In the arrivals area of the Yerevan airport in Armenia, Sergei stands, a man looking exhausted after fleeing Russia with his son for fear of being sent to the front lines in Ukraine. Like his compatriots, he says he does not want to “die” in war.
This 44 year old man is one of the tens of thousands of Russians who have left their country since the invasion of Ukraine, a phenomenon that seems to have increased since Wednesday when President Vladimir Putin announced the partial mobilization of the reservists.
(Also read: What does Putin’s nuclear threat imply amid calls for peace at the UN?)
The authorities said they would call up 300,000 reservists, but many Russians fear a much larger mobilization. “Yes, we left Russia because of the mobilization. (…) We decided not to wait for the army to be called up. We left,” he said Thursday.
There are several Russians who have decided not to wait for the military notification to be delivered to them and are trying to leave the country. According to Google Trends, a tool that tracks search trends on Google, the frequency of queries such as “leaving Russia” increased almost 100-fold after the announcement of the mobilization.
This Thursday, there were hardly any plane tickets left to nations where Russians do not need a visa, such as Armenia, Turkey or Azerbaijan and Central Asia, or if there are, they have an excessive cost.
(You may be interested: The confrontation between Russia and the United States in the UN Security Council)
That is why, for many, it remains only to leave Russia by car. Some neighboring countries reported this Thursday queues or at least an increase in traffic of Russian vehicles at its borders.
In neighboring Finland, the arrival of Russian citizens by road increased by 57% on the same day as Putin’s mobilization decree, the Finnish Border Guard reported Thursday.
In Georgia, the situation is similar. “Witnesses have told me that the queues extend about 40 kilometers,” said Victoria Platunova, a Russian refugee there since the start of the military campaign, who added that according to her data there are kilometric queues of vehicles to enter the Caucasian country.
In Armenia, on the other hand, since the mobilization order, the majority of those who arrive are men of fighting age.
(Also: Zelenski sends a strong message after Putin’s threat: he asks the world for punishment)
But the Kremlin downplayed the issue on Thursday. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said reports of an exodus of Russians were “greatly exaggerated.” despite the fact that flights from Russia, very limited and expensive after Western sanctions, were almost full for almost all destinations still available.
The authorities affirmed this Thursday that nearly 10,000 men enlisted in the ranks of the Russian army to be sent to Ukraine as part of the first day of mobilization, while on social networks many fear that the borders will be closed, which would deprive Russians to leave, even by land.
For this reason, Western countries have launched to offer asylum. German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said Thursday that Russians fleeing their country are “welcome” in Germany, while Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky urged Russians to “protest” against the mobilization of reservists or to “surrender” to the kyiv forces.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP and EFE
More news
Arrested in protests against Putin will be forced to join the Russian army
Putin: How did the Ukrainian counteroffensive lead to the Russian nuclear threat?
Russian Defense Minister announces that 300,000 reservists will be mobilized
#Russians #flee #borders #mobilization #reservists