Last week, after setbacks in the war in Ukraine, Moscow announced a partial mobilization to recruit some 300,000 soldiers.
The number of Russians entering EU countries has increased by more than 30% in a week, according to information from the European Border Guard Agency (Frontex). The increase comes after the partial mobilization ordered by President Vladimir Putin.
Last week, almost 66,000 Russian citizens entered the European Union, 30% more than the previous week. “Most of them have reached Finland and Estonia,” Frontex said in a statement, referring to the week of September 19-25.
Some 30,000 Russian citizens have arrived in Finland in the last four days alone, the agency added. According to the document, most Russians who have traveled to neighboring countries have residence permits, visas or dual citizenship.
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However, the body warned that illegal crossings could increase if Russia banned the smuggling of potential recruits.
Last week, after the setbacks of the war in Ukraine, Putin announced a partial mobilization. The measure seeks to recruit more than 300,000 soldiers to fight in Kyiv.
The European Union began discussions Monday on how it should deal with Russian draft dodgers, but no deal has been announced so far.
In late August, the 27-nation bloc did not agree to a visa ban on Russian tourists, a move the Czech Republic and Poland have taken in isolation. Despite this, the European Union decided to suspend the facilitation of visas for Moscow, which makes the process of issuing the document more and more expensive.
On September 19, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland acted on their own and began to implement entry restrictions for Russian tourists. Finland plans to introduce similar restrictions.
