Last week Lithuania’s defence minister Robertas Kaunas authorised the deployment of 100 troops to the border with Russia. One of the reasons given was the risk that Vladimir Putin may announce a second round of mobilisation.
“It is plain for everyone to see in the public domain that a mobilisation is being planned in Russia. It is quite likely that Russian citizens will flee from mobilisation. In that case they may flee either to Poland or to Lithuania, and we have to ensure our own security. We want to provide maximum protection at the border,” the defence minister explained.
Lithuania’s interior minister Martynas Katelynas later stated that a possible mobilisation is not sufficient grounds for granting asylum.
EXILES’ lawyer in Germany, Artem Klyga, believes that the Lithuanian authorities are not only breaching international norms but directly helping Vladimir Putin to strengthen the Russian army.
Since 2023 I have been saying that this position on the part of European countries amounts to helping Vladimir Putin. Conditions like these make it easier for him to recruit people for the war and to carry out mobilisation.
At present the main pipeline sending people to the war is conscript military service, into which 260,000–300,000 men are drafted every year. All of these men are aggressively pushed into signing a contract to take part in the war. The pressure on them can take the form of threats and of psychological and physical coercion. It is no surprise that 30–40% of conscripts break — and are sent off to the war.
Despite all these facts, the migration authorities and courts of European countries are increasingly refusing asylum to young men of conscription age. Their explanation is that even under such conditions a conscript is free to refuse to sign a contract.
And now the Lithuanian authorities are saying outright that a possible mobilisation is not sufficient grounds for granting asylum. And they are prepared to defend the border against Russians escaping forcible dispatch to the war against Ukraine.
Yet these words and actions run directly counter to the international norms Lithuania has undertaken to observe. The country is obliged to examine asylum applications on the basis of the 1951 Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. Lithuania must ensure access to the international protection procedure and must not return people to places where they face persecution, torture or inhuman treatment. Every application must be assessed individually, taking into account the circumstances of the particular person and up-to-date information about the country of origin.
I should note that these obligations do not extend to issuing residence permits or paying benefits. What is at stake is solely the granting of asylum.
In the end, if Lithuania is not prepared to take in Russians who have fled participation in the war, it can grant them the right to travel freely on to a safe jurisdiction — let them in, and then give them the opportunity to leave for other countries.
Otherwise the position of the Lithuanian authorities is direct assistance to Vladimir Putin in strengthening the Russian army that is shooting at Ukrainians. And then, in response to their next round of “We support Ukraine,” one has to shout back loudly: “Hypocrites! You do not support Ukraine. You are sending Russians off to a war where they will be put to a choice: either torture, or shooting at Ukrainians. You are sending them to commit what is called a war crime.”
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