The US estimates that some 200,000 Russians have already been killed or wounded in the war against Ukraine. There are corresponding calculations, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Munich security conference on Saturday. In addition, there are more than a million Russians who left their country because they did not want to be part of the war.
Thousands or more companies stopped doing business in Russia for fear of reputational damage. “Look what Putin has done to his country,” Blinken said, referring to Russian ruler Vladimir Putin.
Kiev General Staff: 142,000 “liquidated”
The Ukrainian General Staff, which publishes daily figures on Russian losses, estimated the number of soldiers “liquidated” since the start of the invasion on Saturday, February 24, 2022, at more than 142,000. “Liquidized” means killed or wounded so badly that a soldier can no longer fight. Such information cannot be independently verified and observers assume the numbers are too high.
It is also almost impossible to calculate how many people have actually left Russia since the start of the war. Estimates, including from OK Russians, an organization that supports Russians fleeing repression, range from 600,000 to 1.1 million.
A major wave of refugees began on September 21, 2022, when Putin declared partial mobilization in Russia with immediate effect. According to OK Russians, it is mainly young men who have since fled the country to avoid conscription. Meanwhile, their wives, girlfriends and children are increasingly leaving their homeland Russia.
More asylum applications in Austria since September
Many fled to neighboring Russian states such as Georgia or Kazakhstan, popular destinations were also Armenia, Turkey or Serbia. Very few Russians came to Austria, but the partial mobilization in September was reflected in the asylum statistics. Until then, there were very few applications from Russians in Austria, from January to August there were a total of 411. From September to December, on the other hand, there were already 457 and in October the number of asylum applications from Russians reached a peak. three figures for the first time in 2022.
According to the asylum statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, last year 730 asylum procedure decisions were made for citizens of the Russian Federation, in 242 cases (33.2%) asylum was granted, in 356 cases and therefore the majority (48.8%) there were negative asylum procedure decisions. Subsidiary protection has been granted 39 times, the rest is the result of other decisions (for example when a procedure is stopped).
Source: Krone

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