![]() Earlier this week, four of the five EU countries bordering Russia announced they would no longer allow Russians to enter on tourist visas.ĭirect flights from Moscow to Istanbul, Yerevan, Tashkent and Baku, the capitals of countries allowing Russians visa-free entry, were sold out for the next week, while the cheapest one-way flight from Moscow to Dubai cost about 370,000 rubles (£5,000) – a fee too steep for most.Īnd so many, like Oleg, were forced to get creative and drive to some of the few land borders still open to Russians.īorder guards in Finland, the last EU country that still allows entry to Russians with tourist visas, said that they have noticed an “exceptional number” of Russian nationals seeking to cross the border overnight, while eyewitnesses also said the Russian-Georgian and Russian-Mongolian borders were “collapsing” with overwhelming traffic. The Guardian spoke to over a dozen men and women who had left Russia since Putin announced the so-called partial mobilisation, or who are planning to do so in the next few days. The Kremlin’s decision to announce a partial mobilisation has led to a rush among men of military age to leave the country, likely sparking a new, possibly unprecedented brain drain in the coming days and weeks. But I am simply not letting Putin turn me into a killer in a war that I want no part in.” “I will miss the most important day of my life. Oleg said he will leave behind his wife, who is due to give birth next week. “I have no idea when I’ll step foot in Russia again,” he added, referring to the jail sentence Russian men face for avoiding the draft. “I will be driving across the border tonight,” he said in a telephone interview on Thursday from the airport in Orenburg. ![]() ![]() He quickly packed all his belongings and booked a one-way ticket to Orenburg, a southern Russian city close to the border with Kazakhstan. “My heart sank when I got the call-up,” he said.
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