Russians Flee To Remote Alaskan Island, Seek Asylum

The New York Times reports:

The two Russians braved miles of open sea, traveling on a vessel from Russia to a small isolated island in Alaska with the apparent aim of avoiding being ensnared in President Vladimir V. Putin’s mandatory conscription to fight in Ukraine, two U.S. senators said on Thursday.

The two escapees appeared to have accomplished their goal, landing on a beach on the northwest tip of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea this week and requesting asylum in the United States, according to a statement from Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, Republicans of Alaska.

Mr. Sullivan said he had contacted the secretary of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas, after being informed about the duo, whose escape, he said, underlined the desperation of Russians seeking to flee Mr. Putin’s war.

The Alaska News Source reports:



The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed the men were taken to the public safety building in Gambell. Town Clerk Curtis Silook said the men were flown off the island on Tuesday. According to Silook, the men told villagers they had sailed their boat from the city of Egvekinot in Northeastern Russia, approximately 300 miles by sea. Other villagers said the men told them they were fleeing the Russian military.

On Wednesday, Governor Mike Dunleavy commented on the situation. “These two individuals that came over from Russia in a boat and were detained in Gambell, my understanding is, they are in Anchorage now being dealt with by federal authorities,” Dunleavy said. “We don’t anticipate a continual stream of individuals or a flotilla of individuals. We have no indication that’s going to happen, so this may be a one-off.”