About 200,000 Russians have fled to avoid draft

DARIALI, GEORGIA >> They are bus drivers, programmers, photographers, bankers. They have driven for hours, bribed their way through many police checkpoints — spending a month’s wages in some cases — and then waited at the border, most of them for days, in a traffic jam that stretched for miles.

Many grabbed their passports, abandoned their cars and crossed the frontier on foot, fearing that Russia would slam shut one of the last, precious routes to leave the country. The Kremlin dispatched teams to border crossings to weed out draft-eligible men and hand them conscription notices, and rumors spread on social media that it would seal the border.

Most of those who left had no idea when they would return home, if ever.

President Vladimir Putin last week ordered a draft of civilians to reinforce the army that has suffered tens of thousands of casualties in the war he launched against Ukraine. Since then, at least 200,000 Russians, mostly young men, have fled, squeezing through the few crossings still open.

Photographer Ksenia Ivanova spent two days near that spot collecting the stories of fleeing Russians and taking their portraits.

Many offered only their first names, fearing repercussions should they ever return home.

They spoke of divided families, the futility of protesting in Russia and the fear of dying in a war they did not support.

•••

“Every Russian family has someone who supports the war, and someone who’s against it.” — Vladimir, 31, a geologist from St. Petersburg.

His grandmother adores Putin. His mother hates Putin.

Vladimir thinks the Russian president is a madman who isn’t bluffing about using nuclear weapons — one reason he waited in line for 13 hours to cross the border.

“Every Russian family has someone who supports the war, and someone who’s against it,” he said.

He went to one anti-war protest, but quickly realized both its danger and its futility, he said.

•••

“He began to threaten me that he would call the military enlistment office and they would come get me.” — Artyom, 28, who paid more than $1,600 in bribes, including to a police officer.

Artyom has grim memories of his year of required service in the army.

“Here you are, sitting in a trench, hugging a gun,” he said. “During a night like that you understand a lot, you realize a lot. I decided for myself that I am a pacifist.”

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Cars line up toward the border crossing at Verkhny Lars between Russia and Georgia, leaving Chmi, North Ossetia in the Alania Republic, in Russia, last week.