Some of them were refused entry to Bosnia and Herzegovina and sent to Turkey.

Several dozen Chechens are trying to get to the European Union through Bosnia and Herzegovina, escaping mobilization for the war against Ukraine, and are facing problems.

In particular, on Thursday, December 29, a group of Chechens was detained at the Sarajevo airport allegedly to “check their data and assess the validity of their intention to enter Bosnia and Herzegovina,” reports Radio Svoboda.

According to the representative of the border police of Bosnia and Herzegovina Svevlad Hofman, it is about people who did not have return tickets.

“It has been established that these people are trying to abuse the visa-free regime of Russia and BiH,” he said.

The police did not say how many people were involved. According to “Kavkaz.Realii” (Radio Liberty project), 20 people were detained, including children. Some of them connected their visit to the country with escaping mobilization for the war against Ukraine. In the end, the border guards refused them entry, on December 29 these persons were returned to Turkey, from which they came to BiH. Some of the detainees told journalists that they planned to ask for political asylum in Croatia.

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced the presence of about 50 citizens of the Russian Federation, mainly from Chechnya, in the country.

“These people entered our country legally on the basis of a visa-free regime and can stay for up to 30 days. Most of these people … want to continue their journey to the EU because, according to their own statements, they want to avoid mobilization in the country,” it said. in the message. for December 27

BiH Security Minister Selmo Tsikotych also reported that these people entered Bosnia and Herzegovina legally, but they cannot enter Croatia.

“They want political asylum in Croatia. Croatia does not agree to this yet,” Cikotych said.

At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Croatia stated that Zagreb did not deny entry to this group of persons. It was also reported there that a certain number of Chechens received permission to enter, but the number was not named.

Russia has already responded to reports of its citizens stranded between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia fleeing the mobilization. The Russian embassy called these reports “speculations”, writes the Russian propaganda agency “RIA Novosti”.

Mobilization in Chechnya

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, as noted by ISW analysts, urgently needs the support of Chechen militants to continue the bloody war against Ukraine. They perform, in particular, the functions of blocking units.

The leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, announced his intention to send 300,000 to 400,000 Chechens – about a quarter of the population – to war. As of the end of September, Kadyrov reported the involvement of only 20,000 people. At the same time, he stated that Chechnya “overachieved by 254%” the plan for carrying out mobilization activities and therefore will not join the partial mobilization announced in the Russian Federation on September 21. Already at the beginning of November, Kadyrov announced the continuation of mobilization measures in the republic.

Back in the summer, the mass media reported that residents of Chechnya were being blackmailed by abduction of relatives, torture and other methods of pressure if they refused to go to fight in Ukraine.