The Finnish Migration Service was unable to make a decision on granting political asylum to Russians who left the country so as not to fall under mobilization. This is written by the Finnish edition of Yle. A total of 1,109 conscripts requested asylum in Finland.
According to Yle, the question of what to do with the Russians fleeing the mobilization was discussed by representatives of the Nordic countries. As a result of the discussion, they decided to wait for the relevant instructions from the European Union. However, it is not yet clear when the EU will finalize its guidance on this issue.
At the end of January, the Finnish Migration Service froze the consideration of decisions on granting asylum to Russians who fled from mobilization. The representative of the department, Juha Similä, explained this pause by the need to update information: “Speaking of the outbreak of war in any country (be it Russia, Afghanistan or Iraq), it is important to have as much up-to-date information as possible to justify the decision. It is necessary to find out who will be affected by mobilization, what it means to go to the front and what are the consequences of refusing to serve in the army. Will it lead to punishment, imprisonment or something else. <…> You can't find something like that on Google."
