Two Russian men flee forced military service by boating to Alaska

A pair of Russian men fled the country by boat to a small Alaskan island to avoid being forced into military service, US Senator Lisa Murkowski's office said.

The Associated Press reports that the men arrived on a small island in the Bering Sea after leaving Russia and have asked for asylum.

Karina Borger, a spokeswoman for Ms Murkowski, told the AP that the senator's office has been working with the US Coast Guard and US Customs and Border Protection, saying "the Russian nationals reported that they fled one of the coastal communities on the east coast of Russia to avoid compulsory military service."

The men reportedly landed at a beach near Gambell, a small community of about 600 people on St Lawrence Island. Senator Dan Sullivan said his office was alerted to the men by a "senior community leader from the Bering Strait region" on Tuesday morning.

According to one of Mr Sullivan's spokespeople, his office understands that men arrived on the island by boat.

Gambell is approximately 200 miles (320km) southwest from Nome and about 36m (58km) from the Chukotka Peninsula in Siberia.

Ms Murkowski, a Republican, said in a joint press release with Mr Sullivan that the incident was illustrative of the need for heightened security in the US's Arctic region.

“We are actively engaged with federal officials and residents in Gambell to determine who these individuals are, but right now, we already know that the federal response was lacking. Only local officials and state law enforcement had the capability to immediately respond to the asylum seekers, while Customs and Border Protection had to dispatch a Coast Guard aircraft from over 750 miles away to get on scene,” Ms Murkowski said. “This situation underscores the need for a stronger security posture in America’s Arctic, which I have championed throughout my time in the Senate.”

Mr Sullivan, also a Republican, said he advised DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and officials at US Customs and Border Patrol that they should develop a plan to handle more potential cases of Russian asylum seekers fleeing the country to escape military service.

“This incident makes two things clear: First, the Russian people don’t want to fight Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Second, given Alaska’s proximity to Russia, our state has a vital role to play in securing America’s national security," Mr Sullivan said. "This is why Senator Murkowski and I have been pressing officials in Washington D.C. so hard on the need to prioritize capabilities in the Arctic — including infrastructure, Coast Guard assets, ports and strategic defense assets.”

Reuters reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin's order to draft men into military service has prompted tens of thousands of Russian men to flee the country. Many have taken to driving into neighboring countries or finding other methods of leaving the nation to avoid suspicion at airports.

Kirill Ponomarev, a 24-year-old journalist from Russia who fled the country to Armenia told the outlet he spent a week traveling by car, train, and later plane to make the more than 6,000 mile (10,000km) journey out of the country.

"My sense was that 90% of my carriage were Russian men of military age," he said. "Everyone looked at each other in silence, but we all understood what was going on."

Moscow has denied the claims that upwards of 700,000 people have fled the country in the wake of Mr Putin’s call-up orders.