New Delhi: The Russian Embassy in Washington is aware of the detention of two Russians by the authorities of the US state of Alaska, the diplomats are going to have a telephone conversation with the detainees and provide the necessary assistance, Nadezhda Shumova, head of the consular department of the Russian embassy in Washington, told the media on Thursday.
“The embassy is aware of the situation with the detained Russian citizens in the state of Alaska. Today we received a notification about this from the Anchorage branch of the US Customs and Border Guard Service,” she noted.
Earlier on Thursday, the Anchorage Daily News reported the detention of two Russians on St. Lawrence Island off the coast of Alaska. According to the publication, they sailed to the island by boat.
On March 30, 1867, the United States reached an agreement to purchase Alaska from Russia for a price of $7.2 million. The Treaty with Russia was negotiated and signed by Secretary of State William Seward and Russian Minister to the United States Edouard de Stoeckl.
Two Russians who crossed the Bering Strait, landing on western Alaska’s St. Lawrence Island earlier this week had been seeking asylum to avoid Russia’s draft in its ongoing war on Ukraine.
The pair’s arrival in Gambell, Alaska, follows Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call last month for “partial mobilization” of the country’s population, prompting an exodus of Russian men out of the country, with cars queuing to cross the border into neighboring Finland, Georgia and Mongolia.
Protests of the draft have erupted in ethnic minority regions, and some military enlistment offices have been set on fire. The mobilization announcement also prompted anti-war protests across Russia.
(Vinayak)