(Bloomberg) -- Two Russians are seeking refuge in the US after fleeing to Alaska to avoid President Vladimir Putin's military conscription for the war in Ukraine.
The pair arrived Oct. 4, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. According to a spokesman, they were brought to Anchorage where their claims under US immigration law will be processed.
Alaska's two senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, said the Russians had requested asylum in the US after landing near Gambell, a community on St. Lawrence Island that's about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the Russian coast. Tens of thousands of Russian draft-age men have fled the country since Putin announced a mobilization to bolster his faltering invasion of Ukraine.
Murkowski said in a statement that the federal response to the incident was “lacking” given that US Customs and Border Protection had to dispatch aircraft from 750 miles away.
Sullivan said he was encouraging the agency “to have a plan ready with the Coast Guard in the event that more Russians flee to Bering Strait communities in Alaska.”
“This incident makes two things clear: First, the Russian people don't want to fight Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine,” Sullivan said. “Second, given Alaska's proximity to Russia, our state has a vital role to play in securing America's national security.”
(Updates with Murkowski statement in third paragraph.)
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