% last month) and difficulties with critical banking operations in Turkey due to sanctions.
“You can’t wait long in Turkey,” said Dmitri, 46, an IT employee who did not want to give his last name.
After Vladimir Putin announced a mobilization in September 2022 to recruit Russian men to fight in Ukraine, Dmitri left St. Petersburg and was reunited with his wife and four-year-old son in Istanbul.
But in January 2023, a text message popped up on his phone saying his residency application had been rejected without explanation, he said. Dmitri left Istanbul a month later.
“I had signed a lease for a year and I had to leave everything,” she said.
“We moved to Montenegro. This country is economically and politically stronger than Turkey. “
Turkey’s migration control presidency said all rejected permit programs come with a justification in the foreigner’s language under current legislation, and that applicants are free to seek legal remedies.
In an email, he said the Russians’ departures are not just related to permits.
“Several political, economic and socio-cultural factors play a role,” the company said.
One of the resources of the development of tensions between the United States and Russia is the stationing of weapons in space.
Russia last month vetoed a U. S. -drafted U. N. Security Council solution that called on countries to avoid an arms race in space, prompting Washington to advise Moscow to hide something.
Then, yesterday, a Russian-drafted solution that called on all countries to “forever” avoid the placement, risk or use of weapons in external areas failed.
The draft failed to garner the minimum of nine votes required from the 15-member group, with seven votes in favor and seven against, while one abstained.
A veto can be issued through the permanent members of the United States, Russia, China, Britain, or France if an assignment gets at least nine votes.
U. S. Ambassador Robert Wood told the Security Council before the vote: “We’re here today because Russia is going to divert the world’s attention from its advance of a new satellite carrying a nuclear device. “
He also accused Russia of launching last Thursday a satellite into low-Earth orbit that the U. S. “considers a counterspace weapon most likely capable of striking other satellites in low-Earth orbit. “
Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, responded: “I didn’t even understand what he was talking about. “
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty already prohibits its signatories, including Russia and the United States, from attacking “in orbit around the Earth any object carrying nuclear weapons or any other type of weapons of mass destruction. “
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today that Washington is to blame for the global world missing some other opportunity to save itself from an arms race in outer space.
“The effects of the vote on the draft solution for the prevention of an arms race abroad and security, which Russia submitted to the UN Security Council for its attention and of which China is a co-author, are disappointing,” he said.
“The United States and its allies have opposed our constructive and comprehensive initiative, despite all the steps we have taken to take into account their proposals (including the text of the corresponding draft resolution between the United States and Japan),” the diplomat said. in a comment.
“Unfortunately, another opportunity to prevent an arms race in the foreign area has been missed by the United States and its allies. “
The former commander of Russia’s 58th Army, Ivan Popov, has been detained on suspicion of “large-scale fraud,” the official TASS news agency reported.
TASS provided some important points about the investigation into Popov’s activities.
We’ll tell you more about this story as we get to know it.
This morning we reported (see post 7. 29) that Ukraine said its forces shot down 28 of the 29 drones used by Russian forces in an overnight attack on seven regions.
However, at least seven other people were wounded in an attack in Kharkiv, which also destroyed four private apartments and 25 trucks and buses.
Footage from the scene where firefighters were battling the flames after the attack.
In our midday article we talked about the visit to Kyiv of the German Foreign Minister, with the aim of supporting Ukraine’s war against Russia.
However, it now appears that Germany is in a position to offer assistance beyond the symbolic, with one source telling Reuters that the country plans to increase its military aid to Ukraine through an additional 3. 8 billion euros ($3. 25 billion).
So far, Berlin has set aside 7. 1 billion euros ($5. 98 billion) for Kyiv this year in weapons and ammunition, but that amount has already been allocated almost entirely to projects, the Bild newspaper reported.
He added that Defence Minister Boris Pistorius had called for more budget and that Finance Minister Christian Lindner had expressed his support, pending final parliamentary approval in June.
A source at the Ministry of Finance did not verify the exact figure, but added that thanks to the ministry there will be no shortage of money for Ukraine.
According to the report, Pistorius plans to allocate €15 billion (£12. 82 billion) for military aid to Kyiv in Germany’s 2025 budget, which is being negotiated lately.
As Russia continues to gain momentum in its offensives around Kharkiv, the war in Ukraine has entered a phase.
Readers sent their questions to our senior correspondents and Army experts to get their perspectives on the changing battlefield environment.
Today Peter asks:
Would American Warthogs A10s make a difference in the war in Ukraine?The U. S. has an excess stock and is in the process of dismantling it. They are less expensive than F-16s, with a shorter learning curve. I know that the U. S. military was opposed to sending some foot soldiers at the beginning of the war, even now?
Military analyst Sean Bell said:
Thank you Pedro for that question.
History shows that it is very difficult to carry out any kind of military action without a credible combat air capability. Russia is employing its air assets to attack the Ukrainian front line, and Ukraine has used Western surface-to-air missiles very well: shoot down about 10% of Russian fighter jets – Russian combat air functions pose a considerable risk to any country. Ukrainian offensive.
The quickest way to supply Ukraine with the air it wants would be to create a no-fly zone led by NATO or the West. So far, however, the West is unwilling to threaten an escalation of the war to a direct clash between NATO and Russia.
Instead, the West has agreed to supply F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, but only when they have enough trained pilots to fly those Western jets and when logistics and weapons are also available.
It has taken time to equip Ukraine with F-16 combat capability, and it is still unclear when the jets and logistics will be deployed in combat, or how the F-16s will be used. One of the reasons why the F-16s were decided in Ukraine was their availability (it is the most widely used fighter jet of its generation), as this also means that there is a source of spare parts.
Most importantly, the F-16 is versatile. It is capable of performing air defense missions (shooting down enemy aircraft) as well as bombing missions, and has the speed and agility necessary for its survivability.
The A-10 Warthog EE. UU. es an incredibly high-performance aircraft, but it is optimized for close air support, i. e. in the vicinity of ground forces. In this role, it is very effective, although the platform has no air defense capability, and according to the fashionable criteria of fighter jets, it is very slow – a third of the speed of many Russian fighters. This would make it very vulnerable to Russian attacks if deployed in combat without a full set of airArrays.
Once the war is over, Ukraine will have to rebuild its own combat air capability and may benefit from the A-10’s unique roles. But for now, the F-16 gives Ukraine the possibility of having an effective combat air capability. In the short term.
Germany’s foreign minister arrived in Kyiv today as part of the latest public show of aid to Ukraine by its Western components: promised deliveries of weapons and ammunition have been slow and have left Ukraine vulnerable to a recent Russian attack on parts of the front line.
Baerbock reiterated Berlin’s calls for partners to send more air defense systems, as Russia bombards Ukraine with missiles, bombs and rockets.
Germany is the second-largest provider of military aid to Ukraine after the United States.
Exhausted Ukrainian troops must fend off a fierce Russian offensive along the eastern border, in one of the most critical stages of the war, which is entering its third year.
Germany recently pledged a third U. S. -made Patriot battery for Ukraine, but Kiev says it still faces an alarming shortfall in air defense in the face of Russian attack.
The Kremlin’s forces have used their merit in the skies to weaken Ukraine’s network of forces, hoping to undermine the country’s morale and disrupt its defense industry.
Baerbock, accompanied by Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, visited a thermal power plant in central Ukraine that was severely damaged in April.
U. S. -supplied missiles were used to strike Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Luhansk region, a Moscow-based official said.
The head of the Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, said Ukraine attacked the day before with ATACMS, injuring 8 people.
The claim that the attack on the city of Sverdlovsk can be independently verified can be verified.
The Finnish government today proposed an emergency law to prevent asylum seekers from entering through its wide, snow-covered border with Russia.
Helsinki believes Moscow is receiving migration due to political antagonism since the war in Ukraine.
Finland closed the 830-mile border last year after increased arrivals from countries such as Syria and Somalia, shortly after Helsinki joined NATO.
The Kremlin denies that migration is a weapon and claims the West is engaged in a smear campaign.
The bill proposed through the right-wing coalition recognises that the return of migrants processing asylum applications would be a violation of Finland’s foreign rights commitments.
But, according to Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, this measure would be transitory and would be activated in exceptional circumstances.
Last week we reported on the appointment of Andrei Belousov as Russian Minister of Defense.
Analysts at the time said the resolution to appoint an economist with no military experience indicated that Vladimir Putin was taking significant steps to mobilize the Russian economy and its defense trade base for a protracted war in Ukraine and, in all likelihood, prepare for the long term. confrontation with NATO.
Apparently, in line with this decision, the Russian president ignored Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Yuri Sadovenko and replaced him with former Deputy Minister of Economy and current auditor of the Accounts Chamber of the Federation Council, Oleg Savelyev.
The Institute for the Study of War, a U. S. -based think tank, said: “Russian military bloggers have noted that Savelyev’s appointment is in line with the Kremlin’s war economy efforts, given that Savelyev has extensive experience in economics and expertise in overseeing audits. defence, national security and law enforcement activities. ‘
According to ISW, the army blogger added that Belousov was starting to form his own team within the Russian Ministry of Defense. Some close associates of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu could resign soon, they suggested.
Putin also fired presidential adviser Alexandra Levitskaya yesterday, although the explanation for the reason for her dismissal “is not clear,” the organization added.