In contrast to yesterday's phony fanfare in the Kremlin as delusional Russian thug and war criminal Vladimir Putin signed documents illegally annexing four Ukrainian regions, Russian men are continuing to turn their backs on Putin's war of aggression and land seizure and heading for an exit. With his armed forces mobilization effort experiencing difficulties, growing anti-war protests across Russia, new sanctions imposed, and Russian forces experiencing setbacks in Ukraine, the Russian thug has his back to the wall.
The New York Times has a harrowing piece this morning on the chaos at the border with Georgia as Russian are fleeing Putin's mad vision for an imperial Russia:
"Many grabbed their passports, abandoned their cars and crossed the frontier on foot, fearing that Russia would slam shut one of the last, precious routes to leave the country. The Kremlin dispatched teams to border crossings to weed out draft-eligible men and hand them conscription notices, and rumors spread on social media that it would seal the border.
Most of those who left had no idea when they would return home, if ever.
President Vladimir V. Putin last week ordered a draft of civilians to reinforce the army that has suffered tens of thousands of casualties in the war he launched against Ukraine. Since then, at least 200,000 Russians, mostly young men, have fled, squeezing through the few crossings still open.
More than a quarter of them cut through the thin gorge separating Russia from Georgia at their only official border crossing — about 10,000 a day."
The article illustrates how opposition to the war in Ukraine has split families into pro-Putin and anti-Putin sides. Many older generation Russians still recall the days of the Soviet Union when their country was feared and militarily powerful, much like Putin's fantasy of a restored power on the world stage. Younger Russians have experienced Western culture and some economic advances since the Soviet Union's collapse and are unwilling to sacrifice themselves for Putin's megalomania, of the kind on display yesterday in Moscow.
