Flights filled up quickly and ticket prices on other connections soared, apparently due to fears that Russia’s borders could soon be closed or a wider call-up that could send many Russian men of fighting age to the front lines of the war. Tickets for the Moscow-Belgrade flights operated by Air Serbia, the only European carrier other than Turkish Airlines to maintain flights to Russia despite the European Union’s flight embargo, were sold out for the next few days. The price for flights from Moscow to Istanbul or Dubai shot up within minutes before jumping back up to as much as €9,200 ($12,200 Cdn) for a one-way economy class fare. Putin’s decree stipulates that the number of people to be called up for active duty will be determined by the Ministry of Defense. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a televised interview that 300,000 reservists with relevant combat and service experience would be mobilized initially. WATCHES | Putin mobilizes 300,000 military reservists for war in Ukraine:

Russia is mobilizing 300,000 reservists for the war in Ukraine

In a televised address, Russian President Vladimir Putin said a partial mobilization would be necessary for the next phase of the war with Ukraine. He also accused the West of engaging in “nuclear blackmail”.

A significant exodus of citizens

Russia has seen a remarkable exodus of civilians since Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine nearly seven months ago. During the morning address to the nation in which the president announced the partial mobilization of reserves, he also issued a veiled nuclear threat to Russia’s enemies in the West. Reports of panic spreading among Russians soon flooded social networks. Anti-war groups said the limited air tickets from Russia reached huge prices due to high demand and quickly became unavailable. Some posts said people had already returned from Russia’s land border with Georgia and that the website of the state-owned Russian Railways company crashed because too many people were looking for a way out of the country. Social networks in Russian also surged with advice on how to avoid mobilization or leave the country. In Russia, small anti-war protests took place in 37 Russian cities on Wednesday, according to the monitoring group OVD-Info, which reported that more than 800 protesters were arrested. In an apparent attempt to calm panic, the head of the Russian parliament’s lower house defense committee, Andrei Kartapolov, said authorities would not place additional restrictions on reservists leaving Russia, according to Russian media. A group based in Serbia — Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians and Serbs Together Against War — tweeted that no flights to Belgrade from Russia were available until mid-October. Flights to Turkey, Georgia or Armenia were also sold out, according to the Belgrade-based group. “All the Russians who wanted to go to war had already gone,” the group said. “No one else wants to go there!” A mural depicting mercenaries of the Russian Wagner Group that reads: “Wagner Group — Russian Knights” on a wall in Belgrade, Serbia, is pictured on Tuesday. (Darko Vojinovic/The Associated Press) A Russian man named Sergei said he had prepared for a Russian mobilization scenario and quickly got his 17-year-old son out of the country. “The tickets didn’t cost too much as I was probably fast enough. And we crossed the border just fine,” he said upon his arrival Wednesday at the airport in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. His son, Nikolai, said: “I haven’t received a letter from the recruiting office yet,” but was still researching possible exemptions, “so we left.” They declined to give their last names.

Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, has become a popular destination for Russians during the war. Up to 50,000 Russians have fled to Serbia since Russia invaded Ukraine, and many have opened businesses, especially in the IT sector. Russians do not need a visa to enter Serbia, which has not joined Western sanctions against Russia over its aggression in Ukraine. Allies such as Belarus and China have also not imposed sanctions. A flight on Wednesday from Moscow to Belgrade was packed with young Russians who said they could not speak to reporters for fear of repercussions for the families they left behind. An elderly Russian woman, who identified herself as Yulia, said she too was afraid that “my government and the police” might see her comments. “But I want to say, ‘Freedom for Ukraine.’ Please, someone stop Putin,” he said.