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A top Russian lawmaker is comparing the estimated hundreds of thousands of Russians who've left the country to "rats," suggesting the country's ongoing problems are a ploy to drive out disloyal citizens.
Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the country's upper chamber of parliament, made the remarks in an interview published Friday by state-run RIA Novosti, blasting Russians who've fled over the Kremlin's war in Ukraine. Despite reports of dire shortages of soldiers, Matviyenko took an antagonistic tone to Russians now seeking sanctuary in other countries, saying they shouldn't return.
Russia's exodus began last month in response to President Vladimir Putin's expected "partial mobilization" of 300,000 reservists to help fight in Ukraine after a series of setbacks. As Putin's September 21 order went into effect, long lines of fleeing Russians amassed at the borders of neighboring countries.
An exact figure on how many Russians have fled is difficult to acquire, but more than 370,000 citizens seeking to avoid the draft have entered neighboring countries, including Georgia, Finland, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
"Sometimes you have to simulate a shipwreck so that the rats run away," Matviyenko told RIA Novosti, who said her remark was a paraphrase of a statement by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Matviyenko said that fleeing Russians had disrespected their "fatherland" during a time of difficulty and should remain abroad, even though she expected that most would grow homesick and want to return.
"I have no right to give any assessments to them, but I think that sooner or later their conscience will wake up and it will torment them," she said. "Their conscience will bother them."
Matviyenko also told the news outlet that she supported the legal right for Russians to leave the country and return when they wanted if they have not committed a criminal offense.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov this month told reporters he was unable to provide a number of people who had left Russia following Putin's mobilization order, according to Reuters. Peskov downplayed a report from Forbes Russia, citing an anonymous government source, that the number fleeing was as high as 700,000.
"I don't have exact figures, but of course they are far from what's being claimed there," Peskov said.
Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said last month that his country would embrace Russians seeking sanctuary from the draft. But other fleeing Russians face difficulties. Amnesty International earlier in the war called on Germany to allow fleeing Russians to stay in the country longer than the 90 days allowed under special visas.
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian government for comment.
About the writer
Jake Thomas is a Newsweek night reporter based in Portland, Oregon. His focus is U.S. national politics, crime and public ... Read more