As a 29-year-old sergeant in the Russian reserves, Oleg said he always knew he would be first in line if mobilization was called, but held out hope that he would not be forced to fight in the war in Ukraine. “My heart sank when I got the call,” he said. “But I knew I had no time for despair.” He quickly packed all his belongings and booked a one-way ticket to Orenburg, a city in southern Russia near the border with Kazakhstan. “I will cross the border tonight,” he said in a telephone interview Thursday from Orenburg airport. “I have no idea when I will set foot in Russia again,” he added, referring to the prison sentence Russians face for avoiding conscription. Oleg said he will leave behind his wife, who is due to give birth next week. “I will miss the most important day of my life. But I’m just not going to let Putin turn me into a murderer in a war I don’t want to be a part of.” The Kremlin’s decision to announce a partial mobilization has led to a rush among military-age men to leave the country, likely triggering a new, possibly unprecedented brain drain in the coming days and weeks. The Guardian spoke to more than a dozen men and women who had left Russia since Putin announced the so-called partial mobilization or who plan to do so in the coming days. Escape options are limited, they say. Earlier this week, four of the five EU countries bordering Russia announced they would no longer allow Russians to enter on tourist visas. Map Direct flights from Moscow to Istanbul, Yerevan, Tashkent and Baku, the capitals of countries that allow Russians to enter visa-free, are sold out for next week, while the cheapest one-way flight from Moscow to Dubai cost about 370,000 rubles (5,000 £ ) – a charge too high for most. And so many, like Oleg, have been forced to get creative and drive to some of the few land borders still open to the Russians. Border guards in Finland, the last EU country still allowing Russians to enter on tourist visas, said they had observed an “extraordinary number” of Russian nationals seeking to cross the border overnight, while eyewitnesses also said that Russian-Georgian and Russian-Mongolian borders were “collapsing” with overwhelming movement. “We’re seeing an even bigger exodus than when the war started,” said Ira Lobanovskaya, who started the NGO Guide to the Free World, which helps Russians against the war leave the country. She said her website had received more than a million and a half hits since Putin’s speech on Wednesday. According to Lobanovkaya’s estimates, more than 70,000 Russians who used the group’s services have already left or have made concrete plans to leave. “These are people who buy one-way tickets. They will not return as long as the mobilization continues.” Many of those still in Russia will feel that time is running out. At least three states have already announced they will close their borders to draft-eligible men. Border agents at Russian airports have reportedly begun questioning departing male passengers about their military service status and checking return tickets. After thousands of Russians rallied against the war and mobilized on Wednesday, some were criticized on social media for not speaking out sooner when their country’s troops were committing human rights abuses in Bucha, Irpin and countless other cities across Ukraine . Police officers move to arrest participants in an illegal anti-mobilization protest in central St. Petersburg, Russia, on Wednesday. Photo: Anatoly Maltsev/EPA “I understand people’s frustration,” said Igor, a 26-year-old IT professional from St. Petersburg, who plans to fly to Vladikavkaz and drive to Georgia, another popular escape route used by Russians, next week. “I attended the anti-war demonstration when Putin launched his invasion, but the authorities are just imprisoning everyone.” Some of the protesters detained in Moscow were subsequently given draft notices while under lockdown, according to the OVD monitoring group, further underscoring the dangers average Russians face when they take to the streets. “I think the only way I can personally help Ukraine right now is not to fight there,” he said. There have also been calls for the EU to support Russians seeking a way out of the draft. European Commission spokeswoman for home affairs Anitta Hipper said the bloc would meet to discuss issuing humanitarian visas to Russians fleeing the mobilization. The three Baltic states said on Thursday, however, that they were not prepared to automatically offer asylum to Russians leaving the camp. Even those with no military experience – men Putin has vowed not to call on – are packing. Russian police arrest a protester against the partial mobilization. Photo: Maxim Shipenkov/EPA They point to the vagueness of Putin’s mobilization law and point to past broken promises that he would not request such a thing. “Putin lied that there would be no mobilization,” said Anton, 23, a student in Moscow, referring to the president’s International Women’s Day speech on March 8, when he insisted that reservists would not be called up to fight in Ukraine. “Why won’t he lie again about this partial mobilization?” Fears have grown after independent website Novaya Gazeta Europe reported, citing government sources, that the mobilization orders allow the Defense Ministry to call up 1,000,000 people, instead of the 300,000 announced by the country’s Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, on Wednesday. . For now, Lobanovskaya said, the majority of Russians leaving are men. The Guardian also spoke to several women, mostly doctors, who similarly decided to leave the country after reports began to circulate that Russia was calling medical professionals to the front. “I know doctors are supposed to treat people, that’s our duty,” said Tatyana, a doctor from Irkutsk who bought a plane ticket to Baku for next week. “But I believe that the sooner this horrible war is stopped, the fewer people will die.” The mobilization also appears to have spooked some of the very people the regime relies on to sustain its war effort. “For me, mobilization is the red line,” said Ilya, 29, a mid-level official who works for the Moscow government. “Tomorrow I will be in Kazakhstan.” One man, the son of an oligarch under Western sanctions who was due to return to Russia after studying abroad to work for his family business, said he no longer planned to do so. “Well, one thing is clear,” he said in a brief interview via text message. “I’m not going back to Russia anytime soon.”
