Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With the inconclusive Russian invasion of Ukraine entering the second year on February 24, the US has warned its people to leave Russia “immediately”, because of the war and the risk of their arbitrary arrest or harassment by Russian law enforcement agencies on trumped-up charges.
The advisory also showed that Moscow could do something spectacular on or before February 24 to ‘celebrate’ the first anniversary of the ongoing bloody war that has plunged Ukraine into multiple crises, including wanton destruction and the exodus of millions of panicked people to neighboring countries.
The media reported on Monday the US Embassy in Moscow urged Americans in Russia to “depart immediately” to avoid political and social protests.
In 2022, the US issued similar advisories for its citizens to leave Russia, the last being in September after President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russians’ “partial mobilization” for deployment in Ukraine. It also warned American tourists against traveling to Russia.
“The U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately. Exercise increased caution due to the risk of wrongful detentions,” stated the US Embassy’s travel advisory on Sunday.
The embassy also underlined that US debit and credit cards do not work in Russia because of the sanctions imposed on Russian banks. It said that options for electronically transferring funds were limited.
Russia’s right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression are not consistently protected. U.S. citizens should avoid all political or social protests and not photograph security personnel at these events. Russian authorities have arrested U.S. citizens who have participated in demonstrations.
“Russian security services have arrested U.S. citizens on spurious charges, singled out U.S. citizens in Russia for detention and harassment, denied them fair and transparent treatment, and convicted them in secret trials or without presenting credible evidence,” the embassy said.
“Russian authorities arbitrarily enforce local laws against U.S. citizen religious workers and have opened questionable criminal investigations against U.S. citizens engaged in religious activity.”
In January, the Federal Security Service said that Russia had opened a criminal case against a US citizen on suspicion of espionage.
On Friday, Russia attacked several power grids across Ukraine where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned from a tour of western capitals.
Russian forces fired more than 100 missiles throughout the country and staged 12 air and 20 shelling attacks, said Ukraine’s armed forces in an evening update. Sixty-one cruise missiles were also destroyed, the Facebook post added.