Russians leave over fears of new mobilization — Euronews
In Russia, the aggressor state, people are trying to leave the country due to fears of a new mobilization and possible restrictions on leaving. According to the anti-war project Ark, the number of requests for urgent assistance with emigration has increased nearly eightfold since the beginning of summer, Euronews reports.
The increase in departures coincided with elections to Russia’s State Duma, which are taking place from September 18 to 20. Kremlin critics and several Western governments suggest that Moscow may announce a new draft after voting ends so that the unpopular decision does not affect the elections. Vladimir Putin called rumors of mobilization “complete nonsense,” while independent Russian media have counted 17 official denials of a possible draft since summer.
Growth in requests and search activity
According to organizations helping Russians relocate abroad, the number of daily inquiries about relocation has increased from about 70 to 120 since July. Search queries in Yandex and Google such as “how to leave” and “mobilization” reached their highest level since the beginning of 2023 during the summer and over the first ten days of September.
Ark coordinator Yan Slovitsky, who helps new arrivals in Yerevan, said that people are leaving in advance, remembering previous waves of mobilization. According to him, fuel shortages and problems with internet access have also contributed to growing anxiety.
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Electronic summonses and travel restrictions
Russia has introduced an electronic register of summonses: once a summons is issued, a ban on leaving the country takes effect automatically. The publication cites a case in which, in early September, passport control officers in Krasnodar detained a 24-year-old resident of Russia’s Rostov region who completed military service in 2024 and handed him a notice banning him from leaving the country. This was the first recorded case at that border crossing point.
The main destinations for those leaving are visa-free Armenia, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. The exact scale of the current wave is unknown, but it is considered smaller than the exodus of 2022: then, after partial mobilization was announced, independent estimates said that between 600,000 and 700,000 people left Russia within several weeks. Formally, that mobilization was never canceled, and the military personnel called up at the time were not demobilized.
In August, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, citing intelligence data, said there was a risk of new mobilization in Russia. Kyiv reported likely Kremlin plans to quickly call up several hundred thousand people by the end of the year and at least as many next year. Moscow did not comment on these claims.
