Two foreign nationals believed to be Russians were detained and taken to Anchorage, Alaska, on Tuesday after landing near the village of Gambell on St. Lawrence Island, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Wednesday.
The Department of Homeland Security is working with Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard to determine whether or not the two men will be allowed into the United States because of the current heightened tension with Russia.
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“We don’t anticipate a continual stream of individuals or a flotilla of individuals,” Dunleavy said in a statement. “We have no indication that’s going to happen, so this may be a one-off.”
The two men arrived on the island on a small boat and were apprehended by the United States Coast Guard, which took them to a public safety building in the village. The men told villagers that they were fleeing from the Russian military and had traveled from the city of Egvekinot in northeastern Russia, approximately 300 miles across the ocean, Town Clerk Curtis Silook told the Alaska News Service.
The men were taken from Gambell to Anchorage later Tuesday, where federal authorities are determining the next step, including whether and how they can enter the U.S.
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Thousands of Russian men have been fleeing the country after Russian President Vladimir Putin pushed a mobilization effort to draft men into the military to fight the war in Ukraine.
