North Ossetia’s authorities have ordered strict restrictions on car travel to the Russian republic that neighbours Georgia on Wednesday, after tens of thousands escaped over the border to flee the Kremlin’s mobilization drive.
The head of North Ossetia, Sergei Menyaylo, took it to Telegram to state that he had placed the small mountainous region on “high alert” and ordered to “restrict the entry of cars.”
Huge groups of Russians-most of men of military age have formed at the border with Georgia since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the mobilization on September 21 to prop up Moscow’s army in Ukraine.
Menyaylo said entry for passenger vehicles would be restricted- aside from cars registered in North Ossetia, the neighbouring pro-Kremlin separatist republic South Ossetia or Georgia.
The Verkhniy Lars border crossing with Georgia has seen groups of thousands of Russian trying to get over the border.
North Ossetia’s restrictions come amid rising fears of travel bans and possible border closures, with reports of some men already being turned away by Russian border guards.
Moreover, earlier on Wednesday, the capital city of Moscow has said that it would not hand out passports to people who have been mobilized by the army. Around tens of thousands of Russian nationals rushed to the border to escape after Putin made an announcement about the mobilization on September 21.