Banking giant Citigroup Inc last week said it was helping some of its employees seek asylum in Poland.
NEW DELHI: US companies are recruiting former military and law enforcement professionals to help employees in Ukraine slip through congested roads and train stations to cross-border security.
The covert and often dangerous work, backed by a phalanx of actual travel agents working on phones and PCs, highlights the efforts of employers around the world – from large banks and law firms to technology companies and nonprofits – to their To get people out of war. Area.
Following widespread condemnation and economic sanctions following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, many of the world’s best-known brands have ceased operations in the region or severed ties altogether in recent days. While some employees have already fled, the pullback has left those who remain in a difficult position, especially with most air travel and financial transactions suspended.
Banking giant Citigroup Inc last week said it was helping some of its employees seek asylum in Poland. Apple Inc. K Tim Cook said in a staff memo that “in Ukraine, we are in touch with every employee, in whatever way we can to help them and their families.” Many others are offering to continue paying their employees.
Visa Inc. “We’ve got mercenaries willing to take people’s vans,” Al Kelly, chief executive officer, told a conference call this week. The financial firm, which has about 155 employees in Ukraine and about 210 in Russia, has helped dozens exit.
“We have security in Romania, Poland and Hungary with Sprinter vans loaded with supplies, and we are within half a mile of border crossing points in those cases to help families after they are evacuated,” he said.
Most companies have remained silent about their extraction efforts, and security firms specializing in the work declined to name their clients, citing privacy concerns and the risk of remaining employees in the countries. But interviews with professionals in the field described the increasingly difficult and risky work required to help people escape.
International SOS, which provides medical and security services, has been conducting two or three evacuation missions daily from Ukrainian cities since February 27, said Julian Morrow, US senior vice president and regional director of security. The company, whose employees include some former military and government service personnel, creates a detailed plan for each movement of individuals including evacuation routes with planned stops for health and medical needs, food and fuel, and where they will be dropped. Includes profiles. To cross the border on foot.
“It’s been a long and difficult journey for quite some time,” Moro said in an interview. Ground movements are “the most complex and, to an extent, the most dangerous.”
airspace closed
Altour International Inc., a unit of the New York-based Internova Travel Group. Has helped about 1,000 people move out of Russia and Ukraine for its corporate travel management clients. Initially, this was done mostly by air, but the closure of Ukrainian airspace following the Russian invasion forced the company to turn to trains, boats, rail and cars.
“Now that things are under attack, it’s very challenging to get people out,” said John Rose, Altour’s chief risk and security officer. “If we can get them out of the attack zone, we can move them safely.”
The company is now soliciting smaller groups to help them move out of Belarus, Moldova and Georgia, he said. The most challenging situations are referred to Xalog Global, a veteran-owned risk management and security company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.
Xalog has helped about 300 people flee Ukraine, sometimes consulting on how to travel and at other times physically moving people out of Kyiv and other places. It has mostly been assisted by small groups, including five children who were taken to the Hungarian border. There, Xalog negotiates with local military commanders to get the children out.
Some evacuations took two or three hours, others up to 30.
In addition to security risks, financial sanctions have become a significant barrier to withdrawal efforts. In many cases, electronic transactions for booking hotels or transport are no longer possible.
‘say’ position
“The situation on the ground is dire,” said Martin Ferguson, vice president of public affairs for American Express Global Business Travel. The cash requirement means that the company is “inevitably unable to support anything” within Ukraine’s borders.
The company, a multinational travel and risk management firm owned by the credit-card giant, is helping people even after they leave the country. This has led to some large groups living elsewhere beyond border posts in Poland, Romania and Moldova.
Not each group is being pulled out individually: in some cases, Ukrainian evacuees are instructed on how to exit the country by firms monitoring their progress.
George Taylor, a former Marine and chief operating officer of Xlog, said evacuation efforts were complicated by Ukraine’s decree that most men aged 18 to 60 must remain in the country. Some expected evacuation refused to leave if their husband, brothers or father had to stay behind.
“The families didn’t want to break up,” he said. “We cannot persuade people to leave on behalf of companies. We only give the best advice and people make their own decisions. everyone is different.”
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