Police in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, briefly detained two activists who protested against a wave of Russian citizens entering the country after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilization to boost troop levels in the war in Ukraine.

Qarakoz Qasym and Aisultan Qudaibergen were detained on September 23 at the Almaty international airport while holding posters saying: "Did you realize that you are cannon fodder?" and "Either respect or go away," as passengers from a Moscow-Almaty flight passed by after disembarking.

Qasym told RFE/RL that she was expressing her support for the Ukrainian people, who are standing up to Russia's unprovoked invasion launched in late February.

"I am against the flow of Russian citizens to Kazakhstan. This opinion of mine is shared by many. Through my rally, I wanted to show what people in my country think about all of this. There is no guarantee that those who're arriving here in droves now will not stab us in the back later," Qasym said.

Qasym added that the police told her and Qudaibergen that they will be charged with "minor hooliganism," but after journalists interfered, the warnings disappeared.

Police spokesman Ernar Tasqyn told RFE/RL that the two activists were released shortly after law enforcement officers "held preventive talks" and warned them about possible repercussions for repeat infractions.

Since Putin announced a partial military mobilization on September 21, thousands of Russians have left for countries where Russians can enter without visas, such as Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Serbia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.

Videos showing long lines of vehicles leaving Russia and stuck along the Russian-Kazakh border have circulated on the Internet.

On September 22, Kazakh parliamentary speaker Maulen Ashimbaev told reporters in Astana that his country will not issue residence permits to "individuals who fail to provide documents proving that the countries of their citizenship have no objections to their move to Kazakhstan."

According to Kazakhstan’s official statistics, since the beginning of 2022, 1.6 million Russian citizens have come to Kazakhstan. It is not known how many of them have remained in the Central Asian nation.