The Biden administration has sent out an urgent warning to all United States citizens in Russia on Monday, informing them they need to leave the country immediately, without delay, citing “unpredictable consequences” including potential detentions because of the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Folks, this sounds pretty darn scary. If you, for whatever reason, are in Russia, I’d get the heck out of there with a quickness. Don’t screw around.
The State Department put out the travel advisory, set at the highest of four levels, just ahead of President Joe Biden’s expected visit to Poland in order to mark the anniversary of the assault’s kick off, according to a report from the Daily Wire.
“U.S. citizens residing or travelling in Russia should depart immediately,” the advisory informs citizens. “Exercise increased caution due to the risk of wrongful detentions.”
“One high-profile case of what U.S. officials deemed a ‘wrongful detention’ began to unfold days before the invasion began. WNBA star Brittney Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport after being caught with marijuana vaping materials. Griner received a nine-year prison sentence for drug possession and was sent to a penal colony. In December, Russia released Griner in a prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, widely known as the ‘Merchant of Death,'” the report continues.
Others are basically stuck in the country, a list of folks that includes U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan, who the Russian government imprisoned on charges of espionage, which are charges that his family still maintains are baseless. The Federal Security Service in Russia stated back in January they were opening a criminal case against a U.S. citizen suspected of espionage. However, the details concerning that case, including the individual’s identity, remain a mystery.
“The United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in aid to support Ukraine’s defense efforts and led an international coalition to levy sanctions meant to punish Russia for the invasion that began on February 24, 2022, and continues to this day,” the Daily Wire continues. “Russia’s government appeared to shrug off the State Department’s latest advisory. ‘This is not a new thing,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Reuters.”
There was a similar advisory announced last September by the State Department, as the government in Russia started to mobilize citizens to the armed forces to support their invasion of Ukraine. The message warned that Russia, “may refuse to acknowledge dual nationals’ U.S. citizenship, deny their access to U.S. consular assistance, prevent their departure from Russia, and conscript dual nationals for military service.”
It’s critical to get out of dodge while you can. This whole situation has gone on for way, way too long. But it is what it is. We need to remain out of things as much as we can. The last thing the world needs is a world war.
And I can’t speak for everyone else, but this warning, coupled with all of the unidentified objects shot down over the weekend, has me a bit nervous. Let’s hope this isn’t a sign of ominous things on the horizon.
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