Young and old flee as Russia’s military machine knocks on doors

military recruitment officials are apparently seeking to draft anyone who falls into their clutches.

There were emotional scenes in the eastern Siberian republic of Buryatia as drafted men said goodbye to their families. Picture: Ayuna Shagdurova

From Moscow to deepest Siberia, Russian men of fighting age are scrambling to flee the country after President Vladimir Putin announced that military reservists would be deployed to Ukraine. For some, it is already too late.

“I’ve said goodbye to my wife and daughter,” Sergei, 49, said after he was drafted by officials in Buryatia, a remote region in eastern Siberia. “People ask me where I’m going. I tell them I’m heading to the front.”

Mr Putin’s announcement on Wednesday of a nationwide mobilisation of 300,000 men has sent shockwaves through Russia and prompted the biggest protests since the early days of the war. Despite a pledge by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu that only men with combat experience would be called up to fight, military recruitment officials apparently are seeking to draft anyone who falls into their clutches.

“Summonses (to report at draft centres) are handed out to everyone the authorities can reach,” said Alexander Cherkasov, head of the Memorial human rights centre in Moscow, which recently was banned by the Kremlin.

Officials in Buryatia, one of Russia’s poorest regions, began giving draft papers to men early on Thursday, knocking on their doors at 4am. By 10am, the men were at military recruitment centres, where they were issued with cursory instructions on how to survive on the battlefield. “You need to learn how to bandage yourselves, to provide first aid, because people die from elementary blood loss,” a military official told them, according to video posted by the Baikal-Journal website.

Cars queue to enter the Brusnichnoye checkpoint on the Russian-Finnish border in the Leningrad region on Thursday. Picture: Reuters

Alexandra Garmazhapova, an anti-war activist, said thousands of people were fleeing Buryatia to Mongolia, 610km away, to avoid the draft. “Buryatia saw one of the most terrifying nights in its history,” she said. “People are panicking because this is full-scale mobilisation. Students, men aged over 60, and men who are the sole carers for disabled children are being called up. This is the result of Putin’s rule: people are simply leaving the country.”

In Moscow, Viktor Bugreyev, 32, an IT specialist with Sberbank, the state bank, said he received his draft papers at 10am on Thursday and was ordered to report for military service by 3pm. “I’ve never served in the army,” he told the Mediazona website. “But what can I do? I have to go.”

Social media videos showed men saying tearful goodbyes to their families across Russia. “Come back soon,” one woman said as she hugged her husband in Yakutia, northeast Siberia.

As rumours spread that Russia’s borders will be closed to men of fighting age, some are trying to leave by air, scrambling to secure flights before they sell out or become too expensive. Others are heading by land to Georgia or Armenia, two small countries in the Caucasus region that do not require visas from Russians.

There was a long line of vehicles waiting to cross into Georgia on Thursday morning, with Russian border guards said to be turning some men back. One channel on the Telegram for people seeking to flee to Georgia has 75,000 members. “Who can take me to Georgia?” wrote Denis, a young Russian man. “I’m on my own. Just me and my backpack.”

The options for those seeking to escape the war are running out. The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which all border Russia, have said they will not provide asylum to people fleeing conscription. Finland has said it will close its borders to Russians over security concerns. However, Germany said Russian refugees would be accepted. “Anyone who hates Putin’s path and loves liberal democracy is welcome in Germany,” tweeted Justice Minister Marco Buschmann.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said reports of Russians fleeing the country in large numbers were “very exaggerated”.

In Chechnya, where large groups of young men were seen being taken to draft offices on Thursday, a mufti condemned Ramzan Kadyrov, the region’s Kremlin-backed leader. “You are urging young men to paradise, but you do not want to go there yourself,” Salakh Mezhiev said. “You do not want to die. You want to lie in the warmth and eat tasty food.”

The Times