FSB at Georgia Border to Stop Russians Trying to Flee Mobilization

The Russian FSB has sent an armored personnel carrier (APC) to the Verkhny Lars checkpoint in North Ossetia on the country’s border with Georgia, RBK reported on Monday, citing the security agency’s local border department. The APC is needed “in case reservists decide to break through the checkpoint and leave the country without going through any border crossing procedures. Only for that purpose,” the FSB told the outlet.

Long queues of Russian men fleeing the country have formed on the border of  Russia’s neighboring countries since Vladimir Putin announced “partial mobilization”.

The lineup at the Russian-Georgian border reached 20 kilometers on Sep. 25, right up to Vladikavkaz in Russia. The estimated time for passing through border control is two days. There have been reports of people trying to walk through the traffic jam with children and suitcases to cross the border on bicycles and scooters.

Russia’s FSB has officially confirmed the advance of an armored personnel carrier to the Verkhny Lars border checkpoint in case people standing in line decide to break through the border and assured that checkpoints would not be set up.

“An armored personnel carrier is moving there, but it is not moving to set up a checkpoint”, – the member of the border department of Russia’s FSB in Russia’s Republic of North Ossetia said. “It is a reserve just in case reservists want to break through the checkpoint and leave the country without completing any border formalities. There will be no roadblocks.”

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Earlier reports on the Internet said that Russian military personnel had allegedly arrived at the Verkhny Lars checkpoint to set up a checkpoint.

German publication Bild reported on Sep. 25 that the FSB is stopping some men from crossing the Russian border due to the “decision of the army enlistment officer.”

In such cases, men at the border are issued a document stating they have been denied permission to cross the border due to the “decision of the army enlistment officer.” Similar cases have been recorded on the border between Russia and Kazakhstan.