Great Russian escape begins
Men flee by land and air to dodge Putin’s draft as defiant wives threaten to break husbands’ bones so they can’t go to war
THOUSANDS of terrified Russians last night tried to dodge the draft and avoid being sent to their deaths in ukraine.
Men scrambled to flee the country after news that 300,000 civilian reservists were being called up to fight by a desperate Vladimir Putin.
But a new Iron Curtain looked to be falling between Russia and the West as desperate Moscow officials tried to stop residents from leaving.
Huge queues appeared at the borders with Georgia and Finland and airports were packed as the fearful tried to board flights, with tickets selling for eight times their usual price. Social media groups popped up with advice on how to get out of Russia.
Turkish Airlines, one of the few carriers to keep its direct flights to Moscow amid an Eu air embargo, has sold out of economy seats to Istanbul for the rest of September. Only a few business fares are available, at the eyewatering price of £2,500, well over double the average monthly salary in Russia.
One man who gave his name only as Alex said on arriving in the Turkish city: ‘The partial mobilisation is one of the reasons why I am here. A very poor step it seems to be, and it can lead to lots of problems to lots of Russians.’
Alex was among the fortunate ones as border guards tightened checks at airports yesterday. Passengers who were of fighting age were pulled to one side and grilled about their journey plans and eligibility to be called up.
Traffic also surged at the country’s border with Georgia and Finland, with lengthy tailbacks also reported at the frontiers with Mongolia and Kazakhstan. Finland said last night it was considering barring most Russians from entering the country.
Prime minister Sanna Marin said the government was assessing risks posed by individuals, and was considering ways to sharply reduce Russian transit. One man, Dmitri, flew to Armenia with just a small bag, leaving behind his wife and children. ‘I don’t want to go to the war,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to die in this senseless war.’
There were reports of men cowering behind doors and refusing to accept military summonses. In Luchegorsk, men who refused to answer knocks at home at night were handed their papers when they arrived at work.
Desperate women even threatened to break their husbands’ bones so they were unfit for the call-up. A wife from Tyumen in Siberia said: ‘I will not let my husband go. I’ll break both his legs. His duty is to raise his children.’
Yesterday there were claims Putin has cleared the way to mobilise as many as a million civilian reservists, not the 300,000 as officially announced. An unnamed Kremlin source said the despot was scared to reveal the truth to
Russians amid fears there would be an even greater exodus.
To bolster his numbers, Putin even turned to those protesting his announcement.
At least 1,400 demonstrators were rounded up by riot police in 38 towns and cities.
Those detained were handed their conscription papers and ordered to go to Ukraine, human rights organisations said.
In an apparent sign of the desperation Russia’s top brass faces, one pro-Putin hardliner suggested school children could be offered basic military training. ‘Boys
‘I don’t want to die in this war’
should know how trenches are built, the basics of mine types,’ said Olga Kovitidi, a senator in occupied Crimea. ‘They should have the skills to provide medical care with an emphasis on injuries.’
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s long-serving press secretary, said the reports of a mass exodus were ‘exaggerated’. ‘There is a lot of fake information about this. We need to be very careful about this,’ he said.
And the Russian military last night claimed 10,000 people had volunteered to fight in Ukraine in the 24 hours after Putin’s order. ‘During the first day of partial mobilisation, about 10,000 citizens arrived at recruitment offices of their own accord without waiting for a summons,’ a spokesman said.