Mobile draft offices near Russian-Georgian border to shut down from 22 Oct

Mobile draft offices previously set up at the Verkhny Lars checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border will shut down starting 22 October, head of Russia’s North Ossetia region Sergey Meniaylo announced.

He noted that the influx of citizens leaving Russia had “subsided”, and that the situation is now stable.

“There is no longer a need for additional traffic control on the state border. Besides, the Federal Border Service has all the necessary information and lists of citizens restricted from leaving the country. Mainly, they include people from other regions,” Meniaylo explained.

Following Vladimir Putin’s mobilisation order, Russians started leaving the country en masse, with Georgia being one of the main destinations. A traffic jam spanning several dozen kilometres formed near the Verkhny Lars checkpoint at the Russian-Georgian border. The Georgian Interior Ministry reported that 10,000 Russian citizens a day were entering the country.

A mobile draft office was set up near the border with Georgia several days after mobilisation was announced. Similar draft offices were set up near the borders with Kazakhstan and Finland.

The conscription office on the Russian-Georgian border handed out call-up papers not just to residents of North Ossetia, the region where the checkpoint is located, but to residents of other Russian regions, too. In the first few days after it was established, the draft board handed out over 180 draft notices to Russian men.