Immigrant soldiers in the USA and escape from conscription in Russia

Currently, the US military has probably around 45 thousand immigrants serving. To join the U.S. military, you must be a permanent resident, which does not necessarily mean a U.S. citizen. While the United States relies on the service of immigrant soldiers, this does not protect military personnel from deportation. So far, about 94,000 people have been deported to their countries of origin. American veterans and their return to the US are associated with legal difficulties. In addition, many of them struggle with mental problems and addictions. Currently, Congress is working on an act that will help bring thousands of American veterans back to the USA.

After partial mobilization was announced in September 2022, hundreds of thousands of Russians fled conscription and service in Ukraine. Some of them found a new home in Germany. A Russian who goes to Germany and applies for political asylum will not be deported. One of them, Ilya, a nuclear physicist by education, was a sniper and commander of an armoured vehicle during his military service after graduation. “I thought the army was something powerful, strong and wonderful, but I saw complete chaos there,” says Ilya. He left for Germany, knowing he would be useless now as a soldier.

A group of 50 ethnic Chechens fleeing Russia have arrived in north-western Bosnia to enter the European Union and avoid conscription and combat in Ukraine. Chechens, including families with children, are staying on the Bosnian side of the border near the Maljevac border crossing in Croatia’s Karlovac County.