Those Refusing to Fight in the Ukraine War Should Be Protected
As Russian men fled after Vladimir Putin’s draft announcement, Latvia closed its border with Russia, and Finland said it was tightening its visa policy. Those choosing not to fight need to be celebrated, not shunned.
Viktor Zakarov, a 35-year-old scientist from Saint Petersburg, poses for a photo after passing the passport check at the Vaalimaa border crossing with Russia on September 28, 2022, in Finland. Zakharov, who arrived in Finland with his partner and their three children, says he has five friends who have left Russia since the draft announcement. (Alessandro Rampazzo / AFP via Getty Images)
Last week, Congress passed $5.5 billion more in military assistance to Ukraine, $1.7 billion to replenish previously given weapons and equipment, and $3.7 billion for new weapons. This is on top of the up to $40 billion in military assistance the United States had already committed to the war. Given this grotesque amount of lethal aid and the hardening positions on both sides of the conflict, it is hard to envision an end to this horrific war. But with Vladimir Putin’s announcement on September 21 that, for the first time since World War II, his country would be imposing a military draft, a unique opportunity to support peacemaking has presented itself.
Within three days of Russia’s announcement that it was instituting a draft, 261,000 men, according to a source inside Russia’s Federal Security Service, fled the country. Those who could booked flights; others drove, bicycled, and walked across the border.
Russians aren’t the only ones not up for fighting. According to estimates by Connection e.V., a European organization that supports conscientious objectors and deserters, an estimated 22,000 draft-eligible Belarusians have fled their country since the war began.
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